SUV

What if you were able to zip to Whole Foods for that forgotten spice, or drop the kids off for Karate practice, or meet your BFF half way across town for a latte-- from the comfort of your living room? And what if you could still be as agile as Dwayne Wade (pre-injury)? Surely I jest, but the 2010 Range Rover Sport Supercharged provides about as much comfort, luxury and convenience as one could ever need in a package that still allows for plenty o' driving thrills. Land Rover revised its entire lineup for 2010 and the Range Rover Sport emerged as the destined-for-greatness offspring of the big-daddy Range Rover and the petite LR4. 

While the 5.0-liter engine is sprinkled across all models along with an updated electrical architecture, the RR Sport gets its predictive adaptive suspension damping, monster brakes and optional 510 hp supercharged V8 from the elder statesman. Most of its underpinnings, including the body-on-frame platform and use of control arms in front and rear (as opposed to the Range Rover setup with struts fore and a multilink system aft), are shared with the LR4. 

The 2010 New York Auto Show has seen plenty of new vehicles make their public debuts, but which ones are worthy of more than just cursory glances? In the interest of saving you time, whether you happen to plan on attending the show (which runs through this Sunday) in person, or you just want to know what’s hot, here is Sub5Zero’s unordered list of the 10 hottest rides to premiere in the Big Apple. Check out the rundown after the jump. 

Regardless of what your opinion of the Hummer H2 may be, we can personally verify that the larger of the two models offered by GM’s soon-to-be-euthanized in-your-face pickup and SUV brand has legitimate off-roading chops. Of course, there are only so many custom touches that can be made to this leviathan, and over the years pretty much every single one has been. What hasn’t the aftermarket done to the H2? If you answered bolt on a quartet of tank-style tracks in place of wheels and gussy up the exterior in a crypto-WWII bomber motif, give yourself a gold star, though even that theme has now brought to life by Germany’s Geiger Cars.

The most obvious change, of course, is the set of four Mattracks 88M1-A1 rubber tracks. At 15.75” wide and 59” long, the tracks serve up superb traction on just about any surface. Wolfgang Blaube, editor of the German car magazine Autobild took it out on the snow-covered Nürburgring Nordschleife in the middle of winter and remarked that the experience opened his eyes to “a new dimension of fun.”

G-Power may not be a name that readily comes to mind when you think of BMW tuners, but the company is really hoping to change all that in short order. Last time we heard from this German mod shop they unleashed the world's fastest BMW coupe - the G-Power M6 Hurricane. This time around they are taking a crack at the BMW X5 with the same storm weather naming convention and ridiculous power conversions.

The G-Power Typhoon "Black Pearl" is about as extreme a sport 'ute as you'll find (this week). The Bimmer's 4.8-liter V8 engine gets reengineered with new pistons, rods, crankshaft, fuel injectors and benefits from revised ECU mapping and additional cooling systems. If that wasn't enough, it's also bootstrapped with an SK III RS supercharger and outfitted with a new intake and exhaust. With 625 horsepower on tap (an increase of 270 hp), the Typhoon blasts from 0 to 62 mph in just 4.5 seconds with a top end of 186 mph.

A couple weeks ago we wrote about the new Scion xB Release Series 7.0 that debuted at the 2009 LA Auto Show. As a follow-up, Scion released a great online game called Murasaki Street Racer where you can hurl the xB through a downtown metropolis at night. Jump in right away and play a practice game or sign-in via Facebook and challenge your buddies. Those capturing high scores will have access to special badges and bragging rights on top of the leader boards.

This is a fun game that is pretty basic but becomes addicting after just a few rounds. Rolling solo gets old fast, so we encourage you to connect on the Scion Release Series FB page and get in on the action with your friends. We have quite a lively competition going here at Sub5zero! If our productivity has seemed lax today this is specifically why...

Along with the Desert Gold Edition SLS AMG, the Mercedes-Benz G 55 AMG Kompressor "Edition 79" was also introduced at the Dubai Motor Show. Since the Gulf region represents its biggest market for the top-end SUV, it only made sense for Mercedes to do something special for this event.

This limited edition model will be finished in "designo mango alanite grey", a paint color seen exclusively on SLS AMG. It features a front-mounted crash bar, carbon side strips and chrome protective grills all around. Inside, two-tone leather seats in black/sand and lots of carbon-fiber trim adorn the cabin. As the name indicates, only 79 examples of this special G-Wagen will be available, each with its own number designation emblazoned on the front of the selector lever.

Ruf Automobile is a name that many car fans, and every Porsche fan, should know. In 1987 their “Yellowbird” 911 (see at bottom) went 211mph, and was the fastest sports car on the planet, and they have been building cars like that ever since. Their cars are so good, Porsche ships them bare chassis and lets Ruf put their own name on them, VIN# and all. But where will companies like this be when Al Gore is king? Plug-ins and hybrids get more attention than a 200mph Porsche.

Well Ruf is no one-trick pony. Their newest e-car is the Porsche Cayenne-based eRuf Stormster. This is carbon off-setting at its coolest (Lowering your “carbon footprint” means doing things for the environment to off-set the things that harm the environment. For example if you use electricity, you might run your car on bio-diesel). It's the first luxury plug-in electric SUV, and it's impressive.

Each year it seems that the LA Auto Show serves as the launch platform for the unveiling of a new special edition model from Scion. This year the company dropped the xB Release Series 7.0, a revitalized and jazzed up variant of their popular sport-ute. Only 2,000 limited editions will be built with each uniquely numbered. The show car, designated number 007, features a special purple hue known as "Murasaki" that has elicited visceral reactions, both good and bad.  

The Scion xB Release Series 7.0 comes with lowered TRD springs that drop the vehicle's height by a full inch. A four-piece DAMD body kit adds a lower front and rear lip, side skirts with a rear spoiler optional. A new sport exhaust system also is included with double-walled tailpipes.