Well that took longer than expected, caught a nasty cold, had issues with the game, was too lazy to deliver quality content, but finally the results are here and they're quite revealing as well. Keep in mind that the challenge was mainly design based and revolved around building a coupe version of this:
So, in 8th Place: The LaVache-Motoyama Hotrocket
The Hotrocket certainly is the most radical entry here. Unfortunately that also means it is the least like an LV Ramjet and to be honest looked a bit unfinished to us, which meant it did lose points on the styling front early on. But maybe it could redeem itself with its performance, after all Motoyama got hold of a Thrust-spec 6V50 Turbo with almost 500hp! Unfortunately yet again, our priorities were set on comfort and top speed, and the Hotrocket couldn't really excel at these criteria either. It was one of the faster cars around our handling track, but to be honest we expected a lot more than 167mph top speed from a 487hp sports coupe. While evaluating the costs, we found out that at $31,900 it is also the most expensive car of the lot, which didn't go over to well with the bean counters in management. In the end, the lack of overlap with our company philosophy led to a rather disappointing 8th place. Perhaps in a different context the Hotrocket could have shone brighter than it did in this one.
Final score: 356 points
7th place: LaVache-LVC ARPUS
Some people will probably be shocked that the car that won the public voting only comes in second last place. We can explain. First of all, yes it does look great. Because I designed it. But copying our design to the last detail has its advantages, as we can share a lot of parts between the Ramjet and ARPUS. This part sharing drops the price to a very sensible $18,600, making it the third cheapest competitor in our little competition.
So why does it only come 7th even though it has a lot of power at 436hp and even equals the mighty powerful Hotrocket in top speed? Because there was another competitor which had the same idea for the design, but did just about every important thing a bit better. They also spelled our name wrong in their application. Big mistake.
Final score: 374 points
6th place: LaVache-Solo Scramjet Lux
Hang on a minute, which idiot has parked his Oldsmobile in our testing facility? Well, it seems that even GM wants a slice of that juicy Cow-Cake. And they didn't do half bad a job either! We immediately noticed that the interior quality was leagues above what we were used to from previous models. To be honest the interior was so comfortable that we stole some of that awesomeness for the next generation of our flagship vehicle. And the comfortability didn't stop there, because they chose to adapt a Citroenesque hydropneumatic suspension that in conjunction with the immense weight of over 2 tons ironed out EVERYTHING. Bumps? Scramjet doesn't give a fuck. Rather unsurprisingly we found a catch. At $30k it is the second most expensive competitor and that weight resulted in fuel consumption that BARELY made it into double digits. If only fuel was as cheap as it was 50 years ago, the Oldsmobile Scramjet would have dominated.
Final score: 377 points
5th place: LaVache-Bell Brecon
At first we didn't know what to do with this, but the Brecon is surprisingly competitive without breaking the bank. It costs just $15,200 to build one of these, but it does 174mph (the fastest entry that isn't the Blitzwing) and got a miserly 14,6mpg when we drove it (again best car if you're into that sort of thing). Sure the front looks a bit ...shit but the aesthetics of dat ass are among the best here. The comfort wasn't great which cost the Brecon dearly but particularly the incredible Price yielded an admirable result in this competitive environment.
Final score: 382 points
4th place: LaVache-Erin Volanti VS-1
While we were no big fans of the design, the Volanti was definetely one of the most polished entries here. Interestingly those funny brits at Erin chose to use the small-bore 4.1L engine unlike every other competitor. I don't know either, is gas more expensive in Europea? It really was a difficult task to find any inherent flaws with the Volanti, but we found one. It'd cost us $26,040 to build one of them.
Final score: 388 points.
3rd place: LaVache-Komodo LandCorde
Another east asian entry. Thankfully this one is a bit easier on both the eye and the wallet. Just $17,600 for 5.0L 4-seater coupe? Hell yeah. So much like the Brecon the LandCorde gains its points from the incredible value.
Unlike the walisian car though it comes closer to being a proper LaVache, as it won't break your back when given the task of dealing with potholes.
Final score: 393 points
2nd place: LaVache-First Order Jetstar
No we just love the name. It's also the most balanced of entries apart from 1st place. It too is quite affordable, being below $20k and the overall experience was simply nice. It's 95% as good as the Volanti and TauroJet, at bargain price.
Final score: 402 points
1st place: LaVache STF TauroJet
I am perplexed by this one. On paper it shouldn't win. It has only 318hp, weighs over 4000lbs and is by far the slowest accelerating car here. But it is by far the largest. STF did not bother shortening the chassis, and as a result the TauroJet offers the most generous interior by miles, the very long wheelbase results in excellent ride comfort and despite being underpowered it is aerodynamic enough to reach a very good top speed. Coming back to the interior it really does offer laszivious amounts of poltrona frau leather and acres of italian flair. It even has an Espresso machine in the center console. Ok maybe that was a lie. The TauroJet is the Chrysler TC by Maserati done right, and that really sums it up.
Final score: 422 points
Congratulations dspgt, STF gets the contract to build the TauroJet for us! Lets just hope that the italian flair doesn't infect the electrics.
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:54 am
