1991 Buick Park Ave Hood Emblem Badge 13-0710e on 2040-parts.com

Build your Mini Cooper Hardtop

We suspect that your initial inclination upon the discovery of a new model's configurator is to throw gobs and gobs of equipment at a car to see just how high the price will go. After all, that's what we tend to do. It's especially satisfying with German automakers — notably Porsche and BMW — who seem to have turned option pricing into something bordering on absurdist theatre.

Ford FF1 road-legal single-seater at 2013 Goodwood FoS. Heading for production?

The Ford FF1 – a single-seat, road-legal track car powered by Ford’ 1.0 litre EcoBoost engine – will get a public debut at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Ford built the FF1 as a showcase for the abilities of its little 1.0 litre, 3-cylinder EcoBoost engine, and it’s more than proved the point that modern 3-cylinder engines with small displacements and a bit of forced induction can be very appealing. In standard trim the FF1 produces 123 horses, but suitably tweaked to deliver a more fulsome 202 horses the FF1 took on the Nurburgring and managed to turn in a time of just 7:22 – quicker than a Zonda F, Enzo Ferrari, Nissan GT-R and 911 GT2 RS.

Porsche Panamera designer focused on rear-seat passengers

There's no mistaking it for anything but a Porsche, but with four doors and four full seats, the Panamera is like no previous Porsche. Styled by a team of in-house designers under the direction of Michael Mauer, the Panamera is 195.7 inches long, 76.0 inches wide and 55.8 inches tall--making it slightly shorter but wider and lower than the Maserati Quattroporte, with which it shares a coupelike profile. As with all such silhouettes, "the real challenge is giving the rear-seat passengers enough headroom," says Mauer.