Gallery: The 11 Hottest Rides Driving This Year's LA Auto Show
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In 2015, Porsche won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, finally ending Audi's decade of dominance in the famous French race. This summer, Porsche did it again. It's looking to extend its newfound dominance to GT racing in 2017 with the all-new 911 RSR. Carrying a 4.0-liter, 6-cylinder engine and a rear wing that looks like it came from a 737, this German racer is all carbon fiber and even boasts a collision avoidance system.
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When Mazda engineers and designers talk about their cars, they harp on what they call "KODO---Soul of Motion design philosophy." Whatever that really means, the newly unveiled RT24-P racecar packs a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder, turbocharged engine that pumps out 600 horsepower. Sounds good.
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Aston Martin's been on something of a roll lately. It's finally got some money, it's making new cars, it finally revamped its flagship DB series with the DB11. And now, it continuing the hot streak with the Vanquish S, which the Brits have dubbed an "ultimate super GT." Ignore the branding and pay attention to the naturally aspirated V12 that pumps out 580 hp, along with upgraded aerodynamics that make the Vanquish look better than ever.
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The words "Honda" and "Civic" may not be the most exciting in the automotive world, but there's reason to get excited here. Honda promises the 2017 Civic Si, which it showed in LA as a prototype, will be the fastest and most powerful Si ever. Sporty design, an aero kit, and a six-speed manual transmission make for a potent combination.
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A year after getting caught cheating emissions tests around the world, Volkswagen is starting to make amends with a new series of electric vehicles. First up is the 2017 e-Golf, which packs a new 35.8-kWh battery pack for a 124-mile range. Wunderbar, at least so far.
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After showing off the CH-R as a concept in Los Angeles last year, Toyota confirmed this week it will build the slightly funky "Coupe High Rider" starting in 2018. Riding on 18-inch wheels and powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, it promises to be a daily driver with an extra dash of style.
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Jaguar built its reputation on sports cars and swanky sedans, but it knows the future is all about bigger cars and electricity. So it produced the I-Pace Concept, which wedges the spaciousness and visibility of an SUV into something that still looks like a sports car. The fully electric production version already has plenty of competition: Bentley, Porsche, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati are all moving into this space.
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History still matters to the Brits, which is why Jaguar has assigned a team to recreate nine "lost" XKSS sports cars, which were destroyed in a fire in 1957. Jag showed off the first of those cars in LA, which it built using the original frames, with some help from modern computer design programs. From the wood steering wheel to the brass knobs to the carburetors under the hood, it's a car to make you believe in the past.
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More than 20 years after the groundbreaking F1 put the driver front and center, McLaren is [reviving the layout with the BP23](https://stag-komodo.wired.com/2016/11/mclaren-bp23/). The automaker has released next to nothing about its upcoming "Hyper-GT," except that it will be a hybrid (a common move in the uppermost echelon of supercars), and that it will offer bananas performance specs. Expect to see a prototype sometime next year, and a production version in 2019.
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Alfa Romeo's in the midst of a comeback in the US, and its latest move is the 2018 Stelvio. The baby SUV blends Alfa's classic traits---lovely design, sporty dynamics---into the larger package Americans can't get enough of. Plus, it'll produce more than 500 horsepower and run from 0 to 60 mph in under four seconds.
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OK, minivans may not evoke the classic, James Dean version of cool, but they're great for the folks who need a comfortable, practical way to move lots of people and junk around town. Now that [Chrysler's Pacifica comes as a plug-in hybrid](https://stag-komodo.wired.com/2016/11/chryslers-electric-pacifica-minivan-everyman/), with a battery that provides 30 miles of electric cruising, it could bring some cool back into the lives of moms and dads across America.
