The Buell Lightning CityX is the ultimate commuter machine, weekend getaway ticket and amateur track racer in your market. This 984cc City Cross bike features the highest torque to weight ratio in its class, providing scary power when you need to get up and go. Buell’s emphasis on this and other Buell bikes is performance and reliability, employing a non-water-cooled system which avoids many common street bike mishaps.  Its beauty speaks for itself– its hard not to salivate at that naked street bike above. Since spring has sprung in most parts of the country, the pavement is thawed and ready for you to leave some skid marks…

Buy: $8,895

The 2008 New York Auto Show is the four-wheeled version of CES for computer geeks or that adult video trade show in Vegas–there’s plenty to stare at and fondle and you get to be one of the lucky few to get up close and personal with the hottest models you’ve been reading about. After the jump we’ll take a look at what this year’s show (which wraps up Sunday night March 30 at 7PM) and some of what you’ll find if you can make it the Javits Center in NYC this weekend.

This is the tale of one of the most recognized cars in the world. The Ferrari story is told here with the full cooperation of Ferrari with 350 amazing pictures, including many firsts for the company. Want to know what the very first Ferrari for consumers looked like? Yes, the Farina Cabriolet is in here. Also on display in these pages–the F50, known as the fastest road car ever, and Grand Prix and Formula One lovers won’t be disappointed. Drivers and designers get their day in the sun with first-person accounts of legendary match-ups of Ferraris vs. Ford and Porsche. Whether you’re a motorhead or just love high performance machines, this one is worth checking out. 344 pages worth of hard-driving Ferrari cool.

Buy: $29.70

The appearance alone is enough to make you want one. The truth is, the Aprilia RSV 1000R was the fastest bike around ten out of twelve curves and captured the fastest top speed at the end of six out of twelve straights during the 2006 Master Bike Shootout. Not only did it win the 06′ Master Bike, it dominated the competition. The engine pushes 143HP, and deploys a set of Triple Bridge, radial caliper front brakes, developed by Aprilia in conjunction with Brembo to rear the beast. The rear brakes are Brembo as well and have a 220-mm stainless disc and a caliper with two 32-mm pistons. The gold painted wheels are wrapped in Pirelli SuperCorsa Pro 120/70 - 190/55 ZR 17 tires. This super-bike demonstrates a perfect balance of quality, technology, high-tech components and finish.

Buy: $17,999

The five-door BMW 1 Series. Available in a manual straight-six with active steering, rear-wheel drive and an aluminum front axle, plus the innovative auto start/stop feature. When the vehicle comes to a complete halt, the engine will automatically stop, just put it in neutral and take your foot off the brake. Nice, eh? This function won’t engage if the engine hasn’t reached the ideal moving temperature, or if the air conditioning hasn’t started cooling you down yet. If the car begins to roll, the engine starts right back up again. Sure, that red color is a cop-magnet, but can you resist?

Build: for pricing.

Forget about bespoke suits…how about a bespoke motor vehicle? The Zonda Roadster by Pagani is just that–only 40 of these will be made, custom designed to order using “precious leathers”, aluminum, carbon fiber and amazing attention to detail. This awe-inspiring concept is the brainchild of Horacio Pagani, who designed his first high-performance machine at age 20. Lest you think he was just puttering around in his garage, the results of that first effort raced for Argentina under Renault’s official colors. Not bad for a guy barely two decades old, eh? With respect to the Zonda Roadster, if you have to ask how much this costs, you can’t afford it. But it IS lustworthy, no?

Contact for details.

The Audi R8 is a perfectly balanced, supremely designed, all-wheel drive sports car. It’s sleek layout is complemented with a 420 hp V8 4.2L FSI engine and rear-biased quattro(R) all-wheel drive system. A 4.4 second 0-60 time and a top speed of 187 mph proves it’s no slouch. The interior is equally as impressive and Audi’s flat-bottomed steering wheel is the perfect touch. Audi offers two transmissions, the six-speed manual or the six-speed R-tronic. The R-tronic transmission can be controlled using paddles on the steering wheel, capping off it’s super-car feel. Options include carbon-fiber “sideblade” exterior styling panels, a Bang & Olufsen premium stereo, a navigation system and upgraded napa leather. As if it couldn’t get any better, it’s priced far below the competition.

Buy: from $109,000.

This Maserati goes from luxury to thrills in 4.9 seconds. A brand known for making the elite in luxury vehicles is raising the stakes with their new performance monster: the GranTurismo S. The “S” model of their GranTurismo packs a 440HP V8 under its hood alongside new performance features and subtle design enhancements. While the standard GranTurismo by Maserati is a beast on its own, the “S” model pushes this car into high-performance territory. Grrrowl.

[Maserati.com]

Grrrowl.  That’s one mean looking kitten, if you ask us.  The new 2009 XF continues the Jaguar tradition of merging class and style with power and performance.  The supercharged model XF is powered by a hungry 420 horsepower V8.  And while the exterior styling speaks for itself, its what’s inside that matters.  Luxury features abound in the 2009 XF– this cat includes a 7″ touch screen control system, filtered automatic climate control, a DVD-based GPS nav system, a rear-view camera, adaptive cruise control and more.  Kitchen sink sold seperately.

Buy from $47,975.

In car PC’s were normally a dream of a geeky handyman, but the Navisurfer II has just made it a whole lot easier to replace a car’s stereo, GPS, DVD player, rear-view camera display, game console, communications center and even a wireless internet connection, all with one device. The first ever single din “carputer” is easy to install, with several modesl available.[jalopnik]

Buy - $578/$656