2015 Los Angeles Auto Show

To kickoff the holiday season, I chose to focus on three performance cars which should be on every enthusiast’s wish list. Here’s the quick scoop on a few must-know sports car I saw at this year’s LA Auto Show:

Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport

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Porsche filled the Los Angeles Convention Center’s Petree Hall with a delightful assortment of German beauties, mostly sporting silver paint—the country’s historic racing color. One display model in particular wore a more decorative livery, the Cayman GT4 Clubsport, which is currently making it’s world debut at the LA Auto Show. The flashy decals are more than just for looks: the GT4 Clubsport takes the wildly popular Cayman GT4 recipe and adds a dash of track-preparedness in the form of suspension parts borrowed from the 911 GT3 Cup.

Weighing just 2,866 lbs., the GT4 Clubsport comes fitted from the factory with a single racing bucket seat, a welded roll-cage, a six-point harness, and most importantly, the 385-hp 3.8-liter flat-six from its road going counterpart mounted amidship. Power is delivered to a modified version of Porsche’s six-speed double clutch PDK transmission, making its way to the ground via a mechanical locking diff, engineered specifically for competition.

The Cayman GT4 Clubsport is available directly through Porsche Motorsport North America for $165,000.

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio

Related: Alfa Romeo Giulia: The New Italian Stallion

If you’re going to go head-to-head with the big boys in the performance mid-size sedan segment, namely BMW and Mercedes, you better come packing some serious heat. Alfa Romeo’s newest model for the North American market, the Giulia Quadrifoglio, does just that, endowed with a 505-hp 2.9-liter bi-turbo V6 derived from Ferrari.

The Giulia’s muscular lines are shaped around Alfa’s “Giorgio” platform, a lightweight, rear-wheel-drive architecture with a low center of gravity, which will serve as the foundation for the full Giulia model range, including the entry-level, 276-hp four-cylinder turbo sedan we will see eventually.

An active aero front splitter made of carbon fiber, use of carbon fiber in the driveshaft, hood and roof and optional carbon-ceramic brakes all hint at a seriously fast sedan. Alfa have already gone and proven that these trick bits aren’t just marketing spiel: the Giulia holds the title of the “fastest ever four-door production sedan” to lap the Nurburgring with a posted 7:39.

Alfa’s eagerly anticipated muscle-bound four-door will go on sale second-quarter 2016 as a 2017 model with a starting MSRP of around $70,000.

Lamborghini Huracán LP 580-2

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Although the latest iteration of Lamborghini’s entry-level model, the Huracán LP 580-2, actually has less power than its standard counterpart (580-hp vs. 610 for the Huracán LP 610-4), I reckon complaints will be hard to hear over the shriek of melting Pirelli PZeros tires (specifically designed for the new model). The tail-happy shenanigans are exactly what the LP 580-2 was built for, with “driving emotion” cited as a principle engineering goal rather than outright performance.

The LP 580-2 receives a redesign from the LP 610-4 and further embraces the company’s new aeronautic styling philosophy. Also reworked are the stability and traction control systems, the power management system and the double wishbone suspension system, all tailor-made for a sporty driving experience which will surely include tons of oversteer, counter-steering and opposite lock.

One great thing about shedding the all-wheel-drive system is customers get passed down pretty hefty discount. The Huracán LP 580-2 retails at $201,100, which is about a $40,000 cheaper than an LP 610-4 coupe.