CarBuzz Picks The Cars that Epitomize the SB XLVI Championship Teams

Feb. 05, 2012 7:56 AM ET by Phillip Harbor / 79 Comments

New England vs. New York. Brady vs. Manning (the younger one). Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 vs. Bugatti Veyron. The Super Bowl has arrived.

If you're anything like us, then you can't wait for Super Bowl XLVI to kick-off. Taking place in Lucas Oil Stadium (aka "The House that Peyton Built") in Indianapolis, Indiana, the 2012 Super Bowl is set to be one for the ages. In a rematch of the Big Game from the 2007-08 season, Peyton Manning's younger brother Eli will lead his New York Giants team against the New England Patriots.

The CarBuzz crew, in true automotive-nerd fashion, could think of no better way to gear up for this year's game than to debate which popular car personifies each prolific team and to debate their merits in a Super Bowl preview. If you are going to choose a car to represent the Bill Belichick-led New England Patriots, then you have to pick one that has consistently performed well for years and years. The Porsche 911 fits that description. Every year it comes with superb performance in all its variations, just like the Pats and their multiple play packages.

The team this year, unlike their previous three Super Bowl winning teams, features plenty of new players and is a perfect parable for the new 991 version of the 911 - same body style (substitute for QB Tom Brady and Coach Belichick) with a slew of new technology (substitute new offensive standouts like TEs Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski). When the Patriots are playing 'on song', they are one of the best teams in the NFL. They reach the automotive equivalent of a supercar, say, the Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. The Tom Coughlin-led New York Giants are a bit tougher to decipher, as they have plenty of supercar quality.

They don't always execute or perform the way they should, hence their regular season record of 9-7. Coughlin is one of the elder statesmen of the NFL and the Giants are one of the more storied franchises in the league, reminding one of an older automotive company with a rich history. Bugatti fits the bill and their Veyron supercar runs just like the Giants. When they play at top gear, their defensive line is ferocious and their lightning-fast core of receivers is one of the top rated in the league.

The Veyron SS's record for a production car top speed of 268mph is personified in the form of breakout player WR Victor Cruz and his companion WRs Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham. The big Bugatti Veyron is known to blast of the line with a powerful rapid acceleration thanks to its 1,001hp (1,200hp for the SS) 8-liter quad-turbocharged W16 engine and reminds one of bruising 6'4" 264lbs RB Brandon Jacobs taking a handoff and plowing into the line of scrimmage with thunderous force. The 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 runs on a 500hp naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six.

It can sprint from 0-60mph in a quick 3.7 seconds and hit 124mph in under 12 seconds. It reaches a top speed of 193mph. The Bugatti Veyron runs from 0-62mph in a blistering 2.46 seconds and can reach 186.4mph in only 14.6 seconds. It tops out at the aforementioned 268mph in SS trim and 253.81mph in standard guise. The spread, according to Bovada, has the Porsche Patriots as favorites to win by 3 points at -120. CarBuzz is going against the spread to pick for the winner of Super Bowl XLVI. In a close one right down to the wire, the New York Veyron Giants pull off the, albeit very close, upset. So, who ya got in tonight's big game?

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