Edmunds CarPool

James Riswick for England and the Aston Martin DBS
Wait, I'm going up against what? A Hyundai? You mean that stupid Lexus didn't get through? That's probably for the best as it means people aren't dumb enough to even hypothetically buy lease a $350,000 Toyota.

But really, a Hyundai? I was just in Korea. I like Korea, I like Koreans and I like their cars. But come on now. I'm pretty sure I could knock out the Genesis Coupe with George Lazenby's Aston Martin DBS let alone Daniel Craig's. I could start reading off numbers like 6.0-liter V12, 510 horsepower, 0-60 in 4 seconds, yada, yada and yada. I could say such things as 'aluminium', carbon fiber, leather everything and Sapphire crystal on the damn key. I could say it's one of the rare supercars you'd be pleased to drive across the country in without it beating the snot out of you.

I could say all that, but all one has to do is just look at it. It's gorgeous, it's an Aston Martin, it's unspeakably awesome. The other car here is a Hyundai.

Mike Magrath for South Korea and the Hyundai Genesis Coupe
You lost me at George Lazen-someguynobodyknows. Sorry, James, your fascination with old British men in tuxedos has gone too far. And now it stops.

You can spout the numbers all you want: V-something, 5-something horsepowers blahblahblah. What you've really got there is a duded-up Ford with an expiration date. That Aston isn't going to age like Sean Connery, it's going to age like Buddy Holly. One day it will simply stop, unexpectedly, like all English cars, and be remembered for only the good it did. The English know how to raise cows that make good leather (though they buy some from Scotland and Switzerland, no?) and sew that up, and they can make a good engine ... they can't, however, figure out electrons.

Do you know who can work with electrons? Korea. Example: Everything not made in Taiwan or Japan. You know what else they can do? Have fun. Not in a stuffy, "oh my, you put raspberry in my tea!" way but in a 300-hp, dirt-cheap sports car way. The Hyundai Genesis may cost less than your precious Jag -- oh, you're defending Aston? Is there a difference? -- but it's a real car. It's a real car that will work today and work 10 years from now. They guarantee it.

Rebuttals

Riswick:
I could continue to discuss why an Aston Martin DBS is better than a Hyundai Genesis, but why bother? Most people have stopped reading by this point any way (if you haven't, mention Telly Savalas in your comment). So instead, to simply further punish Takahashi for selecting the LFA, I shall inform you about George Lazenby and why On Her Majesty's Secret Service is one of the best Bond films. I mean, you have the excellent direction of Peter Hunt who after establishing modern action film editing, utilized Johnny Jordan's Alpine aerial cinematography to ...

... 47 Minutes later ...

And that's not even mentioning Diana Rigg.

Magrath:
Bzzzzzzz?

I think this entire tournament was summed up here, "I could continue to discuss why an Aston Martin DBS is better than a Hyundai Genesis, but why bother?" I mean, why did Tyson even bother to step in the ring with Buster Douglas? Why didn't he just look at the spec sheet and the newspaper reports and call it a night victorious? Why did the Patriots even bother to show up against a real quarterback's little brother in 2008 (and why did we drive a Ford F-450 there?

This is a competition, Riswick, and that's where Aston falls short. They're British and laid back. They've already had an empire that ruled most of the world, why bother being so angry now? They're like an old prizefighter -- simply over the whole world domination thing. Hyundai is the new alpha-dog. Hyundai's scrappy and strong and won't settle for anything less than complete victory.

So sip your tea, and careful not to spill it on your tweed ... Hyundai Takes Round 2 ...

So who's cuisine reigns supreme?
Wait, that's Iron Chef

So which country and car wins?