Aston Martin

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Aston Martin Vanquish Carbon Edition – How Nice!

If like me you think the Aston Martin Vanquish is one of the best looking super cars around then you are going to love the Carbon Edition of the Vanquish Coupe and Volante models.

Due to be formally unveiled at the Paris Motor show next month, the Carbon Edition brings unique cosmetic niceties to the regular Vanquish, including black window surrounds, blacked-out headlight trim, 10-spoke gloss-black alloys and an interior decked out with herringbone carbon-fibre trim, anodised black speaker grilles for the Bang & Olufsen audio system and available quilted leather upholstery.

Available in either black or white, the Carbon Edition pack follows similar treatments already available on the Vantage, DB9 and DBS.

Under the bonnet of the Carbon Edition Vanquish resides a familiar 6.0-litre V12 engine producing 424kW and 630Nm of torque, sending power to the rear wheels via a new eight-speed automatic.

The combination endows the Vanquish with a claimed 0-100kmh acceleration time of 3.6 seconds, and a top speed of 322kmh. Fuel consumption, meanwhile, is rated at a relatively economical (for a large capacity V12) 12.9L/100km combined.For those after a suit for every occasion, Aston Martin has revealed new Carbon Edition of its flagship Vanquish Coupe and Volante models.

Due to be formally unveiled at the Paris Motor show next month, the Carbon Edition brings unique cosmetic niceties to the regular Vanquish, including black window surrounds, blacked-out headlight trim, 10-spoke gloss-black alloys and an interior decked out with herringbone carbon-fibre trim, anodised black speaker grilles for the Bang & Olufsen audio system and available quilted leather upholstery.

Available in either black or white, the Carbon Edition pack follows similar treatments already available on the Vantage, DB9 and DBS.

Under the bonnet of the Carbon Edition Vanquish resides a familiar 6.0-litre V12 engine producing 424kW and 630Nm of torque, sending power to the rear wheels via a new eight-speed automatic.

The combination endows the Vanquish with a claimed 0-100kmh acceleration time of 3.6 seconds, and a top speed of 322kmh. Fuel consumption, meanwhile, is rated at a relatively economical (for a large capacity V12) 12.9L/100km combined.For those after a suit for every occasion, Aston Martin has revealed new Carbon Edition of its flagship Vanquish Coupe and Volante models.

Due to be formally unveiled at the Paris Motor show next month, the Carbon Edition brings unique cosmetic niceties to the regular Vanquish, including black window surrounds, blacked-out headlight trim, 10-spoke gloss-black alloys and an interior decked out with herringbone carbon-fibre trim, anodised black speaker grilles for the Bang & Olufsen audio system and available quilted leather upholstery.

Available in either black or white, the Carbon Edition pack follows similar treatments already available on the Vantage, DB9 and DBS.

Under the bonnet of the Carbon Edition Vanquish resides a familiar 6.0-litre V12 engine producing 424kW and 630Nm of torque, sending power to the rear wheels via a new eight-speed automatic.

The combination endows the Vanquish with a claimed 0-100kmh acceleration time of 3.6 seconds, and a top speed of 322kmh. Fuel consumption, meanwhile, is rated at a relatively economical (for a large capacity V12) 12.9L/100km combined.

Source – http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/10491765/All-black-Aston-Martin-Vanquish-Carbon-Edition

Now that is one stylish looking car

Meet the New Aston Martin Vanquish 2015

As a big fan of Aston’s I was excited the read about the new Aston Martin Vanquish 2015. In my opinion the Vanquish has the best looks of all the models and the new vanquish does not disappoint.

On my to do list of things I must do before I get too old is too hire an Aston and drive it through the UK and Europe taking in all the beauty spots each country has to offer.

With this in mind I was intrigued to read a review of the aston martin vanquish 2015 where the writer had the opportunity to take the the car and drive it in the Scottish Highlands.

If you have an idea of taking a great sports car and taking it on a grand tour you will enjoy this.

The worst aspect of cutting edge CGI and audio technology in today’s world is that it’s taught us to question our primary senses. We’ve seen and heard so many (apparently) realistic portrayals of colossal robots, epic space travel and earth-shattering destruction we’ve instinctively developed an inner voice that pipes up whenever we witness the fantastical. The message? “Sure, that looks and sounds amazing, but of course it’s not real.” While this voice is usually an asset, helping us separate fantasy from reality, its skeptical nature can be a burden when you’re piloting a spectacular supercar through the equally spectacular Scottish Highlands. Under these circumstance, ideally, one turns off all brain filters and simply drinks in the natural and mechanical eye candy.

Such was the case during a recent road test between Loch Ness and the North Atlantic Coast in a 2015 Aston Martin Vanquish. In this circumstance, immersed in the visceral ambience of Aston Martin’s premier performance coupe while traversing the visual tapestry that is northern Scotland, one might reasonably question one’s surroundings. Peering through the Vanquish’s sloped windshield reveals deep blue lakes and lochs nestled between jagged mountains bathed in lush greens and deep grays. Throw in an uncharacteristic partly-to-mostly-sunny sky and you’re convinced it’s all some grand illusion the folks at Aston Martin orchestrated to emphasize the Vanquish’s latest improvements.

 

Of course driving an Aston Martin, in any atmosphere, can inspire disbelief. “Is the 6.0-liter, V12 engine really capable of such operatic sound quality?” was a question I quickly processed and dismissed. I’ve driven enough Aston Martins to know the unrivaled quality of their exhaust notes. “Is a car as luxurious and substantial as the 2015 Vanquish really capable of zero-to-60 mph in 3.6 seconds? Can the V12′s 568 peak horsepower actually push the sinuous coupe to over 200 mph?” That question took a bit longer to unravel than the exhaust query, because among the Vanquish’s improvements for 2015 is an all-new 8-speed transmission that maximizes every one of the V12′s 568 horses and 465 pound-feet of peak torque.

Aston Martin Vanquish Rear Black

If you’re lucky enough to have first-hand experience with last year’s Vanquish (count me among that fortunate group) you’ll notice the performance upgrades immediately. The previous car certainly wasn’t slow, with a zero-to-60 time of around 4.1 seconds, but that half-second improvement to the 2015 Aston Martin Vanquish’s acceleration can be felt even without mashing the gas pedal because of newfound immediacy to throttle response.

Aston Martin Vanquish Black Driving

The Vanquish always maintains its stately nature, but switching from the 6- to 8-speed transmission for 2015 means tighter gear ratios, and that means things happen much quicker when your right foot seeks forward movement. Like every modern automaker, Aston Martin isn’t simply chasing more horsepower these days (though the Vanquish’s V12 did gain 3 horsepower and 7 lb-ft of toque through engine tweaks for 2015).

More horsepower brings with it more heat and, quite often, reduced fuel efficiency. Better to leverage the existing power in the most effective way possible, which is exactly what the new, rear-mounted ZF 8-speed transaxle does. While the transmission utilizes a traditional torque converter rather than a dual-clutch design, shifts happen in as little as 130 milliseconds when the Vanquish is set to “Sport” mode, a setting that also quickens throttle response and puts the transmission in a more aggressive shift mode.

Connecting the engine and transaxle is an aluminum torque tube meant to reduce parasitic loss through its lightweight design and fixed link (no u-joints involved). These drivetrain upgrades have accomplished the trifecta in automotive evolution — higher performance, improved refinement and superior fuel efficiency. Along with more power, quicker acceleration and a greater top speed, the Vanquish’s EPA ratings move from last year’s 13 city/19 highway mpg to 13 city/21 highway mpg.

Aston Martin Vanquish Rear Black

The 2015 Vanquish’s ride and handling behavior has been similarly upgraded through a series of chassis revisions. The front and rear springs are stiffer by 15 and 35 percent, respectively. The rear bushings are also 20 percent stiffer and a stronger rear anti-roll bar, as well as updated camber and toe settings, reduce body roll while improving turn-in. New, lighter 10-spoke forged wheels now ride on upgraded Pirelli PZero tires (255/35-20 front, 305/30-20 rear), and a larger dynamic spread between the Normal, Sport and Track settings for the adaptive suspension give the Vanquish a shaper, more nimble demeanor than one expects from a plush grand-touring coupe. Additional changes for 2015 include new leather trim color options (Dark Knight and Fandango Pink) and a new Diavalo Red exterior paint.

Aston Martin Vanquish Interior Black
Of course, with the just-introduced Q by Aston Martin bespoke service Aston Martin buyers now have an almost unlimited number of personalized options available to them. The range of vehicle customization goes far beyond simply color-matching the leather seats to your wife’s favorite nail polish hue. If you’re looking to create a Vanquish like no other, Aston Martin has a team of designers ready to assist you. The cost for this service adds to the 2015 Vanquish coupe’s starting price of $287,820 ($305,820 for the Vanquish Volante convertible).

Aston Martin Vanquish Scotland

Source – http://www.forbes.com/sites/kbrauer/2014/08/11/2015-aston-martin-vanquish-bringing-reality-to-unreal/
Wow doesn’t that look an amazing trip. Want to do the same?
Get a quote today and hire a aston martin vanquish in the Uk or Europe and do your fantasy grand tour

Who wins in the Jaguar F-Type Coupe vs Aston Martin V8 Vantage head to head?

We have spent a lot of time over the recent months talking about the growth in the luxury car market. We think its now time to get back to what we all love to hear and read………luxury cars in a head to head to be top dog!

Having a car that is a celebrated automotive icon in your heritage isn’t always a good thing. Just ask Jaguar. For decades, the brand has barely been able to mention the word coupe without inevitable comparisons to its legendary E-Type.

Although some car makers would buckle under the pressure to recreate a modern version of their most famous car, Jaguar has taken its time and gone its own way. The F-Type Convertible was launched last year, and has proven much more than a tribute act. Now, the Coupe version adds strength to the line-up.

We’ve already tested the entry-level Coupe, where it finished a whisker behind the Porsche Cayman S. However, the flagship £85,000 V8 R is a serious supercar challenger.

Here it will need to prove its ability against one of the best in the business – the Aston Martin V8 Vantage. To make life tougher, Aston has created a special welcome gift in the form of the N430 limited edition. With 430bhp on tap, plus 20kg less weight and a raft of extras, the exclusive Aston is priced at £91,080 – just £6,080 more than its rival.

Has Jaguar created a car that can eclipse models in the supercar sector, or will the Aston Martin’s heritage and power prove that it takes more than a famous ancestor to be a performance car legend?

Head-to-head

Engines

Despite their differences in power delivery, the Jaguar and Aston are powered by what is essentially the same AJ-V8 engine. The Vantage’s hand-built 4.7-litre features a dry-sump oil system that allows it to be mounted lower in the car to reduce the centre of gravity. The F-Type’s newer 5.0-litre version features a twin vortex supercharger that boosts power and gives a more immediate throttle response.

Brakes

Both these models feature well engineered braking systems. The Jag also comes with the option of carbon-ceramic discs for £7,400. However, during our tests, the carbon-ceramic set-up offered little difference in performance. This isn’t needed unless you plan on some serious track time.

Transmissions

Manual or auto? It’s a choice that’s divided performance car fans for decades. Those who prefer the control offered by the former will love the Aston’s old-school transmission. But if you’re happy to let technology do the heavy lifting, the Jaguar’s eight-speed auto is one of the best.

Bespoke coupes

The Jaguar F-Type Coupe has plenty of standard kit, but you can still add lots of extras to personalise the car to your tastes. Standard metallic paint is £700, although our test model’s Firesand Orange paint is a £1,250 extra, while the 20-inch Storm wheels come with the £7,400 carbon ceramic brake package. The V8 R gets a 20-inch six-spoke alloys as standard, while optional wheels range from £500-£1,500. You can also add panoramic glass for £1,250.

Inside, there are seven leather options, or you can specify ‘Suedecloth’ trim (£1,500). The red interior pack (£2,155) adds red trim to the doors, seats, dash and centre console. The N430 is a limited edition, but it’s available in coupe and roadster bodystyles. There are five colour schemes to choose from, each with different detailing. As well as black with silver trim, you can go for green and yellow, blue and red, silver and white or white and red.

Aston also offers carbon fibre add-ons inside and out, plus four brake caliper colours, and contrast stitching in the same colours. You can also opt for Alcantara on the seats and steering wheel, and there’s even a tailor-made N430 luggage set.

Verdict

1st: Jaguar F-Type Coupe

Just when we thought the F-Type couldn’t get any better, the flagship Coupe version comes along to prove us wrong. Where previous fast Jags have always flattered to deceive, the F-Type has the handling and performance to match its gorgeous design. The drivetrain is flawless, while the chassis combines typical Jaguar comfort and refinement with scalpel-sharp responses. A fantastic effort from a true British institution.

2nd: Aston Martin V8 Vantage

It seems harsh to describe a car which is so timelessly handsome as the Vantage as being in its twilight years, but that’s exactly what it is. However, while it finishes second here, it has lost none of its charm. Aston is now actively marketing the Vantage as an ‘analogue-era’ supercar, and for many, the challenge of having to work hard to extract its performance will be the main reason for choosing it.

Figures

Jaguar F-Type V8 R Aston Martin V8 Vantage N430
On the road price/total as tested £85,000/£104,360 £91,080/£96,245
Residual value (after 3yrs/36,000) £38,199/44.9% N/A
Depreciation £46,801 N/A
Annual tax liability std/higher rate £5,870/£11,740 £6,383/£12,766
Annual fuel cost (12k/20k miles) £3,198/£5,330 £3,919/£6,532
Ins. group/quote/road tax band/cost 50/£989/M/£500 50/£1,609/M/£500
Cost of 1st/2nd/3rd service £331 per year (3yrs) £651/£680/£651
Length/wheelbase 4,470/2,622mm 4,382/2,601mm
Height/width 1,321/1,923 1,260/1,866mm
Engine V8 s’charged/5,000cc V8/4,735cc
Peak power/revs 543/6,500 bhp/rpm 430/7,300 bhp/rpm
Peak torque/revs 680/3,500 Nm/rpm 490/5,000 Nm/rpm
Transmission 8-spd auto/rwd 6-spd man/rwd
Fuel tank capacity/spare wheel 70 litres/repair kit 80 litres/repair kit
Boot capacity 315 litres 300 litres
Kerbweight/payload 1,650/400kg 1,610/300kg
Turning circle 10.9 metres 11.4 metres
Basic warranty (miles)/recovery 3yrs (unlimited)/3yrs 3yrs (unlimited)/3yrs
Service intervals/UK dealers 16,000 miles (1yr)/97 10,000 miles/22
Driver Power manufacturer/dealer pos. 2nd/7th* N/A
0-60/30-70mph 3.9/3.0 secs 4.9/3.9 secs
30-50mph in 3rd/4th 2.3/3.0 secs 2.9/4.4 secs
50-70mph 5th/6th/7th/8th 3.2/5.4/6.9 secs/N/A 5.5/7.4 secs/N/A/N/A
Top speed/rpm at 70mph 186mph/1,500rpm 190mph/2,500rpm
Braking 70-0/60-0/30-0mph 49.1/35.3/9.3m 49.2/35.7/9.1m
Noise outside/idle/30/70mph 66/51/65/71dB 67/51/68/75dB
Auto Express econ (mpg/mpl)/range 23.9/5.3/368 miles 19.5/4.3/343 miles
Govt urban/extra-urban/combined 17.8/34.0/25.5mpg 14.4/27.2/20.5mpg
Govt urban/extra-urban/combined 3.9/7.5/5.6mpl 3.2/6.0/4.5mpl
Actual/claimed CO2/tax bracket 273/259g/km/35% 335/321g/km/35%
Airbags/Isofix/rear parking camera Four/yes/£255 Four/yes/£995
Automatic box/stability/cruise ctrl Yes/yes/yes £5,000/yes/yes
Climate ctrl/leather/heated seats Yes/yes/£350 Yes/yes/£495
Met paint/xenon lights/keyless go £700/yes/£450 Yes/yes/no
Sat-nav/USB connection/Bluetooth Yes/yes/yes £1,795/yes/£484
Source http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/jaguar/f-type/87845/jaguar-f-type-coupe-vs-aston-martin-v8-vantage

Ex-Lomond boss Hugh McMahon buys dealership in Edinburgh

Motor industry entrepreneur Hugh McMahon has bought Murray Motor Group’s Rolls Royce and Aston Martin business in Edinburgh.

Partnered by son Chris, the former Lomond Audi owner has taken over the luxury car dealership in a buy-out worth more than of £3 million. The deal was funded by Barclays’ Scottish corporate banking team.

Hugh McMahon has spent a lifetime in the motor trade starting out as a technician at the age of 16 before moving into sales – then management. He sold the Lomond Audi business in July 2012 and has been looking for a suitable enterprise since.

The Sighthill outlet is the sole authorised dealership for the luxury car brands in Scotland. The business currently turns over £20 million annually and the father-and-son team have plans to grow this to £30 million in the medium term.

Hugh McMahon said: ‘There is a strong opportunity to grow sales of both brands which are moving into an exciting stage of their development – Rolls Royce is celebrating 10 years under the ownership of the BMW Group and Aston Martin has been rejuvenated by new investment.’

Working with son Chris, who is operations director for the business and Brian Ritchie, finance director, Hugh also has plans to expand the dealership’s offering of luxury and performance used cars.

He added: ‘Our first priority, however, is to consolidate our existing position. We have taken over a good business but I want to make it a great business – for customers and employees.’

Source http://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/luxury-car-dealership-changes-hands-3m-buyout/82750

Aston Martin creates 250 jobs in South Warwickshire

Most of our blogs have recently talked about the growth we are seeing in the luxury car market. Nothing cements this more than the reports we are seeing of luxury car manufacturers investing money and creating jobs for new developments and proposed expansion. The latest news comes from the south Warwickshire-based luxury car-maker Aston Martin who is investing £20 million in new developments, with the creation of 250 jobs.

The 10,000 square metre extension will be the firm’s biggest development at its headquarters in Gaydon in recent history as it looks ahead to projects on creating new sports cars.

The new jobs – to be recruited for over the next few months – will be in a number of areas, including engineering, manufacturing and commerce.

Keith Stanton, Aston Martin’s manufacturing operations director, said: “I am very happy to be able to execute another part of our manufacturing strategy by extending our already highly-efficient facility.

“The improvements at Gaydon are a big step forward and the development will enable us to streamline and finesse our manufacturing processes which, in turn, will allow us to be leaner and even more competitive.”

He added: “We have the vision of being the best producer in the luxury sports car sector and a new facility, along with the support of our flexible, highly-efficient workforce, will enable us to achieve our goal.”

Meanwhile, more than 500 applications have been submitted for the 12 places available in the latest round of the firm’s apprenticeship scheme and 14 graduates will be taken on as employees this year.

Chief financial officer Hanno Kirner said: “We have confirmed that the coming years will see Aston Martin implementing the biggest investment programme in the 101-year history of the brand, with a plan to inject over £500 million into the company’s next generation of high performance sports cars.”

This first round of developments, expected to be complete next year, will include a new chassis and pilot build facility, new offices and an extension of the parts and logistics storage area.

Source http://www.kenilworthweeklynews.co.uk/news/local-news/south-warwickshire-luxury-car-brand-to-create-250-new-jobs-1-6087342

Here are the 10 optional extras on a luxury car that you DO NOT need!

Knowing what optional extras to go for on any luxury car can be daunting, but we have listed below the ones that you should reconsider or just stay away from and save your money!

We’ve all splashed out just a bit too much at one time or another. Did your TV really need gesture control, and have you ever actually used it? Why have you got a 750gb hard drive when all you use your computer for is YouTube and Facebook? And did you absolutely have to have the extra large onion rings with that sandwich?

Mind you, these personal excesses pale into insignificance compared to what some people are prepared to shell out for. Buying any luxury car is in and of itself excessive (after all, you could get around just as easily and comfortably in a Ford Mondeo…) but some buyers take it just that stage extra, and the car makers and tuning companies are more than happy to indulge their expensive, profitable whims…

10. Audi Design Selection leather

Ah, Audi. The company that gave us four wheel drive performance cars and utter domination at Le Mans. The company that says you can find advancement through technology. The company that created Audi Ultra – a rigorous programme to shed the weight and fight the flab to make its cars more efficient. The company that offers you leather seats that cost as much as an entire other car.

Seriously. If you buy an Audi A8 (and, as Barry Norman never actually said, why not?) and tick the box for Design Selection package in either Balao Brown or Marble Grey, you’re going to add €19,254 to the price of your car. That’s enough to buy an entire extra Octavia or Leon. Or two Ups. All that for some leather seats (they are made of nice leather, right enough) and some extra climate control buttons.

Sublime or ridiculous? Both at the same time.

Or you could have bought: A 1.2 TSI Seat Leon S.

9. Gold leaf paint

Carlsson, in spite of the rather Swedish-sounding name, is actually a German tuning company founded in 1989 by brothers Rolf and Andreas Hartge. The firm specialises in tweaking and modifying Mercedes-Benz models and will happily bling up, to your spec, anything from an A-Class all the way to a seven-seat R-Class. They even do kits for the Vito van. For the 2014 Geneva motor show, Carlsson really decided to push the boat out and presented a modified version of the new Mercedes S-Class. Only 25 of the CS50 Versailles model will be made, and all will come with modified 700hp V8 engines. And gold, lots of gold, so much gold that Auric Goldfinger would think it was a bit over the top. This isn’t just faux-gold trimming either, this is the real, weighty metal stuff, hand-beaten and applied to the instrument panel, the door cards, the window switches, even the cupholders. There’s even gold in the paint, just in case you were worried that you weren’t quite pulling off the South American tinpot dictator look. Cost? At least €800,000 to land one in Ireland, and that’s before Revenue create a special VRT category for gold leaf…

Sublime or ridiculous? Neither; just unbearably naff.

Or you could have bought: A 5-bed mansion on two-thirds of an acre just a stone’s throw from Adare Manor.

8. The Aston Martin Cygnet

Now, this is, strictly speaking, an entire car and not an option. However the original plan was for Aston Martin to offer its smallest, most efficient car ever only to those buyers who were already signing up for a new Vanquish, DB9 or whatever. At a price of around STG£30,000, it was certainly not cheap but hey, it was an extra car with an Aston Martin badge on the bonnet so bargain, right?

Not so fast. The Cygnet was nothing more than a tiny Toyota iQ tarted up with an Aston-style grille and some nasty-looking quilted leather seats. Aston suggested that it would make the ideal in-town runabout for those Aston customers who didn’t want to risk parking dings on their precious V12 Grand Tourers. A fair point, but then a normal Toyota iQ which cost about a third as much to buy would have done the same job. The whole idea was cooked up when Aston boss Ulrich Bez bumped into Toyota boss Akio Toyoda in the back of a garage at the Nurburgring 24hrs race. Both must have been inhaling a few too many tyre fumes that day. Essentially, buyers were being asked to pay way over the odds for a tiny car whose real purpose was simply to drag down Aston’s profligate corporate Co2 emissions. It was quietly taken out back for a meeting with the vet late last year.

Sublime or ridiculous? Utterly ridiculous.

Or you could have bought: An actually Toyota iQ (a brilliant little car) and pocketed the change.

7. Ferrari F12 Berlinetta carbon fibre filter box cover

While we often castigate the big German car companies for their skill in separating buyers from their money via the means of an extensive and expensive options list, let’s not forget that the Italians are just as keen on burrowing into your bank account and no more so than when you’ve signed up for a Ferrari. There are many silly and frivolous options you can spec on your Fezzer, but the cake must surely be taken by this, the STG£3,072 carbon-fibre silted box cover. That’s right, a lid for the bit that holds the air filter made from the same space age material that Formula One cars are built from. Surely, you would think, this is excellent. It must reduce the weight of the car, lower the centre of gravity, make it FASTER! Nope. It’s just silly. The standard plastic cover is just as light, and any potential weight saving could just as easily be made by leaving your watch at home. Or hitting the gym for a week.

Sublime or ridiculous? Ridiculous.

Or you could have bought: A Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Titanium watch, which would probably save the same amount of weight.

6. Porsche’s leather air vents

Sorry, having just said that the Italians were close to matching the Germans when it came to fleecing their customers, the Germans have nipped in with a last-minute equaliser – Porsche’s leather air vents. More and more car makers have been taking advantage of the fact that allowing customers to personalise and customise their cars means chunkier profit margins. Ford arguably started the trend with the original Mustang but everyone’s at it now. No-one more so than Porsche. Clearly, there are Porsche options that are aimed at actually improving the performance of the car. You can spec your 911 with a lighter lithium-ion battery for instance, or increase its grunt with the Power Kit option. Or you can spend STG£1,173 on having the air vent slats of your Panamera covered in leather. Yes, that’s right, the air vent slats. The little wiggly bits that direct the airflow either to your perma-tanned face or your diamond-encrusted jeans. In leather. It can even be in a different colour leather to the rest of the interior, if you like.

Sublime or ridiculous? Pointless…

Or you could have bought: Four Dyson Air Multiplyer fans.

5. Bentley furniture

You can buy just about anything branded with your favourite car logo these days. Porsche is the past master at this; everything from kettles to sunglasses to watches to wallets logo’ed up with the Porsche crest. Ferrari makes more money from licensing its Prancing Horse logo out to the makers of various jackets, t-shirts, baseball caps and pens while this very author still has a pair of Land Rover-badged boots gifted to him some years ago and very nice they are too. So how about a king0sized bed? Or a sideboard? Yup, really, you can buy these but only if your disposable income levels are on the disgusting side of plentiful. Bentley has been branching out into branded goods lately (its aftershave is surprisingly nice…) but surely the cake is been thoroughly taken by these outrageously expensive home furnishings. The ‘Canterbury’ bed will cost you STG£15,000 while the metal and veneer sideboard is a staggering STG£22,000. They aren’t strictly, we suppose, vehicular options but doubtless your Bentley dealer will happily include them on the invoice for your Mulsanne.

Sublime or ridiculous? Probably depends on the size and/or location of your house.

Or you could have bought: An Opel Meriva (bed) or a Ford Fiesta ST (sideboard).

4. Ferrari’s passenger-side speedo

You buy a Ferrari for two primary reasons; to look good when going slowly, and to feel good when going quickly. Both are pretty much the core competencies of any Ferrari and as we all know, there’s nothing a member of the opposite sex prefers than to see an attractive version of the other gender driving one. Ferraris are the wheeled version of dopamine, in that sense. However, one of the other points of driving a Ferrari is to demonstrate what a terrific driver you are; taming your Italian stallion as you go. The idea of putting a digital speedo (and rev-counter) in front of your passenger then is a little odd. Surely you don’t actually want anyone sitting in the other seat to know exactly how fast you were just going? They’ll either squeal and shout at you to slow down or shrug insouciantly and point out just how slow and unskilled you really are. The art of being a wannabe Fangio is in not letting people see how hard you are trying. This doesn’t help…

Sublime of ridiculous? Ridiculously unhelpful.

Or you could have bought: It’s a STG£2,400 option on the FF so, a lifetime subscription to The Irish Times for your passenger to look at instead.

3. Bentley’s iPod drawer

Bentley can offer you an entirely kitted-out mobile office in the back of your Mulsanne or Flying Spur. With multiple screens, a 4G internet connection and a Mac Mini stashed in the boot, it turns your sybaritic limo into a full-on den for deals on wheels. Buy. Sell. Buy. Long, Short. Etcetera. Still, that’s not entirely frivolous – after all, if you’re being driven around in the back of your Bentley you’re probably worth a bit and probably want to be worth a bit more, so being able to work and communicate on the move is actually quite a useful thing. However, Bentley can offer you a cutting-edge connectivity option that’s so utterly frivolous it almost defies description. It’s a drawer, inset into the dash of your Mulsanne, made of the same polished walnut veneer and lined with the same Connolly leather as the seats. And it’s for your iPod or iPhone. Most car companies make you stick your Pod into a handy cupholder, Some, Skoda chief amongst them, can offer you a handy custom-made slot to leave it in. Not Bentley though. Bentley reckons your iPhone needs to be pampered.

Sublime or ridiculous? iRidiculous.

Or you could have bought: A 64gb iPod Touch.

2. Hyundai Equus

We think of Hyundais as affordable, well-specified and possessed of a long warranty. They are rivals to the likes of Ford, VW and Opel. They are not luxury cars. Well, that’s not what Hyundai really wants you to think, or at least, if you’re in the United States, that’s not what they really want you to think. They want you to think of Hyundai as capable of mixing it with the likes of BMW and Mercedes as easily as it does with Ford and Opel. That’s why, in the US, you can buy cars like the Equus – a big, luxurious, imposing, rear-drive V8 saloon. It’s not half bad either; good to drive, refined and very, very comfy. And it’s got a champagne cooler in the back. Now, a mini-fridge in a Hyundai we could understand, but a specific champagne cooler? That’s the sort of thing you find in Commander Bond’s Aston, not a Korean-built exec saloon. Maybe it’s just a question of perspective, but even so, don’t expect to see this on a Santa Fe any time soon.

Sublime or ridiculous? Ridiculous.

Or you could have bought: Well, an Equus costs USD$62,000 so quite a lot of other things, really…

1. Rolls-Royce Starlight headlining

This is kind of a charming one. A few years back, Rolls-Royce decided to offer as an option a roof liner that replicated the night sky. It was originally offered on the first generation Phantom Coupe and seemed to be of similar provenance to the decision to fit the Phantom Drophead with a cloth roof instead of a folding steel item – because it’s more romantic to hear the patter of soft summer rain on a cloth hood. Similarly, the idea of feeding tiny fibre-optic lights into the headlining to replicate the night sky from within seems rather romantically lovely. A nice touch. It all gets a bit undermined when you dig a little deeper though. You see, for a fee, Rolls-Royce can layout the ‘stars’ to replicate the view of the night sky from a chosen point on the Earth on a chosen date. Your birthday, perhaps. Or the night you bought the winning Lotto ticket that led to you buying a Rolls. It makes the romanticism of the original idea start to seem needlessly narcissistic. Besides, you can now have a similar option on a lowly Opel Adam, which rather spoils the whole effect…

Sublime or ridiculous? Sublimely ridiculous.

Or you could have bought: An actual star, probably.

Source http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/motors/10-most-ridiculous-optional-extras-on-a-luxury-car-1.1783389?page=3

Gumball 3000 Rally to Go From Miami to Ibiza this June

The Gumball 3000 rally will be using its new route from Miami to Ibiza this June. Those of you that are fans of the Rally will be able to see its array of supercars this June, starting on the 4th and finishing on the 11th, after it has passed through New York, Atlanta, Edinburgh, London, Paris, Barcelona and finishing in Ibiza

The annual Gumball 3000 rally is a rolling 3,000 mile festival of crazy driving and debauchery that features the world’s most exclusive supercars. This year’s race, which costs about $40,000 to participate in, will travel across two continents and five countries with various parties, concerts and VIP events along the way.
Gumball 3000 car rally

Photo Courtesy of Gumball 3000

Every major supercar marque — including Bugatti, Ferrari, Bentley, Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce — will be represented in this year’s event, which was first started back in 1999 by ex-racing driver, designer and British entrepreneur Maximillion Cooper (he also got engaged to singer-actress Eve December of last year). The 2013 rally from Copenhagen to Monaco was won by a team from the United Arab Emirates driving a custom Lamborghini Aventador.
Gumball 3000 car rally

Photo Courtesy of Gumball 3000

This year’s event is set to be even more hedonistic thanks to a new partnership with AnastasiaDate, a leading international escort service specializing in beautiful Russian women. Two of the firm’s sexiest “employees” will drive a Lamborghini Gallardo Spider in the race in homage to the 1981 movie Canonball Run. Injuries along the route, which changes every year, are not uncommon — in 2007 there were even two fatalities — and cars worth a small fortune have been confiscated in previous years.

Fancy driving your own supercar? Have a look at our website and see what we have to offer!

Source https://www.justluxe.com/lifestyle/luxury-cars/feature-1954544.php

15 Classic cars that everyone should know about

The last couple of weeks we have shown you the luxury cars that are coming out in the future and the ones that are hitting the market now.

Today we thought we would take you back in time and look at the classic cars that define cool, style and speed!

We’ve overheard people say they don’t care what kind of car they drive as long as it gets them from Point A to Point B. Those people are liars. Who wouldn’t want to own a car that turns more heads than a bikini car wash? Maybe these guys have only driven used jalopies and don’t know anything else. Well, these are the cars they should know.

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1966 Shelby 427 Cobra

Anything attached to Carroll Shelby’s name is immediately worth your time. With an insane power-to-weight ratio, the Shelby 427 Cobra has a bit more giddyup than your Corolla. Plus, the hundreds of thousands of dollars you’d pay for one will seem like chump change compared to the $5.5 million shelled out for the ’66 Shelby 427 Cobra Super Snake.

1961 Jaguar E-Type

Whether you pronounce it Jagwar or Jag-u-ar, everyone agrees the brand oozes style. The E-Type was released in 1961 to some pretty heavy praise. If Enzo Ferrari referred to it as, “The most beautiful car ever made,” well, that’s good enough for us.

1969 Maserati Ghibli 4.7

The aggressive shark-shaped nose on the Maserati Ghibli is enough to place it firmly on this list. Plus, the Maserati name earns it plenty of clout. Basically, this car is what the Mazda Miata dreams of becoming as it falls asleep at night.

1964 Aston Martin DB5

If it’s cool enough for Bond, it’s cool enough for us. If you had to pick one vehicle that James Bond relied on the most, you’d be hard-pressed not to go with the DB5, and the one from Goldfinger would look pretty sweet in our garage next to the cans of beer and lawn care products.

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1957 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing

The doors are only part of the reason this is one of the coolest cars to ever hit the pavement. The fact that the 300SL was the fastest production car at the time, means driving to your ad meetings in Manhattan wouldn’t be a bore.

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1969 Boss 429 Mustang

You know you’re getting some sick power when they have to change the body of a Mustang just to accommodate your freakishly large engine. How could you not want to roll down the windows and listen to that sucker as you were cruising around? (Which would be a good idea since, due to the size of the engine, they couldn’t fit in any air conditioning.)

1963 Corvette Sting Ray

While nothing was wrong with the Corvette prior to ’63, when the Sting Ray rolled out it made the previous models look like chopped liver (fast & still somewhat attractive chopped liver). Besides the new look, the C2 Corvette was a bit lighter and handled far better than its predecessors. While some nice stylistic changes would be made in the coming years, there’s something about being first.

1969 Ferrari Dino 246 GT

Far too often cars are rigid. The lines and angles are harsh and, unless there’s something crazy under the hood, they become a complete clone of something else. The soft lines on the Ferrari Dino 246 GT tells us this car is meant to be driven fast and playfully. If we had one, we’d oblige.

1966 Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto

Something about this car just makes us want to drive the Italian countryside while occasionally stopping to drink local wines. Plus, any time you can get a car with style AND storage space, well you just hit the jackpot my friend. It’s perfect for storing all the sheets of paper with phone numbers on them.

1969 Dodge Charger

If there’s one thing we know about the ’69 Charger, it’s aerodynamic. At least that’s what we learned from Bo and Luke Duke. The ’69 Charger is a thing of beauty whether it’s a General Lee or not. It may never get the billing its Mustang counterparts always do, but the fastback look and all American style will never go out of fashion.

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1966 Lamborghini Miura

We don’t know if it’s the most stylish car on the list, but as far as cred goes, well it inspired the whole “Let’s toss a couple of seats on a rocket” sports car idea. It also became a new and different Italian sports car option outside of the Ferrari’s of the world for auto enthusiasts at the time.

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1969 Toyota 2000GT

If you’re noticing a small Bond theme here, you’re totally right. While Bond got a drop-top, the ’69 Toyota 2000GT was stylish enough without one being offered up from the factory. The elongated front, along with the design in general, makes it feel much more like an Italian roadster than something you would picture purchasing for its “dependable gas mileage.”

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1962 Ferrari 250 GTE

The Ferrari 250 GTE was the sports car for the family man. It was for the guy who wanted a Ferrari but also wanted to get little Timmy to hockey practice with all his gear. As Road & Track said, “A not only grand, but glorious, touring car.” We’d tack on cool as well.

1970 Datsun 240Z

The Jaguar E-Type’s Asian doppelgänger has the same beautiful look as the Jag with perhaps more brains underneath. The thought that went into the car became the hallmark of Japanese sports cars. See, being cool doesn’t just mean looking good (but it mostly means looking good).

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1969 Chevrolet Camaro

It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that this list would include at least one Mustang and one Camaro. What can we say, we like old-school American muscle power. Seeing those white stripes on a blue Z28 just strikes us as quintessentially cool.

Source http://coolmaterial.com/roundup/classic-cars-that-define-cool/

Aston Martin unveils 2 special editions for the North American market

Aston Martin are hoping to boost sales in North America by creating special editions of the V8 Vantage and the DB9, which will only be available in the North American market alone.

Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd., the British maker of the luxury sports cars driven by James Bond, is unveiling two special edition vehicles at the New York International Auto Show this week.

Aston Martin will debut a GT version of its V8 Vantage, starting at $99,900, and a carbon edition of its DB9, which begins at $199,995, according to an e-mailed statement. Both cars will go on sale in the third quarter, Julian Jenkins, Aston Martin’s president of the Americas, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

“We’d like to sell a few more cars and we believe this will offer an opportunity to broaden our appeal and bring a few more customers to the brand,” Jenkins said in the interview.

Aston Martin sold 4,200 cars last year, 11 percent more than in the prior year. North America represents about 30 percent of its sales.

The Vantage GT will come in either a coupe or a roadster body style with either a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic transmission. Both powertrains will have a top speed of 190 miles per hour.

The Vantage GT automatic gets 16 mpg in combined driving. The carbon edition of the 12-cylinder DB9 starts at $199,995. Aston Martin doesn’t list the mileage for the DB9.

Aston Martin is the rare global luxury-automaker that doesn’t belong to a larger manufacturing group. The company said last year that Germany’s Daimler AG will own as much as 5 percent of Aston Martin as part of a deeper agreement to share technology with the British sports-car maker. Daimler is an investor in electric-car maker Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), which aims to begin deliveries in China this month.

Daimler’s Mercedes-AMG high-performance division will help develop V-8 engines for Aston Martin’s next-generation models. The Stuttgart, Germany-based maker of Mercedes-Benz vehicles will receive shares without voting rights in the non-cash deal.

In January 2013, Aston Martin said it planned to invest 500 million pounds ($819 million) over the following four years. The carmaker is backed by London-based Investindustrial, a private-equity fund whose previous assets include high-end motorcycle maker Ducati, which Volkswagen AG’s Audi bought in 2012

Source – http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-15/aston-martin-unveils-sub-100-000-edition-for-north-america.html

Aston Martin Snow Gliding

If the slow and tiresome winter days have left you without motivation, we have just the thing to put a little pep into your step. It’s a video of an Aston Martin V12 Vantage S, a car that’s as cool as icebergs, drifting on snow and ice.

The shots were captured by NM2255 in Saint Moritz, a famous tourist destination for Europe’s rich and famous. We did a little digging and found the event took place throughout last week. Guests stayed at the five-star Kempinski Gand hotel, “a beautifully decorated luxury property, offering the best standards of accommodation and hospitality, combined with a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.”

The ice “training” took place between 9AM and 4 in the afternoon, with every fast Aston imaginable being provided there.

Thanks to autoevolution.