porsche

New Porsche 911 Turbo Released for UK Market

When it comes to Porsche’s people either love them or hate them. Ever since I spotted a Porsche Carrera cabriolet in a car showroom when I was 14 I have been a big fan of this super car brand.

Although there are some great new models available my first choice will always be the Porsche 911 Turbo. As ever you can hire this supercar from us and see enjoy what this car has too offer.

So it was interesting to find out recently that a new Porsche 911 Turbo was being released in the Uk.

The limited edition model will be offered in a choice of silver, white or Guards Red and will include gloss-black wheels and door handles.

The special edition features unique styling throughout, including a rear spoiler and SportDesign mirrors painted in high-gloss black, providing the vehicle with an immediate point of distinction against other 911 Turbo S vehicles. The storage compartment lid features a Union Jack embossed into the leather and a high quality silver chrome finish. The carbon dashboard inlay meanwhile features the logo ‘911 – Turbo S – Exclusive GB Edition’.

Marking a half century since the release of the original Porsche 911, the new model is available exclusively in the UK and will set buyers back £159,054, making it £10,000 more than the standard Turbo.

Porsche

Although there are several nods to the original 911 Turbo, buyers can expect to see 90 per cent of the components redeveloped, creating a considerably faster and more refined model.

Each car will be supplied with a personalised photo album documenting the production process. However, if you are after one you ought to be quick as only 40 cars have been produced.

source – http://www.spearswms.com/news/porsche-releases-911-turbo-available-exclusively-in-the-uk-4338053#.VCLP5_mSz-8

No doubt we will seeing a few of these around Canary Wharf or in the car parks of premier football club training grounds

luxury car rental business set up by North Buffalo residents

The renting of luxury cars for all occasions has ben growing in popularity over the last few years. Where once, you would only hire a luxury car for very special occasions such as your wedding day, now people are hiring them out for a weekend trip down the coast or for a first date with someone.

Maybe you’re dreading arriving at your high school reunion in a minivan with an overworked odometer or you dream of impressing a date in a flashy sports car instead of your ho-hum sedan.

Or you want to arrive in style at a wedding in something other than the typical limo.

What to do? Roll up in a Porsche, a Corvette or a muscle car like a Dodge Challenger.

A couple of Buffalo guys, Gregory Straus and Matthew Bona, have these cars for rent, and they think there is a market for people who want to escape their everyday driving experience. They launched Redline Rentals of Buffalo with that idea.

Customers have already rented the cars for a day, several days, or even weeks at a time, for everything from cool road trips to wedding anniversaries and milestone birthdays. The customers get the thrill of driving — and being seen driving — expensive cars, and then turn in the keys and go back to their everyday transportation.

Robert P. Carr, president of Carr Marketing Communications, compares the concept to signing up for baseball fantasy camps to play alongside real major leaguers for a few days. “In some ways, it’s kind of like a Walter Mitty type of dream,” Carr said. “All of a sudden, the alarm clock goes off, and you’re back to reality.”

Charis Zaczek surprised her husband, Eric, with a 24-hour Corvette rental to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. When they stopped by Redline’s North Buffalo shop, Charis figured they would just see the car and pick up a gift certificate. But Eric was eager to rent the Corvette immediately, so they did, taking it to Grand Island to see what it could do.

“We had a lot of yells: ‘Nice car, nice car!’ ” Charis said. Later, the Kenmore couple drove to the Buffalo Chophouse for dinner.

Adam Hageman usually drives a tow truck with his business, Empire Towing and Recovery. The Challenger is Hageman’s “dream car,” but he can’t afford to buy one, so he rented one from Redline for a month.

Hageman drove the car to a wedding and took a friend to Gowanda to pick up a motorcycle. He also drove it for errands.

“I was at Lowe’s with my two daughters, and someone asked me if it was mine,” he said.

Tim O’Donnell drove the Corvette with his 19-year-old son to Chicago for a Blackhawks-Kings playoff game. They could have flown, but O’Donnell preferred father-son bonding time on a road trip. The head-turning car added an extra touch, O’Donnell said.

“The Hawks won in double overtime, which was awesome,” he said

These are exactly the types of stories that Straus, 27, and Bona, 28, hoped to hear when they started Redline. The North Buffalo residents went to St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute and Canisius College together. While on assignment in New York City, they learned about the luxury car rental business.

When they returned to Buffalo, Straus and Bona talked about bringing the concept here. Both are lifelong car guys with an affinity for numbers: Straus has a degree in accounting, and Bona earned a degree in accounting and finance.

But they faced an obvious question: How can a business like Redline succeed in a place like Buffalo, where wintry weather spoils the fun for months?

“My response to that is, that’s exactly why it’s going to work, because it’s a shortened season,” said Bona, the chief operating officer. “People don’t want to buy these cars, they don’t have room to store them, they don’t have the time and ability to maintain them, because the average person probably only is going to drive them 1,000 to 2,000 miles per year.”

They found a bank willing to work with them and, after a long search, lined up insurance for the business. Then the co-owners set out to build a fleet.

Straus and Bona always had a Corvette and a Porsche in their game plan.

“What we were trying to do was think about that Ferrari-Lamborghini mind set without the price tag,” said Straus, Redline’s president.

They found a 2008 midnight blue Porsche 911 in Washington, D.C., that fit their criteria: full convertible, turbo engine and automatic transmission. Straus flew to Washington and drove the car home just in time to display it at one of the charity events Redline attends to promote its service.

Bona spotted a torch-red 2011 Corvette Grand Sport on a car lot one day.

“I drove by it and said, ‘Yep, that’s the car,’ and pulled a Uie in the parking lot.”

They rounded out the fleet with a 2012 Challenger with chrome rims, a custom exhaust and a thunderous rumble.

“It’s pure black,” Straus said. “It’s really an ode to muscle cars.”

Straus and Bona spent about$150,000 for all three vehicles, assembling a fleet with different levels of rental prices. The rates vary depending on what a customer signs up for, but the Porsche rents for about$700 for 24 hours on a weekend, compared with about$500 for the Corvette and about$300 for the Challenger. (A new Porsche comparable to Redline’s rental sells for more than$100,000.)

Like any rental cars, Redline’s come with rules. Customers must be at least 25 years old and have a clean driving record and proper insurance. They can’t eat in the cars, and they have to put down a$2,500 refundable security deposit. Straus and Bona show customers how to drive the cars safely.

If a car comes back damaged — for example, a fender hanging off from ramming a steep driveway — Redline will hold the deposit until the customer’s insurance company reimburses Redline. “By telling people that, they drive it as if it was their own,” Straus said. “They’re a lot more responsible.” And so far, customers have dropped off the cars in good condition.

Can a business like this succeed in a smaller market like Buffalo? Gotham Dream Cars, which inspired Redline’s founders, operates in big markets like New York City, Miami and Los Angeles. During his research, Straus talked to Rob Ferretti, Gotham’s chief operating officer.

Ferretti said he doesn’t believe Buffalo is large enough to sustain a luxury rental car business as more than a side gig. “It’s not an easy business to make work, and the (profit) margins are far what from people expect.”

And Ferretti said it’s not just about drawing customers from a pool of wealthy people in a market. “They are people who want to pretend to be rich, effectively.”

Gotham customers will rent exotic cars and head to traffic-jammed places like Times Square. “Everybody just drives places nice and slow to be seen,” Ferretti said.

Straus and Bona say they recognize the challenges ahead. They have full-time jobs at banks — they declined to name them — and operate their business from rented space in a former collision shop. Straus believes Redline can be profitable within five years. If it doesn’t succeed, they can always sell off the cars.

By August, they expect to know how their bookings are looking into autumn. They are deciding what to do about the winter months — just put the cars in storage or add a luxury SUV that can handle the snow to the fleet.

For now, Straus and Bona are enjoying the ride. And Straus notices something when a customer’s rental time with a car is up: “They don’t want to give it back.”

If you are looking to hire out a luxury car for a day or long term, then have a look at we have to offer on our website

Source http://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/2014/07/07/renting-the-dream-north-buffalo-residents-launch-luxury-car-rental-business-a-526985.html#.U70AlGdOV1s

 

Luxury car growth is never ending in North America

Luxury Car growth world wide is going from strength to strength with some promising figures already emerging for 2014. North America are not alone in their appreciation of luxury and style, but here lets take a look at who is performing well in the States.

U.S. auto sales turned out to have an incredible month of sales in May. The news was good almost universally (except for the VW brand), but the luxury car market just seems to have no end in sight in North America. What we have not done was to break out sales prices and incentives in the luxury market as a whole.

What is obvious is that the luxury market just keeps on chugging higher and higher once you look at the sales data.

Can some of this be attributed to new model launches? In some cases. Still, the numbers just look strong by almost every account. We took a look at North American sales of Porsche, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Jaguar, and Land Rover for the month of May. Even the used luxury market looked strong when the companies discussed it.

Porsche said that its May sales of 4,609 vehicles was bumped by the mid-May launch of the 2015 Macan S and Macan Turbo (1,263 units). Porsche said that this beats last year’s record sales number by 17.3 percent. It was also the best ever sales month for Porsche in the U.S. Porsche even went on to say that its two-door sports cars and Panamera have continued strong sales performance gains from 2013, and that the demand for Cayenne still outstrips the supply. Porsche even went on to say that its Approved Certified Pre-Owned vehicle sales in May were up 17 percent at 994 units.

Mercedes-Benz said that May was the company’s fifth record sales month Of 2014, with its Mercedes-Benz brand sales up 7.7% to 26,617 units. Total sales were represented as being up over 8% to 29,570 units if you blend the Mercedes-Benz, Sprinter and smart model lines. The group’s top sellers in May were its C-, E- and M-Class model lines, with the E-Class up over 25 percent to 6,168 vehicles. Its high-end flagship S-Class volume of 2,173 was up over 82% from the same month last year.

BMW Group U.S. also posted a record May for its BMW brand, in part from the launch of the BMW i3. BMW and MINI combined sales in May were up over 13% to 35,331 vehicles, but sales of BMW brand vehicles rose by more than 17 percent in May for a total of 29,602 vehicles. The BMW i3 has now officially launched, with its first month’s sales totaling 336 units. BMW Pre-Owned Vehicles also rose by 14 percent to 18,064 vehicles. Management even talked up this summer –

“This will be the summer of BMW with the new M3 and M4 on sale this month and the new X4 and 4 Series Gran Coupe coming in July.”

Audi said that this was its best U.S. May sales in the company’s history, and second-best any-month tally period – with it being the 41st consecutive U.S. sales record. Its sales rose to 16,601 powered both by the new entry-level model, A3, and by the brand’s high-end cars. Diesels accounted for 11.5% to 28.2% of sales.

Jaguar and Land Rover have shown that May sales rose 17 percent, to 5,840 units (according to USA Today) – for the best May unit sales report since 2007. The Range Rover Sport redesign had record May sales of 1,496 units for a gain of 35 percent. Sale of the crossover Range Rover Evoque rose a sharp 59 percent to 1,196 sales. Jaguar sales were up 14% in May, led by its F-series sports car coupe and convertible and by the XK sedan.

Source Is There No End to Luxury Car Sales Growth in America? – 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/autos/2014/06/03/is-there-no-end-to-luxury-car-sales-growth-in-america/#ixzz33khuqNoI

Teenagers steal luxury cars in a ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’ type raid

Like something out of a Hollywood block buster, a gang of teenagers have pled guilty to stealing luxury cars from the home of a millionaire.

Liam Smith, George Cowie and Blair Thomson, all 17, took off with sports cars from outside oil tycoon Sean Dreelan’s mansion in July.

Two of the teenagers – Cowie and Thomson – broke into the Banchory Devenick property and stole car keys – despite being too young to drive at the time.

The trio then drove away with the motors in the middle of the night.

Renovation work was being carried out on the grounds of Drumduan House as part of a major refurbishment programme at the time.

The secluded house was once protected by extensive security with intercom-operated large iron double gates at the bottom of the drive and CCTV cameras.

However, the driveway was opened last summer to let heavy machinery in to carry out landscaping work.

Family photographs shared on social media showed several super cars parked on the driveway – including a red Ferrari 599 GTO – before the thefts.

All the stolen vehicles were recovered and police eventually tracked down the car crime gang, who all lived in Aberdeen.

Yesterday Smith was told by the sheriff to expect a jail term for his part in the thefts when the case called at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

Sheriff Graeme Napier said: “You shouldn’t hold out much hope for anything other than a custodial sentence.”

Smith admitted stealing the Dreelan family’s white 2010 Porsche 911 GT2 RS coupe and grey Toyota Land Cruiser from outside Drumduan House, between 22 and 23 July, last year.

Donald Stewart
Sean Dreelan

 

 

The teenage thief also admitted stealing two other vehicles in separate incidents in the weeks leading up to the Dreelan family theft.

He pled guilty to nicking a grey 2006 BMW M sport touring estate from Lintmill Place, Aberdeen, on May 25, 2013.

The teen also admitted careless driving by crashing a red Triumph motorcycle he stole from the city’s Taransay Crescent on June 20.

Cowie previously pleaded guilty to breaking into Mr Dreelan’s home between July 22 and 23 and stealing car keys before making off with a grey 2010 Audi S5 V8 Quattro coupe.

Thomson was also part of the gang that broke into Mr Dreelan’s house to steal car keys.

He made off from the grounds of the mansion with a silver 2011 Aston Martin Rapide V12 as well as the same Toyota Land Cruiser as Smith.

Sheriff Napier called for reports on all three teenagers yesterday and deferred sentencing until next month.

Property owner Sean Dreelan made his fortune in the oil and energy industry in Aberdeen.

He and his three brothers – Tommy, Mike and Ciaran – founded a fast-growing oil service firm in 2001.

The oil services company was sold to Norwegian group Aker Solutions earning the brothers a share of nearly 100million pounds in 2008.

The Dreelan brothers continued in their roles with Qserv as it expanded worldwide, despite the change of ownership.

The sale of Qserv was the second big-money deal involving the Dreelans.

PSL was sold by Tommy, Sean and Mike for 45.5million pounds in 1998.

Source http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/crime/gone-60-seconds-teenage-car-3617496

 

The latest craze for the rich in China

If you suddenly won the lottery and could afford a life of luxury, what would your first purchase be? A house, a holiday, maybe some exquisite jewellery? Well people in China are shunning these ideas and going for a more extreme and extravagant buy!

People act very strangely when they suddenly come into money.  Think of all the lottery winners who are famous for half a second and then mysteriously disappear.  If you ask any of them, they almost all say the same thing, “My life was actually more manageable before the money”.  For men and women in countries that have been poor for decades, but have suddenly reaped the rewards of globalization, the shift in fortune is even more dramatic.  When an entire country is seemingly wealthy overnight, people do some weird things.  Case in point – China.  A generation of men and women have made their fortunes by producing goods and parts more cheaply than anywhere else in the world.  They have been amassing their fortunes long enough that their children are now reaping the benefits of their business savvy.  As countless E! True Hollywood Stories have shown, there is little more dangerous, or ridiculous, than a rich child with no limits.  Such is the case in China, where immensely rich twenty and thirty-something’s are constantly on the lookout for new ways to both show off their wealth and entertain themselves.

A recent trend has been to paint or wrap luxury cars in gold.  Yep.  You read that correctly – gold.  It doesn’t really matter what car as long as the car is high-end.  This list seems to include anything by Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Infiniti, or BMW.  Oh!  Limousines count, too.  The general population seems to take these ostentatious displays of wealth in stride.  The bright gold cars are parked at malls and movie theatres like any other vehicle and nobody really bats an eye.  However, the cops have been known to confiscate one or two of the vehicles for being just too, too eye-popping.  It is hard to tell what constitutes too much versus all right when looking at a luxury vehicle wrapped entirely in gold, but apparently China’s police force has it figured out.

Source http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/celebrity-cars/gold-cars-the-chinese-noveau-riche-flaunt-their-wealth/

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

Worlds top 10 fastest road cars

 

Whether you prefer Ferrari over Lamborghini or Porsche over Jaguar, there is one thing that we all have in common. Its the need for speed! Take a look at the top 10 fastest road cars in the world.

Bugatti Veyron Super Sport - Top 10 world's fastest road cars
 1. Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (268mph). This version of the original Veyron still has the same 8.0 litre, 16 cylinder   engine but upgrades have pushed it into the record books

SSC Ultimate Aero - Top 10 world's fastest road cars
 2. SSC Ultimate Aero (257mph). Built by USA firm Shelby SuperCars, it held the ‘world’s fastest car’ title   for more than three years. It has a twin turbo V8 engine with 1183hp and   costs from £435,000.

Saleen S7 Twin Turbo - Top 10 world's fastest road cars
 3. Saleen S7 Twin Turbo (248mph). An updated version of the California-built S7, this version was produced in   2005 and 2006 and cost £295,559. With the engine located in the middle of   the car, it had both a front and rear boot

Koenigsegg CCX - Top 10 world's fastest road cars
4. Koenigsegg CCX (245mph). The 4.7 litre twin-supercharged V8-engined car was first built in 2006 as a   version of the original CC. Created by the Swedish motor firm founded by   Christian von Koenigsegg, its name is an abbreviation of Competition Coupé   X, marking the 10th anniversary of the test drive of the first CC vehicle in   1996.

McLaren F1 - Top 10 world's fastest road cars
 5. McLaren F1 (240 mph). Fitted with a BMW S70/2 60 V12 Engine, it remains the world’s fastest   naturally-aspirated production car. Naturally-aspirated engines use   atmospheric pressure to increase the intake of air for combustion. 106 were   produced between 1992 and 1998.

Jaguar XJ220 - Top 10 world's fastest road cars
 6. Jaguar XJ220 (217mph). First conceived in the late 1980s as an after-hours project among Jaguar   workers, this car became an official Jaguar production with 281 manufactured.

Ferrari Enzo - Top 10 world's fastest road cars
7. Ferrari Enzo (217mph). Only 400 of these were ever produced, leading to price increases with every  sale. Named after the Italian company’s founder, Enzo Ferrari.

Pagani Zonda C12 F - Top 10 world's fastest road cars
8. Pagani Zonda C12 F (215mph). This Italian-designed car made its debut at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show

Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce - Top 10 world's fastest road cars
9. Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce (213mph). The 2009 incarncation of the Lamborghini Murcielago supercar has a top speed   of 213mph thanks to fine tuning of the original design

Porsche Carrera GT - Top 10 world's fastest road cars
 10. Porsche Carrera GT (205mph). The most powerful and most expensive Porsche, at over £300,000

What luxury cars are celebrities driving?

Everyone envy’s the cars that celebrities both sides of the pond can afford to drive. whether you like the classic Ferraris that Chris Evans owns or the Eco friendly cars that the likes of Cameron Diaz and Diane Kruger drive, you are sure to find some little gems in the list below!

Audi: David Beckham (S8), Sandra Bullock (A6), Daniel Craig (S6), Vanessa Hudgens (A7), John Mayer (R8), Jason Statham (R8), Dwyane Wade (R8), Robert Downey Jr. (A7), Cristiano Ronaldo (RS6), Justin Timberlake (S8), Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (S5), Chris Brown (R8), Taylor Lautner (R8), Sienna Miller (TT), Kevin Costner (S8), Zooey Deschanel (A5), Michael Bloomberg (R8), Phil Knight (R8), Taylor Swift (Q7), Zac Efron (S5), Zoe Saldana (A8), Miranda Kerr (A8), Harry Styles (R8)

Aston Martin: Dwyane Wade (Vanquish Volante), Jason Statham (DBS), Olivier Martinez (V8 Vantage), Ice-T (Vantage), Eddie Murphy (Vanquish), Ryan Seacrest (DB9), Pierce Brosnan (Vanquish), Adam Carolla (DB9), Jonathan Ives (DB9 and Vanquish), Lil Wayne (Vantage), Sylvester Stallone (DBS), Prince Charles (DB6), David Beckham (AMV8), Janet Jackson (Vanquish), Marc Anthony (DB7), Missy Elliott (Vanquish), Jamie Oliver (Vantage)

Bentley: Drake (Supersports), Jennifer Lopez (Continental), Prince William (Flying Spur), Bruce Willis (Continental), Eva Longoria (Continental), Jonathan Ives (Brooklands), Simon Cowell (Azure), Sylvester Stallone (Continental), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Supersports), Paris Hilton (Continental), Floyd Mayweather (Mulsanne), David Beckham (Supersports and Mulsanne), Cristiano Ronaldo (Continental), Ryan Seacrest (Flying Spur), The Game (Continental), Lil Wayne (Mulsanne), Sharon Stone (Continental), Scott Disick (Mulsanne), Queen of England (State Limousine), Carlos Slim (Flying Spur)

BMW: Brad Pitt (Hydrogen 7), Jessica Alba (750iL), Anne Hathaway (i3), Reese Witherspoon (Alpina B7), Heidi Klum (M6), Selena Gomez (X5), Cristiano Ronaldo (M6), Taylor Lautner (Z4), Will Ferrell (Hydrogen 7), Alanis Morissette (X5), Samantha Ronson (750iL), Sean Penn (Z3), Taye Diggs (X6)

Bugatti: Drake, Birdman, Flo Rida, Floyd Mayweather, The Game, Chris Brown

Ferrari: Pharrell (Enzo), Justin Bieber (458 Italia), Harry Styles (California), Kim Kardashian (F430), Jermaine Jackson (California), Eddie Murphy (599 GTB), Dwyane Wade (F12 Berlinetta), Rick Ross (458 Italia), Gordon Ramsay (F12 Berlinetta), Paris Hilton (F430), Adam Levine (365 GTC), 50 Cent (FF), Cristiano Ronaldo (599 GTO), John Mayer (599 GTB), LeBron James (F430 Spider), Ozzy Osbourne (458 Italia), Tommy Hilfiger (Enzo), Alex Rodriguez (575 Maranello), Hugh Grant (California), The Game (F430 Spider), Ashton Kutcher (California), Tyga (California), Seal (F430 Spider), Kobe Bryant (458 Italia Spider), Flo Rida (California), Ralph Lauren (F430 Scuderia), Keith Urban (F360), Usher (F430 Spider), Gucci Mane (458 Italia), Wyclef Jean (360 Spider), Adrien Brody (F430), Rod Stewart (599 GTB)

Ford: Shia LaBeouf (F150), John Mayer (Raptor), Heidi Klum (Raptor), Dwayne Johnson (F150), Simon Cowell (Bronco), Christina Aguilera (Mustang), Amber Heard (Mustang), Nick Jonas (Mustang), Shaquille O’Neal (Mustang), Benji Madden (Galaxie), Ken Block (Raptor)

Jaguar: Victoria Beckham (XJ), Kelly Rowland (F-Type), Lana Del Rey (XKF), Patrick Dempsey (XK120), Harrison Ford (XK140), Miranda Kerr (XJL), Danny Aiello (XJL), Jay Leno (E-Type), Kristin Davis (XF)

Lamborghini:  Kanye West (Aventador), Swizz Beatz (Aventador), Chris Brown (Gallardo and Aventador), Scott Disick (Aventador), Cristiano Ronaldo (Aventador), 50 Cent (Murcielago), Rick Ross (Murcielago), Missy Elliot (Gallardo), Robinho (Gallardo), Kobe Bryant (Aventador)

Lexus: Natalie Portman (RX), Paris Hilton (LFA), Paul McCartney (LS600h), Gisele Bündchen (RX), Owen Wilson (ES), Sarah Michelle Gellar (RX), Halle Berry (RX)

Maserati: Pierce Brosnan (GranTurismo), Miley Cyrus (Quattroporte), Lapo Elkann (Ghibli), Gwen Stefani (Quattroporte), Barry Diller (GranCabrio), Britney Spears (GranCabrio), Kylie Minogue (Gran Turismo), Katy Perry (GranCabrio)

Maybach: Madonna, Will Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, Birdman, Lil Wayne, Jay Z, Sean Combs, Kanye West, Rick Ross

McLaren: Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, David Beckham, Ludacris, Larry Ellison, Swizz Beatz, Dwayne Wade, Jay Leno, Will.i.am

Mercedes-Benz: Liev Schreiber (E350 wagon), Harry Styles (190 SL), Hilary Duff (G-Wagen), Jon Hamm (SLS AMG), Ashley Tisdale (G55), Tom Ford (G-Wagen), Ashley Olsen (G-Wagen), Kylie Jenner (G-Wagen), David Hasselhoff (CLS), Khloe Kardashian (G-Wagen), Gwen Stefani (G-Wagen), Bradley Cooper (G-Wagen), Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai (G63 AMG), Jay Z (S-Class), Patrick Dempsey (SLS AMG and G-Wagen), Sandra Bullock (GL550), Eddie Murphy (SLS AMG), Tom Cruise (SLK), Justin Theroux (S550), Rick Ross (CLS and S550), Nigo (300 SL), Russell Crowe (S550), Usher (CLS), Jim Carrey (S550), Wyclef Jean (G-Wagen), Jensen Button (C63 AMG DR250), Britney Spears (G55 AMG), Selma Blair (ML 350), Shakira (SL 550), Shaquille O’Neal (S-Class), Jared Leto (SLS AMG), Tiger Woods (S65 AMG), Tobey Maguire (S400), Alec Baldwin (M-Class), Megan Fox (G-Wagen), Mark Wahlberg (SLS AMG)

Porsche: Kate Moss (vintage 911), David Beckham (911 Turbo Cabriolet), Dustin Hoffman (911 Cabriolet), Kanye West (Panamera Turbo), Patrick Dempsey (GT3), Hilary Duff (911), Keith Urban (Cayenne), Kiefer Sutherland (Panamera), Jonah Hill (911), Miley Cyrus (Cayenne GTS), Adam Levine (356 Speedster), Maria Sharapova (Panamera GTS), Cristiano Ronaldo (Cayenne Turbo), Ellen DeGeneres (911), LeBron James (911), The Game (Panamera), Jerry Seinfeld (various 911s), Keanu Reeves (911), Zach Braff (911), Adriana Lima (Cayenne), Lindsay Lohan (911 Cabriolet), Rihanna (911 Turbo), Chris Brown (Panamera), Samantha Ronson (911 Targa), Bruce Willis (911 GTS), Sylvester Stallone (Panamera), Pharrell (550 Spyder), Steven Tyler (911 Turbo), Matthew Perry (911 Cabriolet), LeAnn Rimes (Panamera), Ashley Tisdale (Boxster), Bill Gates (959), Michael Dell (Boxster), Robert Pattinson (Boxster)

Range Rover: Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, Russell Brand, Kate Moss, David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, Robin Thicke, Sofia Vergara, Pippa Middleton, Jay-Z, John Mayer, Ryan Seacrest, Sharon Osbourne, Chris Brown, Shannen Doherty, Prince Harry, Queen of England, Courtney Cox, Alessandra Ambrosio, Richard Branson, Tim Burton, Hugh Jackman

Rolls-Royce: Swizz Beatz (Wraith), Jaime Foxx (Ghost), Ice-T (Ghost), Rick Ross (Wraith), Simon Cowell (Phantom), David Beckham (Phantom and Ghost), 50 Cent (Ghost), Snoop Dogg (Phantom), The Game (Ghost), Tom Brady (Ghost), Eddie Murphy (Phantom), Ryan Phillippe (Ghost), Shaquille O’Neal (Phantom), Missy Elliott (Phantom), Sean Combs (Phantom), Guy Ritchie (Ghost)

Tesla: Matt Damon, Eva Longoria, Jack Osbourne, Jeremy Renner, Shakira, Ashton Kutcher, Rachel Zoe, Laurence Fishburne

Toyota: Leonardo DiCaprio (Prius), Adrien Grenier (Prius), Ryan Gosling (Prius), Julia Roberts (Prius), Kirsten Dunst (Prius), Eric Schmidt (Prius), Sarah Jessica Parker (Prius)

Sources: Zimbio, X17 Online, Celebrity Cars Blog, Flickr, London Daily Mail, Autoevolution, UrbanDaddy’s DRIVEN, GT Spirit, Just Jared, Celebritycarz,

http://www.justluxe.com/lifestyle/luxury-cars/feature-1953959.php

 

Porsche Panamera v Range Rover Evoque

Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham was the first person who came to mind after we heard on Monday that Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova was getting her own version of the Porsche Panamera GTS. Beckham was appointed creative design executive for Range Rover in 2012 and helped with the Evoque Special Edition with Victoria Beckham. (Sharapova is also a former Landy shill. —ED)

That Evoque was a true special edition, coming with unique, matte gray paint with gloss accents and a bunch of rosegold. Big, gloss black wheels were standard, as was a four-piece luggage set. So it wasn’t the performance that was upgraded, just the look.

Similarly, the Porsche Panamera GTS by Maria Sharapova is really just the company’s way of showing off its Porsche Exclusive program. The spec sheet for Sharapova’s car includes black LED headlight surrounds, additional leather trim with decorative stitching, carbon-fiber trim and black 20-inch wheels. The sill plates also feature “Maria Sharapova” lettering.

So, there’s no reason we can’t pit these two titans of beauty — the cars, not the women — against each other to decide what’s what.

Thanks to www.autoweek.com

Vintage Porsche 911 for Kate Moss´s 40th Birthday.

She just turned 40 last week, but supermodel Kate Moss shows no signs of slowing down.

After a slew of events to help her celebrate the big 4-0, Kate and husband Jamie Hince took her new vintage Porsche out for a spin on the weekend. Kate was dressed in black, accordingly, with a black biker jacket, sunglasses and skinny black jeans.

The car, a black 911, was presented to the supermodel on her birthday and clearly Kate and Jamie have just been itching to get behind the wheel and take the sportscar out.

Kate and husband Jamie were clearly excited about taking the car, reportedly costing some £20,000 as they smiled excitedly during their journey.

The  Croydon-born mum-of-one was seen pulling up at her Oxfordshire home in her  new Porsche 911, alongside a whole host of celebrity pals on Saturday  evening.

Kate had been enjoying a spot of dinner at the The Five Alls pub, at Filkins Cotswold Inn with her husband just beforehand.

And despite partying non-stop for days, Kate looked fresh-faced as she pulled up with Jamie.

She was dressed in a simple, yet ever stylish, all-black ensemble, with  skinny jeans, a sheer top exposing a camisole underneath, a pair of  suede knee-high boots and a leather biker jacket with arm fringing.

Her long, blonde locks appeared smooth and silky and her skin was radiant,  appearing to be wearing only a touch of cheek blush and nude lipstick.

Kate celebrated her actual birthday last Thursday with a long, boozy lunch,  followed by a late meal at The Dorchester later that evening.

Driving Miss Moss! Kate and husband Jamie take their new car out for a spin

Driving Miss Moss! Kate and husband Jamie take their new car out for a spin

For lunch, Kate partied with Naomi Campbell, Stella McCartney, Sadie Frost, Jo Wood, Mario Testino and Sir Phillip Green at the 34 restaurant in  Mayfair.

As she quaffed champagne, vodka and cocktails with  friends, Kate was heard to insist: ‘I might be 40 but I still know how  to party.’

Onlookers said they ordered very little food, only starters and a few nibbles, in two and a quarter hours at the restaurant. After leaving 34 at 6.30pm, she then headed straight to the Dorchester Hotel, where she partied until 1.30am.

Hemingway Luxury Car Hire specialise in providing new sports and prestige cars but if you have a special request for vintage just let us know and we will do our best to find exactly what you need.
Thank you to  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ for the story and www.Vantagenews.co.uk  for the pictures.

 


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