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.
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.
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.
Lexus and BMW have showed impressive growth figures and have taken over from Mercedes-Benz in the ranking of overall Luxury Car brands in the US.
Luxury automakers have been exceptionally busy over the past year: new designs, new vehicles, new agencies, new advertising, new marketing executives. In spite of the activity, posturing and jabbing in the ring, Lexus and BMW — Floyd Mayweather-like — seem to have taken the purchase-consideration lead in the late rounds so far this year, at least among the 1,200 or so consumers polled by marketing firm YouGov BrandIndex in an online survey.
The firm says Mercedes-Benz, which has consistently ranked among the top three luxury car brands in overall brand health this year, hasn’t gotten commensurate purchase consideration and is behind among all luxury brands.
By contrast, Lexus started the year behind Infiniti, Audi and Mercedes Benz, with only 6% of U.S. car buyers saying they would consider the brand in February. That metric is up to 16% now for the Toyota Motor luxury brand.
BMW’s purchase consideration surge with potential buyers began two weeks before Lexus, rising from a 9% in early February to a virtual tie with Lexus at 16% now, per YouGov BrandIndex, which reported that the lift happened around the time of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Perhaps not coincidentally, BMW had a big presence on the U.S. Bobsled sled team, having helped design the sleds and getting branding on the sleds and racewear and gear.
Sales have been strong for both brands. In April Lexus saw a 23% gain and BMW was up 8.5%, year-over-year. Year-to-date through April, Lexus was up 20.8% for its cars and 14.3% for its trucks; and BMW was up 10.7%.
“Lexus and BMW really separate from the pack,” says YouGov BrandIndex CEO Ted Marzilli. “That’s about three full months in the lead for BMW and about five to six weeks for Lexus.”
The firm’s study suggests that Infiniti, which has totally revamped its marketing and product, has the opposite challenge as Mercedes: while Infiniti is beginning to see a resurgence of purchase consideration, which has taken them from the bottom of the YouGov ranking to around the middle, their brand health has been near or at the bottom of the luxury car group for the year so far.
Marzilli tells Marketing Daily that BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz all scored well in advertising awareness, and that this awareness metric also indexes strongly (no surprise) for people who are in the market to buy a car.
But advertising alone doesn’t account for BMW and Lexus’ pole position. Perceived value, he says, plays a major role. He says that metric boils down to “A preconceived notion that it’s either too expensive or reasonable for what you get. Or they could be responding to a TV ad they saw this weekend, or new models. That may be what resonates.”
In the study, whose data is garnered from a poll of consumers who are in market to purchase a car over the next 12 months, Acura, Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz were measured on “Index,” the research firm’s score of brand health based on the firm’s component scores of quality, value, impression, satisfaction, reputation, and willingness to recommend; and on purchase consideration.
Image and style mean everything to any business, but SMEs, who want to portray themselves to be professional and capable, are using fleet cars to send the message.
Choosing the right company car for your SME can prove a difficult balancing act between portraying the right level of professionalism and minimising running costs.This is particularly the case for SMEs who have tighter budgets and yet want to put forward a positive image of their company and its employees.
What do the experts rate as the top three best value prestige company cars?
Mercedes-Benz is a brand synonymous with high-end luxury, and is a popular choice of company car for businesses of all shapes and sizes. The Mercedes-Benz C-Class Saloon is no exception.
Offering a combination of the typical luxury and performance you’d expect from a Mercedes with low CO2 emissions and reasonable running costs, the C-Class is an ideal company car for any SME that wants to give a great first impression without breaking the bank.
The lower-end engine has CO2 emissions of just 103g/km ensuring company car tax bills that are pleasing on the eye, while fuel economy is also impressive. Performance doesn’t suffer as a result either, and the C220 Bluetec engine pulls strongly from low revs – complemented by quick acceleration beyond the 4000rpm mark.
Winner of the 2014 CarBuyer Best Executive Car Award, the BMW 3-Series is an impressive car for all kinds of reasons.
Impressive engine performance? Check. Expert engineering that delivers genuine reliability? Check. Plenty of interior and boot space to provide that all-important practicality? Check and check.
With this much power under the bonnet, you might expect the 3-Series to fall down in terms of fuel efficiency, however the 320d 181bhp 2.0-litre returns an impressive 61.4mpg, while BMW’s EfficientDynamics technology restricts CO2 emissions to no more than 120g/km.
CarBuyer described the 3-Series as “one of the best compact executive cars money can buy” – and we’d have to say we agree.
Unsurprisingly the third and final car in our round-up of the best value prestige company cars comes from yet another German automotive giant.
The Audi A3 Saloon offers strong and efficient engines, providing some of the lowest CO2 emissions for its class as well as impressive fuel efficiency.
Reliability is also an important issue for business car owners, and this is an area in which the A3 excels having been manufactured with the very best high-grade materials.
The combination of aluminium and high-strength steel helps to keep weight down to a minimum without compromising on durability, while the cabin is also built to an exceptionally high standard to deliver the kind of interior you’d expect to find in a luxury vehicle from one of the world’s leading brands.
With the growing demand for more digital technology and style, it is no surprise that BMW have recently made a bold statement about what defines a luxury car today. The car manufacturer believes that premium manufacturers will have to focus more on details if they want to continue to charge premium prices.
The German luxury giant’s senior vice president product management, Hildegard Wortmann, said luxury car makers such as BMW would have to evolve to reflect changing tastes and expectations by buyers of luxury vehicles.
“There’s a new understanding of what luxury stands for, which is a strong evolution or revolution of where we are today,” Wortmann told Drive at the 2014 New York motor show.
“Being a leader, we think we need to be there progressing as well and doing different things.”
Speaking at this month’s New York motor show Wortmann pointed to the recently unveiled BMW Future Luxury Concept car that is a pointer to the upcoming sixth generation 7-Series luxury flagship. She said it was evidence of the lengths BMW would be going to in an effort to further build its image and sales.
“We had a lot of discussions about it internally,” she said. “Luxury is no longer adding chrome and bits and pieces to a car … there is a new generation coming up where you have to deliver luxury in a different way, which is more about innovation, about craftsmanship, about the materials you use, etcetera.”
Wortmann said while BMW would be focussing more on materials and attention to detail the digital era meant it was more important than ever for luxury brands to maintain pace with new developments.
“If you look at all the consumer electronics in the car, we cannot offer old stuff when the world around is moving fast.”
Wortmann said there was no danger of the luxury market drying up, with increasing demand prompting major players such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi to increase the number of cars they offer.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
8. Pagani Zonda C12 F (215mph). This Italian-designed car made its debut at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show
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
10. Porsche Carrera GT (205mph). The most powerful and most expensive Porsche, at over £300,000
The Audi A3 was recently voted number one worldwide by industry-leading judges from across the globe. Audi are not new comers when it comes to this title or other awards, so why are we so impressed with the cars they are producing year on year?
The premium compact bestseller from the brand with the four rings, is the 2014 World Car of the Year. This is the second overall title for Audi in the ten year history of the World Car of the Year Awards as the Audi A6 won the inaugural overall title in 2005.
The third generation of the Audi A3 is now officially confirmed as a world beater. It overcame the challenge from 23 other cars to win the prestigious World Car of the Year title in 2014. The A3 was voted as the winner by an international jury panel comprising 69 top level automotive journalists from 22 countries around the world.
Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, said: “The Audi A6 was the first ever winner of this award and we are delighted that the Audi A3 has repeated that achievement by being voted 2014 World Car of the Year. The Audi A3 showcases Audi’s technical competence in all aspects of car making, not least in the areas of lightweight technology, drivetrain, mobile infotainment and driver assistance systems. This major award win is an achievement that the whole company can celebrate.”
The new Audi A3 is available in the UK as a three door, Sportback, Cabriolet and Saloon. It is powered by a range of TFSI petrol and TDI diesel engines. Later this year, the A3 Sportback will also be available as an e tron, whose plug in hybrid drive enables journeys of up to 31 miles in all electric mode.
Audi can look back on a 16 year success story with the A3. In 1996, the first generation of the model series established an entirely new market segment – the premium compact class. With the second generation, which followed in 2003, the brand extended its lead with the addition of a Cabriolet to the familiar three door and Sportback body styles. The third A3 generation is available in four body styles following the further addition of the Saloon.
With this win for the Audi A3, Audi has maintained its position as the manufacturer with the most World Car of the Year titles. The brand with the four rings has previously won three World Performance Car titles, two World Car Design of the Year titles and the inaugural World Car of the Year title.
In total Audi has won seven titles at the World Car of the Year Awards:
2005 Audi A6 World Car of the Year
2007 Audi RS 4 World Performance Car, Audi TT World Car Design of the Year
2008 Audi R8 World Performance Car, Audi R8 World Car Design of the Year
How much does a name or brand mean to you? Does it matter what up to date technology the car has, or the exquisite style and taste the manufactures use? Take a look at the new KIA Cadenza and see if it changes your mind!
When we think of luxury cars, we think Porsche, Mercedes and Jaguar. KIA isn’t generally thought of as an upscale brand and is known for more for value than luxury, but the 2014 KIA Cadenza aims to change that perception. It starts with the exterior design and moves right on through to the inside of the vehicle where you’ll swear you’re sitting in something that costs many thousands more than the number that’s on the sticker.
The exterior looks fantastic with a very European performance car flair although it’s definitely not a sports sedan. The lines are clean and smooth with a wide stance and a blunt hood with a wide grille trimmed in just enough chrome, but not too much. It’s not garish or flashy, but elegant and subdued even with the optional 19″ alloy wheels.
Once you open the door and take a seat you are surrounded by the full luxury car treatment. There are soft touch surfaces everywhere with a combination of leather and wood finishes that never become garish. Once again this is luxury, but in the most tasteful way possible without becoming ostentatious.
Leather trimmed, heated, front seats are both power adjustable with ventilation and heated rear seats available. There’s dual-zone climate control, a navigation system with 8″ display, Infinity surround sound audio system, UVO eServices Telematics with rear camera display, Sirius/XM satellite radio with a 3-month subscription, Bluetooth, push button start with smart key, and an auto-dimming rear-view mirror with HomeLink. Features? The 2014 KIA Cadenza has plenty.
There’s also plenty of safety with airbas, ABS brakes, traction control, electronic stability control and vehicle stability management all standard. Additionally there are LED positioning headlights, front fog lights, power-folding mirrors with turn signal indicators, LED tail lights and a backup warning system.
The 2014 KIA Cadenza is powered by a 3.3L direct injected V6 with 293 horsepower and 255 lb-ft of torque paired to a 6-speed automatic transmission w/Sportmatic. Torque is lacking at the low end of the range so it’s not quick off the line, but once you hit the sweet spot it’s a powerful and fun ride. Yet, if you’re looking for a performance sedan, all you need do is take a corner to realize that the Cadenza doesn’t qualify. The Nissan Maxima is a better choice for a sporty sedan at the same price, but it won’t match up on luxury.
Body control is good, but it handles unmistakably like a large sedan without the responsiveness of more performance oriented vehicles. Steering feel is good and the majority of the time it’s more than adequate, but on hard corners at higher speeds it doesn’t have quite the chops performance buyers seek. Braking is solid and manages the bulk of the sedan effortlessly.
The ride and comfort in the 2014 KIA Cadenza are somewhere between performance and cushy sedan. It doesn’t have the overblown, couch-on-wheels feel of some large but avoids the stiffness of performance vehicles, managing to provide a comfortable and easy ride for all passengers. It’s also a blissfully quiet ride with minimal road and wind noise that make carrying on a conversation with rear passengers easy. The Hyundai Azera comes close to the Cadenza here though with not quite the ambiance.
Yes, it has all the hallmarks of a luxury sedan, save for the price. The base Premium trim, which is already loaded with features, starts at $35,100. Technology and Luxury packages are available at $3,000 each. The Technology package adds smart cruise control, blind spot detection, lane departure warning, electronic parking brake, hydrophobic front door windows and 19″ alloy wheels.
The Luxury package adds an even longer list of features that includes panoramic roof with power sunshade, HID headlights with adaptive lighting system, Nappa leather seat and interior trim, power driver’s seat cushion extension, ventilated driver’s seat, heated rear seats and steering wheel, power tilt and telescopic steering column, supervision meter cluster with 7″ colour LCD, integrated memory system and power rear window sunshade.
The 2014 KIA Cadenza delivers a genuine luxury car experience, with all the features, comfort and technology you’d expect at an entirely unexpected price.
For those of you that still like your big brand luxury cars, come and have a look at we have to offer you on our website.
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.
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.
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!
Vision Future Luxury is the latest saloon concept car coming from BMW. The German car manufacturer unveiled the car, which features augmented display technology, hoping it will wow fans of the BMW brand.
The Vision Future Luxury concept comprises the latest iteration of BMW’s Vision Head Up Display, which augments the driver’s view of the world by projecting real-time information including speed limits and road signs onto the windscreen directly in the line of sight.
Sensors located on the exterior of the car collect environmental data, which is deciphered and transferred to a light source located inside the instrument panel. Light shining through a translucent thin-film transistor (TFT) projects the relevant data on to the windscreen via specially shaped mirrors and allows the driver to view information without having to look away from the road.
“Innovative technology and modern luxury have always been an important part of BMW’s brand DNA,” explained Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President of BMW Group Design at a preview of Vision Future Luxury in Munich. “Connectivity in a luxury vehicle has to be seamless and so well integrated that it doesn’t deter from the driving that you want to do, it actually enhances it.”
The rear lighting is provided by organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) for the first time on a BMW, an efficient light source consisting of wafer-thin semi-conductive layers of organic material that can be cut into any shape to allow for a variety of patterned lighting designs.
The luminescent layer is a film of carbon compound, which emits light in response to an electrical current. Each light-emitting polymer layer is roughly 400 nanometres thick, which is approximately 400 times thinner than a human hair.
Car designers have previously relied on reflectors to enable the light produced by LEDs to be seen from different angles, but OLEDs do not need reflectors, allowing designers to create less bulky and more unusual shapes. OLEDs also require less power to operate.
The roofline and sloping boot lid on the car have been designed to reduce drag, while carbon fibre openings positioned at the front and rear of the car help to channel airflow more efficiently.
“Aerodynamics and lightweight materials are key elements of this car’s design,” explained Karim Habib, head of BMW design. “Visible carbon fibre on the exterior of a luxury car is something we believe BMW needs to do.”
Carbon fibre, as a lightweight and strong composite, also allows for a minimised central B-pillar – the join between the front passenger and rear passenger doors. This allows the doors to use different hinge points to a standard car door.
The doors open to reveal a layered interior with wood, leather and aluminium finishings on top of a carbon fibre base.
“Lightweight construction is not going to go away,” says Adrian van Hooydonk. “All of our cars will have to get lighter and that means as a design team we are dealing with different types of materials, which can lead to different types of aesthetic.”
Front passengers are equipped with a personal information display, which is connected to the driver display via a touch-sensitive panel. Rear passengers also have access to two displays mounted in the headrests of the seats in front and a detachable tablet between the individual seats. All three can be used to exchange information with the front passengers using swiping movements.
Embedded user interface components from which internet-based video and music streaming can be accessed also feature.
Read on for BMW’s press release:
Heralding a new approach – the design.
“The design of the BMW Vision Future Luxury is the messenger of our philosophy of modern luxury, one in which innovative technologies play a key and vital role. These innovations deliver a new, multifaceted luxury experience that spans intelligent lightweight engineering, innovative interior design and a radically new user interface design,” says Karim Habib, Head of BMW Design, summing up the design approach to the BMW Vision Future Luxury.
This approach is particularly tangible in the interior. Throughout, the design expresses both form and function of the innovative technologies. For example, the intelligent lightweight engineering concept of the BMW Vision Future Luxury is expressed in the design principle of subtractive modelling. That is to say, the specific geometry and functions of an individual component are created from one and the same layered composite structure, comprising many different levels and materials. An initial base layer of fine carbon fabric is followed by a functional level featuring user interface components, control and display interfaces and lighting functions, which in turn is followed by a further structural, load-bearing layer of aluminium for additional strength.
Finally, the top layers comprise wood, then leather, to create a warm and comfortable ambience. In a given area of the interior, the multi-layer structure is “milled down” to the appropriate depth depending on what surface material and what function is required. Since the interior geometry is therefore always pared down to essentials, this cuts total weight substantially. This treatment also makes for virtually seamless transitions and very elegant, fluid surfaces.
The unrivalled characteristics of carbon as a material – both individually and in combination with its surrounding materials – are optimally utilised in this rigorous lightweight design concept. The carbon underlying layer is visible in the doors, under the seats and especially in the innovative, pared-down B-pillar. A full B- pillar as used in the past is dispensed with. The carbon construction allows the seat frames to be integrated into the load-bearing structure. There are also connections to the door sills and centre console, which means only a very small and unobtrusive B-pillar is required. The BMW Vision Future Luxury’s wide- opening coach doors would not have been possible without this new carbon B- pillar solution.
New-style user interface design and exclusive BMW ConnectedDrive services.
In the driver’s and front passenger’s area, precisely defined lines and surfaces create a sense of exclusive dynamism. The design of the instrument panel closely complements the design of the displays themselves. The driver is surrounded by a wrap-around cluster of three intermeshing displays, creating the typical BMW driver-centric cockpit. The three-dimensional display technology means that at the visual level the instrument panel styling appears to carry over into the displays themselves. In other words, to the eye the interior space seems to continue into the solid structures of the instrument panel, generating an impression of unprecedented depth and spaciousness.
The left-hand display mainly presents vehicle-related information, while in the centre a programmable cluster displays speedometer, rev counter and other information, as well as context-adaptive supplementary data, which is displayed as and when relevant. Meanwhile, the right-hand display – the Driver Information Display – provides additional infotainment information. The driver also has the option of controlling all these functions by voice command.
BMW Vision Head Up Display.
The primary driver display, however, is the “contact-analogue” BMW Vision Head Up Display. This display augments the driver’s view of the real world by projecting information directly in the driver’s line of sight onto the road. Buildings, traffic signs or hazards can be highlighted directly in the real-world environment, selectively directing the driver’s attention to specific information which is particularly important at any given time. This technology gives a new dimension to driver assistance functions such as Speed Limit Info, where road signs can be identified and highlighted in the driver’s field of view, or the Traffic Light Assistant, which provides real-time information about traffic light phasing.
In place of a central shared information display for driver and front passenger, the BMW Vision Future Luxury offers front passengers their own Passenger Information Display. This display is connected to the Driver Information Display via a touch-sensitive panel, where information can be exchanged between driver and front passenger using swiping movements. Applications like booking opera tickets online direct from the vehicle via the BMW ConnectedDrive Luxury Concierge service can be displayed in the Passenger Information Display, where they don’t risk distracting the driver. The relevant functions can be conveniently controlled by the front passenger using the iDrive Controller with touch-sensitive interface.
Rear Seat Touch Command Tablet.
In the back, two Rear Seat Displays set into carbon surrounds, and a detachable Rear Seat Touch Command Tablet, put the finishing touch to the integrated user interface concept of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. These displays can communicate with the front displays and also with the BMW ConnectedDrive services. Everything from trip-related information like speed and journey time to information relating to the Luxury Concierge Services can be displayed here in simple and customised form.
It is also possible to use online entertainment content like internet-based video and music streaming as well as gaming. All content and functions can be controlled from the rear seats using the detachable Rear Seat Touch Command Tablet in the centre console.
Personal space at the rear.
For the occupants of the rear seats, the BMW Vision Future Luxury offers a luxurious haven of personal space. Two large, deeply contoured single seats add to the appeal, inviting passengers to retire into their own personal “comfort zone”. A retractable table, the angled Rear Seat Displays and the rigid backs of the front seats create a very private ambience, sectioning this area off from the rest of the interior. The sense of privacy is accentuated by modern, flowing geometry and the use of select materials, with lavish wood surfaces extending from the rear parcel shelf to enfold the rear seat occupants in a cosseting three- dimensional space.
Strategically placed lighting slats integrated into the wood echo the surrounding styling and, with their warm glow, accentuate the modern and cosy ambience. Finest-quality aniline leather in Batavia brown and a lighter Silk shade, Silk nubuk leather and the warm brown, layered lime wood all have a natural aura which offers unique visual appeal and quality. The division between darker materials in the upper areas and light materials in the lower areas creates a feeling of warmth and a luxurious sense of space. A deep-pile pure silk carpet rounds off the exclusive array of materials in the interior of the BMW Vision Future Luxury.
Exclusiveness and elegance – the exterior design.
In side view, perfect proportions – precise, uncluttered and elegant – convey the exclusiveness of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. The long wheelbase, short overhangs and low, set-back greenhouse lend the stretched silhouette a refined dynamism. In hallmark BMW style, a finely sculpted contour line creates a taut arc along the side of the vehicle, and the opulent surfaces underneath this line have, as always on a BMW, been shaped by seasoned modellers. This hand- sculpted design gives the surfaces a special emotional appeal that would be beyond the capabilities of a computer.
The effect is further enhanced by the Liquid Platinum Bronze exterior paintwork, which generates a warm, shimmering effect. An exclusive flourish at the side of the vehicle is the side mirror, which appears to grow organically out of the chrome window trim. Designed as a visual continuation of the chrome trim, its slender stalk is attached to the mirror from below, giving it a graceful and effortless appearance, almost as if it were hovering in mid-air.
BMW EfficientDynamics: honed aerodynamics and intelligent lightweight engineering.
The exterior design perfectly showcases the advanced aerodynamics and innovative lightweight engineering of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. The coupé- style roofline and sloping boot lid, for example, significantly reduce drag. Underlying the tautly sculpted exterior surfaces, equally refined solutions provide optimal channelling of the airflow. They include the Air Breather system at the rear of the front wheel arch, a C-pillar with internal air channelling, and openings in the rear apron which vent air from the wheel arches. An elegant carbon strip in the door sill area alludes discreetly to the innovative lightweight engineering concept based on aluminium and carbon. Both these lightweight materials are used in the vehicle in exactly the right places to achieve maximum effect – both individually and in tandem.
BMW Laserlight at the front.
Clean and simple in design, the traditional iconic BMW front-end design cues – the twin kidney grille and twin headlights – instantly proclaim the brand identity of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. The lean contours of the headlights also hint at the innovative technology sheltering behind them: BMW Laserlight. This new technology not only paves the way for a very flat and dynamic interpretation of the typical BMW twin round headlamps, it also sets completely new standards in terms of brightness, range and intensity. The concentrated, parallel light beam is up to ten times more intense than that of an LED system. The reduced energy consumption and packaging requirements of laser lights make this technology a prime candidate for use in future vehicles.
Underneath the headlights, the assertive multi-material front apron accentuates the elegant front-end styling. At the outboard ends of the apron, graceful carbon air deflectors conceal a range of BMW EfficientDynamics aerodynamics features. The thin-walled air deflectors are made of carbon, a further reminder of the intelligent lightweight engineering concept of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. A slender chrome strip on the air deflectors highlights the airflow system.
OLED lighting at the rear.
The horizontal lines of the side profile glide gently away at the rear in a final expansive flourish. As at the front, the body styling in this area is deliberately understated, allowing the innovative, narrow and slender lights to make a powerful statement. For the first time on a BMW the rear lighting is provided by organic LEDs, paving the way for a completely new treatment of the typical BMW L-shaped lights. The BMW Vision Future Luxury’s L-shaped rear lights comprise a large number of small, likewise L-shaped OLEDs.
An organic LED consists of wafer-thin organic semiconductor layers positioned between two electrodes. The light-emitting polymer layer is only approx. 400 nanometres thick, making it roughly 400 times thinner than a human hair. Organic LEDs are not only extremely thin, as well as flexible, they also produce very uniform illumination over their entire surface. Due to their very thin dimensions, and since they do not require reflectors in order to produce the desired broad light dispersion, they open up completely new ways of using light in and around the vehicle.
