Tuesday, November 24, 2015

15 of the Most Indulgent Vehicle Options

–When Bentley revealed a mechanical clock for the dashboard of its new-for-2017 Bentayga SUV at an option price of nearly $170,000, it got our attention. We’ve seen more expensive options, mostly on limited-edition sports cars in the $1-million-plus range. But this? This is a clock, and a mechanical one at that. It's a good one to be sure, but by definition is a device that tells time less accurately than does a smartphone. And it’s in a vehicle with a base price of $229,100, so it nearly doubles the sticker.---Now that’s an indulgence. It stands out, but there are plenty of ways to blow a chunk of cash on optional gear no one truly needs. We compiled this list of indulgent options from manufacturer's “ordinary” offerings, the ones that show up on standard order forms and online “build-your-own” configurators. Seriously wealthy people often spend more by having cars made to order. Most luxury makers cater to their whims, treating a $440,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe as a blank canvas for paint color-matched to their dog’s eyes, and trimming it in wood from the same tree used for the family patriarch’s coffin. We didn’t even have to go there to compile this list of some of our autodom's most outrageous indulgences.–It’s as if Bentley were afraid that its 2017 Bentayga luxury SUV wasn’t expensive enough at $229,100. It came out of the box with a First Edition model priced at $297,400 with a lot of upgrades, including the buyer’s choice of Breitling watches valued at between $10,000 and $21,000. The special-edition sold out its 608-unit run quickly. After which Bentley revealed the Mulliner Tourbillon by Breitling clock, an option that doesn’t go on your wrist but is installed in the dashboard. There will be just four offered per year, because only one craftsman at Breitling makes them at a pace of one every three months.–The clock’s body is machined from a solid billet of gold—white or rose, buyer’s choice—and the face can be rendered in black ebony or white mother-of-pearl. Eight diamonds denote hours (12, 3, and 9 o'clock are called out by numerals). At the 6 position rests the window that shows off the tourbillon, a complex mechanical device featured in the Swiss movements of luxury watches. Speaking of which, such time machinery needs to be wound. Which is not convenient for a thing stuck in the dashboard of a vehicle that might be parked at the owner’s country home for days or weeks—so Bentley devised an electric mechanism to perform that task.–Gold-plated Spirit of Ecstasy–It resembles the night sky and there’s not even a moonroof to open. For only $12,925, Rolls-Royce will task its workers with the hand placement of 1340 fiber-optic nodes in little holes pierced through the leather headliner of a Wraith. The bigger Phantom gets 1600 points of light so the price may differ for the Starlight feature, especially if, as in a show car created by the company’s Bespoke division, the “stars” are to be placed in the exact position of the constellations on a particular date. "Happy anniversary, dear, remember the stars that night?"–The Lamborghini Aventador comes with a three-year warranty on your $400,995 purchase. Want a fourth year? Sure, $11,600 will handle that. A fifth year? Just $22,200. Or enough to buy an ordinary compact hatchback as a backup transportation plan. Note these are not the usual third-party extended warranty deals—these are optional extensions offered on the factory warranty. Compared to typical Lamborghini service charges, these are indulgences in peace of mind.–Air Scarf option–carbon edition–Soon, even fairly ordinary cars will communicate via smart watches that could replace today’s proximity-sensing key fobs. Aston Martin got out ahead of that curve on its own a few years back when it began offering the Jaeger-LeCoultre AMVOX2 Transponder watch in 2006. Recently updated to AMVOX3 spec and offered as a mere $29,500 add-on when you buy the car, it’s a high-end luxury watch (read: mechanical movement) with an electronic transponder in it that can lock and unlock the doors of a DB9 or Rapide. If you let the battery run down, you’ll have to resort to unlocking the car the usual way, but at least you’ll still know what time it is. If you remembered to wind the watch.–Tesla Model S Third-Row Seats–Merely “premium” paints cost $1800 on any Range Rover, but this isn’t just any Range Rover. Range Rover has defined the luxury SUV for decades, so parent company Jaguar-Land Rover cooked up the SVAutobiography special model to defend its niche against the coming onrush of nouveau contenders (like the aforementioned Bentayga). --It gets a 550-hp supercharged V-8 and tons of lavish upscale detailing outside and in the cabin to justify a $200,490 starting price, or about the cost of two base Range Rovers plus a Discovery Sport. For only $14,500 more, SVAutobiography buyers can upgrade the paint to the DuoTone scheme seen here: Range Rover lists 9 color selections for the lower portion and the buyer can pick any color for the top as long as it’s Santorini Black. The same price applies if one chooses Chromaflair color-shifting paint (a little harder to photograph, you understand) or Mica paint.–Wood sliding load floor–There’s plenty more to be spent personalizing a $1.44-million ultra-exotic Pagani Huayra, an Italian sports car for those jaded by the mere Ferrari experience. Options include special paint offerings equal to the price of an entire luxury sedan. Built largely of carbon-fiber with lots of it exposed anyway, it can be ordered with full carbon-fiber bodywork for an extra $152,000. Almost enough to get you a Bentley dashboard clock.–Porsche Panamera leather add-ons–There’s more to interiors than leather. Three options that together cost $6250 make up this lavish back seat coddling compartment in the Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman limousine. Start with the $1950 Executive Rear Seat that replaces center-row seating with an extended legroom expanse and seats (only two, in acreage that’d park an entire Smart car) with powered footrests and throw pillows. This one-percent addition to the sticker on the $190,275 car really invites further indulgence with the $1100 refrigerated compartment designed to cradle a pair of champagne bottles.–Once you’ve splurged on Mercedes-Maybach's Executive Rear Seat and champagne cooler, well, heck, that pair of silver champagne flutes with bases that clamp into the cup holders is de rigueur, no? That’ll be $3200 more, please.—

from remotecar http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/H7wsytBtcZ0/most-outrageous-luxury-features




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