wheels

Luxist Drives the Porsche Panamera... and Apologizes

When Luxist sat in the driver's seat of a Porsche Panamera 4S, before even turning the key there was a conflict: this car is tremendous to sit in. Brilliant. Wonderful even. Which is not exactly problematic, but it isn't the way we expected things to commence. This driver, a dedicated Porsche-phile, has been watching the Panamera nearing its destination on the retail showroom floor like the Black Lagoon visitors watched The Creature: "Oh my god, I think it's headed this way!"

But we gladly accepted the opportunity to drive it. And when we were finished, we knew we'd have to write this piece, which we'll call our "Panamerapology." It begins with this line: Porsche, please forgive us, we're sorry – your car is awesome.

Gallery: 2010 Porsche Panamera

Tags: Panamera, panamera 4s, Panamera4s, Porsche, Porsche Panamera, PorschePanamera, wheels

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Wheels Yacht Available At A Discount

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing

A charming 116-foot motor yacht is back on the market with a discount. The motor yacht Wheels was built by Horizon Yachts in 2002 and sleeps ten guests in five staterooms. The yacht's master suite includes a sunken bathroom and reflects italian style with a Versace-like opulence. The yacht was designed by Tomaso Spadolini with a low profile silhouette that includes a deep hull and large windows. The upper deck stows the yacht's tender and jet skis which are craned into the water for use. The upper deck is also home to a Jacuzzi and sunbathing area. There is ample dining space on the aft deck. Inside the yacht has been designed by Evan Marshall and has details like birds eye maple wall paneling, engraved glass door panels and marble floors. Twin engines keep Wheels spinning along at a cruising speed of 14 knots. The yacht is listed with Ocean Independence for 7,200,000 euros, a price reduction of 1,750,000 euros.

[via Superyacht Times]

Tags: horizon yachts, HorizonYachts, megayacht, motor yacht, MotorYacht, wheels, yacht

Luxist Attends the BMW Performance Center Motorcycle School

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Luxury Cars & Autos

BMW invited Luxist to its Performance Center in Spartanburg for some lessons on how to ride and how to drive. The idea was that we would hone a few things we did know and learn a few things we didn't, guided by some of the best instructors and piloting some of the best machinery in the business. The first day we tackled -- sometimes literally -- motorcycles. It was a cool, rainy morning in Greenville, South Carolina when we straddled the BMW F 650 GS for an education in 2-wheeled manners. It would also turn out to be a wet, muddy, and thoroughly rewarding workout.

Gallery: BMW Performance Center Motorcycle School

Gallery: BMW R 1200 GS

Gallery: BMW F 650 GS

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Tags: bmw motorcycle, bmw motorrad, bmw performance center, BmwMotorcycle, BmwMotorrad, BmwPerformanceCenter, motorcycles, motorrad, wheels

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2009's Top Ten Cars Sold at Auction

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Auctions, Wealth

The top ten cars sold at auction in 2009 went for $12.2M on the high end, $3.1M on the low. That means there were at least ten people this year who responded to the town crier's screams of "Recession and Depression!" by saying, "Honey, did you hear what that man said? I couldn't make it out because I was busy smacking my lips all over these gold plated bon-bons. They're delicious. Here, try one..."

Not only was this a(nother) big year for auctions, in some ways it was the biggest year: the record for the highest car ever sold at auction was set at RM Auctions' Leggenda e Passione event in Maranello, Italy in May. If that's how buyers dealt with the sequel to The Great Depression, we have no doubt auctioneers are hoping for the same kind of discrete-consumption-is-the-new-black bidding next year. Follow on the for the full list...

Gallery: 1957 Ferrari 250 TR #0714TR

Tags: auction, auctions, top 10, Top10, wheels

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CRS Duu Combines "Badass" and "Bike" in Ways Never Seen

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

If you had the stomach to sit through Terminator Salvation with your eyes open, you'll remember the mototerminators that launched themselves from the legs of the collectors. (Our apologies if this has brought back terrible memories.) Those apocalyptic wheelie poppers were based on Ducatis, but if you fancied the look of them, Italian bike builder CR&S has something pretty close.

Called the DUU Concept, the hand-built naked ride is a combination of "a sporty European rolling chassis powered by a muscular American big-twin." The engine is a 1.9-liter (117 cu. in.) X-Wedge supplied by engine maker S&S. Wrapped around that powerplant is a chassis that CR&S says can be tailored by the customer. They don't specifically indicate the breadth of that customization beyond presenting the choice of single or two-seater versions, but any time you combine "Italian" and "hand-made," the options list usually runs long.

CR&S said it has plans to build them from next year, at €20,000 ($30,000 U.S.) apiece. Once you take delivery, your first mission can be to hunt down McG and, well, you'll know what to do when the time comes...

Gallery: CR&S Duu Concept

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Tags: bike, concept, crs duu, CrsDuu, duu, motorcycle, wheels

Gooding & Co Adds Another Day to Next Month's Barrett-Jackson Auction

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Auctions

Gooding's regular yearly auction during Barrett-Jackson event in Scottsdale will take place January 23. Next year, though, Gooding will hold an additional auction the day before and it will be moving some delightful machinery. If you can't wait for Saturday's spoils, which include a 1959 Ferrari Series 1 Pininfarina Cabriolet, a Zagato-bodied 1932 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport, and a 1956 Maserati A6G/54 Berlinetta, then you might find something you like among the Friday collection specialities:

1934 Duesenberg Model J Disappearing Top Convertible Coupe, Chassis No. 2490, Engine No. J-461:
The only Murphy-bodied Convertible Coupe in existence with rear-mounted spares, J-461 is renowned for its many concours awards including a Best in Class at the 1986 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, a First Place at the 1987 Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance and its coveted Category One standing with the ACD Club. First owned by Sigfried Roebling, of the famed Brooklyn Bridge family, this magnificent Duesenberg possesses an impressive lineage from new.

1927 Bentley 6 1/2-Litre Sport Coupe, Chassis TW2713:
With coachwork by the Surbiton Carriage Company, this low-windshield, fabric-bodied 6 1/2-litre coupe bodied Bentley was first delivered to England-based S.E. Parkes in April 1927. After many years at the Manx Motor Museum on the Isle of Man, TW2713 was shipped to America in the 1980s in original, near-perfect condition. Now after 20 years of healthy driving by previous owners, the fully-restored 6 1/2-litre Coupe is a rarity even among its prestigious vintage peers, having retained its original "Surbico" body and unique elegant design.

1959 Costin Lister Jaguar Sports Racer, Chassis BHL 123:
Arguably the most historically important of the entire run of Lister sports cars, BHL 123 is one of only two Jaguar-powered Costin-Listers built following a factory fire at Jaguar Works in 1957. Originally purchased by legendary American sportsman, race car driver and manufacturer Briggs Cunningham, the Sports Racer earned its place in motorsport history when it captured the 1959 SCCA C-Modified National Championship. After many years of podium finishes, BHL 123 is a fully-restored and acclaimed vintage racer.

If any of those speak to you, have your bidding hand ready on January 22, 11 a.m., across the way from Scottsdale's Fashion Square Mall.

Gallery: Gooding & Co Friday Auction at 2010 Barrett-Jackson

[Source: Gooding & Co | Images: Pawel Litwinski]

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Tags: auction, barrett-jackson, barrett-jackson 2010, Barrett-jackson2010, Gooding and Company, gooding co, gooding company, GoodingAndCompany, GoodingCo, GoodingCompany, scottsdale, vintage, wheels

Robovault Protects Your Valuables from Thieves, Hurricanes, Apocalypse

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

South Florida's concentration of wealth and climate-on-steroids weather patterns makes it good practice for both Revelations and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Ft. Lauderdale's RoboVault, opened earlier this year, casts itself as protection for the locals' valuable baubles both from sticky fingers and Mother Nature's bad days.

RoboVault is a wholly enclosed robotic retrieval and storage system much like you'd find at most shipping ports, without the bilge pumps and catcalls. Drive inside the concrete-and-steel-reinforced building that can withstand Category 5 hurricanes and 200-mph winds, and place your car on the pallet. Once the system has identified you with retinal scanning, heartbeat detection, and biometric recognition an automated arm will remove your vehicle to your assigned container.

RoboVault also houses a climate-controlled wine cellar for 4,000 bottles, and safe deposit boxes. Another touch: a business center and wine-tasting lounge if you've parked your car before heading to the airport and have time to spare, and a valet service that will retrieve your car if you call ahead.

When the region is tested by the inevitable hurricane, a large scale power outage will be neutralized by RoboVault's back-up generator. It maintains 100% of the building's electrical operations for two weeks, including the motion detectors and infrared alarms, so there'll be no Die Hard antics here. Tucked in its steel mesh unit, your Ferrari will be prepared for the Second Coming, and that might make the Rapture all the more rapturous.

[Source: MotoBullet]

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Tags: florida, robovault, wheels

Tokyo 2009: Alpina B7 Bi-Turbo Long Wheelbase

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

The Alpina B7 Bi-Turbo Long Wheelbase is for when merely long isn't long enough. There is already an Alpina B7 based on the normal wheelbase BMW 750i, and that car is 16.7 feet long -- but come now, what are you supposed to do with that? Curl up into the fetal position when you want to go somewhere? Take classes at Cirque du Soleil so you can contort yourself into a rear cabin that offers a meager 38.4 inches of rear legroom?

No. What you do is buy the long wheelbase version built on the 750Li. It adds six more inches in back so you can stretch out -- you know, live like a real person, not some frightened armadillo. Your discernment will be rewarded with Alpina's fettled version of BMW's 4.4-liter V8, adding a couple of turbos for 507 horsepower and 516 lb-ft. of torque. That gets you and your white whale sixty in 4.8 seconds, just 0.1 second longer than the guy in a regular wheelbase B7.

But it's not like either of you will notice: you'll be too busy trying to finalize your hostile takeover of Samoa, he'll be too busy trying to figure out how to extricate himself from his Lilliputian conveyance. Alpina hasn't announced pricing, but if you want one, here's our advice: bring a lot of money.

Gallery: Alpina B7 Bi-Turbo Long Wheelbase

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Tags: 7 series, 7Series, alpina, alpina b7, alpina b7 long wheelbase, AlpinaB7, AlpinaB7LongWheelbase, b7, b7 long wheelbase, B7LongWheelbase, bmw, bmw 7 series, Bmw7Series, tokyo motor show, TokyoMotorShow, wheels

Tokyo 2009: Lotus Exige Stealth is Black You Can Feel

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

This year's Tokyo didn't have much in the way of luxurious items, but the three it did have -- the Lexus LF-A, Alpina B7 Bi-Turbo Long Wheelbase, and this, the Lotus Exige Stealth (Exige Scura in Europe) -- were all worthy of our attention. The limited-edition Lotus, of which just 35 will be made, even added to its luxe quotient with a feel-good factor: its paint isn't just matte black, it's got texture.

Matte cars are fabulous to behold until they leave the showroom, then it takes nothing more than an errant piece of lint to scratch the bejeezus out of them. To combat that, Lotus painted the Stealth in the shiny black stuff that comprises the stripes, then blocked those off and painted the car again in a proprietary, rubberized matte paint that spoils your fingers with a soft, fuzzy feel.

Lotus claims it is up to five times more resistant to marking and peeling than other finishes. But wait, there's more: Lotus is only making 35 Stealths, so if you've been looking for a kinder, gentler black on the outside to go with carbon fiber and 260 horsepower inside, then you'll want to place a call to Bruce Chapman's company.

Gallery: Lotus Exige Stealth

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Tags: exige, exige scura, exige stealth, ExigeScura, ExigeStealth, lotus, lotus exige, lotus exige stealth, LotusExige, LotusExigeStealth, scura, wheels

Luxist Drives the Aston Martin DBS Volante, and it Gives Convertibles a Very, Very Good Name

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

When you love the performance of a particular coupe, it's not often that you get to hop in the convertible version and say to yourself, "So... you mean I can have the same thing with the top down?" But in between the tight and relentless esses of Monterey's Carmel Valley Road, that's what we found ourselves debating. What we settled on was this: While the handling envelope of the DBS coupe is excellent, the envelope of the DBS Volante is, well, excellent.

Tags: aston martin, aston martin dbs, aston martin dbs volante, AstonMartin, AstonMartinDbs, AstonMartinDbsVolante, monterey 2009, Monterey2009, pebble beach 2009, PebbleBeach2009, wheels

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Luxist Drives the 2009 Mercedes-Benz G550, and it Makes Us Glücklich

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

The Mercedes G550 is an unlikely niche vehicle. As with perhaps every other military-derived civilian 4x4, it's a box on wheels, all straight lines and fender flares. Yet unlike most other military-derived civilian off-roaders, it comes standard with solid axles front and rear, three electronically locking differentials front, center, and rear, and, get this, heated rear seats. Celebs, trendsters, and the generally rich keep it in the public consciousness. When Mercedes decided to kill it, a general uproar caused them to belay the order. It costs $100,250, and has no options. Before we drove it, we didn't know why people dug it. After driving it, now we do: it is colossally fun.

Tags: G-class, G-klasse, G-wagen, G-Wagon, G550, Gelaendenwagen, Mercedes, mercedes g550, MercedesG550, wheels

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The Aston Martin One-77 has Overdosed on Low and Mean

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

While traipsing around Carmel during Pebble Beach weekend, we found the Aston Martin One-77 tucked between hospitality tables like a manta ray brooding within a coral reef -- as if it were grudgingly consenting to being looked at. With a roofline that sits about four inches lower than a DBS, the minimal height, exceptional girth, and slew of edged features combine to create one angry car.

Yet it does possess its moments of soft beauty: the engine bay is a case of stupendous craftsmanship; we'd use the mirror-finish twin-spoke wheels to do our shaving every morning; the carbon fiber rear suspension weaving its way through leather-trimmed panels is nothing short of delicious. Inside, the car is minutely detailed, with black leather and white cross-stitching slathering nearly every deeply arced surface -- at least, all those that aren't carbon fiber and aluminum. Everything other than the white-backed center console gauges elicits a slightly intoxicated "Yes" from our hearts. That's the velvet glove side of the One-77.

Its iron fist is much bigger, and it wears brass knuckles in the form of a 7.3-liter V12. Best of all, Even better: there's still time to get one. You can place a call to Aston Martin for an order, after which they'll ask you to wire $1.8 million. Or you can simply enjoy the beast in the gallery below.

Tags: aston martin, aston martin one-77, AstonMartin, AstonMartinOne-77, monterey 2009, Monterey2009, one-77, pebble beach 2009, PebbleBeach2009, wheels

The Bentley Continental Supersports Makes Algae Go Really, Really Fast

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Green

The Bentley Continental Supersports is otherwise a Continental GT that has gotten some face work done, gone on a diet, and gotten a new diet. We took a trip around the car in Beverly Hills with the company's Dealer Events Specialist, Jon DiVaio, who assured us this is just the beginning in a proper green strategy for the brand from Crewe. Our take on it after one go 'round was "Love the car, but the manual trunk, not so much..." Oh, and "Yes, we'll take it."

Gallery: Bentley Continental Supersports Unveil

Tags: 2010 bentley continental supersports, 2010BentleyContinentalSupersports, bentley, bentley continental supersports, BentleyContinentalSupersports, green, supersports, wheels

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Luxury Car Club Membership, aka "I'll Take the Lamborghini Today"

by Lisa Palladino (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Services, Luxury Cars & Autos

Ownership is a double-edged sword -- it's yours, and you loved it enough to buy it. But if you're bored, or something goes wrong, or you just want a change, you may sometimes wish you could give it back and try something else. If you're in the NYC - NJ - LI metro area, you can do this with luxury cars by joining Vulcan Motor Club. Founded in 2007, the club focuses on "placing a select fleet of the world's most prestigious high-performance and luxury vehicles at your disposal." Membership tiers vary from a $1,240/one-time 5-hour drive to a $28,800/year plan that allows 40 days of annual use and 40,000 annual miles with access to the full fleet of 12 cars, with several membership levels in between. You can get in touch for more info, and also check out Vulcan's blog.

Tags: cars, club, clubs, luxury cars, LuxuryCars, membership, Vulcan, Vulcan Motor Club, VulcanMotorClub, wheels

The Swarovski-Encrusted Lexus SC430

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

Talk about a great way to ruin a beautiful car -- paste pink Swarovski crystals on every visible surface. More than 300,000 crystals cover the car's hood, trunk, license plate, and even wheel rims, forming roses, hearts, ribbons, and lots of general over-the-top girliness to symbolize the beauty of marriage. Even the interior features crystals next to the shift knob and on front and backseat throw pillows (what?).

Designed by Zheng Zhiren the car is currently on display in Taiwan and is apparently a big hit. It's valued at approximately $306,000.

Gallery: Swarovski-Encrusted Lexus SC430