5 Cars Take Luxury To New Levels
Over the Top 
Or in other words, what would a billionaire drive? Fortunately for the megabuck crowd, there is a wide choice of offerings depending on whether they want to flaunt it or flog it. Here are five hot cars to appeal to your inner Trump.
What better way to strut your stuff than in a Maybach Landaulet? The basic structure of this Mercedes-built limousine remains the same except for the rear-passenger area that now has a retractable soft top, while the front driver’s compartment remains closed. This 612-horsepower luxury ride is the perfect parade car.
So that Hermes scarf you gave the missus last Christmas just didn’t do it? This year, surprise her with a $2 million Bugatti Veyron Fgb par Hermes. This 1001-horsepower supercar has been given the full Hermes treatment by the famed Parisian design house, right down the exterior two-tone paint and interior leathers. Even the door pulls are inspired by the closures on Hermes luggage.
Bentley has rounded out the top of its lineup, which includes the Arnage sedan and Azure convertible, with the Bentley Brooklands Coupe, a stylish and quick 2-door with all the panache this fabled marque can offer. The twin-turbo V-8 offers up 513 horsepower, whisking four occupants down the road in leather and burled-wood comfort.
Looking to redefine the image of the diesel engine, the Audi R8 Le Mans uses a highly modified oil burner to produce an eye-popping 500 horsepower from its 6.0-liter V-12 engine. Originally introduced as the R8 V12 TDI concept, the car is moving closer to production with the addition of the Le Mans nameplate, which is a direct reference to Audi’s all-conquering R10 diesel Le Mans prototype that has dominated at the French 24-hour classic.
Sharing the commanding presence of the Phantom sedan, the Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe is an immense 2-door that captures a sporty flair embodied in the marque’s Drophead Coupe. The hardtop coupe shares the convertible’s unique rear-hinged “suicide-style” doors, club-chair seating and a massive 6.75-liter V-12 making 453 horsepower. In the valet parking-car wars of what gets parked closest to the door, this one wins. Up First: Maybach Landaulet
Because Maybachs clearly aren’t exclusive enough, the Landaulet Study could very well become the most coveted limousine in the world. By adding a folding black soft-top roof over the passenger compartment of the Maybach 62 S (while the chauffeur’s compartment remains enclosed, in true landaulet style), the German super-luxury manufacturer says it has “re-enlivened the great art of building majestic automobiles.”
Although the rear of the roof has been chopped off, the side structures remain, invisibly strengthened with integral tubular steel reinforcements. Opening and closing the roof takes 16 seconds, operated by a switch at the hands of the chauffeur.
The rear of the car, including the twin, airliner-like reclining seats, is largely covered with Seychelles white leather; the floor is carpeted with white velour, while trim pieces are of black granite with gold inclusions.
The driver’s area has been enhanced with glossy black Stromboli leather, with all the interior trim pieces finished in black piano lacquer. And just to drive the point home that the Landaulet is meant to be chauffeur-driven, the front and rear compartments are divided by a glass partition.
The Landaulet Study uses the same AMG-massaged 6.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-12 as the Maybach 57 S and 62 S, with 612 bhp and 738 lb.-ft. of torque.
This rather long appendage to the Bugatti nameplate reflects a relationship that the factory says goes back to 1927 when Ettore Bugatti sought fitted luggage from the Parisian design house.
That relationship has come full circle in this limited-edition Bugatti with styling cues developed by Hermes. The Fgp appellation refers to Hermes’ headquarters on Rue du Faubourge Saint Honore in Paris.
It’s not just a color and paint trim package, although the sand-colored hood and rear decklid are the first indications that this package is special. The face of the car has been revamped with a brushed-aluminum trademark horse collar grille now flanked with a panel with two air inlets. All the mesh grilles — including the main radiator opening, lower inlets — engine air snorkels aft of the passenger cabin and the rocker panel inlets now have a pattern that reflect the Hermes “H” motif.
Inside, sand-colored leather covers all the surfaces, and even the inside door pulls have been reconfigured to look more like luggage latches than door handles.
Bespoke leather on the interior, and Hermes logos on the wheel hubs and fuel-filler door speak to the car’s pedigree. The car retains its legendary performance from its 1001-bhp V-16 quad-turbocharged engine, which enables a factory-claimed 0–62 -mph run of 2.6 seconds. The price? Nearly $2 million.
It’s tough to get more “automotively English” than Bentley and Brooklands.
The former is, of course, the famous automaker while the latter is a historic-if-now-defunct high-speed race track near London. Put the two names together in 2008 and you have a new coupe that is the sum of 6.75, 530, 774, 3, 5.0 and 340,990.
How does it add up?
You begin with the chassis of the Bentley Azure convertible, already stiffened to be a luxury drop top. Add a steel coupe roof while retaining in all but one piece of the convertible structure, and you have a very rigid automobile.
Make certain that top matches the lower body, give it an air of luxury and style and add the name Brooklands.
Now here come the numbers. Take the rather traditional Bentley V-8, displacing 6.75 liters, add a pair of turbochargers and the appropriate internal changes needed, and you come away with 530 horsepower and 774 lb.-ft. of torque. The 3 is an approximate number, but represents the Brookland’s weight in tons with driver and passenger. That 5.0 is the number of seconds to get the big Brooklands to 60 mph. You’ve probably guessed that $340,990 is the base price of the Brooklands coupe. With options and taxes you may be closer to $400,000.
It is a beautifully done machine, from its hand-finished body seams to the highly polished solid wood trim to the military straight stitching. Bentley says this is the most commodious coupe cabin in the world, and it feels like it when you’re stretched out in back enjoying the countryside blur by.
With the exception of new uprights to allow for the optional ($30,000) carbon-ceramic brakes, the suspension pieces also carry over from the Azure, though tuned to sportier — as in firmer and flatter — performance.
It is a mighty thing to stomp the gas, feel the back end slew a bit as the power bites and rushes the great machine forward. Once the road starts winding, the Brooklands is surprisingly agile though it is somewhat light-steering. Mind you, as it edges right, then left down the road, you will never forget this is one big, heavy machine…nothing cat like about it. But as a piece of traditional British automotive power, it is impressive.
With 500 horsepower and over 737 lb.-ft. of torque, the Audi R8 TDI Le Mans certainly has the street cred to move right up into the upper echelon of the exotic sports car category inhabited by the likes of the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and the Lamborghini Murciélago LP640. But this handsome German offering’s powerplant sports an utterly unique twist over those Italian V-12-powered machines: It’s a diesel.
Unique exterior (honeycomb-trimmed grille openings, carbon-fiber “sideblade” trim aft of the doors) and interior (aluminum trim, more carbon fiber) touches help further set this oil-burning edition apart from the road-going R8 coupe.
As this is a prototype vehicle, should the R8 TDI Le Mans go into production (it is likely to be built), it will most certainly sell for more than the current gas-burning, V-8-powered R8’s base price of $109,000.
Look for a full Technical Analysis and Driving Impression in the June 2008 issue of Road & Track.
via Road & Track