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With luxury amenities trickling down to the cheaper vehicles now what exactly is your definition of a luxury car? Most of what is available at the top - Lexus, BMW, Mercedes is also available now on a Camry, Accord or Altima...leather, heated seats, climate control, upgraded infotainment, state of the art safety etc.
Not really a measure of tech doo-dads. More about refinement. RWD with a solid chassis and good NVH scores. With the most luxurious cars the most important person is sitting in the back.
Not really a measure of tech doo-dads. More about refinement. RWD with a solid chassis and good NVH scores. With the most luxurious cars the most important person is sitting in the back.
Eh, I'd go a bit subtler than the quoted.
Aston Martin makes (very) refined GT coupes and cabriolets. DBS, DB7, DB9, and more with their vaunted V8 and V12, possibly other engines too. They're slick on the inside, with wood or carbon fiber or whatnot to visually draw one into the lines of the interior. Controls well thought out (mostly), keyless entry, all that. Yes, that word refinement with an English twist.
But the only person in the back seat is the back of groceries from the health food store. A lot of them aren't even 2+2, they're only about the driver's experience.
Ditto Jaguar coupes and cabrios these days; despite being made by Tata, they're "trying" to go for more refinement yet with a raucous, supercharged edge on the Type-R flavor. They're actually pretty big muscle cars, with more kinship to Mercedes Black Edition power coupes than Ford Mustangs.
I'd say such refined muscle cars are luxury too, though. Iron fists in velvet gloves. No one in the back seat, the valet stays home.
My late model Porsche 911 (991.1) isn't so much "luxury" as "German pragmatism," but they still did a nice job on the details and there are enough creature comforts to almost quality as "luxurious." It has the soul of a sports car, not a GT or luxury saloon, though.
When they do things that most don't or no other car has. S class seats move/make adjustments when turning and are massaging. Big powerful engine, yet super quiet, can cruise autobahn with ease at 150+ and feels like you aren't going half that. New headlights that actually read what they are shining on and make adjustments. Panamera will read it's shining on a person, then cut light to area person is, person is not blinded.
yes, but there is so much variation.. a lot of luxury cars don't even have the basics. For instance an Acura ILX is called a luxury car but it's basically just a Civic and in some cases has less equipment than a Civic. You can get a BMW 3 series with no options - it will not even have real leather nor will it have heated seats, features that can be had in a Civic now.
Jack Baruth, a writer for Road and Track, wrote an article regarding this, and even though I think much of what he writes is absolute garbage, I think he was spot on with his take on luxury cars.
Luxury is defined by what the majority cannot have. As he puts it, luxury is defined by accessibility. As far as technological innovation, it's always changing. The Mercedes S class has pioneered a lot of new technologies... but eventually, you don't have to spend $100k+ to get those features, as they trickle down to the E and C class, and other manufacturers incorporate them into their cars too. Power windows were a luxury at one time... until a Honda Civic gets them standard. So features alone don't define luxury, except as they may exist at a single point in time.
Luxury is an elusive, moving target. I can't afford to buy a new $300k Bentley... but I can buy a 4-5 yr old model at 1/3 the price... but no one cares among the wealthy, it's no longer new, it doesn't have the latest tech or it's not the current body style, etc. Eventually, that $300k car will be selling for $50k when it's about 10 years old.
I finally moved up to what I consider a luxury car when I bought my Lexus LS 460. To me the requirements for a luxury car include size, comfort, V-8 engine power, a good sound system and absolute silence. The fact that Lexus's never break down also helps.
yes, but there is so much variation.. a lot of luxury cars don't even have the basics. For instance an Acura ILX is called a luxury car but it's basically just a Civic and in some cases has less equipment than a Civic. You can get a BMW 3 series with no options - it will not even have real leather nor will it have heated seats, features that can be had in a Civic now.
Trying to lump an entire brand into the luxury category is an American thing. And leads to the badge engineering inventions like Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti. In Europe they would not consider an entry level Audi, BMW, or Mercedes to be a luxury car at all and don't have hangups about that. As like you say an entry level one of those can be outperformed in many measures by your run of the mill family sedan fully optioned out.
Hyundai/Kia makes a legitimate luxury car but they are having to spin off the new Genesis brand just because of our cultural hangup.
But even here I don't think anyone would confuse an ILX with a luxury vehicle.
An RS3 isn't a luxury car because it's an Audi, it's a "progressive sports car" as they call it.
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