This road test may be irrelevant. Which wouldn’t necessarily make it unique to the pages of

C/D.

This time, however, it isn’t our fault. See, Bentley is going to create only 550

—delivering the final one toward the end of 2009—and 549 of them are already spoken for. The grand-touring coupe you see on these pages, in a color Bentley calls “Porcelain,” is the last copy for sale. Or was at the time this was written.

But don’t sweat it. You probably couldn’t afford one anyway. The base Brooklands, including its $4500 guzzler tax, will set you back $348,085, “but practically no one is going out the door spending less than 400 grand,” notes Bentley’s PR guy. That’s because you’ll want add-ons like a $3190 retractable Flying B hood ornament, and you’d be crazy not to mix and match your Mulliner cockpit veneers—burr oak, burr walnut, bird’s-eye maple, olive ash, vavona, madrona, possibly even plywood—and any 5980-pound flagship wouldn’t be caught dead without the optional carbon-ceramic brake rotors, which will lighten your wallet by $29,270. (Right now, the reader may wish to reflect on vehicular purchases available to him for the cost of this car’s brakes alone.)

Your average Brooklands buyer owns eight automobiles and is worth $30 million. As such, he doesn’t buy the car himself. He sends a minion to buy it

for him. So when the salesman says, “Jeez, I’ll have to go ask my manager,” the buyer probably replies, “That won’t be necessary.”

Alas, where to drive a car that so boldly proclaims, “

I am super-goddamn rich ”? Simple: to the Grand Rapids Art Museum, featuring 100 examples of Andy Warhol’s art. Warhol was joyfully unrepentant about extending the fame of moneyed celebrities while simultaneously worshipping at the cathedral that is Chase Manhattan Bank. “It’s great to buy friends,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a lot of money and attracting people with it. Look who you’re attracting:

everybody!

As we cruised at 80 mph toward the museum, the big car’s trunk mysteriously popped open on its own, disgorging a London Fog coat upon the wet surface of Interstate 96. Did we care? We did

not!

No longer the hoi polloi, at least for a day, we blithely dismissed so puny a setback. As Warhol would have put it, “Always omit the blemishes—they’re not part of the good picture you want.” Then he added, “The best way I like to carry money, actually, is messily. Crumpled wads. A paper bag is good.”

All 18 feet of the Brooklands is a close cousin to the convertible but with a hard roof hand-welded into place, a process requiring 110 hours of flying sparks. Both cars trace their Crewe-cut roots to the

, launched in the ’90s, and all three are thus the old-style “true British” Bentleys, untainted by the Johnny-come-lately VW engineers who were responsible for the

,

, and

. The latter drive like modern supercars. The former drive like really, really fast Olds 98 Regencys. Well, that’s an exaggeration, but keep in mind that the twin-turbo, pushrod 6.75-liter V-8, a derivative of a Packard design, has been in constant use since 1959, a year when Warhol—known as the “white mole of Union Square”—was still churning out ink drawings of shoes for ads.

But what an engine it is, producing 774 pound-feet of torque at just 3200 rpm, which isn’t all that far from its 4600-rpm redline—statistics you’d expect to find in a Caterpillar brochure. At step-off, the V-8 more or less ignores the first inch of pedal travel, but the second inch induces a leap and a roar not unlike what Siegfried & Roy experienced just prior to forced retirement. At wide-open throttle, the Brooklands and a four-cylinder

emit the same quantity of noise. Sixty mph arrives in 5.0 seconds, and the quarter-mile is dispatched in 13.3 seconds, same as a

, which could act as a dinghy for this car. Disable the traction control, and you can transform the 20-inch rear Pirellis into a cloud of smoke so immense that emergency calls will be placed to the U.S. Forest Service. That, of course, would be a wasteful display. But we have

money,

dammit, and the cure for shredded tires is mere cash. “I don’t think everybody should have money,” Warhol noted, “ . . . you wouldn’t know who was important. How boring.”

Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/08q3/2009_bentley_brooklands-road_test

2008 Toyota Highlander – Drive Line Review – Car and Driver

Almost three years ago, Porsche stunned members of the media at the Paris auto show by unveiling the Carrera GT, a mid-engined supercar in the Ferrari Enzo vein that was more exotic than any roadgoing car the company had ever created.

It was based on a Le Mans race car that Porsche had designed and decided not to campaign. At Paris, Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking announced his eagerness to put the Carrera GT into production, but only if there were enough interest to sell the 1000 units needed to justify the investment.

Despite the world economic downturn since 2000, interest in the Carrera GT has been red-hot among the remaining well-heeled, so Porsche announced at the 2002 Detroit show that it was going to build the Carrera GT. And at the Geneva show this past March, the company revealed the production version of the car.

The GT will be built at the Leipzig factory, where the Cayenne SUV is assembled. Deliveries will begin this fall, and the entire run of no more than 1500 cars should be completed by the end of 2004. The base price is about $410,000. What follows is all the information we have been able to glean about the Carrera GT to this point. If you like what you read, get your order in early, because we suspect Porsche will have little trouble moving these machines.

Interior Styling In the cockpit, the production car faithfully embodies the main themes of the concept. The biggest change is the substitution of a conventional 911-like five-instrument cluster for the multifunctional liquid-crystal display used in the concept car. "We simply couldn’t find a supplier who could deliver an electronic display that met our size and functional requirements," said styling boss Harm Lagaay. Otherwise, the theme of leather and aluminum remains, along with the unusual rising console with its high-mounted shifter.

If there’s a bit less aluminum trim than is found in the concept, we can’t say we miss it. We certainly don’t mind the glossy exposed carbon fiber in place of the aluminum doorsill plates on the concept.

The removable top has two carbon-fiber panels that weigh about five pounds apiece. They are attached with quick-release latches and are stored in the front compartment. Even the seats are made from carbon fiber, each weighing 24 pounds.

Standard equipment includes a custom-fitted five-piece luggage set, an elaborate sound system, and front and side airbags. Air conditioning is optional.

Structure True to modern race-car practice, the Carrera GT’s structure uses a carbon-fiber tub that is lightweight and rigid. The central tub and the front structure are one large unitized molded assembly. A separate rear structure,

with three large elements on each side, supports the powertrain and rear suspension. It bolts to the back of the main tub.

Since the removable roof sections provide no rigidity, the tub has two deep side sills—at least 10 inches high—as well as the rising central console, adding stiffness and strength. To preserve these expensive carbon-fiber components from minor crash damage, crushable bolt-on tubular extensions—fabricated from H400 high-strength steel—protect each end of the car. The bodywork covering this structure is also fabricated from carbon fiber.

Although the GT concept was said to weigh 2756 pounds, the production car has risen to about 3050 pounds. That’s still impressively light but not quite as feathery as the million-dollar McLaren F1 (it’s less than 2600 pounds), reflecting the Carrera’s larger volume and lower cost.

Suspension Unequal-length control arms are used in the suspension at both ends of the car. These arms are all forged aluminum, except for the large lower arms in the rear, which are constructed from high-strength steel. Additional toe-control links keep the rear wheels pointing in the intended direction, and a power-assisted rack-and-pinion mechanism controls the front wheels.

In the fashion of modern race cars, the suspension motions are controlled by coil-over gas-pressurized shocks mounted horizontally on the structure via pushrods and rockers. This approach not only reduces unsprung weight but also produces an essentially equal relationship between the movement of the wheels and the compression and extension of the suspension. This results in better control, even during the smallest wheel motions. This remote linkage also couples the suspension to the front and rear anti-roll bars. To avoid even the slightest lost motion, all the links and pivots use racing-style spherical joints, with elaborate seals to protect them from real-world contaminants.`

Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/03q2/2004_porsche_carrera_gt-first_drive_review

Making sure to finance a vehicle properly will greatly reduce the cost of your next new or used car. “Auto Financing” is a general term meaning how you pay for the vehicle. In most cases, cars are financed by taking out an auto loan to buy or lease the car. This involves getting a credit check. By checking your credit history first, and answering all the tough car finance questions up front, you will be more prepared to handle issues at the dealership.

In the articles on these pages we will not only look at the general topic of car finance but we will consider the related topics of credit history, car loan refinancing, auto insurance and all issues pertaining to special car finance considerations. Although most people don’t like to think about the subject of auto financing (instead they like to focus on that shiny new car) it is actually the most important part of car buying. While your credit will be checked by the salesman, often before negotiations begin, this is not the only way you can go to get your new car. You do not have to throw yourself at the mercy of the dealership even for special car finance situations. Being prepared before you get to the dealership will mean that you can take charge of your credit and get the new car loan that serves you best.

Keep this in mind: when you negotiate with the salesman for the most favorable auto loan, nothing is permanent until you have it in writing. The sales contract is prepared once negotiations seem to be over. This is handled in the finance and insurance office (the so-called “F&I Room”). It is here that the deal is made or lost. By reading these articles on new and used car financing you will be better prepared to get the best auto loan possible. And who knows? With the money you will be saving, maybe you can move up to that more expensive new car you’ve been eyeing.

Source: http://www.edmunds.com/car-loan/

CarMax Auto Finance Recruiting Video