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Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus’s annual Christmas Book is a holiday tradition that’s entering its 93rd year. Mixed in with the usual gift ideas this year is something we’d love to see under the tree in December: a customized Aston Martin DBS Superleggera.

The special Aston has been designed by Daniel Craig, currently the star of the blockbuster James Bond film series, and it rather fittingly carries a price of $700,007. For that frankly eye-watering price (the standard DBS Superleggera goes for $307,820), the lucky seven recipients of this fantasy gift will enjoy the car’s 715-hp twin-turbocharged 5.2-liter V-12 engine that absolutely howls when pushed hard—as we found out during our test drive in the Austrian Alps in July 2018.

Seven examples will be produced, each accompanied by a platinum Omega Seamaster Diver 300M wristwatch–itself a fantasy gift for many–as well as tickets to the world premiere of No Time to Die, the next James Bond movie. In addition to the gifts, Neiman Marcus will donate 12 percent of the sales price from each of the seven Aston Martins to The Opportunity Network through the company’s Heart of Neiman Marcus Foundation.

If Neiman Marcus’s list of gift ideas is a bit too rich for your blood, we’ve compiled our own list of automotive-related products we love that can be had for a tiny fraction of the price. They won’t be the Christmas Day knockout that Bond’s Aston Martin would be, but we think they’ll make the car lover in your life very happy.

Aston Martin and Zagato have been working together off and on for nearly 60 years, producing some stunning cars in the process. None more so than the DB4 GT Zagato. The British automaker and the Italian design house decided to pay tribute, and these are our first real pictures of the final result, the DBS GT Zagato.

As first announced last year, the DBS GT Zagato will only be sold as a pair with a continuation-series DB4 GT Zagato. Just 19 pairs will be built, and the price is set at £6 million ($7.375 million, at today’s exchange rates) plus tax.

The DBS GT Zagato is based on the DBS Superleggera, but the Zagato actually makes a little more power from its 5.2-liter twin-turbo V-12—760 hp verses the Superleggera’s 715. But, it’s the bodywork that really separates the two. The DBS GT Zagato references the DB4 with its huge grille, bulging rear fenders, and double-bubble roof—a Zagato signature. There’s a lot of Vanquish Zagato in there, too.

The color, Supernova Red, is exclusive to the DBS GT Zagato, and accented by lots of gold trim, including real 18-karat gold badges. The grille is active, too, with diamond-shaped elements that can open or close as cooling requirements dictate. Inside, there’s a lot more red and gold in this car. Aston seems particularly proud of the trim, which is 3D-printed metal and carbon, an automotive first. The optional gold trim on this car is stainless steel, which apparently takes 100 hours to print.

Top Gear reported earlier this week that 18 Aston Zagato pairs had been sold, and that the 19th will likely be sold soon. We’ve reached out to Aston Martin to confirm if this is the case.

Deliveries of the DB4 GT Zagato continuation car will be completed by the end of the year, while the DBS should arrive at customer homes sometime next year.

Engaging launch control in a Taycan Turbo S is simple. Call up Sport Plus mode, hold the brake with your left foot, floor the accelerator with your right. Release the brake and try to keep your neck steady. There’s no pre-heating the battery, no fussing with traction control settings, nothing.

And no histrionics. Just 750 hp and 774 lb-ft of torque turned into forward motion without a hint of wheelspin and minimal noise. There’s a good chance the loudest thing in the car will be the passengers as you rip to 60 mph quicker than a 911 Turbo S.

You probably know that this is Porsche’s first electric car, built on a brand-new platform that’ll soon underpin a high-riding wagon, the Taycan Cross Turismo, and a swoopy Audi sedan, the E-Tron GT. It’s a big deal, breaking all sorts of new ground for Porsche. It’s meant to reduce the automaker’s fleet fuel consumption and C02 emissions; it’s meant to compete with the Tesla Model S; it’s meant to start Porsche’s gradual transition away from internal-combustion. And at the end of the day, it has to live up to the Porsche name.

Our first chance to sample the Taycan came as part of a Scandinavian road trip put on by Porsche to demonstrate the new EV’s usability. The Turbo and Turbo S are all-wheel drive, with a permanent magnet synchronous motor powering each axle. (An entry-level rear-drive Taycan is likely to arrive soon.) On the top-spec Turbo S, those motors combine to make 626 horsepower in normal driving, rising to 750 for 2.5 seconds when launch control is activated. The rear motor drives a trick two-speed transmission with a low-ratio first gear. In Sport and Sport Plus modes, the car uses first gear from zero to around 50 mph for quicker acceleration. In all other modes, the car stays in second.

Tesla showed the world just how violently quick an electric car can be. The Taycan is capable of equal violence: The Turbo S hits 60 mph in 2.6 seconds, and runs the quarter-mile in 10.8.

But the Tesla takes some coaxing to get there. Ludicrous Mode will only engage after the battery reaches the right temperature—and depending on ambient conditions, that might take awhile. Back-to-back launches will run the Model S out of breath, acceleration waning as battery temps rise. The Taycan can hit its marks over and over, no warm-up or cool-down required. A lot of work went into that. The Porsche’s 800-volt architecture runs lower current, allowing engineers to use smaller-gauge wiring, reducing temperatures.

Porsche has never been solely about straight-line performance. The Taycan is shorter in length than a Panamera, but a smidge wider. Thanks to its 93.4-kWh battery pack, the new EV is a heavy machine, the Turbo S weighing in at 5121 lbs according to Porsche. Thankfully, like most EVs, the Taycan carries its weight low in the chassis, affording a center of gravity that’s lower than a 911’s. In Turbo S trim, you get three-chamber air springs, adaptive dampers, rear-wheel steering, and optional active anti-roll bars driven by a separate 48-volt electrical system. The Turbo S rides on 21-inch wheels (non-S Turbos get narrower 20s). Our tester wore Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetrics measuring 265/35 up front, 305/30 in the rear.

The roads between Oslo and Gothenburg alternate between tight and flowing. On both varieties, the Taycan hides its size and weight, the active anti-roll bars contributing to real agility and freakishly good body control. The damping controls body motion well, and the steering is reassuringly hefty and precise, weighting up naturally as load increases at the front. The steering wheel doesn’t wriggle away like an old 911’s, but no electric-power-assist setup in Porsche’s current lineup does.

Unfortunately, the brake pedal doesn’t quite match the steering. In normal driving, the Taycan accomplishes most of its braking through regeneration. Around town, or in any situation that demands small brake modulations, the pedal tends to feel spongy, a bit unnatural. Once you’re moving, though, there’s nice bite at the top of the pedal and a more predictable feel.

Different EV manufacturers approach regenerative braking differently. Many pure EVs control regen through the accelerator pedal—the more you lift, the more the car slows. Porsche engineers thought this wasn’t quite intuitive, especially in fast driving, so the Taycan only engages a small amount of regen on throttle lift, which can be switched off entirely via a steering wheel button. There’s also an automatic regen mode, where a camera analyzes the road ahead to adjust the amount of regen available.

The Taycan also has massive conventional brakes. The Turbo S comes standard with carbon-ceramic rotors, 16.5 inches up front, 16.1 inches rear, gripped by 10-piston and four-piston calipers, respectively. (The setup is optional on the non-S Taycan Turbo, which comes standard with steel brake rotors measuring 16.4 inches up front and 14.4 inches at the rear, with the same caliper setup.) On the Turbo S I drove, the transition between regen and friction braking was totally seamless.

We could talk about the more extreme dynamic capabilities of the Taycan all day—and hopefully, we’ll have more time in the car to explore those further. Ultimately, this car is a daily-driver, and real-world livability is the most relevant factor.

Things are off to a great start with an excellent driving position—a little higher a 911’s, thanks to those batteries crammed into the floor, but familiar. The tall front fenders help you precisely place the nose of the car, and like all Porsche sports cars, the short hood tumbles away from your view. The scene through the windshield is charmingly reminiscent of a 918 Spyder’s.

By: Chris Perkins, September 24, 2019

For more cars, visit: https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/first-drives/a29198183/2020-porsche-taycan-turbo-s-first-drive-review/

Source: https://www.roadandtrack.com/

If you’ve ever looked an an E-Class and thought, “Wow, this could really use more lights,” Mercedes-Benz has you covered. Its newest concept, the Vision EQS, just premiered in Frankfurt today, and it uses more LEDs than we can keep track of.

Mercedes pitches the all-electric EQS as an “outlook on a new dimension in sustainable luxury.” The front grille alone houses 188 individual LED lights, designed to create a three-dimensional effect when turned on. The headlights are equipped with what Mercedes calls “Digital Light” technology, which incorporates two holographic lens modules into each assembly. Combined, the grille and headlights make for a flowing fascia that leads seamlessly through the rest of the exterior.

Ferrari unveiled the 812 GTS, its latest V-12 spider, in Maranello today. The car is based on the 812 Superfast, with which it shares its exterior and interior dimensions and its 6.5-liter, 789-hp V-12 engine. It features a power-folding hard-top and a rear end that was completely redesigned to accommodate the convertible top. Ferrari claims it is the most powerful production spider in the world.

Like in the 812 Superfast, the V-12 engine has an 8900-rpm rev limit, and makes its peak 789 hp at 8500 rpm. Torque hits its 530 lb-ft peak at 7000 rpm, with 80 percent of torque available at 3500 rpm. The seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission has been programmed for faster shifts, and now has shorter gear ratios to improve the 812’s response to throttle inputs. Ferrari says the GTS will reach 62 mph in less than three seconds and 124 mph in 8.3 seconds. The car will have a top speed of 211 mph.

The V-12 had to employ some tricks to comply with emissions regulations. Its high-pressure injection system reduces the number of particles that are emitted before the catalytic converter warms up. There’s also a new gasoline particulate filter, and the GTS uses a stop-start system to further mitigate the thirsty V-12’s demands.

The 812 GTS’s rear end features two buttresses and a tonneau cover. The mechanism that moves the power-folding hardtop lives under the buttresses, and when the top is stowed its panels rest under the tonneau cover. The top can fold or unfold in 14 seconds and will operate at speeds of up to 28 mph. An air duct that runs through the rear wheel arches in the coupe variant was lost in the redesign, so the GTS’s rear diffuser has an extra flap to make up the difference.

The 812 GTS is also the scion of a rich lineage for Ferrari. The company built its first front-engined V-12 coupe in 1948. That car, the 166 MM won both the Mille Miglia and 24 Hours of LeMans endurance races in 1949. The last time a series-production front-engine V-12 Spider rolled out of Maranello was the GTS4 in 1969, also called the Daytona Spider in honor of Ferrari’s 1967 sweep at the 24 Hours of Daytona (the company counts more recent front-engine V-12 cars such as the 575 Superamerica and F60 America as limited-edition models).

Ferrari hasn’t named an on-sale date or a price for the 812 GTS, but we’d bet it’ll be a bit higher than the coupe version, which rings in at a healthy $335,275.

By: Annie White, September 9, 2019

For more car, visit: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a28955195/ferrari-812-gts-photos-info/

Source: https://www.caranddriver.com/