Luxury Advice

Has the world gone mad: $300,000 extra for a clock in the new Bentley Bentayga SUV

I used to love the sensation of going fast. Rollercoasters and race tracks, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road on the back of a motorcycle. It was all such as fabulous thrill – until I had kids that is.One minute, you are hurtling down the straight on the Portimao Circuit, and the next your tummy can barely handle 80km/h around a corner on the way home from Woolies.Becoming a parent changes more than just your physical ability to handle racing speeds, as it did in my case, it also changes your perspective on driving.Whether it is a conscious decision or not, having precious cargo in the back seat is a reason to exercise a bit more caution, to be more patient and even more generous of spirit on the roads.Unfortunately, it doesn't change the behaviour of that reckless P-plater weaving in and out of traffic at speed, making crazy decisions that put other motorists at risk.Defensive driving techniques, whether you are new to driving or a seasoned hand, are always a good idea which is why we jumped at an invitation from Audi to attend their Women's Driving Experience Day at the Mt Cotton racetrack.While the opportunity to drive their top performance models around a track all day was the perfect lure, the promise of enhancing individual driving skills and exploring the capability of active and passive safety systems rounded off the package nicely.Audi's driving experience days are open to present and future customers, actually, anyone really, who wants to be a better driver and have fun learning to do it.Led by successful racer and motoring commentator Steve Pizzati, the team consists of the cream of Australian motorsport including Luke Youlden, Nathan Pretty, Daniel Garnett, Melinda Price and Chris Pither. The women-only drive days, now in their second year, have been a phenomenal success."Some women tend to learn better and have a better overall experience on female-only days," says Pizzati, "mostly because they feel it less overwhelming. We are able to arm them with skills to allow them to feel safer on the roads and hopefully they have fun along the way."And they are taught by race drivers who in addition to being highly skilled are all passionate about driver safety, driver education, about improving people's skills on the road."They also get to do it at race tracks like this so they can learn skills at a faster speed. If you can do something at 150km/h, you will feel confident doing it at 110km/h, but of course they can do it at 60km/h if that's what they prefer."The skills on the half-day experience (a full-day version is available as well) included learning how to work with the car's advanced driver assistance systems, how to change lanes quickly to avoid an accident, how to effectively execute emergency stops in different weather and road conditions, make better use of the road and how to recover from inattention. Fast laps around the circuit were also the order of the day.Rapid improvements in technology in the past decade, and the last five years in particular, have resulted in exponential advancements in your vehicle's ability to not only enhance the driving experience but to also help keep you safer on the road than ever before.As a parent, features like autonomous emergency braking (AEB), reverse camera and sensors and blind-spot assist offer a comforting security blanket. But how many of us have learnt to use the technology and adjusted our driving styles accordingly to really take advantage of improvements?Take the Adaptive Cruise Control, for example, which uses special laser sensors to measure the distance to the vehicle ahead and then automatically control the set speed and maintain a constant distance to the vehicle ahead.Okay, so just between you and me, I am not generally a fan of cruise control. It requires giving up a little bit of control which I am not very good with and while I do use the feature during car tests I rarely do so willingly.Having to use Adaptive Cruise Control on an Audi RS5 Coupe, locked on to the race car driver in front, around tight corners didn't exactly spark joy but when in Mt Cotton…Once I damped down my demons, it was easier to appreciate the complexity of the system at work as well as the improvements made in the technology, too. Now, the radar spans a wider arc which means it can better account for cars that slip in front of you unexpectedly and detect open spaces in adjacent lanes if the car in front is turning."We will look back at this 10-year period as the transition from fully manual driving to the fully autonomous driving that is ahead, said Pizzati."This training is important because the tech is out there and if you don't understand what its capabilities are and more importantly what its limitations are, then you will lean on it at the wrong time and that won't turn out well. The few incidents with drivers in Teslas are proof of that."These systems are great but they are not completely doing everything for you so you need to learn how to work together with the car to get the best out of it so we can be safer and keep our families safe. That is what these days are about."Probably the most valuable lesson of the day for me, and I would hazard a guess for most parents, is how to take evasive action to prevent an accident or limit the damage.This is particularly relevant in situations where you become distracted, like when you are in traffic and the kids in the back need something for example, or when you are sneakily checking your phone (I hope you are not doing this), and you look up and car in front of you has stopped but you a still motoring along.The idea is to learn how to stop quickly and move into an open space on either side in the same motion."If there was one tip I would give any driver about defensive driving is, ‘Look Up'," said Pizzati. "I know that sounds unbelievably simple but at the heart of most problems is the fact that people are looking at the tail lights or bumper of the car in front. So, they use it as a cue to move or stop like rote learning, so if something goes wrong, your brain looks to the car in front of you for the cue to react."Looking up, over the roof of cars gives you the bigger picture, you see the problem earlier, so if something does go wrong you have more time to react and you would have spotted escape paths. Stop looking down, you should never know the number plate of the car in front of you."While many of us that are just trying to get our little people from day care or school to their activities and back home again, there are hundreds of thousands of Australian parents currently getting to grips with teaching their kids to drive.Why we subscribe to a system of letting parents, who may be poor drivers themselves, handing out bad driving advice to the next generation when driving is a skill that should be imparted by trained professionals, is probably a gripe for another time. But at the very least, says Pizzati, enroll your teen in a defensive driving course as soon as possible."Days like these are valuable for everybody but particularly for young drivers as you don't have 20 years of bad habits to break," he said."Apart from the fact that the tuition you get when learning to drive is inadequate, rudimentary at best, there is no retesting or retraining when you renew you licence every 10 years.Technology changes, road laws change and even thinking about driving changes, better ways to do things, that means whatever you did as a 17-year-old getting a licence will serve you for the next 70 years behind the wheel, which is not a good thing for anyone."Remember teenagers are used to being students, they take instruction and absorb the things we teach them without overthinking it. Whether they do a day with us or with other professionals doesn't matter, it is just vital that parents arm them with these skills."Audi is not the only manufacturer offering drive experience days, but they sure make it fun and the women's only day definitely had a more relaxed, supportive vibe.The team covers all the essentials from the correct driver seating set-up to slide control and oversteer practice, cornering practice and emergency braking with obstacle avoidance.And of course there is the opportunity of unrestricted track lapping – which is a super thrill even with your tummy in your mouth!See Audi Womens Driving Experience for more information.

Paying $1 million for a supercar and then not driving it for 26 years may seem like a bad idea - until you sell that same car in 2021 for $27.8 million.

A technological tour de force, Volkswagen arguably kicked off the modern hypercar era when it launched the epic 400km/h Bugatti Veyron 16.4 in 2005.The original coupe Veyron was built between 2005 and 2011, while the Grand Sport (2009-2015), Super Sport (2010-2011), and Grand Sport Vitesse (2012-2015) all followed. All up some 450 Veyrons and special editions were sold, rounded out by a special Grand Sport Vitesse called La Finale.Bugatti showed off a targa-roofed edition of the Veyron at the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, with 150 of the open-top Grand Sport models being offered to the public in 2009. While the regular Veyrons were already pretty mental pieces of equipment Bugatti started building special editions in 2010, with the 883kW, 431km/h Super Sport kicking things off.As Bugatti only built 30 Veyron Super Sports the French manufacturer soon offered the targa-roofed Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse, for those aristocrats who like to spend 10 minutes just saying the name of their latest hypercar. There were 92 Grand Sport Vitesse models sold, while they also built several special edition Grand Sport Vitesse models including the Vitesse SE, Vitesse World Record Car (of which eight were built), as well as a run of special editions based around famous French racing drivers.The base Veyron cost over US$1,750,000 when new, but easily sell for more than this today as collectors recognise the provenance of the first production car to break the 400km/h barrier. Average prices for standard Veyron 16.4 coupes sit around US$3,000,000 per car, though insurance valuations for special editions like the limited-edition Super Sport sit well over US$5,000,000 per-car!

Bugatti's Chiron hypercar had a tough job from the outset as the French manufacturer's successor to the game-changing Veyron 16.4. First seen at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show the 1103kW quad-turbo W16-powered Chrion looks like an updated Veyron but is actually a new car.

Lamborghini’s Centenario LP770-4 was launched as a two-door coupe at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of founder Ferruccio Lamborghini’s birth. Only 40 were built, all based off the production Aventador SV which meant it uses a carbon-fibre monocoque and race-style in-board suspension.The Centenario was designed as a running, driving way to display Lamborghini’s advanced new aerodynamics. On top of a dual-level front splitter the Centenario uses a gigantic jutting diffuser, and an electronically controlled dual-plane rear wing. All up it generates 227kg of downforce at 280km/hSeveral months after the coupe was unveiled it was joined by a Roadster variant, shown off at the 2016 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and weighing some 50kg heavier. Both were powered by a tuned-up 566kW variant of the Aventador’s 6.5-litre V12, with a scintillating 350km/h top speed.Lamborghini listed the 20 Centenario coupes at US$1,900,000, or nearly three-times the cost of the regular Aventador, while all 20 Roadsters were snapped up quickly at US$2,230,000. Given the limited number sold prices have risen since, with several coupes listed for sale at US$2,800,000 each and one Roadster rumoured to have sold for US$5,700,000!With all 40 Centenarios built in left-hand drive they aren’t currently legal to be driven on Australian roads. With the import laws set to change in the coming years this could change and we might see one of the rarest and fastest Lamborghini road cars Down Under soon. 

Originally intended as the entry point to Bentley ownership, the Continental GT coupe launched in 2003 and signalled the first model built under the direction of Bentley's owner Volkswagen. A second-generation Continental launched in 2011 and ran through to 2017.

Celebrating your 40th birthday normally involves a big party and some dodgy dancing, but Ferrari did things differently when it came time to celebrate four-decades of the prancing horse.

Launched in 2002, the Ferrari Enzo was named for the company’s famous founder and was brimming with Formula One race-inspired technology.

McLaren blew exotic car fans right out the window at the 2012 Paris Motor Show when they ripped the covers back off their deliciously slinky P1 model.Initially seen as a spiritual successor to the legendary F1, the all-new limited edition supercar used a twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 in conjunction with electric power to be one of the world’s fastest cars, joining the Ferrari LaFerrari and Porsche 918 to usher in a new era of hybrid hypercars.Only 375 McLaren P1s were built, between October 2013 and December 2015, becoming a halo vehicle for the rejuvenated brand above the MP4-12C. Such was the demand for the P1 some of the 21 pre-production and experimental P1s that were built before regular production began were sold to the public.Collectors went into overdrive in 2016 when McLaren announced 58 race-only P1 GTR track day specials, along with 5 LM variants. McLaren built these even more hardcore hypercars following the end of the base P1 production.Initially announced at €1,030,000 ($1.6 million) three-quarters of P1 customers chose to have McLaren Special Operations perform some level of custom touches on their car, lifting the average sale price to approximately €1,200,000 ($1.9 million) per-car.Today, just four years after they finished production, P1s are already considered a collector’s car and change hands for over $2,000,000 each! Regular P1s come up for sale fairly regularly, with a handful of the 375 sold appearing at public auctions over the last four years, and one track-only GTR reportedly selling for over $5,694,000!These values are still a long way behind values for the iconic McLaren F1, examples of which are changing hands for at least $15,000,000 per-car, and one reported to have sold for over $30,000,000.McLaren never officially offered the P1 for sale in Australia, however P1s have been seen Down Under in the hands of collectors, even though they aren’t able to be legally registered in Aussie states.