What Separates A Luxury Vehicle From the Pack

For today's (admittedly short) post, I want to open the forum on what truly makes a "luxury" vehicle a luxury vehicle. Back in the late 90's and early 2000's, luxury vehicles truly stood on a pedestal all their own. Makers like Audi, BMW and Mercedes were considered among many true tier luxury vehicles. Usually swaddled with leather and fine woods on the inside, advanced (for the time) technological features, and comfortably powerful engines. Thrown into the mix were Japanese competitors Acura, Infiniti and Lexus who brought their best to combat these luxury giants. Lexus gained infamy for its dealership experience and high reliability marks. Infiniti, although facing a bleak beginning, soon was able to niche into its own as one writer described as "the Japanese BMW." Acura still is strangely in limbo, trying to shed it's image as simply "nicer Hondas" and with their new advances in technology they are truly setting their crosshairs on the heavy hitters.

But these days, what do you perceive as luxury? 
Simply a leather strewn interior? You can get that in a Honda Civic.  Turbocharged engines? Most modern brands have at least one or multiple turbocharged offerings. Advanced features such as swiveling headlamps and passive entry? Available on your well endowed Mazda3. So how are these poised luxury brands reaching ahead of the pack? Each is approaching at a different angle but they have certainly all made a strong case for themselves as true luxury vehicle manufacturers.

Let's get into some examples. Recently, Audi is approaching more and more to the autonomous vehicle. In fact, it is one of the most mainstream brands that is most nearing to the technology. True, Google has been testing their own autonomous technology on the homely Prius. But Audi wants to take that further. They are working to create a system that can actually take you to your destination, allow you to exit your vehicle and then find a parking spot and park all without any driver assistance.  It is ideas and (hopefully) executions like this that start to put space between luxury brands and more commonplace brands.


Another example that comes to mind is Mercedes-Benz. Not only does Mercedes lay claim to creating the "original" automobile, they have pioneered the streamlined integration of features such as seatbelts and air bags. While resting on those laurels might be sweet, they need to press and advance to keep one cut above the rest. Their modern offerings can be had with complete LED lighting inside and out, "magic" sunroofs and complete leather interiors rivaling offerings from extreme luxury giants Bentley and Rolls-Royce.

So what do you think? What is your idea of "modern" luxury. Does it simply come down to leather here and there, maybe a splash of wood trim and calling it a day? Or does every single detail and feature of the vehicle work in cohesion to give the customer the most absolute luxury experience.

10 Vehicle Features We Didn't Know We Needed

I haven't had a chance to update in awhile (I feel like I can only use this excuse so much) but today I am finally get around to posting some new material. Working with cars and around cars, you begin to learn and understand how they tick and what makes them work. New vehicles are extremely intuitive and safe, with features that can monitor your blind spot and even actively pull you back in your lane if you swerve out. Eventually, vehicles will be driving themselves. I wish I was kidding but this is a reality we should all be ready to face.
Some vehicle features, once used, are so sorely missed and desired on new vehicles that customers mentally add them to a list of "must-haves" when making a vehicle purchase. Today, I want to outline a few features I think are some of the most useful and successful with new car customers.

Heads-Up Display

The heads-up display has found prominence in the luxury car market and has even trickled down into mainstream markets as well. BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz all offer their own iteration of a heads-up display which put simply displays a variety of useful information such as current speed, navigation directions, and media options. The reason this is so useful is because it allows drivers to make inputs without taking their eyes off the roads so it has a two-fold use.

Hands Free Trunk/Liftgate

An ingenious yet simple idea that will surely catch on to most modern vehicles. It allows the driver to open the trunk or rear hatch of a vehicle by simply waving their foot under the rear bumper. When you have a hand full of groceries, children or any sort of luggage this is seriously a welcome feature. Ford has implemented the technology on the Escape, Volkswagen on the Passat and multiple German luxury brands.

Easy Fill Tire Alert

Nissan has introduced this innovative feature for their most recent generation of the Altima. How the system works is when you fill any of your airs with tires, there is no need for a gauge anymore. As you fill the tire, the car will honk the horn when the amount reaches the recommended psi. This eliminates the need for dealership visits for filling up tires and pesky low-tire notifications.

Surround View Cameras

Recently, the camera has become an automotive staple once reserved for the luxury market it is available on nearly every mainstream vehicle and for a great reason. But one camera was simply not enough for automakers, they wanted improved and intuitive use. Range Rover on new models has actually integrated five cameras on a single vehicle that can combine to form a birds-eye view if you will. This combined with parking sensors surround the vehicle, you can trust that your $80,000 luxury SUV will remain scratch free.

In-Vehicle Wi-fi and LTE Connectivity

Chevrolet has been on the surge to turn their brand around by offering more premium vehicles with much improved dynamics and features. One such innovation, which Audi is also working on, is in car connectivity. How it works is it makes your vehicle a mobile hotspot, allowing you to connect and use data sent from the vehicle. Although, yes, this could lead to safety concerns, the idea is extremely innovative and is something sure to be seen on higher-end vehicles and eventually mainstream makers.

Dynamic Suspension Adjustment

A neat feature that is quickly showing up in all sorts of vehicle segments from mid-size family sedans to extremely high end performance vehicles. This electronically adjusts aspects of the vehicle such as steering effort, suspension stiffness and engine response to change your vehicle from a comfortable cruiser to a full blown sports car. Customers love choices, and this opens up even more doors we didn't know existed.

Heated Windshield Wipers

Along with defrosters in the front window as well as the back window, companies are taking this approach even farther. Range Rover and Jaguar have long utilized a fully heated windshield which is much more effective and responsive than a typical defroster. One new innovation that is rising is heated windshield wipers. When the blades are encased in ice, they actually warm themselves up and free themselves which also clearing the ice on the windshield. Brilliant.

Panoramic Sunroofs and Moonroofs

A feature that has actually been around for quite some time but it still extremely important and aesthetically pleasing. Panoramic sunroofs essentially utilize the unused space on the roof to accommodate extra panels of glass. This gives the vehicle and larger, airier feel and is a delight to passengers. It offers the benefits of a standard sunroof two fold.

Self-Healing Paint

An extremely innovative and useful feature that Nissan has released within recent years is the concept and execution of self healing paint. How it works is somewhat complicated, but in short in utilizes sun rays as well as special polymers within the paint surface to fill and hide light scratches. Sadly, it may not be able to heal from the deep key marks left from a now past relationship.

Active Blind Spot Monitoring

One of the biggest hurdles of vehicle operation is blind spots. These are zones that either are hidden by body panels or are out reach by the side mirrors or a combination of both, easily one of the most frustrating issues. Automakers have created a simple but very effective fix with blind spot monitors. They used special sensors located on the rear of the vehicle to detect any sort of presence in a spot that would be unsafe to navigate in to. A double benefit is that vehicles with such safety features also gets more slack on insurance costs.

-Cameron

BMWinter

Hey everyone. I have been slacking, I will admit. With spring break come and gone, and now entering April (only one month left of school!) I haven't posted as much as I would like. We have been hit with flurries of snow, torrents of hail and rain, as well as days with strangely warm weather. I think the warm weather has won out and is here to stay. That is, until warm becomes the 'surface of the sun' hot as Oklahomans commonly feel. However, in the past month I have had the chance to drive some very different vehicles and today am gonna give a quick little review of the cars and what I liked and disliked.

2015 435i xDrive

The 4 Series is a new addition for BMW, moving from simply calling it a 3 Series Coupe, it spawned into its very own nomenclature. It is a gorgeous vehicle, very low and wide with an aggressive stance. In this form, the M Sport with 19 inch wheels, it looks even more menacing. Under the hood you have 300 horsepower at your disposal meaning this is no slouch. The interior is plenty luxurious, although there are slabs of hard plastic place throughout that are not pleasant to the touch. This 4 Series was heavily, heavily optioned out and costs roughly $62,000. Beauty is pain, as they say.

2015 750i xDrive

The 7 Series is the BMW answer to the Mercedes S-Class, however the 7 is languishing in it's age and will need a replacement post haste if it wants to remain competitive. However, thats not to downplay how great this car is. It features a 4.4 liter twin turbo V8 putting out almost 450 horsepower, and for a 5,000 pound machine it gets up in a hurry. The interior is where the drawbacks and age really show themselves. Although luxuriously equipped, compared to its class it is lacking. Heres to hoping the next generation gives Mercedes a run for its money.

2015 X3 28i (Top) and 35i (Bottom) xDrive

The X3, the compact SUV is a delightful little car. It mixes the sporty appeal of the 3 Series while taking some luxury cues from its big brother, the X5. The 28i is powered by a turbo 4 cylinder good for 240 horsepower, but the 35i uses the familiar turbo six cylinder for 300 horsepower. Both are plenty fast and plenty quiet, the 4 cylinder feels much more nimble however. They have very useable cargo space that stepping up to a larger vehicle might not be your best answer. I advise anyone with interest in a small SUV to check out the X3. Or maybe it's stylish brother the X4:

-Cameron