RideLust

What I have...

For some a garage is simply a place to park your car, for others it’s a place to store that extra refrigerator, and yet for others like myself, the garage acts as a getaway from the daily grind. My garage is nothing exciting, in fact it’s a downright dismal place to be as it’s not big enough, it’s not long enough and it’s made of old leaky concrete. That means hanging shelves and sealing it up tight during the winter months can be somewhat of a bitch. This garage is what I have though so I can’t much complain, as having a private place to store your car in Queens, NY is somewhat of a luxury. As a car guy though I’ve always yearned for a garage with at least 3 bays, a nice tiled floor, room for my tool chests and perhaps ceilings high enough that I could put in a lift or two, for me that would be the ultimate.
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Most of us are still struggling with the smoking remnants of a once-healthy economy, but the affluent really are different than you and I. Demand for German luxury cars from Mercedes Benz and BMW has forced the automakers to abandon a long sacred holiday tradition: assembly line workers have historically been given the week between Christmas and New Years as a paid vacation. Now, increased demand for luxury cars is forcing Daimler and BMW to stay open during this holiday week at select manufacturing facilities. Autoevolution quotes BMW’s Michael Rebstock as saying, “We are producing as much as we can and are happy for every additional shift we can get.”

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If you own an Aston Martin Rapide then odds are you feel like you’re “Big Pimpin’” every time you go out for a cruise. From a visual perspective the Rapide is the best looking four-door coupe on the planet hands down. From its beautiful lines, to the elegant grill, to its 470 hp V12 engine, the Aston Martin Rapide is truly in a class of its own. How about those days though when you wish to go beyond “Big Pimpin’” and into the realm of the “Super Pimp”… what then? Well I’ll tell you what then, you go out and buy the Aston Martin Rapide Luxe, it’s got all the wonderful features of the standard Rapide, with a few more little diddies thrown in for good measure. There are some new paint choices, a new luggage set to match the cars leather interior and a rear-seat mounted DVD. So, for those of you out there looking to achieve the ultimate in elegant, powerful and now colored coordinated Pimp Status, have no fear, because your chariot has arrived.

Source: Autoblog.com

American consumers, we’re told, don’t like station wagons. Automotive journalists, on the other hand, love them. Why? Because they can have the entertainment value of a sedan (or in the case of Mike’s Magnum SRT-8, a very fast sedan) combined with the hauling capability of a crossover or SUV. Sadly, most manufacturers have given up on wagons in favor of unibody SUVs, because that’s what market research tells them customers will buy.

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Looking back on this year’s Paris Auto Show, Lotus stood out as the manufacturer “most likely to throw away all their working capital building concept cars”. Worse, these concepts took the boutique automaker into some stratospheric pricing and seemed to ignore the basic premise of Colin Chapman’s genius. Instead of “adding lightness”, the five cars shown by Lotus in Paris seemed to add luxury and gadgetry, at the expense of lightness and performance. Even the styling of the concept cars was controversial, taking Lotus in an entirely new, Lamborghini influenced direction.

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Take an Audi RS5, throw in an S5 and an A5, then turn them loose on Switzerland’s Flüela Pass. The first thing that comes to my mind isn’t “drive them slow and bang off unnecessary downshifts while wearing mechanic’s gloves”, but I’m not a German filmmaker, so what do I know? At least the video didn’t have any ledehosen-clad monkeys playing the accordion, which I’d say is a big plus.

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Thumbs Up: Stunning design turns heads and draws crowds

Thumbs Down: Sport suspension disappoints, back seats for gymnasts or yoga instructors only

Buy This Car If: You want to drive the best looking American car of the past 30 years and don’t care about hauling more than one other adult passenger.

Before you consider buying a Cadillac CTS Coupe, ask yourself this: do you like drawing attention to yourself? Do you like getting more recognition from parking valets than the guy in the Bentley behind you? Are you prepared to answer dozens of questions about the car each and every time you park it? If you’ve answered “no” to any of these questions, the 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe is not for you. You won’t like the attention it draws and you probably won’t like talking to all the car enthusiasts the car attracts. If GM was looking for a single vehicle to draw attention to its brands, then the 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe is their new standard bearer.

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The 2011 Hyundai Equus

There’s no denying that Hyundai has been on a roll in the U.S. market over the past few years. Their Santa Fe SUV is selling so well that they’ve had to add shifts to their Montgomery, AL, manufacturing plant, and farm additional manufacturing out to sibling Kia. The Genesis sedan and the Tucson crossover have racked up awards from the likes of Motor Trend and Consumer Reports, and the newly redesigned Sonata has won universal praise from the motor press (myself included). Is this success enough to warrant a full-on luxury sedan, one that competes with the best that Europe and Japan have to offer? Yes it is, and Hyundai has done their homework prior to the launch of the 2011 Equus.

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Hyundai has announced pricing on the 2011 Equus flagship sedan, which I’m heading to Miami to drive later this week. The base model Equus (which is a contradiction in terms) starts at $58,000, while the even higher level of trim Equus Ultimate starts at $64,500. You get a lot of content for the price, and Hyundai has done a significant amount of research before taking on the Germans and the Japanese at their own game. As Straightline points out, the Equus is some $7k less expensive than a comparable Lexus LS 460, roughly $10k less than a BMW 740i and nearly $30k less than a Mercedes S550.

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Before you guys get all uppity and start ragging on all my selections I want you to go back and reread the title of this post. Keep in mind that it DOES NOT say, “Top 10 Cars That Will Get You Laid”, it says, “Top 10 Cars to Get Laid In” – there is a very big difference here. We all know that if you’re pimping in something super exotic at the club that your chances of getting a little action will go up. There are however some problems with this, for instance; have you ever tried to get laid in a Lamborghini, Ferrari or Corvette. There is no head room, no back seat and at the end of the night you’re going to be totally pissed if you get any bodily fluids on that fine leather. So, for that reason I’ve decided to give you a list of 10 pre-approved rides that are conducive for bangin’ boots.
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