I want my future car to be equipped with weapons, rockets, bathrooms, high speed internet, built in video game consoles and a barbeque grill. And it would be nice if the car comes with a couple of hot girls. I'm sure some of the features I mentioned above are available in a Maybach.

 

haha this may sound dumb but i thought about this and I think it sounds pretty awesome.

Yall know how some of the Japenese Resturants have that like waterfall on the wall and the water like sticks to the wall or whatever. Well I was thinking that instead od wood Lexus could do something unique & odd like put water in the place of wood lol like have glass then the water flowing on top of that glass and then another layer of glass with some room for the water to circulate and put some soft lighting effect in it like a light blue hue. I think that would look hot at night. I bet ya it going to be created one day but it has to be done correctly so it wont interfer with the electronics. Just a thought :-) A wacky one at that lol but I think that would be so hott if done in like the LS 650L (talking future here )

 

people are saying luxury = loaded with technology & features. I'm saying thats not always the case.

 

Though some of you may consider my views outdated, a "luxury" car, to me, always has, and always WILL, mean weight, size, lavish interior and exterior trim, hood ornaments, whitewall tires, soft, sink-in, living-room comfortable seats, convienence features and accessories, a soft, smooth ride, plenty of torque in the engine, and library-quietness inside. With few (VERY few) exceptions, what are CALLED "luxury" cars today are NOT true luxury cars. They are, in many ways, sport sedans or luxury/sport sedans......comfort has been sacrificed to handling.

 

Well, Lexus defines it as:

"Making the most of every moment"

This brings us to #7 on phillips list. It's all going to boil down to how well you're coddled and taken care of at the dealership.

 

The essence of luxury was once viewed from the back seat. No real luxury car gave a whit for the comfort of the driver - to the point that many of the most expensive had the front seat restricted in movement to dedicate more room to the "owner's cabin" in the rear. "James" gets to drive with the wheel in his chest, and his knees under his chin.

Now that the luxury market has moved a good bit downscale from those days and chauffeurs have joined butlers, yacht crews, and gentlemen's gentlemen among the remains of another culture, more attention is being paid to the driver. There has been another change too - the perception of performance and engineering as worthy goals of a luxury marque. Such vehicles have always been around - Deusenberg is one of the first names that comes to mind, along with Bentley (Rolls may have been the pinnicle of luxury, but the Bentley boys went racing). Bugatti, Maybach, and dozens of long-forgotten marques are now reappearing - and usually with the emphasis on their engineering and performance roots.

Where will the future take us? Realistically, ultra-performance is a waste of money and resources. That Lambo dribbling along at rush hour at 40mph on the 405 is loafing along, fouling plugs, hammering its driver, and at this point, being used only as a conspicuous consumption demonstration tool. If you could drive your Ferrari like an F1 car, if you could tool around in your Veyron at 180-plus without attracting the national guard, or if you could shave apexes in your Aston-Martin on the streets of Manhattan, you might be able to justify an expensive performance car.

Given the real world, you can't begin to take advantage of the performance envelope of any of these cars - unless you want to wind up on YouTube crawling out of the smoking ruin of your ex-performance car, now reduced to coffee table.

With environmentalism and fuel economy becoming part of the public image of responsibility, look for a trend toward conspicuous "responsible citizen" cars. After all, you can't tart up a Prius and be recognized on the street - it's still a tiny car, and they're at every traffic light. To make a REAL statement, we may see a market for a ultra-lux version of this:


Photo courtesy Aptera motors, www.aptera.com

Of course luxury is defined in the interior, so expect the interior . . .


Photo courtesy Aptera motors, www.aptera.com

. . . to be a bit more upscale. Forget burlwood and Connolly leather - not true tree hugger would permit that . . . the current interior is from "recycled materials", which always says PVC and newsprint to me, but maybe they can recycle Rolls Royce interiors . . .

Available as an electric or hybrid, the 3-wheel, composite construction, 2+1/2-seat, highly aerodynamic Aptera is capable of 80 mph (enough to get you arrested in at least 48 states), and in the hybrid, 300 mpg . . . not at the same time, of course. The box-stock variety will run you $25-$30K, including rear-view cameras, computer, heat pump, and GPS, but layers could be added to jack up the tactile comforts - more sound deadening (to suppress that electric motor whine) and vibration isolation from the little gas or diesel engine that runs the generator in the hybrid, you could produce a real luxoboat for under $50K that would get you some real environmental cred at the red carpet.

If you think in terms of an über-luxury transportation capsule, that can be filled with advanced telematics for your information and enjoyment, finished in fine hand-crafted materials and the plush exclusivity of a private jet, fine fabrics, gold plate, Lalique crystal and all. Luxury Responsibility rather than ultimate performance might be the new touchstone for the rich and famous.

 

Gotta disagree on that one, Lil. I'm sure that you, like I do, remember the BIG 60-70's vintage Lincolns, Cadillacs, Buick Electras, Oldsmobile 98s, Imperials, New Yorkers, Mercury Marquis, etc.....with the 125-130" wheelbases, 4500-5500 curb weights, and 400 ci-plus engines. There is no way you can say that the comfort of the driver was not taken into account. Believe me.....I drove enough miles in them to know better.

 

Not a bad idea.

The waterfall can have a layer of "glass" on top of it in which the buttons for the radio or climate control can be found.. Hmm.. that probably means they need to have really thin wires and tiny chip boards.

 

Can't comment on the specifics of this idea without knowing more details, but it would seem to me that any time you have water around electrical wiring or circuits, that's something potentially hazarous.

 

I was also thinking of some kind of water feature like a waterfall type decoration or something in that sense but it might be a little too much for a car, I have seen RVs with something like that as well as aquariums. I think some car company soon will do something very different in the luxury market to set its self apart which may get good and bad press/reaction but may set a trend.

 

I was thinking more in terms of the luxury cars of the '20's and '30's - by the late 50's luxury was "democratized", making it affordable to a large number of Americans, not just the wealthiest 400 or so.

By the late '50's, '60's, and '70's, US manufacturers were building those big luxo-barges on the platforms of the mass-consumption models developed for the proletariat, and most of the "luxury" was simply pasted on, not engineered in. A big V8, leather interior appointments, a deeper pile carpet, a slather of chrome plate, a few more sophisticated styling touches, and another layer of sound deadening turned a Ford into a Lincoln, and a Chevy into a Cadillac. Somewhere in between lurked the Marquis, the New Yorker, and the Electra.

As to the future of luxury, it may be a good deal more about technology than exotic leathers and hardwoods. Automakers are not above a little "inspiration" (cough) theft (cough) either. Funny thing, if that Aptera looks familiar, I think the concept may have started here - not a bad starting point - the Cirrus SR22 interior has been compared to that of a Lexus.


Photo Cirrus SR22 cockpit courtesy Progaviation

 

Actually, with the American luxury cars of the time, as opposed to European, the seats were usually custom cloth or velour rather than leather. Most people back then (including me) preferred cloth seats to the standard vinyl (in cheaper cars) or leather because it was cooler in the summer, and warmer in the winter, and had a more upscale feel. The extremely fine quality leathers you see today in Lexus and Jaguar products were unheard of in American luxury cars back then. And Buicks, Cadillacs, Lincolns, etc.... were definitely more than just reskinned Chevies and Fords. Their wheelbases were usually longer, especially in the top-level models, their engines were larger (up to 500 ci in some cases), their weights much heavier for a smooth ride....no sedan, IMO, before or since, could compare with the ride of the new 1969 Lincoln Continental I had a chance to try out as a teen-ager (my dad, just retired from the military, at the time, worked for Philco-Ford and used to bring home VIP company cars each night...and he could trust me to drive them carefully and not tear them up like other kids), Its library-quiet noise level compares with today's Lexus LS460.

In some cases, even the automatic transmissions were different....Buick transmissions, for years, were different from those in any other GM line. They were mostly all-fluid drive, with impeller vanes, and smoother, IMO, than even today's Lexus LS transmissions. Those magic-carpet transmissions are the main reason I always liked the Buicks from that era....great care was taken by Buick engineers, in their larger models (not the lousy, crap, 2-speed, Chevy-derived Powerglide transmission in the Skylarks), to produce and smooth and unique powertrain. I was so enamored with the silky-smooth Electra 225 I actually owned a used one for awhile....I was one of those unique youths who liked BOTH luxury cars AND the muscle-cars of the era.....and I also had a used V8 Plymouth Barracuda, which was a little more typical of the youths of my day.



Yes, but, IMO, it has to be SENSIBLE technology. And by sensible, I don't mean computer joysticks that you have to continually take your eyes off the road and fiddle around with, ever more-complex video screens, or more and more electronic "safety" nannies that do everything but actually drive the car for you while you sit back and yak on a cell phone or screw around with a laptop. The "Lane-Departure" feature in today's Infiniti products, radar-adaptive cruise control pioneered by Mercedes that can automatically brake the car to a halt in traffic (and can get you rear-ended), "Brake Assist" systems that slam the ABS on full-force and panic-stop if the computer decides that that's what you want (even if that is not the case) and can also get you rear-ended, and stability systems that take over during understeer or oversteer by working the brakes on individual wheels and can steer the car directly into oncoming traffic are, IMO, all examples of idiot "technology" that do functions that the driver himself or herself should be doing.....better known as PAYING ATTENTION. And, at worst, as already described, there "safety" features themselves, while well-meaning, can cause accidents.

 

To me, luxury is about a little (or a lot of) excess, and indulgence. It's more than is functionally 'necessary'. It pampers you, not merely gets the job done.

Eating fast food is functional.
Eating at a gourmet restaurant is luxury.

Shopping at Wal*Mart is functional.
Shopping at Nieman-Marcus is luxury.

Driving a Corolla is functional.
Driving an LS460L is luxury.

So what kind of things define 'excess,' 'indulgence', and being 'pampered'?

Well for a start a luxury car cannot be small or cramped. So most of the so-called 'entry' luxury vehicles just aren't luxurious to me, and yes, that includes the Lexus IS. Very nice car, yes, but not a luxury car. It's just too small and plain inside.

From getting in and out easily, to having lots of storage room to just toss stuff in rather than have to think hard about cramming everything in, is all luxurious.

The excess and indulgence continues with materials. Yes, an interior can be done with acres of similar (or painted ) plastic, but other visually appealing and nicer feeling (and smelling!) materials make the vehicle much more luxurious. Thin chrome accent pieces, wood textures, even carbon fiber, can all make an interior much more luxurious. With more 'green' pressure I wouldn't be surprised to see luxury interiors start to try new materials like exotic cloths.

Then there's the gadgets and features. I think massaging seats are clearly luxurious - they're an excess and a good one and can make a person feel good. Same with the heating and cooling seats. I wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of automatic articulating seats at some point which adjust their shape and firmness as the car is driven.

A great audio system is key to luxury also. A home theater is much more luxurious than an old CRT TV.

And navigation systems are nice, but it's just the beginning. Ford Sync developed by Microsoft, is onto something which a richer voice recognition system. But as cars get connected to the internet, the in the car system can be a lot more helpful, maybe communicating with the home computer to remind you of groceries or a gift to get on the way home and offering directions to where to get them, or automatically making a reservation somewhere are prompting you for the info. After finding a restaurant for example you could say 'make reservation for 4 at 7:30'.

Last for now is the vehicle's powertrain. It must be 'effortlessly powerful', as quiet and refined as possible, with little or no vibration.

 

What will define luxury in the future? Same as today, the window sticker.

 

No doubt that exclusivity is a requirement for a luxury car, and the window sticker is going to create a good deal of exclusivity by putting a vehicle out of reach of the proletariat.

I agree with bit that what we are seeing in the MS/Ford collaboration on an automotive computer will grow to handle not just navigation and entertainment functions, but give internet access via voice recognition and text-to-speech. The last thing any of us needs is to have to wobble a mouse while negotiating traffic.

Innovations in the "glass cockpit" for fighter jets a few years ago have already migrated to light aircraft and helicopters. Here two or three screens from 7" to 17" can display everything from instrumentation - in layers - navigation, entertainment, even outside cameras. Recent experiments by BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, Cadillac on "night vision" systems will become more practical as sensors improve and prices fall. HUD systems will project critical information on the windscreen, either automatically or at the driver's command.

Panel displays are going to provide much more than GPS, phone, or music information. Engine instruments can be displayed in a cluster on a single panel, even be color shifted or flashed if a critical condition appears. Full instrumentation would be available for those who can interpret it, while a flashing alarm, even a voice reminder, could alert the inattentive driver to high temperatures in the engine or transmission, low oil pressure, low voltage, low tires, fuel, or even other critical fluids, like brakes, coolant, and washers - that would be difficult to misunderstand.

Such a system could also perform a diagnostic test to tell you not only your battery voltage was low, but that the battery is OK, but your alternator has failed, and give you a rough estimate of your range before your FI shuts down - even start shutting down non-critical systems like entertainment, auxiliary monitors, and GPS to conserve battery power.

GPS is woefully underdeveloped at the present time, but progress is being made. Traffic overlays are available on the basic position and route display to help you avoid construction and traffic jams in near real-time. Much can be made of alternate routing, to make the system more "intelligent". Weather information can also be displayed, to help you select a route that passes through deteriorating conditions.

Most urban interstates now have sensors embedded in the freeways that monitor and report temperature, moisture, and traffic flow. These data could be integrated to give the driver a radar overlay of rain, snow, and storms moving over the planned route, icing conditions, and even high winds enroute. That technology is already in place for light aircraft via XM connections - and although presently expensive, it would be affordable in the automotive market thanks to a far larger potential market.

The priorities for the flood of input now available to the driver will have to be managed by the on-board computer. The computer must sort these data by an algorithm that recognizes a wet road ahead and outside air temperature falling below freezing is more safety-critical that the current level of fuel. Integrating that information with some systems, turning on the fog lights in response to temps falling to the dewpoint, precharging the VSC and antilock systems, even reprogramming the transmission for the anticipated slick conditions could all be done without driver input. The mission is to make the driver better at his/her task, not make it more difficult by flooding him/her with options.

Once developed in luxury lines, these technologies could migrate to all vehicles - just as they have in the past.