Posts Tagged ‘luxury’

Range Rover recently teamed up with the prestigious English gunmaker, Holland & Holland, to create what they consider to be, “the most luxurious off-roader ever built.”

Did they succeed?  Judge for yourself: this Rover features custom leather upholstery and breathtaking woodwork hand-selected to match the owner’s gun collection.  Customers can choose from seven exclusive exterior paint colors, four different types of wood, and a seemingly endless number of leather options.

While there is something to be said for lavish trim and an opulent exterior, there are two amazing and never-before-seen amenities (limos excluded) that make this Range Rover stand out:

First, there’s a custom console with functioning refrigerator and an amply-stocked liquor cabinet.  The cabinet includes a one year supply of top-shelf whiskey, gin, vodka, and champagne – as well as custom crystal ware.

To the rear, there is a trunk-mounted gun cabinet replete with custom woodwork.  Yes, a luxury gun cabinet… in the back of a Range Rover.  And it’s functional, too, with enough space to fit guns, ammunition, and hunting accessories.

If a vehicle’s worth can be measured by the labor put into it; the H & H Overfinch is the gold standard.  Over 150 hours are spent customizing and fitting the interior trim and more than 130 hours are spent painting and hand polishing the exterior.

This luxury off-roader is old-world luxury on wheels.  Make that fast wheels (the 503-hp supercharged V8 does 0-60 mph in less than 7 seconds and has a governed top speed of 140 mph).

So what’s keeping us all from buying this amazing vehicle?  Production is limited to 100 vehicles and they cost a cool £139,650 in the UK and about $182,597 for export.  At that price, this Range Rover will have to stay on our already long list of dream cars.

For those of you who can afford a Range Rover with expensive rifles and a never-ending supply of alcohol, please do be careful about how you mix those three ingredients.

Anyone who’s ever made their down an alpine slope can tell you that snowboarders and skiers don’t always get along.  Each group is prone to complaining that the other is in their way, with skiers calling first dibs on mountain sports and snowboarders claiming to represent the vanguard.

In researching our post on Shaun White’s ultimate mountain ride last week, we came across some interesting data that may help shine light on the people behind this decades-old rivalry.

We crunched some numbers in the Honk database and created top-50 lists of vehicles for both sports.  Most notably, the list for skiers was dominated by expensive sheetmetal, with luxury brands filling out 26 of the top 50 spots.  That same measure was only 15 for snowboarders, suggesting that skiers have the edge when it comes to household income.

That number doesn’t tell the full story, though.  Honk data shows that snowboarders are a much younger group overall and that means that they are still in the early stages of their careers.  About 28% of snowboarders are under age 30, compared to only about 9% for skiers.

Curiously, skiers also had seven convertibles in their top-50 list while snowboarders had none.  Since convertibles are often purchased as a second or third car, this could be merely a by-product of skiers being older and more likely to be married with multiple cars in the household fleet.

Don’t get your bindings in a twist over these results, though, because both sides will no doubt agree that the most important thing is to get out there and enjoy the ride.