A must read I think. I've been chasing the feel of so many cars I've driven in the past with my S. Phantoms, Maybachs, Ferraris, Lamborghinis. I know it's possible to attain a higher fit and finish - though the S is made extremely well. I doubt if anyone else is bothered by this sort of thing. But it's my pursuit for perfection.

5 Lessons in Luxury Car Design From the Guys Who Park Them

 

And an excellent candidate for Car Talk since the S2000 isn't mentioned even once. Hold on while we transfer you...

 

I like to wash a car a few times to understand how its built and notice the details. Good article.

 

Not sure whether to laugh or cringe....

 

I sorta do this with cars as well, but these valets really don't offer that much insight. One of the worst interiors (for the money speaking of course) I've ever been in was an F430.
But I'm with the valets one thing, tech seems to convolute the luxury, while it does make the car more functional. The one thing I wish american cars did better in general was buying better leather, I mean you'd think with all the cows we eat here we should be able to get a solid piece of leather. I mean, even though lately the quality has been going down, even the japanese cars use better leather.

 

I tend to agree with the leather comment. I generally like Fords and found the seats in my old Contour SVT to be more comfortable than those in a good friend's BMW 530 purchased at the same time. However, the leather in the BMW was clearly nicer. Ironically some of the best leather I've seen is also in a Ford. The King Ranch trucks have GREAT leather while the standard 'leather' interior could learn a thing or two about the feel of leather from the vinyl 'leatherette' in a base BMW or VW.

 

not sure if I would judge a performance car based on driving it slowly.
Lexus and Rolls, sure.
but Ferrari, Porsche, Lambo? They are pretty pedestrian unless pushed hard and preferably pushed hard on a twisty road.

 

Saab and Volvo have really nice leather for regular cars.

 

Nice article!

 

I always wonder what Valets do when they sit down in a car w/paddle shifters for the first time. Is there some sort of widely adopted standard operating procedure on them yet? Or is it pretty much brake + start then go? Do they have to search to find reverse? Is that embarrassing for them?

In the handful of times I've had no choice but to leave the S w/a valet, I've always been afraid he wouldn't be able to find reverse, and would 6th gear it right into another car...