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[ska]

The Most Fabulous Cars of 2006

What to drive when you can afford to be driven.

The fabulously wealthy drive, or are driven in, fabulous conveyances to fabulous locales staffed by the fabulously beautiful. Or such is the fantasy evoked by any of these ten superlative vehicles, each offering a consummate stew of luxury, style, prestige, speed, and always price.

With the exception of select glitterati who prefer red carpet appearances via Prius or something similarly responsible, those who enjoy the comforts of supple hides, bespoke jewelry, and teak-paneled estates require the finest skins, metal, and mechanical complexity in their overland transport. And who are vehicle manufacturers to deny finicky and highly profitable tastes?

Why, you ask, does anyone really need a 1001 horsepower engine, granite (as in stone) interior trim, an 8,400 RPM redline, or an automobile that weighs more than a school bus? Silly plebe, your nagging tires me so. For the same reason Mr. Onassis trimmed his yacht's bar stools in whale foreskin, it's simply fabulous!

The CARandDRIVER.com Ten Most Fabulous Cars of 2006 are ranked in ascending order of estimated price.

Maserati Quattroporte

Price: $100,500 (est)
There�s only one four-door missile on the road infused with Ferrari�s F1 technology: The surprisingly well-priced Maserati Quattroporte. Ply the rear-seat executives with Dramamine, find a long and involving stretch of B road, and paddle shift your way to driving heaven.

Audi A8 L W12

Price: $120,610
The W-12-equipped A8 L is the ideal understated way to cloak a fabulous ownership experience. Audi does some of the best interiors in the business and the A8 L is its calling card: in addition to simple sensory pleasure, the A8 L offers driving dynamics that belie its generous proportions. It�s the perfect car for the CEO who lives in the same neighborhood as his IRS auditor.

Aston Martin DB9 Volante

Price: $174,800 (est)
Yes Mr. Bond, your emphatically British, sublimely feline, and Monaco-ready DB9 Volante is waiting. Should traditional burl strike you as pass�, an elegant and appropriate bamboo trim package awaits. While the DB9 was the first-born of a reinvigorated Aston Martin, it remains an exclusive and sonorous way to enjoy azure skies.

Bentley Continental GTC

Price: $189,900
The Bentley Continental GTC may be the fastest true convertible in the world. Which begs the following question: where might you find a stretch of road between your garage and the golf course long and straight enough to reach 190 miles per hour with the top down? We�d guess Dubai or Vegas, where your GTC can crowd the other Bentleys in just about every parking lot.

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

Price: $250,000 (est)
Lamborghini spoke, and Ferrari answered. Modena�s newest Berlinetta offers an astounding 611 normally-aspirated horsepower, whose full song can be enjoyed through 8400 rpm, and is interrupted for only 100 milliseconds by each gear change. Should that experience not be F1 enough for you, the GTB�s steering wheel features a FIA-style Mannetino dial for selecting pre-set transmission, suspension, and stability control settings.

Lamborghini Murcielago roadster

Price: $319,110
Pedestrians respond to the Murcielago roadster with the same involuntary loss of jaw control reserved for UFO sightings and very naked people. This amalgamation of Italian lust and German QC does look like something Lockheed might design to dodge enemy radar. This could help if you pass a copper, top off, at 200 mph.

Rolls-Royce Phantom

Price: $328,750
If you�ve ever driven in front of a Rolls-Royce Phantom, you know it looks like an armored truck that�s about to swallow you. Which is more or less what a third of a million dollars buys you: The most ostentatious bank-vault-on-wheels money can buy.

Maybach 62

Price: $377,750
You�re quite right; the Phantom is really rather pedestrian, littered all over MTV like so many Tercels. What�s a 'baller to do? Have your assistant�s assistant order up a one-of-a-kind, 6.2-meter-long Maybach, for what is essentially first-class jet travel on wheels. And yes, order the granite interior.

Koenigsegg CCX

Price: $720,000 (est)
Being fabulously fabulous means snubbing the prosaic Enzo and Carrera GT for a Swedish supercar. Instead of Italian machismo or German calculation, the CCX is a uniquely Scandinavian take on maximum performance, with its 245 mile-per-hour top speed arguably achieved in a more involving manner than the similarly rapid Veyron 16.4.

Bugatti Veyron 16.4

Price: $1.2 million (est)
It�s fitting that the fastest and most powerful production car in the world should also be the most expensive, with a price tag approaching the GDP of Tajikistan. This price is justified by four turbochargers, 16 cylinders, 1001 horsepower, and a top speed of 253 miles per hour.

[Brava]

Qattroporte imi place cel mai mult....cred ca le combina pe toate intr-una singura, intr-un mod foarte reusit...am vreo doi vecini care au asa ceva...motorul ala de ferrari suna bestial.