Quiet luxury has been making the rounds on online style-talk, but perhaps this is a conversation for car enthusiasts too.
This is an excerpt from Lifestyle Asia’s August 2023 Issue.
I think adolescence culminated and adulthood began when I lost my appreciation for tuned-up, gaudy sportscars. The sort with all kinds of extra flattery around the skirts of the car and a massive spoiler at the back of it. The sort that has rods of neon lights indicating both your presence and a willingness to detonate the batteries tucked precariously around the car’s engine.
I gave those up long ago–banished them to video games.
Instead, I ogled the cars I assumed villains would drive. They didn’t make too much noise–not to say they weren’t incredibly powerful. They just didn’t need to make an awful lot of noise, both audible and visible, to make their presence felt.
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There is a narrow boundary containing the cars which can command a presence without all the gadgets and gizmos. They prize among metrics of power and automotive performance, such adornments conveying security, comfort, and luxury.
VOLVO S90, LUXURY CLEAN AND SIMPLE
This beautifully business-like sedan, with a gorgeously elongated bonnet and cool silver accents is a mild hybrid. That means the unit contains both a combustion engine and an electric motor–which work together to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy.
This reduction of emissions however does nothing to strip away the luxury that owners of this car enjoy. With assisted safety features–safety being one of the buzzwords that lingers around sentences with “Volvo” in them–all the usual hallmarks of a luxury car are fitted within the user experience.
From driver assistance technology which helps keep the car centered in the lane, to a 360° parking view, drivers find luxury in just how secure the vehicle is. The carmaker even took air-quality into account when considering the safety of passengers. Each unit is fitted with an advanced air purifier, a world-first air quality system. This prevents up to 95 per cent of hazardous particles entering the cabin.
Nothing about the car’s interiors works to jump out and grab your attention–call it quiet luxury. But there are small accents which remind you that you’re in a vehicle designed for more than just getting you from point A to point B. It’s fitted with a handcrafted crystal gear shifter in genuine Swedish crystal.
LEXUS LC 500, IN HOMAGE OF A CONCEPT CAR
It’s a car that has all the subtle luxuries of a Lexus but with a visionary streak of new character. Originally begun as a concept car design, a design for the Lexus LF-LC, five years ago in the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, this LC model remains startlingly faithful to the original.
The external visuals of the car reflect an athletic, muscly, but tame demeanor–aerodynamic with racy, curved, head, and tail lights. With a sloped roofline, a wind-cutting silhouette, and a long 2,870 mm wheelbase, the contours and shapes of the vehicle are almost otherworldly on a regular street–again reflective of its concept car origins.
The interiors are cockpit-like and elegant, frankly more solo-drive-worthy than family weekend-getaway friendly. It’s built to be enjoyed on the road. The driver’s hip point is carefully engineered to be razor-near the vehicle’s center of gravity. This means the driver can most sensitively receive feedback from the car. And none of the performance focused engineering took from the luxurious embellishments Lexus has become known for–with Takumi craftsmanship finishing the door panels, console, and dash pad.
This is an experiential vehicle if there ever was one.
Read the full story by purchasing a copy of the Lifestyle Asia August 2023 magazine via SariSari.shopping or select newsstands in National Bookstore and Fully Booked. Subscribe to the E-Magazine via Readly, Magzter, and Press Reader.
