Going in Style

What on earth makes a car worth $102,000? good cars, after all, are available for less than $20,000. Excellent cars begin at about $30,000. What makes a super-luxury car worth three to five times as much?

I've test-driven new vehicles nearly every week since 1989 and have found a simple answer, based on a simple question: "How much is your life worth?" Because saving your life and those of your loved ones is one thing a super-luxury car can do.

Of course, luxury vehicles deliver more than safety. But almost without exception they are safer than cheaper vehicles. Today's luxury cars and sport utilities are packed with every conceivable safety feature. They even help avoid accidents with handling features not available on less expensive models. Look at the damage to homes in Port Charlotte following August's Hurricane Charley and you'll see an analogy: The more expensive the home, the less damage incurred. Why? They are better built. Money buys excellence. With homes and cars, excellence translates into survivability when disaster strikes. And remember: The average driver will be in an accident every 10 years.

So what's available for those with lots of cash? And what does all that money buy? Let's take a look at some of the newest and best luxury cars-passenger cars, rather than sports cars, which are designed mainly for performance and lack the comfort and convenience most drivers desire. Let's begin with the best-known luxury brand:

Mercedes-Benz organizes its cars into levels of luxury. The smallest Benz grouping is the C-class; the E-class is mid-level; and the S-class is top drawer. Then there are special branches for the sports cars and sport utility offerings.

The best mid-level luxury car I've tested in 15 years is the Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG. It costs $90,985, and I liked it better than the more expensive S-class models.

The E55 AMG is a handcrafted modification of the mid-size Mercedes-Benz sedan, born again as a performance sedan any sheik would be proud to flee a toppling regime in. It gets a handmade, supercharged V8 engine that pumps out a monstrous 469 horsepower. It gets a new suspension system, enlarged brakes and more computers than NASA has to monitor the space station.

A division called AMG does this work for Mercedes. And when the AMG magicians are finished, the resulting E55 AMG sedan is the fastest production sedan on the planet. Only a handful of two-seat sport cars can run with it. And they are torture chambers compared to the E55.

This car has it all-performance, handling, safety, comfort and convenience. But it is performance that is the bottom-line reason a buyer would favor the E55 over any competitor. The supercharged engine rockets the sedan from zero to 60 in a mind-blowing 4.5 seconds! That's a quickness normally associated with motorcycles, not cars. The quarter-mile passes in the mid-12s, a figure usually reserved only for modified drag-racing cars.

So fierce is full-bore acceleration in the E55 that it twice gave me a headache between the eyes. And it has just as much reserve power at 75 miles an hour as it has standing still at a stoplight.

The temptation to speed in the E55 is always present. So it's a good thing that the car has a radar cruise-control system. Turn on the system and radar measures distance to the vehicle ahead and maintains the specific distance you set. If that vehicle slows, you slow. If it speeds up, you speed up. If you need to pass, pull into an open lane and the E55 accelerates to your chosen speed.

The computer-controlled braking system is the strongest I've ever experienced in a car. The driver's seat is shaped like the seat in a race car, with secure lateral support for chest and hip. But this one has support wings filled with air bladders. As forces increase in a turn, the air bladders inflate on the side opposite the turn direction. Turn left and right bladders puff up to secure you in place. It's a strange feeling, like the hand of God reaching down to hold you. No other automaker has anything like these drive dynamic seats, as M-B calls them. The seat even has air conditioning vents built-in to keep your shirt or blouse sweatless on hot days. Heating is available in winter, of course.

On the steering wheel are two small buttons left and right near the center spoke. Move the transmission selector to manual-shift mode and you can control upshifts and downshifts exactly as the world's fastest race-car drivers do.

As you drive, an Airmatic air suspension system keeps your E55 AMG level, even under hard cornering. Air shocks change pressure to prevent lean, squat or dive.

All the little conveniences we've come to expect in luxury vehicles are here. The E55 turns on headlights as needed; ditto for windshield wipers. But the headlights are bi-xenon models that turn with the car as you enter a curve. They are fantastic.

Optional solar panels in the panorama sunroof create power from sunlight and use it to ventilate the car while parked. If the sun is intense, you can power up a rear window sunshade.

When equipped with the Parktronic system, the E55 AMG provides ultrasonic assistance front and rear as you park. Beeps and flashing lights inform you how close you're coming to a vehicle or obstacle. Rear-seat room is plentiful, and the E55 AMG can seat five adults. Every imaginable safety feature is standard, including side air bags front and rear and a full-cabin head-protection air-cushion system. If an accident occurs, the car calls for assistance.

The car's standard equipment-hidden six-stack CD, air conditioning, intelligent 5-speed automatic transmission and on and on-could fill a page. Our tester also had a navigation system, voice-operated cell phone, satellite radio, electronic trunk closer and hands-free communication system with all devices.

For all its awesome power, this car is easy to drive slowly around town. It doesn't jerk those inside. Bottom line: This E55 is a supercar. It's an executive hot rod, the ultimate car to own if power and prestige are your desire.

If utility is more your desire, then Mercedes-Benz offers the G500 AMG model for about $97,000. No sport utility made anywhere in the world, not even Land Rover's top model, can compete with this square-sided war wagon.

Open a door to the G500 and the sound is like nothing you've heard this side of tumblers falling into place on a bank vault. It's aural proof of excellence of construction.

And note the many little things Mercedes-Benz fine-tuned with the G500. Look at where the exterior door handles are located-low on the doors, so they're within easy reach of even a child entering the back-seat area. Now compare that to the horrid ergonomics of the equally expensive Hummer-the door handles are so high that even an adult has to reach up.

The Hummer can conquer terrain, but it's not designed for around-town driving-unless your town is Fallujah.

The top Range Rover is excellent, but can't compete with the G500 offroad, where these particular vehicles excel. You want the best? It's the Mercedes-Benz G500 AMG. Performance, handling, utility and distinctive styling all in one package.

If interior ambience is your major consideration in the purchase of a luxury car, then you owe it to yourself to look over the Jaguar line. Whichever model you choose, look for an R at the end of its model designation. Think of the R as linking to Jaguar's outstanding racing heritage, proof you're getting the ultimate performance and handling in a luxury package.

My personal favorite is the two-seat sports car called the Jaguar XKR. It's available either as a sleek coupe or convertible. I recently tested the XKR coupe, with a sticker price of $96,495.

Under its hood was a 4.2-liter, 390-horsepower V8, coupled to a six-speed automatic transmission. Huge Brembo brakes-the best-stopped the car in a heartbeat. The computer-controlled suspension system provided a smooth ride under normal driving conditions and a stiffened ride for maximum handling.

The test XKR had numerous options that should be standard for anyone buying a car of this quality. These included a $2,200 adaptive cruise control (the most intelligent system yet tested by this driver), $2,000 Recaro (famed for racing) leather seats, $3,000 for a special handling package and a stunning $6,000 tag for 20-inch wheels.

But it's the interior that still sets the Jaguar apart. What other company insists in its contracts that cattle whose hides will become Jaguar leather be raised with electric fences, since barbed wire might scratch and mar the hide? What other company matches burl walnut wood so the dash and other wood trim areas are mirrored? And what other company employs the finest leather and wood artisans on earth to create those cozy, super luxurious interiors? Not a one.

From corporate raiders to crime kings, a BMW seems the car of choice. They come in 3-series, 5-series and 7-series models, in addition to sport utes and sports cars. Those who can afford it will want the best-the BMW 760Li sedan.

It's an extended-wheelbase luxocar with four doors and more gadgets than Jay-Z's recording studio. Auto writers would like to say all is perfect; but it's not. BMW's iDrive navigation screen, a menu screen that also covers options like the audio system, requires an engineering degree to comprehend. I can't drive and use this thing at the same time.