2015 Bentley Continental on 2040-cars

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Weekly Recap: Mercedes continues the pseudo-coupe craze with AMG-tuned CUV

But as BMW's X6 has demonstrated, sport sells in in the crossover segment, and Mercedes is giving the people what they want. BMW proved there is a market for crossover utility vehicles designed to look like coupes – as much as a vehicle with four doors and noticeable ground clearance can look like a coupe, anyway. Now comes the reply from Mercedes-Benz: the GLE Coupe. The rakish crossover is a harbinger of things to come from Mercedes, as it begins the company's transition to a new nomenclature and marks the debut of the AMG Sport line. It also continues the recent coupe craze. Designers from many automakers, like Nissan and Volkswagen, have increasingly turned to swoopy, dramatic styling to make utility vehicles and sedans seem more desirable. By revealing the GLE 450 AMG Sport model first, Mercedes is clearly hoping to cast the GLE Coupe as a sportier, lifestyle-oriented alternative in its lineup of beefy crossovers and SUVs. Mercedes used the word "sport," or a variation of it, 53 times in its press release, so uh yeah, it's sporty. It's not an empty promise: Benz means business with the AMG Sport line. This GLE Coupe gets a 3.0-liter biturbo V6 rated at 362 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque paired with Mercedes' new nine-speed automatic transmission, and it runs with 4Matic all-wheel drive. Specs on the other GLE Coupe models were not disclosed. But as BMW's X6 has demonstrated, sport sells in in the crossover segment, and Mercedes is giving the people what they want. After all, more than 260,000 people have bought X6s since 2008, and Mercedes wants a piece of that. From certain angles, the GLE Coupe even looks vaguely like an X6. "This is really a vehicle that is all about status," said Dave Sullivan, product analysis manager for research firm AutoPacific. "You can buy a SUV that doesn't have the inherent qualities of a SUV, such as cargo hauling. People will likely be drawn to the looks. Coupes are all the rage." BMW, however, isn't running from the fight, and the updated 2015 X6 is arriving in showrooms this month. It also added a smaller sibling, the X4, to its coupe-crossover stable in July. The GLE Coupe arrives next year, though Mercedes hasn't specified exactly when it will hit showrooms from the factory in Alabama, or specified details on the rest of the non-AMG Sport models. In 2008, it was surprising the X6 was a hit. In 2015, it will be even more surprising if the GLE Coupe isn't.

Ferrari and Bentley make your living room as luxurious as your car

Short of parking your dream car in your living room, the second best petrolhead thing to do is craft a living room table out of an engine block, or to turn a junkyard luxury car rear seat into a fancy leather couch. Some people also take a racing seat and repurpose it as a desk chair or a gaming setup. But there are automobile manufacturers that want to bypass all that, offering car-related furniture as brand new items instead of putting the seats in cars first. Regarding desk chairs, it's Ferrari this time that wants to cater to a customer's office needs. The famed upholstery house, Poltrona Frau has created interiors for Ferraris since the 1980s, and now there's a specially designed office chair called the "Cockpit", trimmed in Poltrona Frau leather. The modular chair comes in two guises, "President" and "Exclusive", and the former features a high backrest, strongly resembling a racing car seat. The Exclusive version does without the backrest. Ferrari says that the materials, including carbon fiber are the same used to make car seats, and that the seats can be customized according to the customer's needs. The second set on offer is Bentley's new Home collection of furniture. The set has been designed by the architect Carlo Colombo, and it comprises several sofas, a chaise longue, tables, chairs, beds, cabinets and lamps. There are eucalyptus and maple woods used in the furniture pieces' construction, with the quilted leather making an easy mental connection with the similarly detailed interior of, say, the Bentayga. Of course, a Bentley furniture collection would seem out of place without a Bentley in the garage. Related Video: Featured Gallery Ferrari/Bentley furniture View 9 Photos Image Credit: Ferrari, Bentley Home Bentley Ferrari auto accessories

Bentley Continental GT3 Pikes Peak car's wheel can be used for games

As video games become ever more realistic, the lines between driving real cars and their virtual counterparts gets blurrier. And that line is at its blurriest with the steering wheel used in the Bentley Continental GT3 Pikes Peak race car. Not only is it a wheel for the race car, but it can be used for playing racing simulators, too. Bentley collaborated with video game steering wheel manufacturer Fanatec to make the unit for the Pikes Peak racer. It's impressive simply as a car wheel, as it's made from magnesium and carbon fiber. The grips are covered in Alcantara, including the removable lower section designed to give the driver more leverage around hairpins. The rotary switches are CNC-machined aluminum with Bentley's knurling design. In the middle of it all are LED rpm indicators and a 3.4-inch circular display that shows current gear selection and driver settings. But a quick disconnect from the Bentley's steering column, and wheel can be carried over to a Fanatec steering wheel base and reconnected for virtual fun. In this setup, the screen can show various in-game telemetry and information, and the buttons can be programmed for various functions. Though availability and pricing haven't been announced, you'll be able to purchase your own example of this wheel. Considering the materials and functionality, it will probably be quite pricey, but certainly one of the more unique and usable automotive collectibles ever created. Even if you don't want to use it for video games, it comes with a stand that turns it into a display piece, and the center screen can act as a watch or show map and telemetry from laps of race tracks. We suspect you could also use it as an actual steering wheel in a car, assuming you have a compatible quick release. Though, depending on the car, you might not be able to use all the switches, paddles or even the screen. Still, it would be cool and probably a quality piece. Related Video: