Tips for Leading an Adventurous Life

Price: $287,500

The Spyker D12 is a totally new concept in auto design – so new in fact that the manufacturer had to invent a new acronym to describe it – SSUV – That’s Super Sports Utility Vehicle.

The D12 Peking-to-Paris has a split personality; off-road it has full time four-wheel drive and handles similar to the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, but when it hits the pavement the D12 transform into a top-drawr sports car.

The 500-horsepower, 12-cylinder engine gives the D12 a zero-to-60 time of five seconds and a top speed of 186 mph – Speed Racer would feel right at home in this thing.

Though the D12 is an SUV, the car has a lot of design features from Spyker’s sports car, the C8, such as the “aeroblade” wheels and smooth rear view mirrors. Also notable – the back seat doors are hinged at the rear, creating so-called suicide doors.

Interior

Cabin materials befit a car of this price; aluminum spans the dashboard. Most other surfaces, including the four bucket seats, are quilted in butternut leather.

If you love buttons and gauges like I do then the interior should give you a warm fuzzy feeling:

• Staring the driver in the face is a triple dashboard designed in the style of an airplane cockpit.
• The six-speed automatic transmission features a multifunctional steering wheel with F1 style paddle shifters.
• Speedometers and tachometers are mounted on the dashboard’s passenger side so your navigator can keep an eye on things. An extra set of gauges are mounted in front of the rear passengers in case you actually like backseat drivers.

In case you’re wondering, the name Peking-to-Paris refers to the Peking to Paris Endurance Rally, a grueling three-month event held in 1907 in which a Spyker car finished second.

The Spyker D12 sounds great in theory – but I can’t find one picture of it cruising around off-road. Of course, if I spent $287,000 on a car I probably wouldn’t want to get it within 100 miles of rocks or gravel either.

• Montezuma’s Gold
• Maximillion’s Millions