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Nowadays, car manufacturers often offer somewhat ‘regular’ features, such as panoramic sunroofs, privacy glass or fancier alloy wheels, to those who are willing to dig deeper when purchasing a car.
However, some companies didn’t stop there - from coffee machines to toilets, here’s our pick of the craziest and most ludicrously expensive car options ever introduced.
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Bugatti Chiron – Sky View
Let’s be honest, if you can afford a Chiron you can most likely afford many of the options that Bugatti has to offer. When speccing your 261mph Chiron, you’ll have the chance to equip it with the £49,000 Sky View option which gives you two roof-mounted glass panels, illuminating the opulent cabin, and a bit of extra headroom.
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Ferrari California T – golf bag
If you were heavily into golf when configuring your new Ferrari California T back in 2014, Ferrari had you covered. You could part with roughly £8,000 and get one of Ferrari’s branded golf bags, and they would even match it to the colour of your new California’s interior. The rear back rests would fold flat and the golf bag would poke through into the rear from the boot.
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Bentley Bentayaga – Breitling Tourbillion clock
When a normal clock was simply not enough when it came to your 2015 Bentayaga, you could spec the Breitling dashboard-mounted clock for £117,000. Before you think “it’s just a fancy clock”, the Tourbillion is a mechanical masterpiece. Like a fine wrist-worn timepiece, it’s self-winding, and every so often an electric motor will kick in to rotate it automatically and ensure that it never dies.
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McLaren 720s – carbon seats
Completing the interior of your 720s may have been a tricky choice for some — stick with the Alcantara seats or opt for £5,120 carbon fibre racing seats, and if you wanted the back of the seats to be carbon, that would cost an extra £3,180. The carbon fibre seats did look comfortable and certainly increased the racer image of the 720s. With the model now discontinued, buyers can opt for carbon seats on the new 750s, although you’ll need to contact McLaren for pricing.
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Maybach – bag
Sunglasses, a suit, a chauffeur and an important place to be — owning a Maybach means that you’ll get to your destination in luxury, but if you really wanted to be noticed, then why wouldn’t you opt for a branded bag as well? There are quite a few to choose from to match the interior of your Maybach and various sizes available. All come with the Maybach logo, and if you fancy the one in our slide, you’ll be £3,855 lighter.
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Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead – decking
Rolls-Royce tried to bring yachting to the tarmac with the Drophead by giving its land yacht teak decking at the rear. Of course, you had to pay £5,699 for the pleasure but you’d get 30 planks of well-oiled wood and you could choose from various grains and colours. Every time you dropped your Drophead in to be serviced, Rolls-Royce mechanics had to oil the deck’s wood.
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Honda City – Motocompo
Japanese cities are usually filled with people, and back in the ‘80s Honda had a great idea to introduce a small city car that was bigger and more powerful than a kei car. Of course, Honda knew that even with a small city car you might still be unable to move due to congestion, so it gave people the option of paying around 800,000 yen, or roughly £1656, for a little motorbike that sat in the boot.
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Skoda Superb – umbrella
Rolls-Royce has been doing this for years, and it’s something that you’d expect from such a luxurious brand. However, Skoda jumped on the door-stowing umbrella wagon with its Superb back in 2015, and ever since, it’s either offered it as an option or has included umbrellas as standard. They can be found either under the front passenger seat or in the front doors.
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Bentley Flying Spur – illuminated Flying B
One does not just simply travel in a Bentley — one is conveyed in the utmost luxury in a Bentley, surrounded by fine leather seats, wood and chrome finish. Travelling at night, this experience is enhanced as soothing ambient lighting floods the Spur’s cabin. On the outside, Bentley has attracted just as much interest by illuminating its iconic Flying B that’s been around for nearly 100 years. Thinking of speccing the illuminated famous sculpture when you come to order yours? That’ll be an extra £4,000 please.
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Pontiac Aztec – camping package
It was sold in the USA as “quite possibly the most versatile vehicle on the planet” but the Aztec flopped upon its release due to its oddball styling. If you did find yourself gawking at these in a Pontiac dealership back in 2000, you could spec it with a camping package for just $195, or £120. This meant you got a pop-up tent that fitted snuggly over the rear of the Aztec, and it could be erected in 10min. It also came with a branded air mattress with a built-in pump.
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Mercedes-Benz – perfume diffuser
Diffusers have been around for many years but mostly for homes until Mercedes-Benz came up with the idea to install them in its cars. This extra is available for the GLE, GLS, E Class, EQS, CLS and AMG GT ranges, and if the buyer opts to part with roughly £300 for the option, they will find the diffuser in the glove box. The owner can buy a nice fragrance from Mercedes-Benz and pop it in the diffuser. This then feeds it through the vents and into the cabin.
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Vauxhall Adam – starlight roof
Originally, this option appeared in the Rolls-Royce Phantom VII. A series of small LED lights were installed into the headliner to mimic the night sky, an option that added a further touch of class to an already classy car. Vauxhall then decided to offer it on its Adam range. Buyers could fork out roughly £300 and Vauxhall would install 64 LEDs in the Adam’s headliner.
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Fiat 500L
Fiat collaborated with Lavazza to make the world’s first standard-production car to feature an espresso machine. The machine was not quite something you’d find in an Italian coffee shop, but instead, a thin unit, like that of a hand espresso machine, that sits snugly in the centre console. If coffee on the go is important and you had to have this feature in your 500L, you’d find yourself £200 lighter.
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Range Rover SVAutobiography – event seating
In the L405 SVAutobiography, buyers could spec an event seating package that would deliver two retractable seats at the rear, complete with swing-like footrests. If you were a dab hand at clay pigeon shooting or just attended a lot of outdoor events in your Range Rover, it would make sense. Land Rover stopped offering the option, but if buyers wish they had specced it, they can be picked up from Land Rover for £560.
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Rolls-Royce Wraith Vignale – toilet
The Vignale-bodied Wraith already looked different from the standard Wraith, but to take things to the next level, owner and inventor Joseph Mascuch had a toilet installed in the rear bench. Of course, Mascuch was wealthy and could approach Rolls-Royce with such a request when speccing his Wraith. One of the seats at the rear would lift away to reveal a toilet, but of course being in a car, there was no plumbing system for it.
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Rolls-Royce Phantom – whisky and cigar Cellarette
If you were a wealthy cigar-smoking entrepreneur and needed a plush carriage to suit your lifestyle, Rolls-Royce could take £40,570 of your money and install a large travel humidor in the car. The company called it “the Cellarette”, an aluminium case box that would open to reveal compartments holding whisky, whisky glasses and four cigars.
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Skoda – ice scrapers
Included in most Skoda cars now, the Skoda ice scraper can mostly be found attached to the fuel cap. Skoda began putting them into cars as standard, but if owners didn’t wish to have an ice scraper, they could remove it for free. There’s also a tyre tread depth gauge on the fuel cap, ensuring that drivers aren’t caught out when it comes to icy days or keeping your tyres legal.
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Ford – door edge protectors
If you live in a tight area or if you are simply too worried about your passengers dinging your doors when opening them, you could spec your Ford with a £300 Parking Pack. This gives you Active Park Assist, a rear-view camera and door edge protectors. By opening one of the doors, a small piece of plastic is deployed, which takes the brunt of any door-to-wall damage, wrapping itself around the edge of the door. Close the door and this retracts again.
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Aston Martin – pet washer
This option is available for any Aston Martin as it’s a standalone product. Picture the scene: you take your dog to the local park in your new DBX, the dog finds one of the grimiest puddles and then heads straight for your Glacier White leather interior. If you spent £3022 on the pet pack, you’d be able to use the suitcase-like pet pressure washer to hose the dirt off your beloved pet and the rear pet partition included will keep Fido from ruining your interior.
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Chrysler 300c – phonograph
We’ve had tape decks, CD changers, auxiliary connections and Bluetooth in cars, but back in the 1950s, cars were only beginning to get AM radios. Music listening was done mostly via a record player, and that’s when CBS Laboratories spotted an opportunity — a built-in record player. It was called “the Highway Hi-Fi" and it was offered on Chrysler’s from 1956 to 1959 for nearly $200, or £72. Unfortunately, the idea never quite caught on and it quickly disappeared as an option.
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