Car configurators; how crazy can you go?

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-Fred-

-Fred-

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I was watching one of Harry Metcalfe's video on Youtube in which he was reviewing the Golf R, and he briefly touched on the price of an example like the one he had on hand... I had to do a double take because of how shocking that number was, so I went the VW's UK website, tinkered a bit with options and packages and indeed ended up with this:

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Shocking indeed. That's a $71000 USD Golf!

But that got me thinking, just how ridiculous can you spec a car up using a manufacturer's car configurator? We all know the Porsche one can lead to some glorious overspending, and it's actually quite easy to spec up a car whose optional equipment ends up being worth more than the car itself, but what about the other ones?

Go on, share your crazy, overpriced contraptions, or even the ones with color schemes that just shouldn't exist!
 
The one thing about these configurators you won’t see on their sites, is that you could build the option prices even higher with the Personal programs they each offer.

That GT2 RS for example can tack on another $10-$20,000 (in between there; don’t remember exact price) for PTS. Your probably offset it though losing the Weissach Package.
 
I know Fred sort of excluded Porsche since they're well known for having a ludicrous options catalogue, but I still love this:
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That's a £43k Cayman with £46.5k worth of options (66k USD), or 108% of the base price in extra kit. I'm certain that you can spend more than that when ordering a Ferrari, but I'd be surprised if there are very many non-special-order vehicles where you can get more than 108% of the car's base price in standard factory options.
 
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I kept things pretty tame, limiting myself to vehicles I would seriously look at and only choosing options I would be inclined to choose (no carbon fiber or carbon-look, thank you very much), so the results are fairly tame. Though $36k onto a car as well-equipped as an AMG Merc ought to be is scoff-worthy.

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Base price of $56,100 for a Volvo V90 T6. You can end up with an $80k lifted wagon after a bunch of options.
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Edit: I'll give out some ideas. Try building a full size pickup and see how ridiculous those prices can go.
 
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I only got "my" Alpina B3 S BITURBO Touring from £63,000* to £83,550(Australia configurator doesn't show pricing*).
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*based on the 2017 pricing, the Australian car is $162,000 =£92,000
 
It's in Canadian monopoly money, but have a look at the price of that paint!
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And obviously you need the tailgate seating and veneer finish! :lol:
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I know, I know. It's not a car, but I figured this mostly fits the theme of this thread with ridiculous pricing and options.

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I present to you, the 2017 Cessna TTx, a single-engine four seat high performance airplane. It features dual gull-wing doors, composite airframe, glass cockpit, speedbrakes, ice protection systems, and the highest top speed of any fixed-landing gear, general aviation aircraft (235 kn / 270 MPH / 435 KMH). While the list of features are impressive, the high price tag is a turn-off for many aspiring pilots. The prices for a few options below will leave you scratching your heads; in particular, the Cargo Barrier Net. If I had $1 million to spend on a plane, I would buy a used Cessna 172 or Piper Super Cub in excellent condition and use what's left to pay for hangar rent, fuel, and maintenance fees.

Here's the full list of options I chose. Please note that some of the avionics options require a subscription to use their services. If you would like to play around with the configurator, here's a link.

Paint scheme: "Launch" - $0
Colors: Strawberry Red Pearl / Sabre Pearl - $0
Interior colors: Lunar Two-Tone - $3,000

Avionics:
Jeppesen Chartview - $3,950 / 0 lbs
Distance Measuring Equipment - $9,615 / 4 lbs
Automatic Direction Finder - $21,215 / 10 lbs
Avidyne TWX-670 Tactical Weather Detection System - $14,300 / 7 lbs
Garmin GSR-56 Iridium Satellite Data Transceiver Link $16,780 / 4lbs
Garmin XM Weather And Radio Data Link (GDL-69A) - $7,955 / 2 lbs
Garmin TAWS-B - $10,890 / 0 lbs
Garmin TAS (Traffic Advisory System) - $14,955 / 11 lbs

Extra Options:
Cessna TTx Familiarization Training Program - $4,135 / 0 lbs
Dual Heavy Duty Batteries - $405 / 15 lbs
Additional Bose A20 Headset - $1,260 / 0 lbs
Cargo Barrier Net - $3,100 / 0 lbs
TTx Exterior Protection Package - $1,940 / 0 lbs
Air Conditioning - $30,765 / 53 lbs
Flight Into Known Icing (FIKI) Protection $55,180 / 138 lbs
 
Listed base price of a 2018 Chevy Silverado 1500, 4-door standard box: $37,495.
Price of that same vehicle after I mistakenly get put in charge of ordering work trucks for the company: $81,850 (and that's before tax).

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Part of the fun isn't just picking the most expensive options, it's also picking options that drive up the price while making the vehicle less useful. I'm particularly amused with how badly I could ruin the bed capacity by adding that utility storage (basically a giant junk drawer), throwing on a $1,600 hard cover with caddy storage, further compartmentalizing the little bed space that's left, and then adding LED bed lighting which will be completely useless because everything's sectioned off.

And of course there's all the important things you need on a work truck, like a cat-back exhaust with carbon fiber exhaust tips, pearl-coat paint, power-assisted step rails, machined 5-spoke alloy wheels, in-cab DVD player with bluetooth headphones, power sunroof, no less than 7 cameras, and of course plenty of this:
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Not sure this is in the spirit of spending the maximum amount of money possible, but with a Caterham configurator now available, what better time than to create the perfect mint-green 310, with the seats you'd actually want to sit in and the suspension you'd actually want to use on the road? I'd have the exhaust and wheels black for maximum contrast ideally, but neither is an option in the configurator.

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Incidentally, anyone questioning the use of such a bright colour should remind themselves that on Caterhams, bright paintwork is probably the best safety feature there is. It's basically a four-wheeled motorcycle and other traffic has a worrying habit of not spotting you in darker colours...

It came out at around £35k incidentally.
 
homeforsummer
Not sure this is in the spirit of spending the maximum amount of money possible, but with a Caterham configurator now available, what better time than to create the perfect mint-green 310, with the seats you'd actually want to sit in and the suspension you'd actually want to use on the road? I'd have the exhaust and wheels black for maximum contrast ideally, but neither is an option in the configurator.

Incidentally, anyone questioning the use of such a bright colour should remind themselves that on Caterhams, bright paintwork is probably the best safety feature there is. It's basically a four-wheeled motorcycle and other traffic has a worrying habit of not spotting you in darker colours...

It came out at around £35k incidentally.
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I agree in part, but go purple or go home. So as a compromise:

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:D
 
Famine
I agree in part, but go purple or go home. So as a compromise:
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Caterham does need a lighter shade of purple though for that all-important visibility.

I did consider aero screens but after trying a SuperSprint with the little retro fly screens I discovered it's impossible to see above about 25mph :lol:
 
My grandpa just bought a new Ram 1500 so I decided to play around with the Ram configurator because why not. You won't believe how expensive one can option them. I configured a Ram 3500 in the most expensive trim with all options, an the price came to $93,445! Who would actually pay that for a pickup truck? That's roughly the price of a new Mercedes S-Class, Porsche 911, or a Nissan GTR! For comparison's sake, the Ram 3500 Limited's competitor (GMC Sierra 3500 Denali) with all options is roughly $76,000, which is $17,500 less for basically the same experience.

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Why would they let you have the brushed aluminium bonnet on the Cullinan when it doesn't have the windscreen surround? It just doesn't work visually, at all.
 
VXR
Why would they let you have the brushed aluminium bonnet on the Cullinan when it doesn't have the windscreen surround? It just doesn't work visually, at all.
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Because the customer is always right (and full of money).
 

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