What would be the ideal car for me? If I became super-rich, one thing I’d like to do is custom-build my own car from the ground-up. First of all, it would have to be a convertible; I love feeling the wind and the air on me. I don’t like sedans much, so I’d make my car a coupe, with rear-hinged “suicide doors”. The paint scheme would be bright and vivid, most likely black and red, with rally-stripe patterns and intricate emblems unique to me.
It would be a large car, full-size enough to permit me to stretch my legs out completely, with plenty enough room for three people in the front to spread their legs out fully with room to spare; rear seats will be similarly spacious. Both rows of seats will be luxurious-leather bench seats, with the front bench lying down flat, flush with the rear bench, permitting easy and comfortable sleeping (the window glass can also vary from no tint to opaque black at my command, which helps too). The trunk will be as big as my arms can reach into, which will be pretty big indeed! The rear bench seats can fold down flat, permitting easy augmentation of the trunk space. Possibly the front bench can also lie down flat in the opposite direction (upright to hinging down over the front as opposed to the back), permitting even more space.
Big Wheels, high Ground Clearance, yet very much a Car
The wheels will be very big, at least 25 inches and perhaps up to around 30 inches in diameter, allowing my car to glide over potholes, speed humps, curbs, and dips with ease, as well as off-road terrain. Ground clearance will be high, perhaps around 8 inches, comparable to crossovers or trucks. Sumptuously wide running boards, wide enough for a man to stand on easily, will be part of the package.
In these ways my ideal vehicle will hearken back to the cars of the 1930s: it’s very much a car, not a truck or a crossover, but it has some more rugged characteristics. Nevertheless in terms of appearance it will be sporty: the overall look will resemble a latter-day muscle car, with perhaps a big gaping mouth at the front, with discrete circular headlights, evoking the look of the 1960s. Suspension will be very cushy, however, permitting me to glide over the road without feeling it, in stark contrast to true sports cars.
Cushy Features
A little office area that can fold out so I can work on my tablet, my art, my computer, or whatever on the go would also be most convenient, as would plenty of cargo storage compartments located throughout the vehicle, their contents cradled in the softest leather.
I’d want no buzzers to bug me; rather, everything is to be customizable and moldable to the driver’s, i.e. my, will to my heart’s content. Traditional analog dials and gauges will be the way my car talks to me, not digital readouts on screens. To that end everything in my dream car will be operable by buttons and switches, not LCD screens.
Peppy Propulsion
The engine will be huge, the state of the art, permitting maximum power, speed, and acceleration; I envision my dream car being able to cruise at 200 mph all day without breaking a sweat. Perhaps, given its high ground clearance and the like, the Bugatti Chiron’s 305 mph top speed won’t be achievable, but I’d like to push it as high as possible.
To that end I’d give serious thought to building the car’s frame out of titanium as opposed to steel of aluminum. I’d even look into using that magnesium alloy that was hyped up so much a few years ago as being stronger and lighter than titanium.
Getting more Fanciful…
I’d like my dream car to have full self-driving capabilities, with the on-board computer integrated into my personal network, everything cryptographically secured and communicating through Tor onion services.
I’d really like to use something peppier than a gasoline-powered piston engine, perhaps natural gas or hydrogen, or a jet turbine. But what I’d really want is a car powered by an on-board nuclear reactor. With the rate reactor technology is advancing by the sixth generation or so (we’re currently on the fourth) there should be reactors small enough to fit in a car and powerful enough to outclass any internal combustion engine or electric motor.
What I’d like specifically is a fast breeder reactor that used fully-enriched mixed-oxide (uranium/plutonium) fuel; given that it’s a breeder reactor it will never need refueling, and it could easily be constructed to require no maintenance. Perpetual power, for all practical purposes. Infinite driving range too.
If the nuclear reactor heat is used to drive a jet engine, I suspect the speeds attainable would make the Bugatti Chiron look like a slowpoke, despite the vehicle being much heavier. Naturally this would require good enough roads to support such speeds, but that’s another story.
I’d also like to attach drones to my dream car that can fly out for reconnaissance and for delivering and receiving physical packages. Also attach a motorized bicycle to it that can be used for more rugged or narrow terrain or for recreational purposes. Build it in perhaps under the trunk, and when I want to take it it rises up out of a compartment. The bicycle would be powered by a mechanical battery, i.e. flywheel energy storage, spun up by the on-board nuclear reactor. Ditto for the drones too.
Thinking even Bigger!
More wildly, I might like to attach weaponry to the vehicle, hidden in the interior; even something like a chainsaw or a heat gun would be useful for clearing debris or melting snowdrifts and the like. In the same vein, make the glass bulletproof. Sounds like a car that would appear in a James Bond movie. Hehehe.
Anyway, another idea I have is for this vehicle to be a shuttle attached to a mothership, a la a motorhome, equally advanced, rich, and well-appointed, like a luxury apartment on wheels, a garage in the back to hold my car. This vehicle of course would have its own even bigger reactor to power itself.
Well, that’s about all the thoughts I have for now. Maybe I should spend some time sketching out the concepts for these beasts I imagine in my head; they might make for really cool concept cars or something.