Car of the Year 2011

Fast and Efficient Close your eyes while sitting in the passenger seat of the Porsche 911 Turbo S, and when the driver floors it, you will swear you are in the cockpit of a Bugatti Veyron. (Those with weaker stomachs should avoid this experiment.) Equipped with a tuned version of Porsche’s 6-cylinder boxer engine, the […]

Driven Daily to Extremes When the V-8-engined Audi R8 trounced its Car of the Year competition two years ago, it sent a wake-up call to those marques that were resting on their exotic, mid-engined laurels. Practical but possessing great finesse, Audi’s sports car set a new benchmark as the sensible supercar. With the V-10 engine […]

Better than Expected Since the advent of the F355 in 1994, Ferrari’s mid-engine V-8s have been wonderfully civilized thoroughbreds that anyone can drive. By the time the F430 started showing a gray hair or two, it was hard to imagine its successor being anything but a measured evolution of that near-perfect sports car. But the […]

For much of the magazine’s 35-year history, the Robb Report Car of the Year competition has furnished four-wheeled fodder for an audience interested in unique motoring experiences. Since the 2003 contest, however, our readers have been, as it were, in the driver’s seat. Prior to that time, our team of seasoned automotive journalists was charged […]

The following Robb Report readers were among the guests who joined the magazine’s editors and writers in driving, evaluating, and ranking the 2011 Car of the Year candidates. David Arnold is senior vice president, group publisher, of Robb Report. Shai Burstein is founder and controller of Trend Marketing, a Canadian footwear wholesaler. Michele Cestone is […]

No Spare Change With the quiet demise of the previous XJ series, Jaguar’s Victorian era came to an end. The British carmaker has shed its prudish demeanor and stepped out with a new profile: long, low, and ever so stylish. The new XJ pays tasteful homage to Coventry’s old cats but looks confidently forward, staring […]

Hustle and Flow The success of Aston Martin’s sedan-cum-coupe is a matter of seduction by architecture. Its design flows so proportionately that one barely notices the two extra doors. And when driving the Rapide, one becomes oblivious to the rear seats and any passengers unfortunate enough to be crammed into them. Instead, the driver’s attention […]

Laudable Designs Ask any auto designer—off the record and after a couple of drinks—which marques he or she most admires and chances are Audi will be mentioned. Audi has long been regarded as a designer’s car, in the best sense of the term. Across the model line the exterior and interior plans are understated and […]

Roaring Yet Refined Full disclosure: The V12 Vantage was my favorite car of the year. The Aston Martin went to the front of this year’s lineup because of its unmatched aesthetics, long-distance comfort, ample power, and a Lazarus-stirring exhaust note. By pairing its big engine with its smallest and most nimble platform, Aston Martin has […]

Coworth Park, a new 240-acre retreat that opened as part of the Dorchester Collection in September, sits on the outskirts of the village of Ascot in the English countryside. The resort is just 10 minutes by car from the famed Ascot Racecourse, whose premier annual event, the five-day Royal Ascot meet, is a most formal […]

Alexandra Mor had been eyeing the stone for weeks: an 85.30-carat, cabochon-cut emerald about the size of a plump strawberry. Mor, a jewelry designer in New York, was hesitant to purchase it because its color was uneven and it was dappled with inclusions. Still, she could not stop thinking about it. “Something about the various […]

To enhance a timepiece’s beauty, the designers at Piaget not so simply reduce its size. “Our business is to create thin and very elegant men’s watches,” says company CEO Philippe Léopold-Metzger. “The technical part of watchmaking allows the watch to be beautiful. But technique is not, in itself, the purpose.” If a slender profile is […]

With only a handful of courses scattered across its parched, garrigue-carpeted landscape, the Mediterranean island of Cyprus is not the first place that comes to mind as a warm-weather golfing destination for Europeans. Overshadowed by Spain and even Morocco and Tunisia, this divided 3,572-square-mile island—Cyprus is split between the Greek-controlled south and Turkish-occupied north—has a […]

Christopher Guy calls Singapore home; his furniture creations, however, seem to exist in a fantasy world. “I designed an Alice in Wonderland–inspired chair a couple of years ago and really didn’t think there would be much interest in it, but it turned out to be one of my best-selling pieces,” says the 50-year-old British-born designer. […]

Kevin Frazier is always on his toes. The 46-year-old correspondent for Entertainment Tonight spends much of his time trying to keep up with his two young sons at the family’s home in Los Angeles. Away from home, he tackles an equally taxing duo in his role as cohost of the Versus cable network’s The T.Ocho […]

Skipper Peter Holmberg sprung catlike between the twin helms of Sojana, his boat shoes squeaking on the sailing yacht’s deck as he rushed back and forth with each tack and jibe. Gripping one of the wheels, he leaned over it and peered across the white-capped waters off the island of St. Barts. Holmberg, known in […]

Quantum Leap is less a motorcycle than a proclamation from its creator, Eddie Meeks. His message is clear: Do not count me out, because I can still blow your mind. “When I decided to reverse everything, that was my moment,” says Meeks. “The point was to step outside the box and outside the rut that […]

The sun resembles a fiery peach as it rises over the Zambezi River at 6 am. Fish eagles fly overhead and elephants graze on a distant riverbank while I set out by pontoon in search of the legendary tigerfish, one of angling’s greatest prizes. Two fishing guides, Vasco and Werner, lead me on my quest […]

LVMH’s impressive stable of luxury brands includes, among others, fashion labels Louis Vuitton and Givenchy; Champagne houses Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot; and the Royal Van Lent shipyard, which produces Fead­ship megayachts. In 2008, the Paris-based conglomerate expanded its maritime presence with the purchase of Princess Yachts, a reputable British builder that is now […]

In certain circles, a high price connotes quality, and few sectors of the marketplace have more expertly exploited this peculiar perception than the distilled-spirits industry, which turns out numerous expensive and stylish bottles whose contents make little impression in the glass. The aficionado who eyes such costly introductions with suspicion might therefore wonder whether Nolet’s […]

Even before revolution liberated the bodies of numerous highborn Frenchmen from their heads and sent others scurrying to the opposite side of the Atlantic, the cadet sons of noble houses sought the fortunes they could not inherit in the wilds of New France, which extended from Quebec to the Mississippi Delta. One such trailblazer was […]

Somewhere between Wall Street’s suit and tie and Silicon Valley’s T-shirt and jeans lies the realm of “business casual”—that prevalent, and nettlesome, approach to a work wardrobe that combines a relaxed attitude with a polished, professional appearance. To do it well requires a fine eye for detail and nuance, and for that, we went to […]

Photography by David Roemer. Styling by Christopher Campbell. This spring, designers have delivered so many brilliant, white classics that dressing for the weekend is bound to be a leisure pursuit in itself. From relaxed Egyptian cotton slacks to breezy linen shirts and softly structured blazers, the season’s menswear is a matter of effortless, and spotless, […]