Five-Star Amenities for Luxury Cars

Now when it comes to extras, the options are seemingly endless — and more readily accessible. You can buy a 2007 Mini Cooper loaded with GPS navigation, heated leather seats, Sirius Satellite Radio and parking assist features, which makes a beeping sound if you come close to hitting anything, for a fairly reasonable $25,000.

As the playing field gets leveled, luxury-car makers — long the pioneers of the latest and greatest in auto gadgets — have been forced to get a lot more creative, or at the very least, more grandiose. "You'll still hear about horsepower, leather seats, blah, blah, blah," says Brian Cooley, editor at large for electronics review site CNET.com, "But car makers are increasingly leaning on technology to differentiate their vehicles."

With that in mind, here's a tour of the cutting-edge gizmos that are being included in some of the sweetest of the sweet rides:

It sounds like something out of a spy flick: As your car races through the darkness, the press of a button activates a dashboard screen. Thermal imaging reveals people, animals and other heat-infused objects, while image enhancement brings the landscape beyond reach of your headlights into clearer view. Sure, manufacturers introduced night-vision technology to aid driver visibility, but small screens make it more fun than functional, says Scott Oldham, editor for Inside Line, the online auto magazine of Edmunds.com. "Use it and you have to drive by looking at the dashboard," he says. "It's really a toy."

With built-in DVD systems and viewing screens showing up in midlevel cars like the 2008 Mazda CX-9 ($33,355), how's a luxury auto manufacturer to differentiate? Rolls-Royce added broadcast TV to its list of standard features. An inconspicuous antenna picks up the dozen or so local channels. That's in addition to the six-DVD changer, of course. Bonus: You'll watch your favorite shows on 12-inch rear-seat screens (which, incidentally, fold neatly into the back of the front seats when not in use). "They're stunningly large," says Cooley. "Nothing else out there comes close."

"How many more speakers can you put in a car? How many more watts?" asks Jack Nerad, executive editorial director for Kelley Blue Book. "There's a point where it just adds to your ability to deafen yourself and make every other car near you vibrate."

With that quality-trumps-quantity adage in mind, luxury auto makers are outsourcing their sound systems to pros known for crafting high-end home audio components. The 2007 Audi A8, for example, contains an optional $6,300 Bang & Olufsen system with a subwoofer, 14 speakers and 1,110 watts of amplifier power. Lincoln has taken a different approach, installing factory systems that are THX-certified — meaning they could pass muster at the movie theater down the street. The result in both cases: clear, distortion-free sound.

Sitting in traffic just got a lot more fun. Manufacturers are upping the luxe factor on already-supple leather seats with comfort-inducing gadgets. "The car has become quite a comfortable place," says Cooley. "Now nobody wants to drive." Climate-controlled seats in the 2008 Cadillac STS-V, for example, use channels beneath perforated leather to move chilled air — no more burning, sticky seats on a hot summer day. (Of course, on cold winter mornings, you can opt for multilevel heat.) Backseat passengers have it best in the 2008 Lexus 600h L. Its Executive Class Seating Package enables the right seat to recline. Pop up the footrest, and program the seat's multifunction shiatsu massager to go to work on that traffic-induced stress.

If only the local rock station sounded as good on your car's high-tech stereo system as your favorite CDs. Not a problem if your car is equipped with a hybrid digital — a.k.a. HD — radio tuner, explains Marty Padgett, editor of auto enthusiast site The Car Connection. More than 1,400 stations nationwide use this new technology, which adds digital signals to reduce the static and distortion of typical analog broadcasts. The built-in car tuner offered by luxury car makers automatically picks up these signals whenever available. "Suddenly your local radio station sounds as crisp and clear as Sirius or XM," he says.

Safety innovations are the quickest technology to move from luxury automobiles to mass-market cars, says Oldham. Such features are also the priciest to develop, which is why auto makers install them first in high-end vehicles. The latest safety gadgetry is a complex system of sensors inside and outside of the car that monitor your driving patterns and the environment around you. Relaying messages to a dashboard computer, the car can automatically take steps to keep you safe. Here are some of the latest features: