#Accelerate

2E | FLORIDA TODAY | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2017 #ACCELERATE
It says
you’ve
arrived.
Ahead of
schedule.
2017 VOLKSWAGEN
Jetta S
36 Month $
99Lease
Seats 7
Passengers
All-New 2018 Tiguan S
$
259 * /month
36 month lease
2018 Atlas Launch Edition
$
339 * /month
36 month lease
MY2018 TIGUAN S6years/72,000 miles (whichever occurs first) New Vehicle Limited
Warranty. Based on manufacturers’ published data on transferable bumper-to-bumper/
basic warranty only. Not based on other separate warranties. See owner’s literature or
dealer for warranty limitations.
MY2018 ATLAS LAUNCH EDITION 6years/72,000 miles (whichever occurs first) New
Vehicle Limited Warranty. Based on manufacturers’ published data on transferable
bumper-to-bumper/basic warranty only. Not based on other separate warranties. See
owner’s literature or dealer for warranty limitations.
PRESTIGE
VOLKSWAGEN
MELBOURNE
1416 S. Harbor City Blvd
Melbourne, FL 32901
321.574.8276
www.melbournevw.com
17 Jetta S: $99 for 36 mo w/$3000 down or equitable trade. 18 Tiguan S: $259 for 36 mo w/ $2699 due at signing. No security deposit required. For highly
qualified customers through Volkswagen Credit. 18 Atlas Launch Edition: $339 for 36 mo w/$3299 duet at signing. No security deposit required. For highly
qualified cusomters through Volkswagen Credit.Excludes tax, title, license, registration, options and dealer fees. State Offer.Offer ends Nov 30, 2017.
10 Great Holiday
Gifts for Car Lovers
By Kelsey Mays
CARS.COM — Given Santa’s preference
for transportation without wheels, brakes or
gas, it’s safe to say your family’s resident car
enthusiast won’t find a pair of gift-wrapped
Pilotis from the North Pole come Christmas
morning. But that’s OK, because they have
you. And you have Cars.com’s holiday gift
guide. We gathered suggestions from our
editors on gifts for drivers of all stripes, from
workaday commuters to oil-in-the-veins
enthusiasts. Here are our 10 favorites:
1. Driving Gloves
Just like with tires in the winter, steering a car
with gloved hands requires grip — and that
means leather. For stylish yet practical hand
wear, check out the assortment of leather gloves
for men and women at Riparo Motorsports.
The pairs come in full and fingerless varieties;
the latter might be necessary if your car has
touch-sensitive controls. How much? Ranging
in price from around $27 to nearly $70, Riparo
leather gloves come in a range of styles and
colors.
2. Key Finder
Last we checked, you still need keys to slip
behind the wheel on a Sunday drive. If your
resident enthusiast (or anyone who drives,
frankly)misplacestheirsa lot, araft of products
is available to help find it. Most products
attach a tracking device to the keychain that
connects via Bluetooth to a smartphone app.
We particularly like Tile, which can ring your
keychain if it’s within 100 feet of your phone
or share the last known location if you leave
the app open. A slimmed-down version even
exists for wallets. If your items are outside
Bluetooth Low Energy range, Tile employs
other users’ phones (the company claims
more than 10 million units sold) to alert you
— but not them — of your item’s location if
another user passes within range. How much?
Individual Tiles run $25 to $35 with discounts
if you buy more than one.
3. Tire Inflator
Tires can lose 1 to 2 pounds per square
inch of pressure for every 10-degree drop in
temperature, so wintry weather can leave them
underinflated — and that’s a major cause of
blowouts. Fortunately, proper inflation is easier
than ever with a portable tire compressor.
We’ve owned our share through the years; you
typically string them from your car’s 12-volt
outlet through an open window, turn on the
ignition (in a well-ventilated area) and top off
each tire. While you’re at it, check the spare,
too: Temporary spares typically require much
higher inflation. How much? Inexpensive
examples start around $15, while higher-end
models with additional features — lights,
longer inflator cords or the ability to draw
power from a household outlet or your car’s
battery itself — can run $40 to $50.
4. Car-Seat Warmer
If your cold-weather cohort didn’t buy a car
with factory heated seats, have no fear. They
can still nip winter in the butt, so to speak, with
aftermarket seat inserts that toast their buns.
Most examples involve a liner atop the cushion
and backrest that draws power from the 12-volt
outlet; a tethered remote controls the heat. It’s
an unaesthetic solution at best, but elegance
doesn’t count for much when it’s colder than
the reception for “Geostorm.” How much? We
found basic units as low as $15.95. Featurepacked
seats, which can include wireless
remotes, seat cooling or vibrating massage,
can run around $40 to $100.
5. Superhero Car Seats
With the holiday season comes the
holiday movie season. Among the wouldbe
blockbusters this year are Marvel’s
“Thor: Ragnarok” and DC’s long-awaited
“Justice League,” and as excitement around
superheroes reaches a(nother) fever pitch, gift
ideas for movie-loving motorists abound —
from Thor’s Hammer keychains and Wonder
Woman cellphone car mounts to Batman
seat covers and puddle lights. But perhaps the
coolest thing we’ve seen is superhero childsafety
seats, which wrap your kids in their
favorite heroes. How much? These booster
seats are a bit spendy at upwards of $150
apiece, but how could your car-seat-age child
be safer than literally sitting in the lap of the
likes of Batman, Captain America or the
Incredible Hulk?
6. Throwback Wooden Models
Candylab builds wooden toy cars that evoke
vintage furniture. Half pinewood-derby
racers, half 1960s collectibles, the simple
designs have a slab-sided aesthetic inspired
by classic American cars. They come in styles
from a wood-paneled station wagon to a
hood-scooped muscle car, with a few noncar
accessories to spruce up the scene. Car
enthusiasts need not be able to drive; Candylab
rates its wares for kids age 3 and older. How
much? Based in Brooklyn, New York, the
company sells the toys at retailers in the New
York area, but you can also order them online.
Prices on non-custom designs range from
$9.99 to $39, with free shipping on orders $50
and up.
7. Lego Model Car
Most Lego sets pass off single-seat runabouts
as cars, but the company goes the other
direction with its ultra-detailed, larger-scale
models. With everything from a classic
Volkswagen Beetle and Mini Cooper to the
Ferrari F40 and Porsche 911 GT3 RS, the sets
— each with more than 1,000 blocks — lets
car and model enthusiasts build a true mantle
masterpiece. How much? Prices range from
$99.99 for the Volkswagens models to $299.99
for the 2,704-piece 911.
8. Engine-Block Coffee Table
Most engines don’t leave a place to rest your
cup o’ joe. An engine-block coffee table turns
that on its (exhaust) head: You can put a
beverage — nay, many beverages — on a
surface mounted above the block. We found
this example on Houzz, which uses a GM 4.8-
or 5.3-liter V-8 with four pistons repurposed as
legs for the glass surface. Many more examples
exist, from upright four-cylinder corner tables
to sprawling V-12 centerpieces. How much?
We found four-cylinder tables as little as $400,
with V-8 and V-12 units running well into the
thousands.
9. Snarky Car Shirt
Internet memes aren’t the only place for witty
automotive banter. Blipshift goes old-school
with stickers, shirts and accessories that
memorialize racing, cult-favorite cars, engines
and — of course — three-pedal driving. Our
personal favorites: This reminder for when
not to brake, and this mashup of the Baja
1000 race and the original “Oregon Trail”
video game. Watch out for cholera, folks. How
much? Stickers start as low as $3; shirts and
other apparel runs $15 to $36.
10. Neiman Marcus Custom Rolls
We jest, but a pair of custom Rolls-Royce
Dawn convertibles made Neiman Marcus’
fantasy gift guide this year. It’s reportedly the
first time Rolls-Royce has made the retailer’s
annual fantasy catalog, which usually offers an
uber-custom ride. Naturally, these aren’t just
any Dawns. They’re bespoke versions of the
V-12 convertible for the deep-pocketed few.
The first, inspired by Italy’s Lake Como (where
George Clooney lives!), boasts Coniston
Blue paint and a brushed-metal dashboard.
Rolls-Royce themed the second after France’s
Saint-Tropez; it has Saint-Tropez Orange and
an open-pore wood dash. How much? The
Coniston Blue car runs about $442,000, while
the Saint-Tropez Orange car is about $448,000.
That’s about $100,000 more than the 2018
Dawn’s base price — though, as with every gift
in the fantasy catalog, a small portion (in this
case, $1,000) goes to charity. At that, the cars
aren’t even the priciest item in Neiman Marcus’
10-item catalog: That would be a $1.6-million,
300-person party above Times Square on New
Year’s Eve