Our Top 5 picks at the 2015 Luxury & Supercar weekend

If you’re a car enthusiast or a five year old boy, this is arguably as good as it gets in Vancouver. With the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance happening just a few short weeks ago in Monterey, California, the Luxury & Supercar weekend returned to Vancouver’s Van Dusen Botanical Gardens with this year’s stash of exotic super cars, rare classics, high end pianos, and fine jewellery.

With over $200,000,000+ (yes that’s 200 million) worth of highlights, it’s nice to see that for the sixth year in a row, Vancouverites won’t have to travel south of the border to see the latest supercars or award winning collectible classic cars.

Vancouver’s Luxury & Supercar Weekend is considered by many to be the most prestigious automobile lifestyle event in Canada. This year’s show continues to bring together an impressive assortment of rare and expensive automotive toys.

One of last year’s major themes was based on the 50th anniversary of the Ford Mustang. This year did not disappoint with the best curated collection of Ford Thunderbirds ever assembled.

Not to be outdone by the Americans, the local Jaguar club also brought along a large selection of iconic E-Type coupes and convertibles. Even Rolls Royce came to the party, with a 1912 Rolls-Royce Ghost, the second oldest Rolls in Canada, and a 1937 Rolls-Royce 25/30 Drop Head Coupe.

Just up the hill from these classics were their modern equivalents by Rolls Royce Vancouver, Jaguar Land Rover Vancouver, and much more.

Since listing every type of car on display would take up the entire allotted space for this article, here are my top 5 highlights of this year’s show.

1. Pagani Huayra “Ella”

Nicknamed “Ella” and looking more like transformer than supercar, this gloriously blue Pagani Huayra is chassis number 61 and the latest arrival to grace the U.S.

Shuttled up from California by Toronto-based Pfaff Automotive dealership group, the exclusive Canadian distributor of Pagani, this 720 horsepower exotic’s paint job was paired with carbon fibre active front and rear wings.

The price? A cool $2.2 million Canadian dollars. But surely the interior is worth the expense!

2. McLaren 675LT

McLaren had one of the most impressive displays on-site this year, including the now ubiquitous (for Vancouver) 650S, but also their new 675LT – that’s LT for “Long Tail”.

The 675LT is a lighter, harder, and more powerful version of the 650S. McLaren says that it’s fully track-focused but still road legal. Offered only as a Coupe, it still has an infotainment system, air conditioning, carpeting on some of the floors, and a few other luxury creature comforts.

The 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 has had more than half of its parts swapped out to deliver more power. The output from its new titanium aluminide lightweight turbos is a devilish sounding 666 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque channelled through a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox driving the rear wheels.

Fancy one in your garage? Unfortunately McLaren has announced that the entire 675LT production run (albeit only 500 units) is now sold out.

3. McLaren 570S

While the 675LT was very impressive, the McLaren that was the show stopper for me was the upcoming 570S.

After months of teasing, I finally came face to face with McLaren’s new entry-level supercar. While it sits a rung below (in price and specs) the 650S, the styling and shared DNA is still absolutely on point.

Despite the 570S being the cheapest, least powerful model, it is actually 18 mm longer and 187 mm wider than a 650S. McLaren says that even though has been billed as the “baby” McLaren by the media, it is the most accessible and useable model in its line-up as those extra inches allow for a roomier interior with more luggage space.

Power is generated by a twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V8 generating 562 hp and 443lb-ft of torque, putting it very slightly ahead of the current Porsche 911 Turbo S.

4. Toyota 2000 GT

The Toyota 2000 GT was a limited-production rear-wheel-drive grand tourer designed by Toyota in collaboration with Yamaha.

Examples of the 2000GT have sold at auction these days for as much as US$1,200,000!

The car was Japan’s bold statement on how it could produce a sports car to rival the performance marques of Europe.

Manufactured by Yamaha between 1967 and 1970, only 351 cars were built making the 2000 GT one seriously collectible Japanese car and the country’s first supercar.

This particular example belongs to OpenRoad Auto Group’s CEO, Christian Chia, and pictured next to its spritual successor, the Lexus LFA Nurbergring edition.

5. Ferrari LaFerrari

Officially unveiled at the 2013 Geneva Auto Show, the LaFerrari is the first mild hybrid from Ferrari, providing the highest power output of any Ferrari while also being the greenest.

The LaFerrari’s mid-rear mounted 6.3 litre V12 engine that produces a stunning 789 horsepower and 516 lb ft of torque is supplemented by a KERS unit (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) that produces 161 horsepower.

This KERS unit produces short bursts of extra power for a combined output of 950 horsepower and a total of 664 lb-ft of torque.

With a dry weight of only 2,767 lbs (less than a 2015 Honda Civic sedan), 0 to 100 km/hr is reported to be under 3 seconds.

Only 499 units have been built and each at a cost of more than 1 million US dollars.

This particular car shown at this year’s Luxury & Supercar weekend was Number 1 of 499, making it extra desirable!

Special Mention: Jaguar E-Type (full range)

Famously called “The most beautiful car ever made” by Enzo Ferrari, E-Types were well represented at this year’s Luxury Supercar weekend!

Produced from 1961 to 1975, the Jaguar E-type (aka XKE) is well established as an icon of 1960s motoring. Based on Jaguar’s own famed racer, the Type D, it was the first production vehicle not to use a separate body bolted onto a chassis.

At a time where most cars had mediocre performance, drum brakes, and live rear axles, the E-Type stormed onto the scene with modern monocoque construction, rack and pinion steering, and even disc brakes.