Insure.com has assembled a new list of the 20 most expensive cars to insure in America. Like speed? Say goodbye to your hard-earned skrilla.
The information in this list is based on rates for a 40-year-old male with a clean driving record. As Kim Hazelbaker of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety put it, "The most expensive list includes cars that people don't have to drive but want to."
None of this makes us feel any better when we look in our refrigerator and see nothing but month-old cheese slices and half-empty cans of Coke. Ah well. Here's to poverty!
[Insure.com via EGMCarTech]
20. Jaguar XKR
Average Annual Cost: $2533.48
What You Need to Know About It: The spiritual successor to the E-Type. Usually driven by senior citizens. Sublime balance of ride and handling. Kind of looks like a sex organ on wheels. Expensive, and build quality is iffy. But then, you knew that.
19. Jaguar XKR Portfolio
Average Annual Cost: $2537.79
What You Need to Know About It: An XKR with a bunch of luxury add-ons and uprated brakes. Sexier, cushier, and now with added cat. Probably worth the extra four bucks a year.
18. BMW 760Li
Average Annual Cost: $2565.59
What You Need to Know About It: A 6.0-liter, 554-hp V-12 developed by a company whose middle name is "motor." Big, silent, swift, smooth. The "Li" bit stands for "Likely to make your house feel cramped." (Or, you know, "long-wheelbase, injected." But that's boring, isn't it?)
17. BMW M6
Average Annual Cost: $2627.27
What You Need to Know About It: An F1-inspired V-10, chassis and driveline bits shared with the E60-chassis M5, and an optional carbon-fiber roof. Still, who would've thought that something that looks so... uh... interesting would be so damn expensive?
16. Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG
Average Annual Cost: $2646.92
What You Need to Know About It: Essentially an S-class coupe with one of the world's craziest production engines under its hood. Annihilates highway miles like nobody's business. Sounds rip-your-face-off amazing if you let it breathe a bit.
15. Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG
Average Annual Cost: $2653.53
What You Need to Know About It: Twelve cylinders, two turbos, epic thrust, and the world's most invasive stability control. Essentially a Saturn V as built by Germans* and nannified by lawyers. $2600 annually? Nice, but probably not worth it.
*Ok, Germans had a big hand in the Saturn V to begin with. But you get the point.
14. Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series
Average Annual Cost: $2655.15
What You Need to Know About It: Named after the American Express Centurion "Black" card. The stronger, faster, angrier version of the SL65. Sadly not as tail-out bonkers as its smaller brother.
13. Mercedes-Benz S600
Average Annual Cost: $2667.48
What You Need to Know About It: Nice car. Turbocharged V-12. Kind of sleepy, but more of an indomitable highway stormer than BMW's 760i.
12. BMW M6 Convertible
Average Annual Cost: $2689.13
What You Need to Know About It: Heavier and slightly less involving than the fixed-roof M6. Works best in a sun-drenched land where people can see you admiring yourself in the mirror. Still looks kind of funky.
11. Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG
Average Annual Cost: $2699.74
What You Need to Know About It: I once drove a CL65 from Michigan to Virginia and back with only a four-hour rest in between. At the end of the trip, I could've gotten out and done the whole thing over again. Quite possibly the most sybaritic mile-chewer that Stuttgart makes.
10. Porsche 911 Turbo
Average Annual Cost: $2706.04
What You Need to Know About It: Lag wham! lag wham! lag wham! One of the heaviest and most disconnected 911s that money can buy, but also one of the quickest. More grand-touring device than sports car, but epically potent.
9. Mercedes-Benz SL600
Average Annual Cost: $2715.86
What You Need to Know About It: Sport und licht mit naturlischaspiratsömething* zwolfzylinder. Perfect for cruising the French Riviera. Maybe not so perfect for us, but then, we don't live on the French Riviera. Such is life.
*No, I don't know what the word for "naturally aspirated" is in German. I can only assume that it's a hundred letters long and has thirteen umlauts. If you know, please enlighten me. Until then, I will continue to use my made-up language. It makes me happy. So there.
8. Porsche Panamera S
Average Annual Cost: $2744.78
What You Need to Know About It: Drives wonderfully but remains, as my mom once put it, "not a pretty baby."
7. Audi R8 (V-8)
Average Annual Cost: $2751.55
What You Need to Know About It: The mid-engined Porsche 911 that isn't a Porsche 911. Way too cheap to be this good-looking. Rolling affirmation that Audi is out for blood.
6. Mercedes-Benz CL600
Average Annual Cost: $2754.80
What You Need to Know About It: A Mercedes-Benz. A big coupe. With a V-12. Are we done yet?
5. Dodge Viper SRT10 Roadster
Average Annual Cost: $2815.90
What You Need to Know About It: Evil on wheels, and the last untamed monster that can be bought from a major manufacturer. Tame it, and you are a man among men. Ride the truck-motor lightning, kids, and mark my words: We shall not see its like again.
4. Porsche Panamera Turbo
Average Annual Cost: $2837.39
What You Need to Know About It: Stuttgart's four-door converted for cruise-missile duty. Two turbos, eight cylinders, and all-wheel drive.
2. Dodge Viper SRT10 Coupe
Average Annual Cost: $2851.89
What You Need to Know About It: A Viper with added chassis stiffness and more cockpit heat. Awesome. (This is not sarcasm.)
2. Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG
Average Annual Cost: $2863.03
What You Need to Know About It: So many Mercedes-Benzes. This one is an S-class powered by a twin-turbo V-12. It's expensive. It's expensive to insure. Like most Mercedes-Benz V-12 models, the car works better — less nose weight, more involving power delivery, less intrusive stability control — with a V-8. Still, if this is your thing, more power to you. (Literally.)
1. Porsche 911 GT2
Average Annual Cost: $2943.78
What You Need to Know About It: The looniest 911 — 911 Turbo-plus power paired with two-wheel-drive and a track-oriented suspension — that Porsche sells is also one of the most approachable. Staggeringly easy to hustle around a track. Mildly intimidating on the open road. Worth every penny.