Our top ten coolest car keys

Our top ten coolest car keys
9 January, 2014 | by topgear

http://www.topgear.co.za/galleries/the-t...-all-time/



This is the BMW i8 key. It has a high-res LCD screen. It’ll tell you the car’s available range, how much charge is in the batteries, how much petrol’s in the tank, and allows you to pre-set the car’s temperature remotely. Which makes it cleverer than roughly 82 per cent of the Top Gear
office.

Thing is, while it’s extremely clever and extremely cool, it’s not the only demonstration of a carmaker’s excellence when it comes to putting together a nifty set of keys. Here lies our top ten…But is there a key hotter than the BMW i8’s in there?

1: Porsche 917
It doesn’t tell the time or incorporate precious metals or look like the car it starts, but it’s a wonderful example of Porsche’s obsession with weight reduction. More of this please, everyone.


2: Bugatti Veyron Topspeed Key
Without this key, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport will only do a piffling 220mph. But if you put it in a slot behind the driver’s seat, it lowers the chassis, changes the angle of the rear spoiler, and closes the diffuser flaps, and allows the car to hit up to 268mph.


3: Aston Martin Jaeger LeCoultre key
OK, so it’s a big, shouty Jaeger LeCoultre watch, but if you press the face glass it’ll open up your Aston Martin DB9 or DBS. Pretty nifty. And considerably less appalling than AM’s massive “emotional control unit” keys, which look like a cheap corporate trophy handed out for the “zaniest tie” or “tea drinker” award at the office Christmas party. Does cost R180 000 (minus taxes) mind…


4: Pre-1980′s Ford key
One of our favourites thanks to its ready availability and secondary use as a screwdriver.


5: Pagani Huayra
Horacio made sure that everyone at the yacht club knew what you rocked up in, so shaped the Huayra’s key like the car it starts. And incorporated a flash drive for your tunes.


6: Koenigsegg CCXR key
It’s a massive sterling silver fob in the shape of the Swedish supercamaker’s logo, with a little rubber button on the back to enable the car’s alarm. A tad gauche, perhaps, but Koenigseggs aren’t for shrinking violets.


7: 2004 Subaru STi key
Hey, it looks like a motorsport-style kill switch! And it’s made out of titanium! It’s also RARE – the key design only lasted for a year before being phased out for something less awesome.


8: VW PCP key
The yin to the Bug key’s yang, this key was part of the unfortunately named PCP endeavour (building a people’s car for China), and like the i8′s, features a high-def touchscreen. It can also track the status of your ‘dub via satellite. Shame it’s vapourware.


9: VW Beetle/Microbus key
As wonderfully simple as the cars it starts, the VW key also doubles as pleasing necklace when your Beetle/Microbus rots to dust.


10: Chrysler Neon Glow key
It couldn’t make up for the violent assault of rubbishness that was the Neon, but it had a key that GLOWED IN THE DARK. Which inevitably provided some comfort for bored owners waiting for the RAC to turn up.

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Anyone else would like to add their opinion of the coolest car keys?