You can keep cool by lingering at Wal-Mart or getting a job in a meat locker or just lounging around the house in the A.C. Or you can keep cool in luxury.
The Bilzerian mansion is booked, so why not go mobile?
Here's what you can do: Drop $95,000 on a 2007 Mercedes S550 sedan, turn the A.C. on arctic and take a nice leisurely drive.
Or do what we did: Take a $95,000 2007 Mercedes S550 sedan for a test drive, turn the A.C. on arctic and take a nice leisurely drive. Gliding down the road, you'll know that there's wilting heat out there, but you'll be chilly in the climate-controlled interior.
Saleswoman Aretta Sevastakis at Crown Mercedes in St. Pete was game for the exercise — she was also kind of curious how cold the palace on wheels would get.
We sat in the S500 for several minutes letting it cool down from 87.6 degrees. (I brought a thermometer.) She showed me how to personalize the driving experience with an onboard computer and how to find a Mexican restaurant with the GPS. I wanted to know if it could turn down my sheets and fluff my pillow at home.
She let me drive. I turned on the seat cooler. You don't drag a shifter into "D" to get this baby rolling. You tap a little lever — down once for Drive, up once for Reverse, in once for Park.
We cruised around the Gandy Boulevard area as if on a cloud. The air cranked, but it came out smooth and easy, not in a bracing blast. The temp dropped steadily. I started to get goose bumps, having forgotten a sweatshirt.
We checked the thermometer regularly. The temperature bottomed out at 61.7 degrees after about 20 minutes. It wasn't the arctic clime I was hoping for, but that's plenty chilly if it's a humid 94 outside. And the seat cooler helps, too.
This article appears in May 10-16, 2006.