A Car Geek's Ultimate Easter Egg Hunt

Last week Alex enjoyed the bat-shit crazy practicality of the Ford Focus ST Estate. One of the design features we loved was that central exhaust, which got us wondering: which cars have the coolest design features that you never knew existed?

Lamborghini Reventón's Jet Gauges

Photo courtesy: lambocars.com

It may not look quite as mental as the Veneno, but you could still write a whole book on the intricacies of the Reventón's design. Obviously there's the angular exterior that's responsible for poking many a child's eye out, but the really interesting stuff is inside. What you see above are the Reventón's TFT liquid crystal gauges, which were designed to look like those of a modern fighter jet. The illusion is unfortunately shattered once driving. It's far too quick.

Seat Leon's LED Headlights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4d72LefGVk

The brand new Seat Leon is the first car in its segment to feature full LED headlights. While that will become standard on all cars at some point in the future, it's interesting that the Leon's the first car in the VAG group to benefit. It's usually Audi that eats all the pies.

Toyota GT86 Has Appropriate Girth

There are many things we love about the Toyota GT86, but the Japanese crew have taken great care in adding extra little nuances that show their anal dedication to their art. The logo incorporates a pair of opposing pistons, characteristic of the car's Boxer engine, fused by the number 86. That would certainly take home the 86's design crown if it weren't for the exhaust, which has a diameter of 86mm. That is the kind of obsessive detail we're after.

Pagani Huayra's Soy Bean Mirrors

Image courtesy: germancarforum.com

We love Horacio Pagani for his super exotic vehicles and incredible levels of artistic dedication. The car's fundamental shape is inspired by an aeroplane wing. Everything is bespoke and the carbonfibre weave matches across panels. These are just a few of the Huayra's details. Our favourite, however, are the wing mirrors inspired by soy bean stalks. Sounds like PR rubbish to us.

Ferrari F12berlinetta's Aero Bridge

Image courtesy: caranddriver.com

Ferrari's successor to the 599 had a stupid name before the LaFerrari made it cool, but it's certainly a looker. Okay, so the rear end looks like lady bits and the F1 inspired fog light is a little tacky, but this car's party piece is the "Aero Bridge". You probably won't even spot the hole, but it's there, channeling air through the bodywork above the wheel and along the sides to keep the car stable.

Vauxhall Corsa's Glove Box Shark

Image courtesy: corsa-c.co.uk

It's not all supercars and aero wizardry here. In 2006, Vauxhall's new Corsa featured a snappy surprise in the glove box. Early in the design stages a designer dared a colleague to incorporate an image of a shark into the interior. It seems that nobody questioned it and, much to their surprise, the shark now sits on every Corsa's glove box hinge!

The McLaren P1 Has Logo Headlights

McLaren's hypercar was unveiled at this year's Geneva Motor Show. The P1 might be an aerodynamicist's wet dream, but we love the way the arty types incorporated McLaren's "Speed Marque" badge into the headlights' styling. This is a natural evolution from its little brother, which featured similarly shaped Daytime Running Lights. Oh, and the P1 also had the geekiest prototype camouflage, made up of the world's top racing circuits.

Covert Jeep Logo Inside Headlights

Image courtesy: motortrend.com

By far the most subtle branding ever incorporated into a vehicle is Jeep's headlight logo that they put inside the Grand Cherokee's units. Unlike McLaren's fully shaped headlights, Jeep felt it sufficient to leave a little grille logo for particularly geeky owners to find.

What have we missed? Let us know in the comments below!