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Traveling office for the road warrior

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Gumball 3000 founder Maximillion Cooper with the VW Business Caravelle, left, and BMW 760Li Saloon.

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Biz Traveller

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Maximillion Cooper, founder and CEO of the Gumball 3000 car rally, road tests new vehicles the Volkswagen Business Caravelle and the BMW 760Li Saloon to see if their business capabilities measure up.

VW Business Caravelle

Features: Designed for busy executives on the move, the Caravelle is part of Volkswagen's Commercial line. A 15-inch monitor built into the roof lining swivels automatically into position. Connected to this are: the on-board DVD system or if necessary external devices like a laptop or video camera. Also a navigation system, scanner, printer, modem and telephone can also be found on board.

Cooper's verdict: "Design-wise, I'm guessing all the energy and effort has gone into the interiors because the outside is quite basic.

"The inside is loaded with gadgets and the leg room is great. The business person who will benefit most from the features in this vehicles is the one who is chauffeur driven, where he can watch television or work on his laptop in the backseat.

"You can see German engineers have put in a lot of work into features like a tray that comes out of the seat, and I quite like the idea that when I open up the laptop and log on to the Internet and it appears on the big screen in the car.

"Nobody like cables now and I'm quite confused as to who actually uses telephones in cars these days when everybody is on mobile phones. There's a CD and DVD player and fax machine, so gadget-wise it's on the edge. Though I can't see myself ever needing to receive a fax, sign it and fax it back while I'm in the car."

BMW 760Li Saloon

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Cooper on the BMW 760Li Saloon: "I was very impressed. It ticks all the right boxes and it's a great drive."

Features: BMW Online offers a WAP-based mobile Internet portal from the cockpit of the vehicle. Also includes a mobile office, with e-mail and personal address book options.

Cooper's verdict: "It's sleek and very purposeful. I've never really driven many BMWs so I was interested to see how it drives. I was very impressed. It ticks all the right boxes -- it's a great drive.

"I think that the biggest flaw of this vehicle is that it really is stereotypical vehicle of a traditional businessman. That's a downfall if you are not a stereotypical businessman, and not every businessman really wants to look like the stereotype."

Cooper's conclusion: "Having tested and driven both of these beautiful vehicles, I guess your choice really depends on what kind of business traveler you are."

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