gavriil

Executive Trio, Con Brio - - A summit of European left-lane huggers convenes under the Tuscan sun. - - BY AARON ROBINSON - - June 2004 - - Source: CarandDriver.com

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Third Place
Jaguar XJR

Highs: Ample horsepower, a cosseting suspension, wood and leather to please the royals.

Lows: Uncivilized supercharger whine, squirmy in the curves, a frustrating nav system.

The Verdict: What to drive if driving isn't the thing.

Like a Bentley, the XJR's power is smooth and "adequate." Harried logistics in Italy prevented us from testing both this particular XJR and the E55, so the 4.8-second 0-to-60 time and 13.4-second quarter-mile are from a previous test of a similarly fresh XJR in the States last year. The quick sprint is the work of a willing V-8 shackled to just 4000 pounds of car, the lightest in the group by 237 pounds. That also makes for abbreviated stopping distances, or 163 feet from 70 mph.

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Second Place
Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG

Highs: Has the power to pass anything, monster grip and brakes, well-trimmed and easy on the eyes.

Lows: Computer-controlled controls, disconnected steering, too serious to be fun.

The Verdict: A brute in a suit that needs a little more soul.

If you have arrived in the business world, you'll arrive everywhere else much sooner packed into one of these honeys. The E55's supercharged 5.4-liter V-8 generates so much grunt that you'll wonder if the car is accelerating or just spinning the planet under its wheels. This used to be enough horsepower to post land speed records, to win Indy.

Now it's used to hurdle two-plus tons of German taxi to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds and demolish quarter-miles in 12.5 seconds (C/D, May 2003). We scoured the cobblestone side streets of Radicofini for metal-flake Corvettes to obliterate. No luck.


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First Place
Maserati Quattroporte

Highs: Venus in sheetmetal, luscious tailpipe music, never feels fat even while devouring hairpins.

Lows: Misshapen rear seats, brittle ride, unproven build quality.

The Verdict: The four-door Ferrari pummels rationality with raw emotion.

The Maserati's 4.2-liter V-8 would tie with the Jag for smallest engine here but for three cubic inches. Still, it makes its 394 prancing horses and surprisingly thick midrange torque sans supercharger, plain atmosphere swirling down the intakes through a sculpture of clasping fingers.

Low gearing gives the 4474-pound Quattroporte a hellacious fuel appetite (we averaged 12 mpg; one fill-up ran $105!). Expect the tach to hover at 4000 rpm during freeway jaunts. A 60-mph time of 5.2 seconds is the slowest in the group by 0.4 second but hardly slow. A quarter-mile is gone in 13.6 seconds at 105 mph, and the massive brakes cut down 70 mph in 153 spine-stretching, Afro-straightening feet, the best in the test.

...

The Maserati alters the left-lane equation. After driving it, we looked at the two other fast sedans as, well, too-fast sedans. Were we having any fun? Mostly in the Maserati. Expensive? Certainly. Fragile? Possibly. The rational choice? Who cares about rational when you're being seduced?

Chaptorial

Just read this the other day in C&D.

Despite what they say about the E55 in the way most of the driver feel as been taken away, its still my dream car.

ferizzo

E55 Ownz me!!! Now if I could only switch the nouns in that sentence I would be a happy man.

Zapata

comparo was crap.....

gavriil

Why?

goldmemberer

E55 vs. that Maserati, I think every sane person would go for the E55. Agreed, it has little exclusivity these days, especially when compared with the Maserati, but that's not reason enough to give that prize to a car that costs considerably more. The 5.5L AMG engine hauls some serious ass, it would blow all 4 doors and the trunk off that Maserati.

pimpscls

the E55 amg is just amazing that is one of the best S/C cars ive ever seen, just lighting fast, especially for an auto!!!!!!!!

gavriil

If you guys see the two cars next to each other, I bet you'll chose the Maserati hands down. I was super impressed by how the Maserati looks live. The E55 looks little different than the millions of E320s out there. The Maserati looks like nothing else and it's a LONG car. It sits there with grace and Italian finese. Things I dont believe in, but in this case, they work well to make the car looks like a million dollars.

ferizzo

The E is not a bad looking sedan period and I'm just as concerned about speed....there are very few CARS that compare to the E55 in speed.

btw, do you have a pic of said maserati?

Silver™

Didn't you click on the link?

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....&page_number=4

For the record, I would take the Maserati.

nandowong

maserati :wackit:

ferizzo

Thanks for the link...but I didn't need to know the rest!

Zapata

completely inconsistant from eariler reviews.

kevin79925

masarati.. just like the one in the movie the italian job..

95gt

Yeah if i was really going to buy one i would get the E55 but if i was just buying for looks/status that maserati would be the way to go. Thing is just gorgeous. I wish mercedes made their amg cars look a little different than the garden variety E's. I really hate when they start selling the AMG wheels and body kits for the other models.

Either way anyone of those cars is just amazing.

Infamous425

i think the maserati is ugly. E55 for me.

gavriil

FOr the record, I am reading that Maserati's current V8 will be englarged to 4.5 liters and make 450HP in the version which will be used in the next generation Coupe and Spyder cars. I am guessing that same engine will be installed in the Quattroporte.

Zapata

4474-pound Quattroporte





E55 comments

*Huh????? 4600-4800 lbs car not feeling fat ?


* So it's got gobs of power, and can stop at a whim but it's not fun? Wha? Since when was a performance sedan that pulls a 12.5 1/4 boring? :thumbsdn:

gavriil

Needless to say, I have not driven the Maserati, though I think what C&D is trying to say here is that, although this is a heavy car on the scale, it's tuned to feel lighter than it really is. And they are's giving props to the Maserati team for doing the tuning.

soopa

i want a XJR in `Purple Haze`

soopa

but the maserati is pimp too

soopa

and so is the E, but its soo vanilla compared to the other two

soopa

id def take the maserati out of the 3.

i mean.. its a diff class.

Zapata

just too inconsistant. Maserati gets a pass for loudness. You read that at 60 mph the RPMS will be at 4k?@!#$?@ 4 k? You've got to be kidding me. Any other car and they would've killed it for reving that high commenting on some BS about buzzy 4 cylinder and it being out of character etc.,

Car is pretty but please......it was one big circle jerk around the italian. It got the nod because of it being Maserati.

SpeedyV6

Looks a little like an Italian Buick Park Avenue to me - especially with the portholes & C-pillar.