Test Driven: 2000 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor
Posted: May 9, 2012 Filed under: TEST DRIVEN, Used Gems | Tags: 1979, 2000, Beige, Crown Vic, Crown Victoria, cruiser, Detective, Ford, Full-Size, Mind over motor, P71, Panther, Patrol, Police Interceptor, review, Sedan, Test Driven, Undercover, V8 Leave a comment »
The cops have had an interesting automotive history in this country. Chrysler had a great grip on the market until the Eighties, then Chevy, and now Ford. But, the Crown Victoria, Ford’s greatest offering to the altar of the fraternal order of police, died on September 15, 2011, after being in production for over three decades. It’s not the best looking ride in the stable, and it certainly isn’t the one that gets all the girls. But, it’s got room for six, eight cylinders, rear wheel drive, and a reputation for working around the clock and then some. I grabbed the keys to this decade-plus old detective’s chariot and asked myself a very good question: Can a modern-day Blues-Mobile be worth 3 grand? Read the rest of this entry »
Test Driven: Rolls-Royce Ghost, Al’s Take
Posted: December 14, 2011 Filed under: High End & Exotic, TEST DRIVEN | Tags: 17-Mile Drive, BMW, British, Crewe, cruiser, Drive, England, english, Exotic, Expensive, fun, ghost, high end, Luxury, Mind over motor, money, Pebble Beach, Phantom, power, Rolls, Rolls-Royce, Saloon, Sedan, Test Driven, V12 Leave a comment »
Rolls-Royce, unlike Bentley, was a single-model brand, using a single chassis and creating derivatives of it for years. The Phantom, Phantom Coupe, and Phantom DHC were all based off of the same platform, but R-R recently put out a new, “entry-level” model, called the Ghost. So, with one available for test drives at the Pebble Beach Concours this past summer, I set out to see if the entry-level model was as good as its older, bigger brother, the Phantom. In a nutshell, it does a great job. Read the rest of this entry »
Secondhand Saint: Mercedes-Benz S55 AMG, S65 AMG, S600 (2003-2006)
Posted: November 30, 2011 Filed under: Secondhand Saints, SHOWCASE | Tags: 493, 500, 600, AMG, bargain, BiTurbo, brabus, cruiser, German, hp, Limo, Luxury, Mercedes, Mercedes-Benz, Mind, Mind over motor, motor, Over, Performance, S-Class, S55, S600, S63, S65, Saints, Saloon, secondhand, Secondhand Saint, Sedan, speed, Supercharged, turbo, Twin, V12, V8, W220 Leave a comment »
Mercedes S55 AMG
Ah, Mercedes-Benz. Just the name brings up thoughts of expensive country clubs, upper-class attitudes, and feelings of being in the 1%. Their flagship sedan, the S-Class, has always been a leader in its market since the 1970s, and despite the high entry price, still sells itself better than the competition. The previous-generation W220 was the one that brought this fantastically flashy flagship into the 21st century, and now some of the most powerful ones (namely, those with some sort of forced induction) can be had for a fraction of their original value. For reasons that shall be discussed later, we’re going to focus on the S55 and S600, as the S65 is significantly harder to find even today. Read the rest of this entry »
Test Driven: 2002 Audi A6 4.2
Posted: November 17, 2011 Filed under: Road Review, TEST DRIVEN | Tags: 2002, 300, 4.2, A6, all, Audi, autobahn, AWD, bargain, C5, cruiser, Drive, hp, Leather, Luxury, Mind, motor, Over, owned, Pre, Quattro, review, Saloon, Sedan, Test, Used, V8, wheel, wood 2 Comments »
2002 Audi A6 4.2
A few years back I helped my buddy Tony find his Audi A6 4.2. The Audi A6 has always been a solid car over the years, in all of its variants. Tony had originally wanted the A6 2.7T, but after finding 3 examples that all had blown turbos he decided to go for the V8 model. We found a clean A6 4.2 about an hour north of us, and that is the car that Tony bought, and the car you see here in this review. Read the rest of this entry »
