Category Archives: Exotic Supercars

Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars

Test Driven: 2013 Porsche Panamera GTS (9/10)

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2013 Porsche Panamera GTS

The snarl of a V8 echoes as the trees around you turn into a grey blur. You enter an oncoming corner at a pace that would be questionable on an interstate highway, with a crackle erupting from the exhausts as you downshift. The car holds firmly through the bend, then it’s back back on the gas hard as you seem to explode onto the next straightaway. This is surely the experience of a dedicated sports car. Except this isn’t one. In fact, I am describing what its like to thrash Porsche’s 5 door sedan, the Panamera.

Specifically I am talking about the 2013 Porsche Panamera GTS, the highest naturally aspirated Panamera model they offer. Its performance is only second to the mighty Panamera Turbo models, but the GTS aims to offer a more pure driving experience.

Many people think the Panamera is a sign that Porsche is going soft, catering to the masses for sales numbers alone. While I do admit that is surely going on to some degree, most skeptics are basing their sentiments solely on the number of doors the car has. In reality it is the driving experience that makes a Porsche, and just because they are selling cars with a wider appeal now does not necessarily mean that what they are selling is compromised. That was my biggest question going into this drive, is the Panamera a genuine Porsche? If there were any model that could pull it off, I think this GTS would certainly be it.  Continue reading Test Driven: 2013 Porsche Panamera GTS (9/10) →

Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars

Test Driven: 2014 Porsche 991 Carrera 4S Cabriolet (9.5/10)

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2014 Porsche 991 Carrera 4S Cabriolet

Porsche enthusiasts are some of the most dreadfully conservative people you’ll find when it comes to their favorite cars. Any change to the 911, large or small, gets heavily scrutinized to the n’th degree. All too often, they let their nit picking blind them, and they often wind up missing all of the new 911’s great aspects. The evolution of new models is a necessary fact of life, and it usually makes the car better overall, otherwise Porsche wouldn’t do it. The new 911, the 991, has followed this same trend, being criticized every which way against older Porsche models. I chose a more positive approach. Not, “how is the 991 worse than its predecessors?”, but  “how does the 991 faire as a modern 911?”

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Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars, Used Car Gems

Test Driven: Ferrari 360 Modena F1(8/10)

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Ferrari 360 Modena

I remember when I was first coming down with my major case of the car bug, the Ferrari 360 was the first car I saw that had a paddle shift transmission. While the F1 gearbox was offered in the F355, the 360 was the first model where enough of the kinks had been ironed out to make it a viable alternative to the traditional manual. Technology has come quite a long way since then, and the 360 is no longer on the tip of the technological spear. But once a Ferrari, always a Ferrari, and it still has quite a lot of appeal for buyers on the secondhand market. With this context in mind, I went into my drive in this 360 Modena ready to judge how it stands in our current day and age.

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Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars, SUVs and Crossovers

Test Driven: 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT (9.5/10)

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2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT at Amelia Island

When most people think of Jeep, they think of Wranglers plowing through mud and climbing over rocks. They don’t, however, think of a 470hp V8, 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, and surely not of a $65,000 price tag. Meet the 2014 Grand Cherokee SRT, a different sort of Jeep.

It caters more toward the realistic type of SUV buyer here in America, one who will probably never forge a stream in their life, but still wants a big car to go to the mall in. Understanding this sort of buyer will help you understand why the Cherokee SRT exists. The fact is, most buyers use SUVs in the exact same way they would use a car, and they wind up wanting the same things offered in cars. Just look at the BMW X6. It is both an SUV, as well as one of those coupe-sedan thingys, like the Mercedes CLS. Personally, I think the people who buy a vehicle like an X6 exude an especially repulsive level of vanity, but somehow BMW manages to sell enough X6s to make it worthwhile.

This sort of clientele purchasing SUVs has inevitably taken the emphasis off of off road ability, and put it on more traditional, car like, aspects. The result has been new SUVs that are basically just big cars, and it was only so long before someone said “Hey, can I have a fast one?”

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Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars

Test Driven: 2014 Jaguar XFR-S (9.5/10)

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French Blue Jaguar XFR-S
Jaguar XFR-S in French Blue

What is this, a bright blue…. Jaguar?! Everyone, meet the XFR-S, a different sort of Jag. One that throws away the high society manners in favor of a bottle of scotch, and a line of coke.

It was only around four months ago that Jaguar released the XFR-S at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show. However, during my recent trip to Amelia Island, they had them available for test drives. When I asked about video taping my drive the Jaguar representatives told me they couldn’t allow it because the press has not yet driven the XFR-S. After hearing this I made sure to keep my affiliation with this publication to myself, pretending just to be another young guy looking for a joy ride. I guess you could say that this is as much of a scoop as we have yet gotten, and my experience in the XFR-S, while fairly short, yielded some interesting impressions.

I was left feeling a little mediocre when I reviewed the standard Jaguar XFR a few months ago. It had many great qualities, but it sat in an awkward place in the market, priced a little below the BMW M5 and Mercedes E63, yet still far above the bargain Cadillac CTS-V. It was also a little sub par in terms of comparative power and performance.

The XFR-S seems to have changed things up, though. It now matches its competitors in outright performance, and seems to have turned everything that was good about the XFR up to eleven. Sure, at a base price of $99,000, its MSRP is a bit more than that of an M5 or E63, but it is also an extremely limited production vehicle, with a run that will amount to just 300 units total (100 for the US). The overall feeling I came away with was that by turning the XFR into the XFR-S, Jaguar has made a car that is truly worth spending your hard earned money on. In the past I had said that the R-S badge was a bit of a gimmick on the XKR-S, over the standard XKR, but it seems the story for the XF models is different. The XFR-S sits in the context of the super saloon segment, which is very different from where the XKs are placed in the grand touring segment. This change of context makes a big difference for the R-S badge.

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Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars

Test Driven: 2012 Audi A7

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Four-door coupes are one of the fastest-growing segments in this country.  Mercedes started the ball rolling with the CLS, and as of now, the other two German luxury brands have answered the call with interpretations of their own.  BMW recently launched the 6-Series Gran Coupe, while Audi started selling their entry last year, the A7.  Towards the end of December 2011, my father and I stopped by the local dealer and drove this stunning white example to find out how good the A7 is. Continue reading Test Driven: 2012 Audi A7 →

Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars

Test Driven: 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Sedan

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Back in the fall at the Radnor Hunt Concours, I took an opportunity to drive a couple of new Cadillacs.  Most of you know I drove an Escalade Hybrid, but the real treat was to yet again sample that great-tasting supercharged V8 which lies in the engine compartment of the CTS-V.  In this case, the test car was the deep gray sedan you see above.  It had a few options that the coupe I drove back in June did not, so I took it for a drive (on much different roads than the coupe) around the rolling hills of Pennsylvania’s countryside. Continue reading Test Driven: 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Sedan →

Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars

Test Driven: Rolls-Royce Ghost, Al’s Take

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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. Continue reading Test Driven: Rolls-Royce Ghost, Al’s Take →

Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars

Test Driven: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Al’s Take

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SLS AMG (Front)

At Pebble Beach, there are test drives everywhere.  Mercedes, of course, decided to one-up everyone else there by getting a primo spot right by the security gate, just past the Palm Club.  After a bit of talking with the booth professionals, we signed the papers and gave away our sanity to drive an SLS AMG, CLS63 AMG, and Maybach 57S.  The SLS, however, was easily the one I was the most excited about. Continue reading Test Driven: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Al’s Take →

Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars

Test Driven: Jaguar XKR-S, Al’s Take

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It wants to kill you. This is no ordinary Jag.

Jaguar has been known for building luxurious cars with plenty of grunt and scads of English class for decades, but the XKR-S represents somewhat uncharted territory for them at this point.  The XKR is already a very good luxury sports car, but the boys at Coventry spared no expense in making this hardcore version a delightful, yet still very scary, piece of machinery.  If the XJ I drove before I left for Pebble Beach was similar to Dr. Jekyll, this new XKR-S was Mr. Hyde–wide, scary, and aching to cause me personal injury.  So, I gladly grabbed the keys and hopped in. Continue reading Test Driven: Jaguar XKR-S, Al’s Take →

Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars

Test Driven: Maybach 57S, Al’s Take

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Mercedes may be the last word in the common man’s luxury car, but the Maybach is the last word in understated luxury and elegance.  This summer, at the Pebble Beach Golf Links during Concours Weekend, Nick and I had the opportunity to drive quite a few cars, and the Maybach 57S was one of them. Continue reading Test Driven: Maybach 57S, Al’s Take →

Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars

Test Driven: Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG, Al’s Take

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There are many an oxymoron in the automotive market.  Some of them include the “car-based pickup” (Honda Ridgeline, Subaru Baja), “sports-activity vehicle” (BMW’s SUVs), and the strangest one of all, the so-called “four-door coupe.”  Mercedes-Benz virtually invented the latter back in 2004 with the new CLS model, a four-door sedan designed to moonlight as an exclusive, stylish personal coupe.  It was a hit with buyers, and Mercedes saw fit to redesign the car for the 2011 model year.  Mercedes-Benz had the top-dog, $100K CLS63 AMG for test drives at Pebble Beach this year, and I was only happy to oblige. Continue reading Test Driven: Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG, Al’s Take →