Chrysler’s SRT lineup screams for attention these days. The Challenger SRT appeals to the little kid inside of us, even if it’s not as dynamically capable as the competition. The SRT Viper has the bedroom poster market cornered for the company (even if sales aren’t great right now) and the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT is a screaming deal. Meanwhile, the sole Chrysler product to wear the badge, the 300, sits in the corner of the showroom and doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention. At Pebble Beach, the first car I took out on the Seventeen-Mile Drive was this icy black 300 SRT. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but after a lot of thinking, I believe I have an answer.
Waves crash into the rocks of the shore. There is a thick wall of fog that lingers out over the water, but the sun beams down brightly at the coast. A sustained sea breeze rustles the branches of crooked Cyprus trees, and a ribbon of asphalt winds gracefully along the perimeter of the rocky cliffs that overlook the sea. There is no traffic to speak of, only me at the helm of this bright-orange Jaguar F-Type.
The wind plows through my hair, as I rush through the glamorous scenery, as if in some sort of hurry to leave this oasis of Heaven I’ve found on Earth. Loud barks and crackles emanate from the high-strung V6 engine, echoing back to my ears off of the trees as I fly by. The high-pitched whine of a supercharger joins in as the revs charge toward redline, and the speed piles on at an exhilarating rate. I touch the brakes for an upcoming bend, and turn in at what should be highway speed. The F-Type clings to the road as if with mighty claws, completely at home with the rapid pace I have set. Getting back on the gas, I shoot out of the corner with haste, now staring right into the face of the massive expanse of ocean and fog. It feels as if I am about to charge into the abyss when the road turns me back toward the sun and the trees. As I continue forth, I just can’t help thinking “what an unbelievable experience this is.”
As everyone who reads this site knows, I drove an Aston Martin in Las Vegas back in early July. However, the first car I drove that day was this Mercedes SLS. I didn’t plan on driving it. I was slated to take the wheel of a Ferrari F430 Scuderia, but its transmission decided it hated the obscenely hot temperatures even more than I did. It was 115 degrees in the shade, but I felt ice-cold driving this Iridium Silver SLS. Having driven one already on the street and needing a car that could handle the Vegas summer scorch, I agreed to replace the temporarily broken F430 with this intriguing set of wheels. The experience was rather eye-opening.
The 7 Series is the flagship model in the BMW lineup. A far cry from a zippy little M3, the 7 Series has always had its focus on being a luxury cruiser. It competes in the top of the line limousine class against the likes of Mercedes’ legendary S Class, a car which has set the standard of automotive luxury for sometime now. In order to take on such formidable opposition, BMW has had to use some clever ingenuity to make the 7 Series appealing, and it doesn’t get more appealing than the top two models we have here.
In one corner we have the Alpina B7, an upgraded vehicle that has been factory sanctioned. Alpina has had a long relationship with BMW as a third party tuner, similar to AMG and Mercedes before they were officially brought together in 1990. Alpina models are usually marketed as alternatives to cars from BMW’s M Division, but in this case, there is no BMW “M7”, so the Alpina B7 is as close as you can get.
Of course, you might instead fancy having the ultimate 7 Series that BMW makes themselves. That would be our other contender, the BMW 760Li. It is a more traditional take on a top-end luxury limousine with a proper V12 under its hood.
Hyundai has no secrets in its intentions. Since 2009, this company has managed to make itself look leagues better than almost everyone. When one company screws up in the news, Hyundai has a positive headline on the same page of the local newspaper. Somehow, they can make the entry-level Accent and Elantra and sell them in the same dealers as the high-end Genesis sedan, as well as the subject of this review, the flagship Equus. No other car company can sell a range as diverse as this under the same franchise roof. Hyundai bills the big Equus as a car to fight the S-Class for a much lower price. On paper, that’s quite a clear truth, but I had to drive it to see if that advertising line lives up to its billing.
Infiniti just seems to want to watch the world burn. For some reason they deemed it a good idea to rename their whole entire lineup, for no reason whatsoever. Every Infiniti is now named Q, with some meaningless number. The car you see here is the new Q50, the replacement for the current G37 sedan. As the replacement for the G, which is surely Infiniti’s best selling model of all time, the Q50 has big shoes to fill. This one isn’t an ordinary Q50, though, this is the much-anticipated Q50 Hybrid. So in addition to filling the G37’s shoes, the Hybrid must also make a case for itself in some new territory.
Briefly looking back, the G35 was the car that really launched Infiniti into what it is today. It was based on the same platform as the Nissan 350Z, making it a true 4-door sports car. What resulted was the car that gave the BMW 3 Series its most formidable challenge to date.
Boy has the world changed a lot since the G35 first came out. The emphasis in the luxury market is now on multitasking, both from the car and from the driver. A car needs to be comfortable, but also sporty enough for you to weave in and out of traffic at 90mph while you’re updating your Facebook status and texting your friends. The pure focus on driving is all but dead at this point, even BMW has made that obvious. While luxury cars must still be dynamically capable, and “fast”, the priority for most buyers is now on cool gadgets and hypothetical fuel economy numbers.
Looking at the Q50, especially the Hybrid, it is easy to see that it is a car built for our modern world. I must confess, that when I actually drove the car, I knew very little about it. Since my drive, I have been doing a lot of research to help with this article, and I am finding that the Q50 Hybrid may, in fact, be one of the most interesting cars on the market.
Jaguar is on a serious roll lately. They have gone from a company that was on its back to a company that everyone is watching very closely in less than 6 years’ time, thanks to a few new models, a new parent company, and a large amount of development money that’s been spent effectively. I’ve been waiting 2 years to drive another Jaguar XJ after taking a used one out for a spin in North Jersey. While I was with Nick at the Pebble Beach Concours, that wait ended abruptly with the roar of the 550hp XJR. I had to ask: Is this car worth its price and will it be on a new level of performance compared to the old XJR? I took the wheel of this silver-grey 2014 model around the 17-Mile Drive to find out. Continue reading Test Driven: 2014 Jaguar XJR (Grade: A)→
Of the muscle cars back in the 1960s-70s, I always find myself drawn to Mopars the most. Something about their cartoonish, yet badass nature. A bright green Challenger, a purple Plymouth Barracuda, and the roar of a 426 Hemi V8, that just defines the flavor of the era for me.
Back in 2008, Chrysler blessed the world with the reincarnation of the legendary Dodge Challenger. With its retro look, it seemed poised to reignite the muscle car wars with the Ford Mustang, and the soon-to-be-released Chevrolet Camaro. However, we are not in the 1960s anymore, and there are far more contenders than just the good old American boys these days.
My real question going into this drive was, where does the Challenger fit in today? Is it still a Muscle Car in the traditional sense, or has it adapted, like the Camaro SS has, to meet modern expectations of handling performance?
Las Vegas is a strange place. It was quite hot outside when I arrived at the track on July 5, during the tail-end of a massive heat wave in the vicinity. I was already sweating after just a few minutes in the 100+ degree heat. After signing in and attending the driver’s meeting, I chose this Aston Martin as my second car after some time in a Mercedes SLS AMG. After climbing out of the SLS, the sweat was replaced by a feeling of confidence.
I drove a total of four different cars on this track that morning, and of them, this Aston was by and large the most surprising. I didn’t know what to expect, with this Vantage S being my first ever Aston Martin, but after I climbed out of the hot seat, I realized that this entry into Aston’s lineup is a lot better than people might think.
Back when Rolls Royce and Bentley sailed under the same flag, it was often said that a Bentley was a car to drive and a Rolls Royce was a car to be driven in. The two companies have now been split up for over a decade, with Bentley owned by Volkswagen and Rolls Royce under BMW. Since their separation both brands have had to branch out a bit, but for Rolls Royce, branching out has come to mean venturing into some unexplored territory.
Rolls Royces have traditionally been focused on the concerns of their rear occupants, aiming to preserve comfort at all costs, even if the chauffeur goes completely mad. The car you see here, Rolls Royce describes as being a “gentleman’s grand tourer”, and the most powerful car they’ve ever made. It is the new Rolls Royce Wraith, and no part of it has anything to do with being chauffeured. The Wraith is a driver’s Rolls Royce, and to many, that may seem a vast ideological conflict.
Recently my family and I went up to Minnesota and visited my Great Uncle Bill. It was my first time at Uncle Bill’s house, a beautiful log cabin that he built with his own hands. Uncle Bill is a bonafide car guy, who still owns the Ford Model T that he bought when he was in the 8th grade. He also has another Model T, a Model A, and the silver Mercedes 560 SL you see here. After showing me around the garage, he asked if I wanted to take a drive in the Mercedes. Me being me, wanting to drive anything and everything, I jumped at the opportunity. Nice day, beautiful car, and some solid quality time with my uncle Bill, the situation was pretty ideal.
The M6 has been extremely controversial for me, and I have often been quite negative about it in the past. My central issue is the sort of idealistic clash between what the M-badge stands for, and the fact that this new M6 weighs in at a behemoth 4600lbs. As the flagship high performance car for a company who claims to make “The Ultimate Driving Machine” this raises, for me, not only the question of validity, but also the question of integrity.
BMW’s M Division has made some of the greatest driver’s cars of all time, but now I have to question if their name holds the same distinction as it used to. Judging things on paper is always just half the story, though. I really needed to drive a car for myself before I could pass full judgement on it. Luckily, I was recently afforded the opportunity to get behind the wheel of this M6 Convertible. So, it’s time to drop the gavel.
Mind Over Motor 