| Midsize Luxury Sport Sedans; Will the mighty M5 be dethroned? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 5 2012, 11:07 PM (109 Views) | |
| Buddha | Sep 5 2012, 11:07 PM Post #1 |
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This is somewhat similar to my previous compact sport sedans comparison, however this time it’s going up a class. Once again, the BMW M5 is the benchmark as it always has been. However, as the years go by more and more carmakers pop up trying to take its crown. The question is not only “can they?”, but is they worthy of the title of King of Sport Sedans. Obviously the BMW M5 is the reigning champ and is featured here after making its debut in Forza 4. Fresh from Bavaria, the M5 lost its charming V10 for a more fuel-efficient twin-turbo V8. In the process it picked up more horsepower and significantly more torque. Hopefully, this will prove enough to take on the onslaught of challengers to the throne. First up is the Aston Martin Rapide, which boasts a 5.9L V12 producing 470 horsepower. This car is a bit iffy in terms of being actual competition to the M5 since they don’t really compete in reality, but this is Forza so they do. Plus the Aston is sexy and that has to be worth something around here. The next of the “newcomers” is the Porsche Panamera Turbo. This beast features 500hp, a ton of torque, and an all wheel drive system. Unfortunately, all of the sexiness the Aston brings the Porsche removes with its awkward 911-esque hatchback styling. Hopefully it proves to be function over form. The next up is the second generation of the Cadillac CTS-V. Once known as the fastest sedan around Nurburgring, the CTS-V has everything it takes to challenge the M5: a big ass supercharged V8, rear wheel drive, big brakes, and finely chiseled body. This car alone proves Cadillac’s aren’t just for geriatrics anymore. The next car has been around for awhile, gradually getting closer to taking the M5’s crown when it begins to feel dated: the Audi RS6. This wonderful vehicle features a gorgeous body, all wheel drive, and a big V10 producing the most power in this test. The last car is from BMW’s archrival, the Mercedes-Benz E63. The E63 is the latest in the line of the overpowered V8 sedans from the power hungry Mercedes. Previously, AMG models have proven to have more power than they really need which typically masks the actual greatest underneath the body. This version is no different with a whopping 519 horsepower. The question is will the E63 behave like an AMG or more like an M. Those are the challengers, and here is the interesting part. Who will take BMW’s crown? Or will the M5 fight off these challengers and keep its crown for yet another generation? The first event is a hot lap around Bermese Alps Stadtplaz. This track was chosen because it requires high speeds, good handling, and an ability to keep the momentum up throughout the course. Perfect to find any flaws at speeds these cars should have. Well the results were a bit shocking for this; the slowest car was the Mercedes E63 with a time of 1:39.594. The E63 was fast. Very fast, hitting over 165 down the back straight, which was the fastest speed posted. Unfortunately, the AMG came out after this. While it was a neutral handling car with no real flaws, ultimately it just failed to deliver. I blame the subpar brakes almost completely for it not placing higher. Sadly, numbers are all that matters here and the Benz loses this round. Next up was the Aston Martin with a time of 1:39.094. Honestly, there isn’t much good to say about it. Sure it looks nice, but that isn’t the point here. While it feels agile, it really isn't. Its handling is underwhelming at the limit and the engine is seriously underpowered in this company. It also had understeer, this made it feel more predictable, but it didn’t translate into any faster lap times. Next up is the king, the M5 turned a time of 1:38.871. It honestly should’ve walked away with this in the bag. Why didn’t it? The M5 is typical BMW: great handling, awesome brakes, and a smooth powerful engine with loads of power. However, it was also saddled with awkward at best gearing and a very strange rear end. The tail kicks out and slides entirely too much. Why? No idea, I haven’t done any research into this yet, but I have the sneaking suspicion Turn 10 might be to blame. A great car, but these issues held it back from greatness. The Panamera took the next spot with a time of 1:38.268. As I said, the BMW was the better car. The Porsche had low-end thrust out of corners and also had a wonderful AWD system to provide stability (and strangely oversteer!). Unfortunately, it lacked in power above 5,000RPM. This lack of power was evident as it was actually the second slowest car downhill. It felt slow as well. This was made worse by bad gearing. It was rather fun to drive though. The second place was held by the CTS-V with a time of 1:37.997. This was probably the biggest shocker after the M5. While the CTS had tons of torque, that was about all there was good to say about it here. The car had odd handling, oversteer combined with understeer at the wrong times. It also was twitchy and nervous in its handling making it rather hard to actually drive quickly. Making matters worse, its brakes were terrible, even worse than the Mercedes. Maybe these flaws show how great the Cadillac is under the surface. I can’t say I’m shocked by the winner given how Audis tend to perform in these tests, but the RS6 won with a time of 1:36.518. Aside from its annoying AWD push most likely being exaggerated by the engine being way too far forward, the Audi took the best from the rest of cars and combined it into 1 nice vehicle. This thing has POWER, serious power. It hit the second highest speed downhill and unlike the Mercedes it stopped just as well. It was also extremely stable. Typical Audi I guess. 1st: Audi RS6: 10pts, 2nd: Cadillac CTS-V: 8, 3rd: Porsche Panamera: 6, 4th: BMW M5: 4, 5th: Aston Rapide: 2, 6th: Mercedes E63: 1 Next up was a nice friendly drag race on the lovely red Sedona mile. Not much to say there but I’m not surprised with the results. Once again, the Rapide was the slowest with a time of 32.366 at 164mph. Next was a strange between the BMW and Mercedes at 31.732 (BMW: 169 vs. Mercedes: 172). The E63 posted the highest speed in the test and chirped its tires on each gear change. Next was the CTS-V with a time of 31.231 at 170mph. Next was the first of the AWD cars, the Panamera at 30.864 at 169. The Porsche’s gearing still did it no favors and it felt slow past 100. The RS6 unsurprisingly won with a time of 30.447 at 169. Unlike the last run, the RS6’s gearing held it back. Still a win is a win. 1st: Audi RS6: 20, 2nd: Porsche and Cadillac: 14, 4th: BMW M5: 8, 5th: Mercedes E63: 5, 6th: Aston Rapide: 3 The last round is a lap of Nurburgring Nordschleife. All of these sedans (aside from possibly the Aston) have at some point been discussed on this track by their manufacturer. Easy enough to see why I picked this. Needless to say, this round’s outcome didn’t shock me for the most part. Anyway, the last place finisher (again) was the Rapide with a time of 9:31.883. Strangely it hit a competitive 172 down the final straight (though at the end). It proved to be underpowered and had too much understeer. It did have decent brakes though. Next up was the Mercedes at 9:21.785. Why was this one so far back? Simple, the brakes are trash. I’m not sure if they’re programmed to be bad or if they’re actually so strong they just are effective (I had this problem with a SLR way back in Forza 2). The other reason was the handling. The E63 handles as well as the others most of the time, sometimes however it just wants to flail about like a fish out of water. On the plus side, the E63 proved to be stupidly fast in straight line hitting a test high of 177mph. Too bad it wasn’t able to put that power to good use elsewhere on the track. Coming in fourth is the CTS-V at 9:19.252. The CTS-V ended up with this time for the exact issues that it had back in the Alps. The only difference is here the flaws really showed. It was fast hitting 173 on the straight, but the brakes were subpar at best leading to longer stopping distances than the others. The handling was decent, but when something went wrong it was almost impossible to actually correct. With that supercharged V8, it’s quite easy to get to get into a sticky situation. Finishing third here was the Porsche Panamera at 9:16.163. Why didn’t the Porsche place higher? Well 2 strange reasons, the first being I messed up a few corners (though the Porsche did manage to close the gap quite well). The second reason is the engine is rather gutless above 100mph. However, the Porsche rewards its driver with good amounts of oversteer, stable handling, and awesome brakes. It was quite fun to drive as well. Second place was the M5 with a time of 9:09.859. Remember how I said this car was typical BMW? Well that’s exactly how it ended up with that time. How’d it lose? Remember how I mentioned that strange rear end earlier? Well that’s exactly how it barely lost. The winner was the Audi (again…) with a time of 9:09.388. Almost annoyingly this car ran the fastest lap. It still has the annoying AWD push I was talking about on the Alps. The only thing is once again it combines the Benz’s speed (177 on the straight as well) with the BMW’s handling and the Porsche’s AWD traction. 1st: Audi RS6: 30 points, 2nd: Porsche Panamera: 20, 3rd: Cadillac CTS-V: 18, 4th: BMW M5: 16, 5th: Mercedes E63: 9, 6th: Aston Martin Rapide: 4. So there you have it, by numbers, the Audi swept the competition. The question still remains, is it better than the M5? It also needs to be answered if the Panamera and CTS-V are better as well. The short answer is they’re not. The M5 is honestly the best drive of the bunch. In terms of numbers, the M5 may rank fourth, but it isn’t. If I had to pick just one, I’d pick the BMW. Yes they all have their certain charms, but the BMW was the defending champion going into this. The Audi and Porsche honestly won most of this comparison due to their AWD acceleration. There’s no point in sugarcoating it. The CTS-V has a long way to go in terms of control to actually being better than the M5. But unfortunately, I can’t argue with the actual results and award the BMW the crown so Audi gets it. But I have a sneaking suspicion, if the Audi and Porsche were given RWD swaps, the results might be very different. But that’s a test for another day, so for now the Audi RS6 is King. |
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10:54 AM Jul 11
