[s-cars] M5 vs AMG vs RS6, winner is...

[ccohen5]

All good points - although I should add that this magazine is under the
personal (part) ownership of one who encourages and insures his reviewers
drive these cars more aggressively then we would ever consider.  Having seen
a standard M5 on the track and taken an A6 4.2 to the same circuit, I remain
convinced that while our dearly beloved Ingolstadt prodigy is at last in the
super class, its not yet a "drivers" car in the sense that BMW is so capable
of producing.

With that said, few of us are good enough to use a drivers car with the
level of control that allows us to exploit these capabilities.  Last week I
drove with a police instructor (not a cop but a contractor) who showed me in
his 98 Taurus that he could (on a deserted road) pull a 180 any time he
needed without crossing the center line.  He did this despite an uneven
surface close to the verge.  He gave all the usual caveats about passive
safety being the best and defensive driving being the only real strategy. He
was trying to explain that track capabilities, blinding power, the 1/4 in a
nanosecond are nothing more than boys, toys and steroids unless you know how
to use all the capabilities of your vehicle.  He also likened it to buying a
$5000 Nikon camera and leaving it programmed to auto and never reading the
manual.
I felt positively guilty.  I do read the manual BTW but the excess
capabilities of all these cars over anything but a willingness to give up
one's drivers privileges, is what...? An abundance of excess?

Rant over, back on my head!

Colin
----- Original Message -----
From: <FvAMI at aol.com>
To: <ccohen5 at compuserve.com>
Cc: <s-car-list at audifans.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 9:00 PM
Subject: Re: [s-cars] M5 vs AMG vs RS6, winner is...


|
| In a message dated 11/9/02 5:31:05 AM Pacific Standard Time,
| ccohen5 at compuserve.com writes:
|
|
| > The M5 over the AMG, then the RS6 and last the Jag.
|
| RS6 is too compliant for them. Doesn't over-steer not as fun due to lack
of
| fishtailing ... just what I want to do when I am driving around town ...
my
| take ... catering to their average readers that expect the M5 or an AMG to
| win ... definitely not an Audi. If they said we like the M5 the best
because
| it comes with a six speed manual transmission ... fine.
|
| The bottom line is the RS6 smokes them all to 60 and through the quarter
mile
| and comes with Quattro ... unfortunately not with a manual transmission.
But
| essentially if you want to fly a little faster than the rest without
| fishtailing the Audi is the only choice ... what a machine.
|
| Best regards,
| Feico van der Laan
|