Equipped with the $3920 Active Body Control coil/hydraulic semi-active suspension, the S550 corners flat, and its summer tires never squeal. The stability-control system can be switched off, kind of. Tromp on the gas at a corner exit, and it'll give you one tail wag, but shuts down the party on the second wag. It's not buzz-kill intrusive even in the fully on mode. Manual shifting can be done via switches on the back of the steering wheel (everyone preferred the Maserati's fixed paddles), but the S550 seven-speed's adaptive shift logic is so good-holding lower gears mid-corner or when lifting briefly-the buttons aren't all that necessary (Maserati's six-speed has no such sport logic, so you get to work its aluminum paddles a lot).
Of course, the brightest star on Mt. Palomar was our Italian stallion. With a 48/52 percent front/rear weight bias and 20-inch rubber sized accordingly (245/35 front, 285/30 rear), this car corners like a face-wrinkling g-sled. There's so much grip that the stability-control system is largely unnecessary on dry pavement. The steering is as direct and communicative as a Ferrari 599's, and bumps and ruts never upset its line in a corner (they do shake the wheel a bit excessively, however). With the second-best weight-to-power ratio in this test and gearing that's at least 20 percent shorter than the other sedans', it's no wonder the 4Porte delivers grin-inducing acceleration even without the spectacular engine note, which just completes the whole sensory extravaganza.
Our final trial was the track-testing session, the results of which make this foursome look like identical cousins. A mere 0.3 second separates them through 90 mph and the quarter mile, though in the handling tests the Quattroporte pulls well ahead of the crowd braking in a scant 107 feet from 60 mph (versus the Jag's 134) and circulating the skidpad at 0.91 g (0.08-0.11 g ahead of the pack) and completing the figure-eight course roughly a second and 0.04 g ahead of the others. The last test result, which we wouldn't bother noting if not for the presence of a greener-than-thou hybrid, is fuel economy. The Lexus managed 14.9 mpg versus 11.7-12.9 for the others-just 15 percent above average.
In the end, the Lexus strikes us as ideal for CEOs who've made their fortunes plundering the earth's resources and want to appear to be making amends. It said little to us beyond "Forgive me; I'm not quite the guzzler I appear to be." Its smugness irked us almost as much as its undeserved 600 badge. We'd all sooner drive the tire-smoking LS 460L for $33K less, so it finishes fourth. The Jaguar Super V8 says "I'm a ladder-climbing establishment type who's made it." We respect that, we enjoyed thrashing and cruising in this supercharged boudoir, and we appreciate its (relative) value pricing, so it finishes third. The Mercedes-Benz S550 is arguably the best car here by all objective measures. It's suave-looking inside and out, performs admirably, pushes the technological envelope enough to remain relevant for years, commands valet respect nationwide, and says, "This plutocrat isn't afraid of the future."
But the one car that every voter desperately wanted to mortgage his soul to own was the Maserati. "I think that is the best-handling sedan I've ever driven," gushed St. Antoine on climbing out atop Mt. Palomar-tall praise from someone with almost two decades experience evaluating sport sedans. Nobody could argue. We all know this car will drive its owner crazy reaching for a CD changer mounted below the steering column, waiting forever for the nav system to calculate a route, cranking the engine three times as long as in any other car to start, listening to a squeak in the driver's shoulder-belt, etc. None of that matters when this car is shouting "I'm so special I had this gorgeous car tailor-made for me and you're damned lucky just to catch a glimpse of it." It made us feel like F1 glamour-pusses and we physically ached to see it go. If you can swing $116,500 plus some options, look no further for the feel-big sedan of our time.
1st place: Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT
Lights up the brain's pleasure centers like no other sedan we know.
2nd place: Mercedes-Benz S550
Pushes the lux sedan envelope in all the right directions.
3rd place: Jaguar Super V8
Disguises modern technology and dynamics in authentic 19th-century elegance.
4th place: Lexus LS 600hL
Overpromises and underdelivers on performance, fuel economy, and even luxury.
...
>>next page