The Supersaloon War Is Won

**garcon** · 12 Sep 2002, 14:32 (Ref:378808)

I'm a speed freak and a fan of big metal. So I guess I ought to move somewhere with cheaper petrol. In the meantime, my tastes mean I love supersaloons. Big comfy cars that make Porsches look silly at traffic lights.

There's the usual suspects (available in the UK) - BMW M5, Audi S6/S8 (and now RS6), Holden HSV GTS, Jaguar S-Type R. And the Mercedes E55 AMG.

You might be aware an all new Mercedes E-Class has just been launched. Cooking models up to the E500 are on sale now. The new E55 AMG will hit our shores in 'late 2002'.

And it's going to demolish the oppo. You see, somebody at AMG has decided to stop

ing about and start making truly awesome vehicles. The first of these is the new SL55 AMG. Drop dead gorgeous and a £90K supercar. Supercharged 5.5 litre V8, 476bhp, 517lb/ft, well over 200mph (if you disable the 155 limiter) - AMG know this because they tried it on an autobahn and saw "the interesting side of 335km/h".

So have a guess what they're putting in the new E55?

Barking, but brilliant.

Can anyone lend me £70k??

So until the next generation "F1 derived" V10 BMW M5 (which so far is only the figment of BMW posers imaginations), anyone care to disagree that the E55 must be the greatest supersaloon yet???

Footnote: actually the Bentley Arnage T is a more awesome beast (645lb/ft of torque anyone?), but being the size and weight of Wales it is slower, and anyway to class such a beautiful and imposing thing as a mere 'supersaloon' is a little, well, demeaning...

kmchow · 12 Sep 2002, 19:10 (Ref:378995)

Hmm, have you heard of the V8Star series in Germany then? They race Passats, Lexus GS400s, S Types, Astras,Mondeos, Audi A6s in the series. Sadly, the website is only in German. As well, the cars are technically unbadged. It looks ilke a Jag S Type, but they can't legally refer to them as Jags.

You can visit the homepage at: www.v8star.com