C&D Comparison: Jaguar Super V-8 vs. 2007 Mercedes-Benz S550 vs. 2006 Audi A8L Quattr
12-28-06, 08:36 AM
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C&D Comparison: Jaguar Super V-8 vs. 2007 Mercedes-Benz S550 vs. 2006 Audi A8L Quattr
2006 Jaguar Super V-8 vs. 2007 Mercedes-Benz S550 vs. 2006 Audi A8L Quattro vs. 2007 Lexus LS460L vs. 2006 BMW 750Li - Comparison Tests
Chauffeur Showdown: Are sporty driving characteristics and long-wheelbase luxury mutually exclusive? We find out.
Introduction
Fifth Place: Lexus LS460L
Fourth Place: Jaguar Super V-8
Third Place: BMW 750Li
Second Place: Audi A8L Quattro
First Place: Mercedes-Benz S550
BY BARRY WINFIELD, PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID DEWHURST
If you’re in the market for one of the long-wheelbase versions of sports-luxury sedans in the $80,000-to-$100,000 range, then you’re probably a big-city businessman or -woman who needs a car in which you often sit in the rear while being driven to work or play.
Why else pay the premium for all that extra back-seat space? Not for the kids to run amok in, surely, or for the Great Pyrenees dog to stretch out in. Nope, these cars are desirable not only because they’re roomy and luxurious in the rear-passenger compartment but also because they are satisfying to drive when you have the car to yourself.
And the model choice is creamy rich. Newest among these bourgeois buggies is the Lexus LS460L, flagship of the company’s fourth-generation LS range and first-ever long-wheelbase model. Lexus threw everything it knows about luxury at this car, including optional air springs, variable-gear-ratio steering, a premium airline-like right rear seat with power ottoman and multifunctional massage, advanced parking guidance, and an integrated 30-gig hard drive that not only speeds up the navigation system but also stores music and videos.
Powering all this extravagance is a 380-hp V-8 with an eight-speed automatic transmission. Of course, you have to check some options boxes to get all the features mentioned here, but you get the picture.
For a sense of how well the Lexus fulfills its luxury promise, we lined up the obvious suspects. Audi’s A8L is an incontrovertible competitor, armed as it is with an oversize leather-and-wood-lined rear-passenger compartment. For 2007, the A8 has a new direct-injection 4.2-liter V-8 with 350 horsepower; unfortunately, only a 2006 with the 40-valve, 335-hp V-8 was available for this test. So keep in mind that the specification, performance, and pricing information are for the 2006 A8L. Expect the ’07 car to be a smidge quicker and cost about $1000 more. The Audi brings with it the advantages of four-wheel drive and competitive pricing. But despite all-aluminum body construction, the Audi weighs within a couple hundred pounds of the heaviest contender.
0701_compa_inarow.jpgJaguar’s Super V-8 long-wheelbase version of its XJR also boasts aluminum construction, but in this case the light metal is used to better effect, and the car tips the truck scales at Schick Moving & Storage at just over two tons — the lightest car here. Adding a supercharger helps tote that load, too, giving the long Jag a distinctive theoretical power-to-weight advantage in this group.
And no group would be complete without a BMW. It just so happens that the company makes a long version of its 7-series bruiser — the 750Li — complete with thundering 4.8-liter V-8 and the traditional athletic chassis to go with it. You get a sense of BMW’s priorities when you read that the 750Li is equipped standard with 20-way power-adjustable “comfort” front seats. Always thinking about the driver, those guys.
Rounding out the group is the Mercedes-Benz S550, which is not a special long-wheelbase model. It just comes with a generous wheelbase and a ton of rear-seat legroom, somehow without looking freakishly long. Powered by a new-generation four-cam V-8 that drives through a seven-speed transmission, the S550 we requested also wore the company’s Airmatic springs with adaptive damping and active roll control, promising good ride and handling balance.
Thus equipped, we put the cars through our usual battery of tests to see what would shake out. And yes, we also remembered to spend a little time in the back seat.
Fifth Place: Chauffeur Showdown: 2007 Lexus LS460L
Introduction
Fifth Place: Lexus LS460L
Fourth Place: Jaguar Super V-8
Third Place: BMW 750Li
Second Place: Audi A8L Quattro
First Place: Mercedes-Benz S550
2007 Lexus LS460L
Highs: Tranquil environment, flawless finish, comprehensive standard luxury equipment.
Lows: Soft in roll, squishy tires, small trunk, long stopping distances.
The Verdict: May be the most indulgent luxury car in the segment.
For a car that some of us thought might win going in, fifth place seems astonishing. But you have to blame the Lexus’s obsessive isolation from noise and vibration for this outcome. Although the LS460L cossets its occupants with comfortable seats and all kinds of creature comforts (such as an air diffuser over the rear occupants to avoid drafts and an extraordinary DVD sound system), its dynamics don’t hold up in hard-driving situations.
Blame goes mainly to the all-season tires and the car’s soft roll motions, but the variable-ratio steering was also cited for its uncommunicative nature — if not its accuracy — and the electrohydraulic brakes were similarly peculiar in operation, producing longer-than-expected stopping distances.
Persuading the Lexus to negotiate our famous lane-change test was akin to driving a coach. When the vehicle-dynamics system (VDIM) is switched off — a “VSC off” light illuminates, making us wonder which acronym applies here — the LS460L indulges in long, wide slides. Leave the system on, and it still allows the car to get well out of shape before stepping in to confuse the driver.
In normal twisty surrounds, the Lexus reverts to a safer understeering mien, squealing its all-season rubber and rolling like a dinghy in a squall when pushed hard. But the true essence of the car is quite spectacular, with a tuneful V-8 and slick eight-speed automatic. The steering mechanism rotates as if on roller bearings (it might well be), and the sound levels are low enough inside that imperfect door seals on our preproduction vehicle produced wind noise that seemed hurricane-like in comparison.
But if the back seat is where you spend most of your time, then Lexus has its priorities correct. A comfortable ride, a quiet and scrupulously climate-controlled atmosphere, multiadjustable seating with Peltier cooling pads, and video entertainment with one of the best car stereos ever devised are at your disposal. So chill. You made the right decision after all.
Chauffeur Showdown: Are sporty driving characteristics and long-wheelbase luxury mutually exclusive? We find out.
Introduction
Fifth Place: Lexus LS460L
Fourth Place: Jaguar Super V-8
Third Place: BMW 750Li
Second Place: Audi A8L Quattro
First Place: Mercedes-Benz S550
BY BARRY WINFIELD, PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID DEWHURST
If you’re in the market for one of the long-wheelbase versions of sports-luxury sedans in the $80,000-to-$100,000 range, then you’re probably a big-city businessman or -woman who needs a car in which you often sit in the rear while being driven to work or play.
Why else pay the premium for all that extra back-seat space? Not for the kids to run amok in, surely, or for the Great Pyrenees dog to stretch out in. Nope, these cars are desirable not only because they’re roomy and luxurious in the rear-passenger compartment but also because they are satisfying to drive when you have the car to yourself.
And the model choice is creamy rich. Newest among these bourgeois buggies is the Lexus LS460L, flagship of the company’s fourth-generation LS range and first-ever long-wheelbase model. Lexus threw everything it knows about luxury at this car, including optional air springs, variable-gear-ratio steering, a premium airline-like right rear seat with power ottoman and multifunctional massage, advanced parking guidance, and an integrated 30-gig hard drive that not only speeds up the navigation system but also stores music and videos.
Powering all this extravagance is a 380-hp V-8 with an eight-speed automatic transmission. Of course, you have to check some options boxes to get all the features mentioned here, but you get the picture.
For a sense of how well the Lexus fulfills its luxury promise, we lined up the obvious suspects. Audi’s A8L is an incontrovertible competitor, armed as it is with an oversize leather-and-wood-lined rear-passenger compartment. For 2007, the A8 has a new direct-injection 4.2-liter V-8 with 350 horsepower; unfortunately, only a 2006 with the 40-valve, 335-hp V-8 was available for this test. So keep in mind that the specification, performance, and pricing information are for the 2006 A8L. Expect the ’07 car to be a smidge quicker and cost about $1000 more. The Audi brings with it the advantages of four-wheel drive and competitive pricing. But despite all-aluminum body construction, the Audi weighs within a couple hundred pounds of the heaviest contender.
0701_compa_inarow.jpgJaguar’s Super V-8 long-wheelbase version of its XJR also boasts aluminum construction, but in this case the light metal is used to better effect, and the car tips the truck scales at Schick Moving & Storage at just over two tons — the lightest car here. Adding a supercharger helps tote that load, too, giving the long Jag a distinctive theoretical power-to-weight advantage in this group.
And no group would be complete without a BMW. It just so happens that the company makes a long version of its 7-series bruiser — the 750Li — complete with thundering 4.8-liter V-8 and the traditional athletic chassis to go with it. You get a sense of BMW’s priorities when you read that the 750Li is equipped standard with 20-way power-adjustable “comfort” front seats. Always thinking about the driver, those guys.
Rounding out the group is the Mercedes-Benz S550, which is not a special long-wheelbase model. It just comes with a generous wheelbase and a ton of rear-seat legroom, somehow without looking freakishly long. Powered by a new-generation four-cam V-8 that drives through a seven-speed transmission, the S550 we requested also wore the company’s Airmatic springs with adaptive damping and active roll control, promising good ride and handling balance.
Thus equipped, we put the cars through our usual battery of tests to see what would shake out. And yes, we also remembered to spend a little time in the back seat.
Fifth Place: Chauffeur Showdown: 2007 Lexus LS460L
Introduction
Fifth Place: Lexus LS460L
Fourth Place: Jaguar Super V-8
Third Place: BMW 750Li
Second Place: Audi A8L Quattro
First Place: Mercedes-Benz S550
2007 Lexus LS460L
Highs: Tranquil environment, flawless finish, comprehensive standard luxury equipment.
Lows: Soft in roll, squishy tires, small trunk, long stopping distances.
The Verdict: May be the most indulgent luxury car in the segment.
For a car that some of us thought might win going in, fifth place seems astonishing. But you have to blame the Lexus’s obsessive isolation from noise and vibration for this outcome. Although the LS460L cossets its occupants with comfortable seats and all kinds of creature comforts (such as an air diffuser over the rear occupants to avoid drafts and an extraordinary DVD sound system), its dynamics don’t hold up in hard-driving situations.
Blame goes mainly to the all-season tires and the car’s soft roll motions, but the variable-ratio steering was also cited for its uncommunicative nature — if not its accuracy — and the electrohydraulic brakes were similarly peculiar in operation, producing longer-than-expected stopping distances.
Persuading the Lexus to negotiate our famous lane-change test was akin to driving a coach. When the vehicle-dynamics system (VDIM) is switched off — a “VSC off” light illuminates, making us wonder which acronym applies here — the LS460L indulges in long, wide slides. Leave the system on, and it still allows the car to get well out of shape before stepping in to confuse the driver.
In normal twisty surrounds, the Lexus reverts to a safer understeering mien, squealing its all-season rubber and rolling like a dinghy in a squall when pushed hard. But the true essence of the car is quite spectacular, with a tuneful V-8 and slick eight-speed automatic. The steering mechanism rotates as if on roller bearings (it might well be), and the sound levels are low enough inside that imperfect door seals on our preproduction vehicle produced wind noise that seemed hurricane-like in comparison.
But if the back seat is where you spend most of your time, then Lexus has its priorities correct. A comfortable ride, a quiet and scrupulously climate-controlled atmosphere, multiadjustable seating with Peltier cooling pads, and video entertainment with one of the best car stereos ever devised are at your disposal. So chill. You made the right decision after all.
Last edited by GS69; 12-28-06 at 08:41 AM.
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NotFasty (05-05-19)
12-28-06, 08:47 AM
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