Comparison Tests
Travel deep into the back country south of the Mason-Dixon line, and you'll find more than a few rifle-racked pickup trucks bearing rebel flags and plastered with bumper stickers proclaiming that "The South's Gonna Rise Again!" To listen to the drawls spewing from our Oval Office and Capitol Hill leadership, one might argue that the South has risen about as high as there is to rise, at least in government. But in a teensy tiny corner of the car market - convertibles priced in the high five figures - a battle is brewing in which a Georgia Reb is itchin' to rise up and challenge an imperious occupation force that no longer hails from Yankee Detroit, but from yonder 'cross the Atlantic.
For decades now, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche have had a stranglehold on the topless sports-touring-car market in the mesospheric price stratum of $70,000 to $100,000. Their entrants, the XK8 and the supercharged XKR, the SL-class, and the 911 Carrera, each offer iconic styling that is instantly recognizable to even the most unwashed of hicks and hayseeds. Each is, in different measures, comfortable, fast, quick, and agile. And if the British and German competition weren't enough, the Italians are mounting an assault as well, with the Modena-built, Ford-powered Qvale Mangusta (C/D, October 2000) and a forthcoming Maserati Spider.
Mighty General Motors does not dare to compete in this lofty segment, but the tiny Panoz Auto Development Company in Hoschton, Georgia, 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, is now launching the lone American offering in this heady realm - the Panoz Esperante, powered by the V-8 from a Ford SVT Mustang Cobra. Can this plucky bunch of southern car nuts at Panoz - just three degreed engineers and 60-some assembly workers in all - convince the moneyed set to "buy 'merican"?
To find out, we challenged a Jaguar XKR, a Porsche 911 Carrera, and a Qvale Mangusta to face off down on Panoz turf. Mercedes wasn't invited, as its 11-year-old SL roadster will be replaced next year by a new retractable hardtop model. Alas, the Qvale folks said they were unable to shake loose a test car at just five weeks' notice, so that hardtop/targa/roadster was a no-show.
From Georgia we mounted a run to Charleston, South Carolina. This 331-year-old port town seemed an appropriate venue for a battle royale like this one. After all, it was here at Fort Moultrie on June 28, 1776, that American patriots had their first decisive victory over the British in the Revolutionary War. And it was also here, on April 12, 1861, that the first shots of the Civil War were fired on Fort Sumter. In between major historical battles, this genteel town has also withstood fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and even an earthquake, so we figured the citizenry could weather an onslaught of three ritzy ragtops and five wide-open-throttle magazine types.
We took the long way to Charleston via South Carolina Highway 11 and its snaky tributaries that wiggle up and around Table Rock and Caesars Head on the North Carolina border. These winding ways were heralded as among the "10Best Roads of the Southeast" by our intrepid roadrunner Larry Griffin (C/D, January 1998), and they gave each chassis a thorough workout. We also spent hours at speed with tops down and up through an unseasonable spring heat wave and amid severe April showers. Here's how the battle unfolded.
