2009 Audi A6 3.0T vs. 2009 BMW 535i, 2009 Infiniti M45, 2009 Jaguar XF, 2010 M-B E350

2009 Audi A6 3.0T vs. 2009 BMW 535i, 2009 Infiniti M45, 2009 Jaguar XF, 2010 M-B E350 2009 Audi A6 3.0T vs. 2009 BMW 535i, 2009 Infiniti M45, 2009 Jaguar XF, 2010 M-B E350
Comparison Tests

On comparison tests, the cars with genetically ingrained faults—sometimes glaring, sometimes subtle and varied—will usually have confessed their sins by cocktail hour on Day One. The editors often won’t say anything initially—each man is free to vote without persuasion or influence from his obviously ignorant peers—but we individually already know who won’t be spraying the Dom Pérignon on the podium.

This time ’round, that didn’t happen. It wasn’t until late on Day Three in the Hocking Hills of southern Ohio that various of us ceased saying, “I don’t know who’s gonna win—I like ’em all.”

“They’re all winners,” gushed assistant technical editor K.C. Colwell, who then added, “Did I just say that? I sound like one of those parents who tell their ADD-afflicted kids, ‘Just say “yes” to life—winning doesn’t matter.’”

But he was right. The last-place car in this group is a seductive gem of modern transport that any of us would love to own if we had a spare $50,000, which we don’t so won’t.

Here we’ve gathered a quintet of luxo-sports sedans, with equal emphasis on both adjectives. We included the five big names—the brands that really lead the niche. But there are other, softer-core $50,000 luxo-sporters, whose mugs and rap sheets can be found at CARandDRIVER.com.

Our contestants’ engines are as all over the map as a senator’s expense account. The Audi’s V-6 is supercharged. The BMW’s inline six is twin turboed. The Benz E350 settles for a naturally aspirated V-6, while the Infiniti M45 and Jaguar XF cling to the aristocratic tradition of small-displacement V-8s. Three came with performance rubber, but the Jag and the Benz, bless their practical souls, arrived with all-weather mud-’n’-snows.

Luxury sedans are purchased overwhelmingly with automatic transmissions, so that’s what we requested. Alas, we must apologize for the BMW’s surpassingly wonderful six-speed manual, which came to us after BMW searched the whole of North America and even parts of Alabama for an automatic but came a cropper. “You can’t always get what you want,” sang Mick and Keith, who then went on to get everything they wanted, especially Keith, who received the medical attention he so sorely needed after falling out of a coconut tree.

At the conclusion of comparos, we sometimes ask, “If you had to drive from New York to L.A. tomorrow, which car would you choose?” It’s a tricky question because traits we sometimes underestimate suddenly take on greater weight: ride, visibility, fuel economy, tank size, number of 12-volt outlets, even all-wheel drive, which could come in handy, say, just west of Denver. Here’s how we landed on that issue: One vote for the Benz, four for the Audi. One last thing: Our five contestants finished in alphabetical order. We have no idea what that portends.