Comparison Tests
Spring is here, the buds are out, the Dow is up. Go ahead, treat yourself to something nice. Heh-heh, nice and naughty and quicker than a sinful temptation.
From the market's racks we've selected a threesome of awesome choices. Do you feel like showing off, or slipping under the enforcer's notice? Either way, we've got your mobile.
The paint was barely dry on the yet-to-debut BMW 645Ci when we pointed its prow into the sunshine. BMW's 6-series coupe is back after years of evasive answers at Munich headquarters. It's back, and finally, design chief Chris Bangle's new BMW-family look—so troubling in the 7-series, so unsettling in the 5-series—comes together in a gasp of admiration now echoing around the globe. This is a visual slam dunk. Yeah!
Of course, the coupe comes with all the latest BMW joys: a satiny-slick 325-hp V-8 paired with a six-speed automatic, and all the most intense BMW agonies. Have we railed enough against the odious iDrive controller that substitutes German computer mouse-think for simple knobs and buttons?
Yep, the 645Ci is the latest in the love-us-or-hate-us line from BMW.
Less controversial by far is the CLK55 AMG from Mercedes-Benz. The look is sweet and tranquil and vaguely Camryesque as the CLK's unique sheetmetal cautiously ventures beyond the German company's everyday styling gestures. Maybe your neighbors will notice, too, that this AMG version is the top of the CLK range and a special confection from the three-pointed star people, or maybe they'll think it's just another Benz.
But you'll know the difference the first time you pedal it.
Hang on, Harriet!
Behind the innocent CLK face waits the fury of 5439 AMG cubic centimeters teased up to 362 horsepower at 5750 rpm, 60 more horsepower than the CLK500. Those who don't know the subtleties of Mercedes labeling will never suspect the muscle packed into this, well, looks like some kind of, hmm, witnesses will probably say "two-door."
Make that an $80,695 Mercedes two-door, for the record, about 20 grand more than a CLK500. Hey, we promised nice, remember?
That said, nice is not in the top 100 adjectives any auto writer has flung at the Maserati Coupé. But here's a chance to try something from a fabled Italian boutique at what is arguably a nice price. When a five-figure sum will buy you something this rare—only 960 Maseratis were sold in the U.S. last year—shouldn't you, at the very least, try it on?
Our test Maserati had the full portfolio of options, including "Vintage" chrome trim, a navigation system, and the Formula 1-inspired Cambiocorsa six-speed gearbox. But before you get that close, you'll notice the classic coupe proportions sculpted by the old master himself, Giorgetto Giugiaro, and the seats of peanut-butter leather peeking over the beltline. Full of gas, the price is $92,024.
C'mon, this is an election year. The Dow always stays strong till the ballots are counted.
With these three cars, the mood is gran turismo, a term that was long ago tightened to GT for everyday use. But in the heyday of the open sports car, gran turismo applied to a class of long-distance runners in which the rowdy, wind-blown open cockpits had been calmed by a coupe roof. Nobody confused them with family haulers.
After two days in the desert east of San Diego, chasing over the thinly traveled blacktop and switchbacks around Borrego Springs, and a thorough battery of performance tests in the usual venues, we have full profiles of each of these GT coupes.
Please fasten your seatbelt, and place your seatback in the full upright position.
