Greatest GT car
Discussion
Byker28i said:
A performance and luxury automobile capable of long distance, spirited driving.
But, that isn't a GT. A GT specifically means 2-doors, a hard top, luggage space and relatively high performance. A 4-door Porsche may be all of what you describe, but it isn't a GT. There is a difference.
If money were no object I would go for either the AM Vanquish or Ferrari 550.
Unfortunately I do not have the money for them but had a fantastic time taking the Vette down to Como amd Garda last year. No issues from the wife once she found out she could pack over 50kg of luggage! We enjoyed it so much that we are doing it again this year but touring Tuscany and then returning via the coast.
Unfortunately I do not have the money for them but had a fantastic time taking the Vette down to Como amd Garda last year. No issues from the wife once she found out she could pack over 50kg of luggage! We enjoyed it so much that we are doing it again this year but touring Tuscany and then returning via the coast.
thecook101 said:
Plenty great cars here but if we're talking proper GT then it comes down to a few. Mine would be the 612. Acres of leather, a glorious V12 soundtrack, and a bonnet stretching out in front of you.
Ah, Eric Clapton's old car. Wonderful Sessanta style paintwork. 612's are beautiful had a blu mirableu one. 110L tank is enough to get you halfway across the UK with a bit to spare. The FF's 91L tank is a bit too small on the other hand. I barely made it halfway up the UK and had the low fuel warning start flashing. Would have been happy for them to reduce the trunk space slightly to accommodate a bigger fuel tank. The Maserati Granturismo is like a 612+ in terms of coachwork and mechanics. However, what it lacks in engine size, it makes up for in additional drama and exhaust noise.Edited by thecook101 on Wednesday 4th May 00:05
If a had to pick for a current era GT car I would most likely go for an Aston Martin DBS
I love the looks, the engine sounds amazing and it should be really comfortable for two people plus their stuff.
If a had to choose a GT car from an older era, I would either go for the 7 litre ISO Grifo
of for a Jensen Interceptor
Both because are iconic '70s GT cars. Both because I love their styling and more importantly because they both use a huge, under stressed Yank V8, which for GT'ing is a really good choice. Plus, when the inevitable breakdown occurs you can have a go at fixing them yourself since you don't have to deal with some overly complicated engine.
I love the looks, the engine sounds amazing and it should be really comfortable for two people plus their stuff.
If a had to choose a GT car from an older era, I would either go for the 7 litre ISO Grifo
of for a Jensen Interceptor
Both because are iconic '70s GT cars. Both because I love their styling and more importantly because they both use a huge, under stressed Yank V8, which for GT'ing is a really good choice. Plus, when the inevitable breakdown occurs you can have a go at fixing them yourself since you don't have to deal with some overly complicated engine.
so many to choose from. Realistically i suspect a jag XKR is probably the best real world GT.
I will be doing Manchester to Mercia in my 2017 Mustang GT next summer so hopefully that will work out well.
If money no object i suspect a 550 manual would be my preference, failing the how about a manual Grifo
I will be doing Manchester to Mercia in my 2017 Mustang GT next summer so hopefully that will work out well.
If money no object i suspect a 550 manual would be my preference, failing the how about a manual Grifo
vournikas said:
300bhp/ton said:
I also think a GT has to be extremely comfortable, a nice place to be in and, very Un PH here, quiet at a high speed cruise.
Therefore I would suggest the Bentley Continental GTC preferably in Supersport Guise is unbeatable, certainly one of the very few cars that fulfils OP and my own criteria
993UED said:
Am I missing something here, or why does the V8 vantage not get a look in? That interior...
I have a vantage and have driven down to the south of france in it a couple of times, I honestly couldnt fault its performance on the trips, does everything i need of a GT car very, very well.Have also been around France a little in a 550, that was also exceptionally good.
F1GTRUeno said:
E65Ross said:
I would say that for the ultimate GT car, the Rolls-Royce Wraith would take some beating.
Extremely quiet, great ride quality, wonderful interior..... Perfect.
Until you get out of it and have to look at it.Extremely quiet, great ride quality, wonderful interior..... Perfect.
phib said:
250GTE said:
Well, for me it really has to be a Ferrari V12. Modern enough to be fast and comfortable.
Classics are great (as you an guess from my ID) but it's a different type of driving, slower basically, and hotter.
So an elegant Maranello, a 550 or 575M would be ideal.
More controversially I believe it has to be Left Hand Drive.
The UK is not for grand touring, England at least is too small.
A GT car needs to be comfortable and hence quite wide. So LHD is a real advantage on the narrow roads of say, the Italian lakes. Overtaking is necessary too, one doesn't want to be stuck behind the freight on a route nationale depending on the significant other to shout "go !".
Finally I like the sheer decadence of having a car solely for the yearly tour.
Grand !
You mean like this Classics are great (as you an guess from my ID) but it's a different type of driving, slower basically, and hotter.
So an elegant Maranello, a 550 or 575M would be ideal.
More controversially I believe it has to be Left Hand Drive.
The UK is not for grand touring, England at least is too small.
A GT car needs to be comfortable and hence quite wide. So LHD is a real advantage on the narrow roads of say, the Italian lakes. Overtaking is necessary too, one doesn't want to be stuck behind the freight on a route nationale depending on the significant other to shout "go !".
Finally I like the sheer decadence of having a car solely for the yearly tour.
Grand !
image hosting websites
On the way home from the Netherlands
Phib
Top goes down, price goes up.
EJH said:
I think that's, possibly, the understatement of the day. I did a few miles in a friend's GTB. The economy was a, rag over ~150 miles.
I can imagine. I averaged between 9 and 10 over 3k miles on a Eurotrip last year, and that's just a v8. The sound of that GTO is something else though, so I think I'd put up with the fuel stops.The Mustang only misses out on the OP's spec because of his range requirement. I have never understood why Ford fitted a car with a 300hp 4.6L V8(05-10) or a 420hp 5.0L V8 (2011+) with a rather pathetic 60L fuel tank.
Other than that it fits in the OP's spec quite well, though you would need a non factory de-restriction of the top speed - but other than a very short squirt on an Autobahn when are you actually going to drive in 3 figure speeds due to the detrimental affect on the fuel economy? Its a decent capacity 2+2, good size boot (don't spec the convertible) and an effortless cruiser. My 2006 GT is a fantastic car to drive over long distances, I imagine the later 5.0L V8 is even nicer.
Other than that it fits in the OP's spec quite well, though you would need a non factory de-restriction of the top speed - but other than a very short squirt on an Autobahn when are you actually going to drive in 3 figure speeds due to the detrimental affect on the fuel economy? Its a decent capacity 2+2, good size boot (don't spec the convertible) and an effortless cruiser. My 2006 GT is a fantastic car to drive over long distances, I imagine the later 5.0L V8 is even nicer.
At last a PH topic where I can speak from real experience....
The best GT I have run (so far) is the Porsche 928 S4 auto. That one was so good I kept it in service with me for 9 & 1/2 years. Bought at 4 years old and 35K miles, sold at coming up to 14 years old and with 147K miles on the odometer. An excellent GT with two wonderfully-comfortable front seats, +2 (seats for midgets) accommodation behind and a reasonably useful boot space. 22mpg however you drove it and very capable at long-haul work. Noisy at 130mph plus, however.
I currently run a 2011 MY Jaguar XK Coupe. My first - ever Jaguar. I tried the XK and XK-R variants but concluded that the normally-aspirated XK is the better GT car. What you lose in acceleration you recover in superior fuel consumption, thus a longer-range between stops is achieved, which in turn improves your average journey times. So far, comfortable , reliable and quieter than the 928 (this is a big plus on proper long-haul work; noise is cumulatively very, very, tiring).
However, the fuel tank could do with being 20% bigger and the sat-nav is out of the ark when it comes to using it for long-haul continental work. Get to the French -Swiss border and you have to take the luggage out and change a CD in the Sat-Nav unit in the boot to get Switzerland & Italy loaded. Doh......
The seats in the XK (made by Lear) are inferior to those in the 928 (were Recaros) after 2+ hours at the wheel. The XK however has better boot space; can get 19 cases of Burgundy/Chablis into this car on the usual route back through France. Also, it's quite good value for money compared to any of the exotica alternatives...
My other top tip is to get yourself a SANEF electronic tag and fit it high up on the windscreen behind the rear view mirror. This spot avoids signal confusion with heater filaments and means you can drive through the auto-pay channel on the French auto-route peage sections. Having run in convoy the first year I had this unit with a Maserati GT it was quite surprising to see how much time I was saving at the tolls compared to those paying manually. Double that time saving too if you are travelling solo... .
Very annoyingly, the electronic tags for Italy are not compatible with the SANEF units and you need a different one for the autostrada. A true Common Market is clearly still some way off then..........
The other true GT I have (all too briefly) tried is the current Bentley Continental GT V8. I had not expected to like it all that much, but to my surprise I did. A lot. Seems as if the smaller engine has taken a ton of weight out of the nose and you can actually feel what the car is doing now.
Wonderful seats (Bentley make their own), quiet, accelerative, + 2 rear seats and a good boot. Didn't have the opportunity to try my wine-box test but it looked to be better than the XK. But, they're way out of my budget.......
Four-wheel drive would also have been very handy on my UK -Geneva drive this March for the Motor Show. Tiptoeing through the Jura mountains in a RWD XK Coupe on ordinary tyres in the snow and ice was a bit too exciting for comfort...
It's pleasing to read that several contributors here have given the 2006 - 2014 Jaguar XK Coupe the "best value GT in the real-world" award. It's not a perfect GT but Jaguar got pretty much all of the basics right and I regret they've taken it out of production now. If it were to be modernized in a few key areas then I'd have another one in a heartbeat.
The best GT I have run (so far) is the Porsche 928 S4 auto. That one was so good I kept it in service with me for 9 & 1/2 years. Bought at 4 years old and 35K miles, sold at coming up to 14 years old and with 147K miles on the odometer. An excellent GT with two wonderfully-comfortable front seats, +2 (seats for midgets) accommodation behind and a reasonably useful boot space. 22mpg however you drove it and very capable at long-haul work. Noisy at 130mph plus, however.
I currently run a 2011 MY Jaguar XK Coupe. My first - ever Jaguar. I tried the XK and XK-R variants but concluded that the normally-aspirated XK is the better GT car. What you lose in acceleration you recover in superior fuel consumption, thus a longer-range between stops is achieved, which in turn improves your average journey times. So far, comfortable , reliable and quieter than the 928 (this is a big plus on proper long-haul work; noise is cumulatively very, very, tiring).
However, the fuel tank could do with being 20% bigger and the sat-nav is out of the ark when it comes to using it for long-haul continental work. Get to the French -Swiss border and you have to take the luggage out and change a CD in the Sat-Nav unit in the boot to get Switzerland & Italy loaded. Doh......
The seats in the XK (made by Lear) are inferior to those in the 928 (were Recaros) after 2+ hours at the wheel. The XK however has better boot space; can get 19 cases of Burgundy/Chablis into this car on the usual route back through France. Also, it's quite good value for money compared to any of the exotica alternatives...
My other top tip is to get yourself a SANEF electronic tag and fit it high up on the windscreen behind the rear view mirror. This spot avoids signal confusion with heater filaments and means you can drive through the auto-pay channel on the French auto-route peage sections. Having run in convoy the first year I had this unit with a Maserati GT it was quite surprising to see how much time I was saving at the tolls compared to those paying manually. Double that time saving too if you are travelling solo... .
Very annoyingly, the electronic tags for Italy are not compatible with the SANEF units and you need a different one for the autostrada. A true Common Market is clearly still some way off then..........
The other true GT I have (all too briefly) tried is the current Bentley Continental GT V8. I had not expected to like it all that much, but to my surprise I did. A lot. Seems as if the smaller engine has taken a ton of weight out of the nose and you can actually feel what the car is doing now.
Wonderful seats (Bentley make their own), quiet, accelerative, + 2 rear seats and a good boot. Didn't have the opportunity to try my wine-box test but it looked to be better than the XK. But, they're way out of my budget.......
Four-wheel drive would also have been very handy on my UK -Geneva drive this March for the Motor Show. Tiptoeing through the Jura mountains in a RWD XK Coupe on ordinary tyres in the snow and ice was a bit too exciting for comfort...
It's pleasing to read that several contributors here have given the 2006 - 2014 Jaguar XK Coupe the "best value GT in the real-world" award. It's not a perfect GT but Jaguar got pretty much all of the basics right and I regret they've taken it out of production now. If it were to be modernized in a few key areas then I'd have another one in a heartbeat.
andybu said:
At last a PH topic where I can speak from real experience....
The best GT I have run (so far) is the Porsche 928 S4 auto. That one was so good I kept it in service with me for 9 & 1/2 years. Bought at 4 years old and 35K miles, sold at coming up to 14 years old and with 147K miles on the odometer. An excellent GT with two wonderfully-comfortable front seats, +2 (seats for midgets)
To this day, Porsche 928 seats remain the most comfortable sports seats I have ever sat in. Just perfect. The best GT I have run (so far) is the Porsche 928 S4 auto. That one was so good I kept it in service with me for 9 & 1/2 years. Bought at 4 years old and 35K miles, sold at coming up to 14 years old and with 147K miles on the odometer. An excellent GT with two wonderfully-comfortable front seats, +2 (seats for midgets)
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