Are modern performance cars irrelevant?
Discussion
Yesterday I took the current M5 for a test drive, having waited and waited until I was in a position to order one. Whilst there is no escaping that it was one seriously capable and blisteringly quick piece of kit, I came away slightly disappointed and feeling a little 'cold'.
On dual carriageways and the like, it might as well have been a 520d. On more interesting roads, it was so refined and the cabin so 'cocooned' that you just didn't get the buzz of driving it quickly. I'm lucky enough to have had a few quick cars over the past few years (M3s, 997 C2S, etc), and parted with the last M3 as the opportunity to actually use it properly on public roads was very few and far between. I must admit I was missing having a proper performance car, but the test drive simply left me feeling that seriously quick cars are increasingly irrelevant on today's roads. I'm testing AMG Mercs this weekend but can't help feeling that it'll be a similar experience. And I've said on here before that a lower powered car that you can drive harder more of the time is probably more rewarding than a seriously quick car you can only exploit every now and then.
Does anyone feel similar, or am I just getting old?
On dual carriageways and the like, it might as well have been a 520d. On more interesting roads, it was so refined and the cabin so 'cocooned' that you just didn't get the buzz of driving it quickly. I'm lucky enough to have had a few quick cars over the past few years (M3s, 997 C2S, etc), and parted with the last M3 as the opportunity to actually use it properly on public roads was very few and far between. I must admit I was missing having a proper performance car, but the test drive simply left me feeling that seriously quick cars are increasingly irrelevant on today's roads. I'm testing AMG Mercs this weekend but can't help feeling that it'll be a similar experience. And I've said on here before that a lower powered car that you can drive harder more of the time is probably more rewarding than a seriously quick car you can only exploit every now and then.
Does anyone feel similar, or am I just getting old?
Alfanatic said:
OP, I think that's more to do with the M5 than with modern performance cars as a whole.
I've never driven an M anything, and I have liked the 5 series cars that I've driven, but I've driven a few six cylinder 3s of various generations and they've all left me feeling the same as the M5 left you feeling. Just too clinical and refined when not caning it. Perhaps that's just how BMW do things. Quiet family car most of the time, then it comes alive on a track (or so I hear).
I must be honest, I don't see the relevance of that on southern UK roads. Here, I'd rather have a car that feels brilliant and accurate and involving up to 6 tenths but then loses the plot when you're really cracking on, because that's a car I'll appreciate and enjoy for 99% of my time on the road, instead of just 1% when I'm on a bit of tarmac that's clear enough, and clearly sighted enough, and has enough space to exploit all of just about any modern car's performance in safety.
Personally, I do think if you tried a Quattroporte or Rapide, you might not have come to the same conclusion. Those are cars that seem to be able to distract the driver in pleasing ways even when they're not on a mission. And Mercs have a particular lazy or unhurried, stately character that can be appreciated at low speed. Or at least they used to. The car just needs something to make it feel special more often, and it can be done.
Yes the QP or Rapide would probably feel more special, but part of the allure (to me at least) of something like the M5 is that, apart from the average PHer, the majority of people wouldn't know an M5 from a 520d without close scrutiny. The QP and Rapiide are much more overtly not your run of the mill saloon.I've never driven an M anything, and I have liked the 5 series cars that I've driven, but I've driven a few six cylinder 3s of various generations and they've all left me feeling the same as the M5 left you feeling. Just too clinical and refined when not caning it. Perhaps that's just how BMW do things. Quiet family car most of the time, then it comes alive on a track (or so I hear).
I must be honest, I don't see the relevance of that on southern UK roads. Here, I'd rather have a car that feels brilliant and accurate and involving up to 6 tenths but then loses the plot when you're really cracking on, because that's a car I'll appreciate and enjoy for 99% of my time on the road, instead of just 1% when I'm on a bit of tarmac that's clear enough, and clearly sighted enough, and has enough space to exploit all of just about any modern car's performance in safety.
Personally, I do think if you tried a Quattroporte or Rapide, you might not have come to the same conclusion. Those are cars that seem to be able to distract the driver in pleasing ways even when they're not on a mission. And Mercs have a particular lazy or unhurried, stately character that can be appreciated at low speed. Or at least they used to. The car just needs something to make it feel special more often, and it can be done.
I currently have a Z4 30i for when the sun shines. Not slow but in a much lower league to the M5. But the Z4 feels faster. It's more rewarding to drive quickly, even though the steering isn't the best and it suffers from chronic understeer, as you have to work harder at it.
Maybe the issue is that base versions of cars like the 5 Series are too accomplished nowadays? Maybe my expectations of the M5 were just too much? Maybe the M5 is just too clinical?
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