SEP2009 CARANDDRIVE MOC.R98

$50,000 SPORTS SEDANSCOMPARISON TEST

n 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 in�uence 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-a�icted 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 �ve 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 In�niti 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 �ve contestants �nished in alphabetical order. We have no idea what that portends.

O

BEST IN TEST *EST PRICE ($) DIMENSIONS (inches) WEIGHT

FUEL

TAN

K ( g

al)

OCTA

NE

RATI

NG

INTERIOR VOL (cu �)

VEHICLE

BASE

AS T

ESTE

D

LEN

GTH

WID

TH

HEIG

HT

WHE

ELBA

SE

FRON

T TRA

CK

REAR

TRA

CK

CURB

(lb

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% F

RON

T

% R

EAR

FRON

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TRUN

K

AUDI A6 3.0T QUATTRO $50,925 $58,265 193.5 73.0 57.4 111.9 63.5 63.7 4183 57.7 42.3 21.1 91 51 45 16

BMW 535i $51,925 $63,820 191.1 72.7 57.8 113.7 63.1 62.2 3882 51.0 49.0 18.5 91 54 45 14

INFINITI M45 $53,015 $60,815 194.3 71.1 59.5 114.2 59.5 60.8 4053 54.7 45.3 20.0 91 59 46 15

JAGUAR XF $49,975 $58,850 195.3 73.9 57.5 114.5 61.4 63.2 4061 52.6 47.4 18.4 91 53 44 18

MERCEDES-BENZ E350 $49,475 $55,455 191.7 73.0 57.6 113.1 62.2 63.0 3967 52.7 47.3 21.1 91 52 45 16