Cars We Drive! - Page 533

I don't know about that. The AMG M156 6.2L engine seems to have won some awards and is under your $100k threshold.

There are many great engines out there, but to put the S65 in perspective, it has won the International Engine of the Year award 5 years in a row (2008-2012). Granted, this is for the 3.0 - 4.0L engine category, but I think it's a pretty amazing feat.

To put things in perspective, the AMG M156 6.2L engine won the International Engine of the Year award for Best Performance Engine and was only supplanted by a Ferrari engine (notably not under the $100k limit). For those of you who have never driven a car with the AMG 6.2L engine, the thing I like about it most is how controllable it feels even with the massive torque. There are those who prefer a sudden push of a turbo but I prefer the control when having to merge at highway speeds and other day to day situations.

Yeah I came across this on Vimeo today and was thinking the same thing. I also didn't get the tie-in between Ramadan, remembering the poor and driving obnoxiously.


I don't put much stock in awards even though the S54, S65 and S63 have done well - and BMW play this up as much as possible as the pic below indicates.



The M15x engines and the LSx engines are great and I've driven cars with both. However, the way the S65 feels, sounds and acts from 6k-8.4k is otherworldly in its category.
Edited by ramuman - 1/5/13 at 8:36pm

I'd give the nod to the BMW motors too, the ITB's on all the M cars have made them unique in their category... they couldn't afford to dump an ITB'd E36 M3 in the US at the $34,995 they wanted to sell the car for, but the E46 was a steal, in hindsight. The only other 'cheap' cars with distinctive motors were the Honda Type-R cars, for their output and simplicity, and there was an Alfa V6 with ITB's from about 10 years ago that also sounded fantastic, I haven't heard the newer 3.2JTS go WOT but the old one was musical. The S6 with the V10 might qualify as well. I am kind of hesitant to put the AMG's in there because their motor philosophy is not tailor made and they get pretty expensive, depending on how big you want your sausage....

I'd give the nod to the BMW motors too, the ITB's on all the M cars have made them unique in their category... they couldn't afford to dump an ITB'd E36 M3 in the US at the $34,995 they wanted to sell the car for, but the E46 was a steal, in hindsight. The only other 'cheap' cars with distinctive motors were the Honda Type-R cars, for their output and simplicity, and there was an Alfa V6 with ITB's from about 10 years ago that also sounded fantastic, I haven't heard the newer 3.2JTS go WOT but the old one was musical. The S6 with the V10 might qualify as well. I am kind of hesitant to put the AMG's in there because their motor philosophy is not tailor made and they get pretty expensive, depending on how big you want your sausage....

i'm still biased to the S65's because of their high revving ability and their induction noise is fantastic

but in fairness, the 6.3 AMG's sound awesome too (exhaust note mainly). and they win on torque if that floats your boat

i'll take your word on the Chevy LS, they just tend to get wrapped in shit packages so you can't really tell if the engine is any good (disclaimer: have not driven current-gen Vette yet)

The 6.2L AMG is fucking amazing too. I've only driven it once, but goddamn, that torque is out of this world!!

If only the C63 wasn't so fugs, I'd be all over it. The tranny is kinda meh, too.

i just found out that Hertz rents these guys (the C63 and the E63) out of FLL, as well as the Panamera. would be a good thing to do on a slow weekend day

wow that's sick, I'd be all over that if it were available locally.

Never would have guessed that they would supply such high performance vehicles.

I just check for my area and was disappointed too.

Panameras are also available in LAX and LAS, if you ever find yourselves in that neck of the woods

What's the longest test drive you've ever been on?

Feel bad for anyone who'd inadvertently buy an ex-rental E63 or C63... It'd be like marrying a woman and not knowing she did hardcore porn....

Hertz London has a Mp4-12 etc.
http://uk.hertzsupercars.com



Platinum motorsports rents out cars as well.
http://www.platinummotorsport.com/luxuryental.html