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Car Guy
The Big Tease
Why own a $57,000 Infiniti M56 if it can’t be driven at half the speed it was designed to reach?
(Page 2 of 3)
Equally true: A modern fuel-injected 200 hp V-6 will get you to 100 without breaking a sweat — and to 80 or so (about the fastest we can realistically drive here for any length of time) and maintain it, easily.
And it wouldn’t get 16 mpg (or cost $57k) like the 420 hp M56 does.
But, we’ve been convinced by the marketing and PR wizards that a V-8 more powerful than Ferrari V-12s were in the '80s is an absolute Essential — or at least, very desirable — even if we have neither the inclination nor the opportunity to ever actually use two-thirds of that capability.
Current luxury cars are more juiced up than Arnold Schwarzenegger during his Mr. Olympia days — and like him, built mostly for show.
In Europe (Germany especially) really powerful cars do get used, so it makes some sense. But there’s something symptomatically American about millions of 300 and 400 hp luxury cars loafing along at 64 mph — their engines burbling, their chrome plated 20 inch rims spinning… like Arnold flexing his biceps, but never actually doing anything with them.
Virtually all current-year luxury cars are really sports cars. They have sharply raked windshields and low-cut rooflines, hold-you-tight-bucket seats with floor (and paddle) shifters and consoles and huge hooded gauge clusters with tachometers and 8,000 RPM redlines. They ride on 18, 19 and 20-inch light-alloy wheels with tires that have sidewalls as skinny and hard as the 20-year-old flatbelly who teaches aerobics at the gym.
Which is lovely, if you do track days — or drive on public roads like you do on track days.
But 95 percent of the people who drive these cars, don’t. As Bob Dole once said: You know it. I know it. The American people know it. But they don’t care. They willingly pay fifty or sixty grand to cram their not-so-flexible, not-so-young-anymore backsides into a tight-fitting, hard-riding sports car with four doors and pay $300 a pop for 150 mph-rated tires that never see the high side of 80 — in order that they may feel youthful and virile and whatever-else, as conditioned into their heads by the PR maestros who make it so.
My father-in-law drives a Cadillac Sedan de Ville from the early 1990s — the era when Cadillac still built luxury cars. It does not have bucket seats. It has flat, three-across bench seats. They give when you sit down — and are perfect for 15-hour drives to Vegas. A pull-down column-shifter controls an automatic that is automatic. It does not require or expect you to tap paddle shifters or engage “sport” mode. There is no “sport” mode. Its job is to transition between gears without the driver or passengers noticing or feeling anything.
That was the whole object of the exercise, you see.
It has pop-on (and off) wire wheel covers on 15 inch rims — with smooth-riding all-season radials wrapped around ‘em. The suspension is soft. You don’t feel potholes. The steering is one-finger effortless — and the car is incredibly comfortable.
True, it doesn’t “handle” in the way that almost all modern car reviewers require for their approval. But it wasn’t meant to. What it was meant to do is glide along, smoothly and quietly — relaxation in motion.
Which is what used to be what luxury meant.
I miss it. Don’t you?
On the other end of the scale, we have economy car buyers who don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect the automakers to produce subcompacts that can take a T-bone impact at 60 mph like a 5,000 pound S-Class Benz, yet also knock down 40 MPGs but still do 0-60 in less than 8 seconds; that feature GPS, power windows and locks, Bluetooth wireless — and still be priced under $15k.
About the Author
Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love to Hate (Motor Books International) and a new book, Road Hogs.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (66) | Leave a comment
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CB| 4.21.10 @ 6:17AM
Well......I have been a car junkie since I was fifteen, and for me, I'll keep my 505hp ZO6 vette forever. You can't put a value on the joy that this beast gives me every time I crank it up and go.
Oh, and by the way, I have never gotten less than 23 mpg....
John Navratil| 4.21.10 @ 6:24AM
To true! I'm driving in Europe at the moment. Everyone who can (that's most) drive 130 KPH (80 MPH) plus. Not everything is a big Benz either. A
diesel Peugot 308 cruises at 95-100 MPH all day long. Same thing with the VW Golf TDI.
You haven't lived until you've been passed by the "new" FIAT 500 while you are doing 160 KPH. It was downhill of course (we passed the FIAT stuggling up the next one).
The thing I have to look forward to now are the speeding tickets I expect in the mail over the next couple of months.
Gr0w1er| 4.23.10 @ 1:35AM
The last time I was in Europe was on the great southern German Autobahns. It was glorious: AVG speed 180kph/112mph! And I was being PASSED by all these big-block Benzes, BMWs, Audis, et al.. It was like being in my very own
NASCAR race (only without all the drafting/tailgating). Those Germans really know how to drive. Fast.
Old Soldier| 4.21.10 @ 7:41AM
I never liked luxury cars. I did like sports cars. Now it's hard to find one with a manual transmission and not auto-everything.
alert1201| 4.21.10 @ 8:40AM
2 years ago I bought a Honda Civic (cheapest car on the lot) to tote me back and for to work. I wanted a manual transmission and got the only one on a lot of about 30 civics. We had to go by and look in the window of each car before we found the one manual that was there.
Got the manual because I like to drive them and I do not want my kids, when I teach them how to drive, to be imprisoned by only being able to use an automatic.
Old Soldier| 4.21.10 @ 1:37PM
My wife had a Saab that was totaled in an accident. The Saab dealer could not find a replacement with the options we wanted with a manual (I was not convinced they tried that hard). Now she has a BMW with a manual - fun.
jumpmaster| 4.22.10 @ 9:56PM
I have to agree with you alert. Honda manuals are great comutors, and if young enough tuners. I prefer my manual hondas to be the 2 wheeled version. Long live the GL 1100. Mine has 140k plus on it.
DR_X| 4.21.10 @ 9:20AM
I would cruise in my Audi A4 at 110mph on the QE-2 in Canada. The car was limited to 130mph, able to go 150mph but never saw 125mph. the S4 could blow it away but other than track days I never had to worry about that.
I now have a Jeep with 4 wheel drive and YES it does see the dirt several times a year.
Where it snows the AWD I had on my Audi was GREAT! I had a BMW with reaer wheel and it was awful, if I lived where the snow never falls I'd agree that AWD is over-kill.
Dan Hirsch| 4.21.10 @ 9:54AM
Eric;
Four wheel drive is very helpful in these snow storm prone days of global warming. That's why people want it. 16" of ground clearance would be useless to most, but not 4 wheel drive.
Why should you decide how much horsepower I need? You don't know what I do with my car, nor why. It's not your business and it most certainly is not the federal government's business.
If I am so stupid that some little green lizard or some overstuffed sexpot model can convince me to overspend on my car, then that's my problem, not yours.
My car develops more than 400 hp; it has four doors; I get 21 mpg on the highway. I love it. It makes me laugh; it does what I want it to. Once in a while it reminds me of the absolute supremacy of the laws of physics.
If you don't know why one would want a little extra horsepower, you've never been stuck behind a 10 mph-below-the-limit-mope in a passing zone (half of them honk at you when you pass), you've never wanted to get ahead of the semi in the lane your trying to merge into, and you've never felt any exhilaration 'zooming' up to the speed limit or maybe a little over. Too bad for you. Why do you write about cars? You seem to have no concept of why we Americans love them so much...or maybe you are too fearful to enjoy life a little.
I believe Mark Twain said, 'Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is!" Live a little!
Michael Crites| 4.21.10 @ 10:59AM
Amen to that, Dan. I choose to buy the car that meets my needs (and wants...) that I can afford. It's no one's business what that is or why that is or whether or not I'll ever use it they way they think it should be used. It's my money, it's my choice, it's my life, leave me alone ...
jumpmaster| 4.22.10 @ 9:59PM
Dan I find it interesting that you would put the need of a 4x4 in the same sentance as global warming. Haven't you heard that Ol' Dan is making millions on that load of crap he has been shoveling? I do agree with the 4 door 400 plus hp though.
Majito| 4.21.10 @ 9:59AM
You guys need to move to Arizona (85MPH speed limit) in wide open roads...but then again, going fast is not that fun unless some hills and turns are in the mix...just look at a Nascar race in an oval and one in a circuit...it quite a difference...but 0-60 in 5 secs is pretty lame...give me a 0-100mph 6 sec Cobra, Porsche, Viper or Ferrari...now that's something to get excited about...0-60 in 5 secs...hohum...that's gramps wheels
Gr0w1er| 4.23.10 @ 1:42AM
Ruf Rt12S: 0-60mph 3.2 sec. Is that fast enough?
(Better yet, for pure speed, YouTube TopGear Ariel Atom. you won't believe it until you see it. [Too bad
they aren't imported {yet}])
JimP| 4.21.10 @ 10:30AM
Amen, Eric. I, or rather my wife, owns a 5,000 lb SUV w/4x4 in case it snows. 12mpg, $300 tires etc. It's been in the snow..... I think twice in 10 years. Yeah, it's old, but I won't buy another one. Take care of it Honey. It's gotta last.
DatsunMark| 4.21.10 @ 11:05AM
To me these wantabe guys who own the latest greatest 500hp euro/asian/fourdoor fast mobile are not Car Guys. You have to own a classic and wrench on it yourself occasionally to qualify for this club. Funny thing is that this is a much more nicer group of people to be around and are more likely to help and snub you. (I own a 69 Datsun Sports Roadster)
CB| 4.21.10 @ 12:12PM
I have done my fair share of wrenching on some of my older cars....a 69 Mustang most of all. But I also do what I can on my 505 hp chevy....brakes, shocks, oil changes, etc...so I think I qualify as a "Car Guy"...
Al Adab| 4.21.10 @ 11:37AM
Don't know where everyone lives. Maybe in the East the distances and interstates are such that it isn't an issue. Out West the distances are such that interstate speeds, posted at 75, are actually run at about 80 just to keep the semis from running you over.
Having something that will run above 100 wouldn't be a bad thing. Lots of space to cover and not so many people. Just another cultural item to add to the list which distinguishes the East coast and California from the rest of the country.
jumpmaster| 4.22.10 @ 10:05PM
Hay Al, I agree. But here in Houston you have to do 90 just to keep from being run over in the middle of down town, or on loop 610.
Fun fact, did anybody know El Paso is closer to LA then to Dallas? We got plenty of space, trouble is the DPS has chase cars that are just as fast as the 2011 Z06.
Brian B| 4.21.10 @ 11:49AM
--Just another cultural item to add to the list which distinguishes the East coast and California from the rest of the country.--
Huh? California is the 3rd largest state by area and while it may not be far from Oakland to San Francisco it's a fur piece from Yreka to Blythe. Considerably farther than the boundaries of most other states out West. Outside of the coastal metropolises, CA and its people are just as much part of the west as Montana.
Al Adab| 4.21.10 @ 12:35PM
Brian:
Just so you know, I don't disagree. The problem with the entire country is the conflict between urban dependant (government wards) and rural, semi-rural more self sufficient types. Problem being the urbanites outnumber the rest of us. Look at the urban heavy blue states.
jumpmaster| 4.22.10 @ 10:08PM
Brian, I agree. But also people need to remember that cities like LA and Houston, hell even the Dallas Ft. Worth areas are bigger then the state of Rhode Island. Want a good ride, go down rt. 66. Goes through about 7 states.
George S| 4.21.10 @ 11:49AM
According to my word counter, there are 1,237 words in this article. The point can probably be made in less than a dozen words... but maybe young women enjoy reading thousands of words and think a man is not all he's measured up to be if he goes around making his point in a hundred words or less. Maybe others are impressed with the ability to afford the extra words. An article with 1200 words looks more impressive in the party host's driveway than a concise, utilitarian paragraph.
The reasons have always been the same, whether it's the convertible top with tail light fins or the gull wing doors or the nitro injection -- it's the impression it makes.
Jim Woodward| 4.21.10 @ 11:51AM
I went the British route at 19 with with a three year old Sprite. Moved on to a VW, back to a '67 MGB, '74 TR-6, '79 Spitfire for the wife, all used, all mechanically sound, maintained and relatively trouble free. Living in Maryland there was no shortage of taffic free country roads to enjoy them on. My last was another '74 TR-6 purchased in '84 for $200.00. Over the next 2 years with the help of friends it looked and ran like new. With the Laycock electric overdrive it was good for 115 flat out. I sold it in '03 for for a littl less than I had put into it over the years. The fun factor was the bonus.
Friends went different routes so I've had the pleasure of driving Alfas, TVR's, Porches, Corvettes and Jaguar E-types and sedans, 6 and 12 cyl. Never done more than 120 mph and the only tickets I ever collected were around town in radar traps. You the sort of thing, 45 in a 35.
There is a Ferrari, Maserati, Lotus store in downtown Salt Lake and if money were no object I would be in there with my checkbook in a NY minute.
jumpmaster| 4.22.10 @ 10:12PM
Jim, I sure hope you replaces the British Laylond wiring in the TR's and the MG. Had some experiance with some of that in a TR-7. That was the first time I rewired a car from headlight to tail light.
MikN| 4.21.10 @ 12:03PM
You left out the detail where mileage standards and safety requirements priced the large sedans out of the market. Compare the Subaru wagon with the old station wagons. Or the old ful-size cars with cirrent ones. So now if you want space, you have to get an SUV or a minivan.
pomdter| 4.21.10 @ 12:08PM
This makes me miss my dad's 80 Seville Elegante. I felt like the king of the world floating that boat down the road on the rare occasion he let me drive it.
Joe D| 4.21.10 @ 12:08PM
Just for your information in the DC area we have a number of people on a daily commute doing 15 - 20 over the limit for various stretches 1 to 2 miles to pass slower driver and not just 20 somethings.
Petronius| 4.21.10 @ 12:33PM
A lousy situation brought to us by Weenies: econadermalthusian Weenies.
Ban low performance drivers, not high performance cars!
Al Adab| 4.21.10 @ 1:37PM
Eco-nader-malthusian.
Great word. Love it.
copy cd dvd | 4.21.10 @ 3:05PM
nice infinity car.
Forever Marine| 4.21.10 @ 4:47PM
Eric, why would a guy who appears to be "not a car guy" write a "Car Guy" column. I kept waiting for the punch line. I have 420 HP Porsche. Car Guys never have enough HP. Because it gives me JOY!!!!!
jumpmaster| 4.22.10 @ 10:16PM
Sempr Fi youg man and there is never too much HP. I have maxed out my 94 gmc serria. Kept the same 350 witch is now at 404 hp, and no turbo or nitrous. Lots of port work and a little bit on the bottom end. Wife doesn't want me to do the nitrous. She says I am corrupting my sons. haha.
Gr0w1er| 4.23.10 @ 1:47AM
Better to have horsepower and not need it than need
it and not have it!!
ken muraro| 4.21.10 @ 5:57PM
You seem to be a nice guy but.........you don't understand, we're talking horsepower and torque. It a sensation of having your loins delegated back towards the rear bumper . It's a guy thing!
liveaboard| 4.21.10 @ 5:58PM
The stupid EPA and even dumber Congress have created a set of overly restrictive NOx emissions regulations that kill fuel economy. They could have left them alone at the 1990 levels, which provided an entirely reasonable reduction in emissions, but no, they changed them ca. 1996 which caused, for example, cars that averaged 30 MPG to get 24 MPG; they did it again ca. 2007 causing those 24 MPG cars do drop to 21 MPG, and then they did it to the diesels with the Tier III diesel regulations which killed diesel fuel economy. The VW TDI diesels that used to get 49 to 54 MPG pre Tier III now only get 33 MPG. Cars that average 33 to 36 MPG in Europe, which has sensible NOx regulations only get 22 to 23 MPG here in the states.
The reason you braggarts can have your BIG horsepower is because the pedal to the metal mode has been excluded from the emissions test. If the Obama/Greenie car hating EPA has its way you'll all be driving a 3 horsepower solar/electric cars...you won't be able to pedal because that increases CO2...
Brain72| 4.21.10 @ 7:28PM
I would just about prefer to invest $20-30,000 in rebuilding an old car just the way I want it with new aftermarket parts than buy a new one. The only new cars I really like are the Camaro and Corvette.
The more intrusive the regulations become, the more I want to just create a resto-mod pro touring custom to suit my tastes and avoid the silliness. Say a 1970 Chevelle SS built with a new GM Performance LSX aluminum big block V-8, somewhere between 502 and 572 cu.in. and fuel injected. Six speed manual from the Vette-Camaro, custom leather interior and audio where there are many more options than you get from a factory car. Google the name Chip Foose, and you will see what I mean.
Maybe I'll get my dream car one day, and I can go to AlGore's mansion gate and do carbon spewing burnouts to send him a message.
Leave my horsepower alone!
Moe Blotz| 4.21.10 @ 9:00PM
Here is a term to describe the automotive journalism of Mr.Peters: carmudgeon.
Filofox| 4.22.10 @ 3:22AM
I'm stationed in Germany and I drive a Mini Cooper S. Just the thing for having fun on the Autobahn or anywhere else for that matter. I think the lack of a speed limit here has a social purpose - it's a survival technique for the enormous cost of living here. Instead of going postal over this tax bill, your average German can climb into his (big little fast slow) car and floor it all the way home. By the time he gets there, he's over his snit and docile enough to be trusted with his family and his vote. Any politician here will have his hand in your pocket (19% VAT!) but none of them has the guts to suggest that 100MPH is fast enough.
Carlos| 4.22.10 @ 12:27PM
Don't care. I'm a 62 yr old American and I still want all the HP, I can get. It's in our DNA. We want it for the same reason we prefer NASCAR over F1, for the same reason we prefer the NFL to that lame soccer, for the same reason MMA is now more popular than boxing, for the same reason we prefer American baseball to Japanese baseball. We relish contact.We are not satisfied with merely scoring 1 or 2 more points, or just coming in 1st. We want to dominate. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Mitch Bogart| 4.22.10 @ 12:42PM
This article is plain wrong! As the comments hint, and as I with my 270hp Q45 know, it is not just a "top speed which you'll never use" thing.
Sir Isaac Newton: F=ma
The force you feel is zero at constant speed. It's the high acceleration that one feels and that's what you get with this M56. You may only hit 60 on a minor highway, but man it feels great getting there. If you still don't understand, swap cars with Prius and Corvette owners and require them to not go over 60. At the end of the day they'll be able to put the difference in street language!
WS KENWORTH| 4.22.10 @ 12:51PM
I don't think the author was trying to tell us what car to drive. But his premise is accurate. In most populated areas of the US you cannot drive the way the cars were designed. I am actually happy about that; compare the skill set between a German driver and an American driver. We are fortunate that we can't use these cars to their full potential...
CJinSD| 4.22.10 @ 2:12PM
I'm not sure that this has been particularly true since reunification. German drivers aren't that special. Just let one drive your cherished manual transmission car and see if you don't flinch when they rest their left foot on the clutch pedal at all times and depress said clutch pedal to coast. Or drive on the autobahn and see how far you get at 170 kph in the left lane before someone pulls immediately in front of you going 120 kph.
ws kenworth| 4.22.10 @ 12:55PM
Also, I noticed the excessive braggadocio ( I drive a Porsche, Corvette, etc.) Guess what guys, no one is looking at you!! Check out the people driving the Prius', if you want a good laugh.
CJinSD| 4.22.10 @ 1:00PM
Living in San Diego, there is actually an argument for having the top AMG Mercedes and short lived turbo BMWs. That reason is the insane 'traffic calming' jam creators on entrance ramps. People in smarter parts of the country can't even imagine, but some of our freeway entrance ramps have stop lights placed partway along them. They stop every single car, creating huge traffic jams behind them and requiring cars to go from 0-70 in a few hundred feet in order to merge safely. This is when engines over 400 hp start to make sense, even though they only make sense because Sacramento refuses to.
ws kenworth| 4.22.10 @ 1:32PM
They're doing the same nonsense here in Pennsylvania. What genius thought of this?
CJinSD| 4.22.10 @ 2:08PM
The left hates the personal freedom that cars represent and is set on making their use as inconvenient as possible.
Filofox| 4.22.10 @ 4:10PM
You've got that right.
Real Americans drive what they bloody well want.
Wayang Kulit| 4.22.10 @ 1:28PM
In a sense, you have to balance the desire to enjoy your 2nd Amendment rights with automobile lusts: where I live, if you're caught at twice the legal limit the authorities can charge you with a felony. Felons can't buy guns.
The first time I went motorcycle shopping (and by the way, motorcycles offer much greater thrills for the money: search 'turbo hayabusa' on YouTube), the salesman summed it up nicely for me. He didn't want to go 180mph, he just wanted to get to 100mph as quickly as possible, with an eye to the legal predicament.
Bob Armstrong | 4.22.10 @ 1:57PM
Back in `80 in Rochester NY , I got a Porsche 924 turbo with full sports suspension . You could feel the strength and precision , and it got 20 mpg at a safe 100 mph . Now a lot of cars a that capable , but American speed limits and laws have generally not evolved to reflect the greater capabilities of modern cars .
Mitch Bogart| 4.22.10 @ 2:20PM
Wayang has it right, too. Let me try once more.
The need, utility, safety, and fun of a high-powered vehicle is not for its high speed, but it's high acceleration. It is legal to go from 0 to 55mph in 5 seconds if you can. It has not only more "farfigneugen" (driving pleasure), but is much safer for evading danger, entering traffic, etc. If you're crossing an intersection and see a car coming from the side street about to hit you, you just step on it. THEN you appreciate having 3 times the acceleration of a Prius.
Nelson H.| 4.22.10 @ 2:48PM
Aw hell, Peters! You freakin' kill-joy! We GOTS to have at least 400 hp. That 0-60 number has GOTS to be less than 5.4 seconds. If you want some real high-speed thrills, check out Nevada or Utah or Montana highways around 3am sometime, with radar of course!
JiminGA| 4.22.10 @ 3:10PM
I think Mr. Peters is into transportation, not cars. But the market stands ready to deliver whatever he chooses, be it a Prius or a Ferrari. Both cars make a statement about the driver and Mr. Peters just doesn't get it.
myvws2| 4.22.10 @ 4:39PM
I'll keep my Corvairs and old VW's thank you very much....
Richard Baker| 4.25.10 @ 12:05PM
The author of this screed has forgotten that the reason is Freedom. If I want a 1000 horsepower hot rod then it's none of his damned business. If he doesn't then that's his Freedom to choose otherwise. Another damned busybody.
princo | 4.30.10 @ 1:11PM
I never liked luxury cars. I did like sports cars. Now it's hard to find one with a manual transmission and not auto-everything.
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