I was just gonna say that...

 

It's not backhanded, Deuuuce. It reflects the reality that when many American cars are tested in places outside of the US, they tend not to fare so well. The exception this in recent times being the Ford GT.

 

Resale value of a German luxury car, LOL!!!

A freind of mine bought his E55 new for 90k and sold it 1 1/2 years later for just under 60K. The same holds true for several other friends that have bought AMG vehicles. I think the only thing that depreciates faster then the German cars are Maserati and Aston Martin.

 

lol at buying a car for it's resale value. I never bought a car based on that. I buy a car the same way I choose a girlfriend,... passion. Idon'tlook at a potential female and think of the breakup,... when we'll part and what life will be like when I get rid of her....

I'm looking at her like....wow.... damn..... you ask around about her,.. maybe your friends know her...maybe nobody knows her cause she's soo new... she's got this perfect body... all the great curves.... proper booty..... looks refined,... classy... quiet...possibly an angel in the streets... then drop the hammer-panties...and she turns into this nympho freak that blows your mind and amazes you that it is what it is.... perfection.


Buy the car for the love.....for the passion.

Hope this makes sense.

 

U.S. cars don't fare well? The Viper ACR and ZR1 seem to be doing quite well at the Nurburgring and LeMans was owned by Corvette for the past decade. The new Cadillac CTS-V is only outdone by the Porsche Panamera turbo sedan. The Shelby SSC has taken away the Bugatti Veyron's claim to highest top speed for a production vehicle. I think the U.S. is faring quite well.

 

I'm not just talking about lap times. I'm talking about handling, overall subjective feel and responses. In this regard, the ZR1 has fallen short in 4 (so far) head-to-head comparos on European soil.
Good point about the Panamera. I haven't seen reviews of the CTS-V on European roads, but if the few reviews of the Panamera I've seen are any indication, the CTS-V should fare quite well against the Panamera.

 

Subjectively most european drivers don't know what torque is or how to cope with it, so it doesn't suprise me when the euro magazine drivers can't launch or drive U.S. cars very well. They are used to spinning up a car to 8,000 rpm and using gearing to make up for the lack of torque their engines make.

 

It really has nothing to do with launching the cars, and they test cars with tons of torque, including both US and non-US cars. It has to do with feedback, responses, confidence.

ZR1: 604 lb-ft

Koenigsegg CCX: 678 lb-ft
9ff GT9: 711 lb-ft
Gumpert Apollo: 675 lb-ft
SL65 AMG Black Series: 738 lb-ft
Brabus Bullitt: 811 lb-ft
Brabus S V12: 757 lb-ft
Ruf RT12 S: 664 lb-ft
SLR 722: 605 lb-ft

Spinning these cars to 8000 rpm for a launch would be senseless.

The Ford GT has far more torque than a C6 Corvette, but they rate it much higher than the Corvette. Not just because it's faster, but because of the way it feels when driving it.

A European magazine (Auto Bild of Germany) launched the ZR1 to 62 mph in only 3.2 seconds, uncorrected for altitude, weather, etc. Can you name a faster US test than that? This is roughly equivalent to a 0-60 time of 2.9-3.0 seconds...

 

If the C63 came in manual i would've bought it already.

 

The point is the European press isn't going to find anything different than the US. It's already been noted how the M5 feels more nimble than the CTS-V.

Facts are facts, preferences are another thing entirely.

 

US press found the CTS-V, driven by the very car's development driver, to be 0.47s faster on a 2:44.x lap vs a driver who hadn't even been in an M5 in four years. How do you know European press won't find different results in their own testing?
I'm not just talking about preferences. I'm talking about how US cars are rated highly in US tests, but when those same cars are tested in Europe, the rankings change. You want to talk about facts, this is a fact, with only a very few cars like the Ford GT being an exception.

 

Apples to apples please. I believe the Turbo Panamera costs 2X, that's twice as much as a V2, and I am sure modding and maintenance costs three times as much. I beleive the V2 run at 'The Ring' was an auto and equipped with PS2s. The driver was also John Heinricy, a good driver, but probably not as talented as Andy Pilgrim. Not sure of the specifics on the Panamera that ran The Ring (I recall an article a few years back when Porsche put PilotSport Cups on their car to ensure the best time), but three seconds could be gained easily with a $100.00 pulley and a $300.00 tune. I am not impressed with Porsche's 4-door offering, overpriced and ugly IMO---and of course I am a cheap bastage.

To the OP, go test drive a V2, not sure if they allow such, but ask anyway, I think once done your decision will be an easy one.

 

I concur, if you are placing weight on a car's resale value, buy a Hyundai and do not mod it---can you mod a Hyundai?? If resale value was the only consideration, we would all be driving 3-cylinders made in China or India.

 

[quote=Guibo;2526922]Who happens to be one of the top sports car drivers in the world, well over a decade of international professional level experience and had seat time in a 6M car before switching to the SMG during that test.

It's not going to be much different and may even depend upon the track.


It's not going to change a thing and the M5 has had years to get a sub-8min at the 'Ring but hasn't either. Don't know how many attempts though...

 

That isn't going to make up for the development time that Heinricy had in the actual car. You have no idea how much seat time Auberlen had in the 6M car. It could have been 1 lap for all we know.

"It's not going to change a thing" means you have resigned yourself to the very likely possibility that the CTS-V will fare worse against its competition once tested in Euro mags, as has been the case for almost every American car? Ok, then we are in agreement.
I doubt BMW goes for outright lap records for a production sedan the way GM did. We rarely hear of any times for any of their cars, including the more hardcore performance cars.