Categories
Luxury

2007 Mercedes S65 AMG: The Most Powerful Production Sedan in the World

LOCATION SPOTTED: Elie Tahari (East Hampton Village)
LOCATION SPOTTED: Elie Tahari (East Hampton Village)

Performance:

  • Acceleration 0 to 60: 4.1 sec
  • Braking 60 to 0: 111
  • Quarter Mile: 12.2 sec
  • Slalom: 66.3 mph
  • Skid-pad: 0.90 g

What you are looking at, is the most powerful production sedan in the world. The end. Period. This car has the balls to take on the likes of Porsche Carreras from the 2012 model, and win. All while weighing 5200 lbs with rear drive.

For me an Audi S8 is and has always been the ultimate expression of the all-weather solution to finding the perfect full-size executive sedan with huge power and decent handling. However, in past years with only 450 horsepower (Yes, for 2013 there will be a new S8 with over 520 horsepower), it seemed slightly undernourished when paired with a dynamic chassis that could easily handle more power. The S65 easily has adequate power to match it’s chassis’ integrity and, if you don’t have the need for 4-wheel drive, is a tremendous and even more astonishing to drive alternative to the S8.

The 2007 S65 has 604 horsepower. Even though 2007 was the first year for this particular model, this car has remained the most powerful production sedan into the 2012 model year (trumping the next most powerful Bentley Flying Spur Speed by 4 horsepower). That is tremendous for any car of any price. Not only is it more powerful than all of it’s rivals (including that Bentley), but it is faster than virtually all of the European luxo-barges, and most definitely more dynamic in handling thanks to it’s AMG-tuned suspension. If you want handling and space, buy the Audi S8. If you want handling, space and the ability to leave all other limos in the dust, S65 is the way to go. Just remember that with the Merc, you should avoid unleashing all of that power on wet tarmac with only rear-drive. (Please Mercedes! Make this car with 4-Matic for the northeast climate!)

Categories
Off-Road

Highly Modified Land Rover Defender: Classic British Off-Roading

LOCATION SPOTTED: Brown Harris Stevens (Amagansett)
LOCATION SPOTTED: Brown Harris Stevens (Amagansett)

Performance:

  • (Not really what this car is about)

The Land Rover Defender; a car that needs no introduction to Land Rover enthusiasts and many others in the off road community. This entry is kind of a departure from the usual fast and luxurious cars you see on DRIVEHAMPTONS, whereas it is somewhat rare to find a tricked out car that (as far as i know) isn’t even sold in America any longer. Whoever owns this particular rig means business.

It’s very possible that in the Hamptons, this particular car’s owner has absolutely no interest in cars and simply owns this car just for the way it looks and nothing else. Perhaps that is one thing that I haven’t been stressing about on Drivehamptons.com as editor. There are two types of people who own these expensive and highly exotic cars in the Hamptons. The first kind (Type 1) are the most commonly found; people who have such an obscene amount of money that they really don’t care what things cost or what it is that they even buy in the first place, just whatever is the most convenient to buy. The second kind are the type of people who aren’t always as financially successful, but are easily 20 times more passionate about their cars, therefore each of their cars is likely to have aftermarket upgrades and therefore are more interesting and significant. In the case of this Defender, it most certainly belongs to the second party.

The Defender is a very rare car in the United States. However, that isn’t because it’s a bad car. It’s really the last true, rugged off roader produced by Land Rover. They stopped North American sales in 1997 in pursuit of more cushy luxurious models like the Range Rover or Discovery. Too bad, because it means that there is going to be only more and more of the Type 1 car buyers, people who just couldn’t be bothered, because all they want is to be coddled in supreme comfort, and couldn’t care less if their SUV can actually go off road. There’s nothing wrong with not being enthusiastic about your car, everyone is built differently, but don’t walk around saying “oh I like cars” when you drive a bone stock Audi Q5, because you’ll sound ridiculous to any enthusiast.

Categories
Luxury

2012 Fisker Karma: Technoligically Advanced, but Does It All Work?

LOCATION SPOTTED: Cittanuova Restaurant (East Hampton Village)
LOCATION SPOTTED: Cittanuova Restaurant (East Hampton Village)

Performance

  • Acceleration 0 to 60: 5.9 sec
  • Braking 60 to 0: 110 ft
  • Quarter Mile: 14.7 sec
  • Slalom: 66.5 mph
  • Skidpad: 0.91 g

Electric cars have not allways been very successful, with the global dominance of the internal combustion engine, it isn’t hard to see why. However, as gas prices rise and eco-awareness has recently become evermore prominant, more and more car manufacturers are producing electric powered vehicles.

Now I’m sure the performance minded enthusiast will say, “That electric car can’t keep up with a normal four door GT carlike a Panemera S or a BMW Gran Coupe.” Now yes, that is a correct statement, but the Fisker Karma isn’t that far off on performance. No one should ever underestimate this car off the line, it’s acceleration numbers are very impressive at 6.0 seconds to 60 mph. It does fall off slightly due to it’s low top speed, when it goes through the quarter mile at less than 95 mph, but through 80 mph it is very quick.

However, while the idea of the Fisker Karma is a great one, the sad part (as is with any small car maker like Fisker) is that much of the interior ergonomics and interfaces are confusing and non-fluid in operation. This lack of conherence between all the elements of the Karma, like it’s completely screwed-up and unfathomable Navigation/Radio head-unit and poor-at-best reliability with it’s engine electronics, caused Consumer Reports to rank the Fisker Karma at the very bottom of it’s list for long-term reliability. Shame, this car should’ve been great, but until Fisker works the kinks out, it can’t ever be.

Categories
Exotic

2008 Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640 Roadster: Not a Supercar, HYPERCAR

2008 Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640 Roadster: Not a Supercar, HYPERCAR
LOCATION SPOTTED: London Jewlers (East Hampton Village)

Performance:

  • Acceleration 0 to 60: 3.4 sec
  • Braking 60 to 0: 107 feet
  • Quarter Mile: 11.6 sec
  • Slalom: 71.0 mph
  • Skidpad: 1.01 g

Not every Lamborghini is a “hypercar.” When you examine the current Lamborghini range, you’ll notice that it really only consists of two cars, the Gallardo, and the Aventador (successor to the Murcielago). The Gallardo is basically the competitor to most other supercars like the Ferrari 458, Mclaren MP4-12C, and Corvette ZR1, among others. However, the Aventador, or (in 2008) the Murcielago are Hypercars, that cost nearly double what the Gallardo costs.

So, the Murcielago. Well, this particular iteration, the LP 640, just went out of production in 2010, however, one good thing about hypercars is that even if they are a few years old, they still leave current supercars in the dust. This is just about the fastest roadster i’ve ever seen. It’s ultra-lowered stance makes it look very menacing, especially from the rear, where the giant single exhaust pipe is gaping wide-open at cars behind it. And they would be behind it, because this thing is FAST.

The V12 engine makes 631 hp and 488 lb ft of torque. When all that power is mapped to a sophisticated AWD system, it produces acceleration like no other. One unique aspect of this Lamborghini and all others is that none of them use any type of turbo-charging or supercharging system. Just raw power from a high displacement V12. Sure, 8 mpg city and 15 mpg highway isn’t great, but the mpg sacrifice is well worth the reward when revving the V12 up to it’s 8000 rpm redline. Besides, it’s a hypercar so don’t worry about the mpg.