TopGear - M5 vs XJR vs E500.pdf

GROUP TEST

ON YOURPhotography: Ian DawsonMARKS34 February 1995 Top Gear

It only costs 72 Deutschmarks to drive six laps ofthe legendary Nurburgring. It could well be the mostfun you’ll ever have on four wheels. And if youhappen to be holding the keys to a Mercedes E500, aBMW M5 or a Jaguar XJR, it’s an absolute bargainTop Gear February 1995 35

Six laps equals 84 miles, so at 72Dm thatis 0.857Dm per mile, or roughly 35 pence.Nik Berg hands over his pants for pre-runscrutineering and heads out into the fogAplastic jug is a funny oldthing to get excited about.But then it dependswhat’s in it. We’ve got aplastic jug that we keepthe car keys in and sometimes thecontents are very lovely. Tonight it’s aright little treasure trove.Nestled in amongst the keys to smallautomatic diesels are the firing-pins toa Jaguar XJR, Mercedes-Benz E500and BMW M5. And each car is fullykitted-out with a ferry ticket to Calais,a Green Card and directions to a nicelittle hotel near the Nurburgring.The Nurburgring is probably theultimate car-testing track in Europe,home turf for the Merc and the BMW,but foreign soil for the Jaguar.But first we have to get to Dover inthe rush hour – no fun. No fun, thatis, unless you’re first to the jug andgrab the keys to the automatic Merc. Afew minutes spent loading the bootmountedCD-player, adjusting theheated electric seats and the airconditioningjust so, and it’s off intothe sticky, sorry mess that is tea-timeLondon traffic.Never mind, the cabin’s massivelycomfortable and roomy both front andrear. OK, it doesn’t feel too sportingdue to the fairground-ride steeringwheel, but for stop/start commuting,it’ll do just fine.It’s a bit of a farewell tour for theMerc. The E-class range gets replacedthis Autumn and the 500 is the first togo, with production having ceased atthe end of 1994. Available as a lefthookeronly, it sold in the UK inminuscule numbers. But as a motorwaymuncher there’s none finer. Itdispenses with the M2 with ruthlessefficiency, although it feels reined-inand frustrated. Never once does thefive-litre V8 get fully opened out.Mostly the 322bhp and 354lb ft oftorque lie dormant. Like Tory partyscandals, there’s much more to come.The Merc takes pole position atDover docks and soon the BMWglides up behind it. But where’s theJaguar? Do we wait for our colleaguesin this their hour of need. Do we standby them like true friends?No. We drive straight onto the boatand dive into the posh restaurant.Halfway through pudding we startfeeling a bit guilty and decide to waitfor them at Calais, where a huge quay-side argument ensues. It doesn’t quitecome to blows and eventually wegrump our way in convoy to our halffinishedhotel at Dunkerque. A fewcold beers and the bad mood blowsaway, the argument is forgottenNext morning we let the engineswarm and pore over maps to work outour route through France, Belgiumand Germany. It’s the first chance tocompare the three cars and in the earlymorning light the Merc looks meanerthan a Belfast docker. The loweredsuspension, big alloys and flared archesgive it the full German Touring Car‘did you spill my Pils?’ look. Bycontrast, the BMW is a paragon of discreteness.Apart from the badge andalloys there’s little to distinguish itfrom any other 5-Series, but it’s stilllean and mean.And the Jaguar? Well it’s as Britishlookingas the Queen Mother’s ballgown,but a lot more sexy and low cut.It’s a regal affair inside too, is theJaguar; a proper toff’s motor. Tastefulleather and darkened wood aboundand the majority of the old car’s dodgyswitchgear problems have been sorted,although the nasty little plastic shelfjutting out under the instrumentbinnacle is still there.You can clearly see where yourmoney has gone; not that’ll you haveto spend too much, for the Jaguar isrelatively affordable with its £45,450price tag. Relative, that is, to the theBMW’s £52,480 and the Merc’simpressively costly £61,000.The Jag doesn’t have the mostcomfortable driving position, especiallyif you’re tall. Lower body width iscramped and the seats are a touchnarrow. But it’s the only car here tooffer three proper back seats, even ifthe rear is a bit cramped.Easing out of Dunkerque, the Jaguarsmooths potholed roads with aplomb,but the transmission isn’t brilliant. Theclutch has a lot of travel, the five-speedmanual gearbox is a bit clonky whencold, pick-up at the rear is snatchy andthe brake pedal needs a long push.I am not overawed until we hit thefirst autoroute, whereupon I see thelight. And the Jaguar trips it…fantastic! With an output of 321bhpthe Jag’s four-litre, six-cylinder enginemay be the least powerful here, but its378lb ft of torque is much greater thanthe others and it comes in at a low36 February 1995 Top Gear

LORDS OFTHE RINGIn the wet conditions the Merc’s tractioncontrol makes it the safest bet, but as thetrack dries out the Jaguar closes the gap.The BMW has the best suspension for thetrack, having been designed for it, andhandles the twisty stuff superbly, but itsengine just isn’t flexible as the Jag’sAs the twists, turns and lumps of the Ringkeep our intrepid drivers continuallyguessing, it’s hard to pick a winner fromthe trio. Spine-chilling tales of lives loston the Ring and the hordes of Germanslooking on like vultures are enough toensure that a fairly sensible approach ismaintained, even when a bandit in a localM5 comes and throws down the gauntletTop Gear February 1995 37

From wheels to wheel, the Jag providesmore information than Reuters, while theMercedes is as mysterious as the CIA3,050rpm. Then, of course, there is thesupercharger. It all adds up to anengine that’s on the button right fromthe word go, a cruise missile withoutthe lengthy firing procedure. You don’tneed to call the White House to makethis thing sing. The BMW might pipthe Jaguar to 60mph (5.6secs versus5.8secs), but the Jaguar crushes it forin-gear performance. It’s real Lion andLamb stuff, for no matter how hardyou gun it the cabin remains quiet.The Jaguar is a superb cruiser.We cross into Belgium and pull infor a fuel stop. The Jaguar is the mostthirsty, returning just 14.7mpg andgiving a range of 262 miles. The Mercis the most economical at 17.0mpgbut, with the smallest tank of the lot,its range is restricted to 296 miles. TheBMW, with the largest tank, can runfor 320 miles between fuel stops,returning 16.2mpg.Then trouble strikes. The shop assistantspeaks perfect English but herpump-to-till telemetry has gone allwrong. We kick around for 10 minuteswhile she sorts it out.There are some fine wares to perusein your average Belgian garage. There’schocolate, of course, and enough hardcoreporn mags to send MaryWhitehouse ape. Even our man-of-theworldphotographer blushes. But asnone of us have beards or raincoats, weopt for just the chocolate.Fully fuelled and caloried-up, it’stime to try the BMW. There are twoschools of thought here: if you boughta bottom-of-the-range 316i Compactyou would get much the same interior,but then if it is near perfect in theCompact, why shouldn’t it do the jobin the M5? Admittedly, it doesn’t feelclassically special like the Jaguar, but itfeels special in a different way; more hitechand purposeful, if a touch gloomy.It also feels the most sporting and hasthe best seats. The rear is designed tocarry two only, but it offers a touchmore space than the Jaguar.The BMW accelerates faster than anyof its rivals, except you have to work itharder. Producing 340bhp, the 3.8-litre straight-six is the most powerfulengine of the three, but the maximumtorque is low at 295lb ft and doesn’tcome in until high up the rev range at4,750rpm. So the BMW needs revvinghard, but that’s not a problem becausethe six-speed manual gearbox has ashort, sharp (if occasionally notchy)change and the engine pulls strongly allthe way to the red line.The brakes are fine too, with just theright amount of feel.We cross a red line on the map andwe’re into the Germany, soon reachingthe Eifel mountains. The mighty Mercthat went straight in at number one onthe motorways plummets right downthe charts as soon as the going getstwisty. On roads like these it’s leftwallowing. There’s little feel from thesteering, little tautness or balance tothe chassis and in tight mountainhairpins all it wants to do is slamdancestraight on.And yet it could be forgiven if onlythat meaty V8 would catapult it out ofcorners, but it’s never allowed to. Lackof grunt isn’t the problem; excessivetraction control is. Floor the acceleratorand the engine dies as that irritatingyellow traction control light flickers on– nanny technology gone mad.And now for something a little bit38 February 1995 Top Gear

LORDS OFTHE RINGAlthough the Jag producesless power than the othertwo there is loads moretorque and the addition of asupercharger launches it infine fashion. From the plushinterior you wouldn’t knowthat all that heat and noisewas happening because itcruises along the motorwaylike a sofa through cream.However, passengers whowear ‘wide load’ signs ontheir trousers may find theseats rather constrictingdifferent – the Jag, for members of thewide-awake club only. Here we go,through the same corners as theMercedes. Blimey, there’s almost asmuch understeer and a fair bit of bodyroll too. Never mind, the steering feelssuperb. Ease gently off the throttle andit’s all sorted. There’s the exit, floor ithard and wham! we’re doing the fullMcRae, completely sideways.The Jaguar’s traction control isn’tworking and the Pirelli P-Zero tyresjust don’t have the grip of the MichelinPilots fitted to the others. With all thattorque coming in so hard so low down,breaking traction at the rear is all tooeasy. While the steering may feelwondrous mid-bend, it isn’t perfect forsorting out errant tailslides. Back inEngland we will learn that the car didhave a problem with its tractioncontrol, but even so, its wet weathergrip remains questionable.That leaves the BMW, the best onthese roads. There’s some understeer intight corners but overall it’s betterbalancedthan it’s rivals. Despitesteering that isn’t as informative as theJaguar’s, the BMW’s turn-in to cornersis sharper and more efficient. It doesn’tponce about with traction controleither, just a limited-slip differential.But with less torque than the Jaguar,the rear is less inclined to break away.Not that you can’t have oversteeraplenty in the BMW, but with thebetter-balanced chassis and the sharpersteering, it’s more easily and morequickly corrected.It’s getting dark now and we’re tired,cold and hungry. Time to head for theBierkeller in Adenau. There is nothingleft to eat in the cars except theremains of the Belgian chocolate, so wewolf that down and five seconds laterfeel fantastically sick. The cars needfuel too, so we pull into a Germanservice station. There’s decidedly lessporn in this one, but there’s loads ofchocolate and plenty of special issueMichael Der Wunderkind Championmags. Yuk and double yukIt is the ‘short night before the Ring’session and we’re all a little bit nervous,so the only sensible thing to do is eatfood and drink beer. But it’s gettinglate and everyone’s dog tired. As oftenhappens on occasions such as these, theThe Mercedes is king of themotorways, powering awayfrom the other two whileholding all inhabitants inthe generously padded lapof luxury. But hit somethinga tad more meandering andthe BMW and Jag quicklyloom up in the rear viewmirror. Steering goes numb,the chassis loses balanceand the idea of deviatingfrom the crow’s route ismet with a Germanic shrugTop Gear February 1995 39

Inside, the BMW lacks theall-out luxury feel of the Jagand the Mercedes but it doeshave a greater air of purposeand sportiness about it. Thisfeeling is compounded by itsengine, the most powerful ofthe three, which needs revsbut pulls hard through thesix-speed gearbox. The rearseat only caters for two butthey will find more comfortthan the three passengersin the back of the Jaguarconversation turns to ghost stories andis starting to get very weird indeed.“So my Uncle, right, he was drivinghome one night, and he saw this 60-foot green giant.”Time for bed, I think.Proper German beer is good stuff –no hangover, you see, and that’s just aswell, because if there’s one place onGod’s earth that you don’t want ahangover it’s the Nurburgring.The weather is cold, it’s foggy and it’sraining. And they used to race FormulaOne here. On a day like this Iwouldn’t race pigeons.It’s a good time to stop stoppingsmoking, a good time to reflect on themeaning of life and the value of testcars. People die here. Mostly on bikesbut sometimes in cars too. I rememberthe story road test editor Tom Stewarttold me…A woman friend of his was waiting inthe pit area when a German guy rolledup in a Porsche 944. Did she want alap? She said no and that saved her life.He killed himself a few minutes later.Our morbid thoughts are interruptedby a friendly voice. Up saunters DavidHudson, principal engineer on theAston-Martin DB7. He’s working inGermany, but today’s a holiday andhe’s just done a few laps in his Mondeohire car.“Been round before?” he enquires.We shake our heads. “Better be carefulthen, boys.”We convoy out into the murk. Wehave, in fact, become the CarefulBrothers from Nervousville. A not socareful but extremely ancient OpelKadett hammers past us into the fog,pursued hard by a Peugeot 306 XSiwith that pristine, just-paid-the-firstinstalmentlook.Of the Kadett there is no trace, butwe soon find the Peugeot, bouncedfrom one side of the track to the otherwith a front wheel viciously folded in.No one’s hurt but the fluffy toys onthe back parcel shelf look a bit fed up.Perhaps there’s something in thecareful-careful approach after all.Then it dawns on us – the 306 wason French plates, the Kadett German.These are home boys on their ownturf. Suddenly all those tricked-up,lowered, fully-rollcaged Golf GTis andPeugeot 205 GTis we’ve seen posingaround Adenau begin to make sense.Imagine growing up with the Ringjust up the road. It sure beats spendingyour formative years racing away fromthe lights by the chip shop in yourdad’s Chevette van, I can tell you.Wouldn’t those Germans just laughand laugh to see a British-registeredJaguar embedded deep in the Armco?Of course. And there are plenty ofthem encamped in the spectator areasoverlooking the trickier parts. Youdon’t get this kind of nerve-tinglingexcitement at Castle Combe.On this wet track they almost gettheir wish, because the Jaguar isswitching violently between understeerand oversteer. The BMW’s twitchytoo, but its tyres and chassis make abetter job of the wet conditions.But in the rain, the Merc’s the safestbet of all. Provided you don’t lift off ina tightening corner, the rear remainsfirmly pinned in place by the tractioncontrol. It still isn’t foolproof, for ifyou turn in on too tight a line,especially on a downhill section, it’slikely to go for a big understeery slide.The Merc’s good, much better than wewould have thought, but as the trackdries out there’s less and less demandfor its services.And with the BMW’s wet-weatheradvantage rapidly evaporating, theJaguar begins to close in. It’s difficultto draw conclusions because every lapis different. Last time around youremembered which way certain cornerswent, this time you’re quicker until thecorner you swore went left suddenlygoes right.They say no one can remember thewhole of the ring, that even thesharpest racing minds have to slot ittogether as a series of chunks and that amistake you thought you’d got awaywith can suddenly be paid for fivecorners later.At least the Karrussel’s easy. You cansee the entry and the exit from a longway off, the hard part is hurtling into itat speed. Keep your foot in and thefeeling’s magic as it sucks you in andspits you out again.The two-mile straight is just asawesome. The Armco whizzes by in ablur. You think you’ve got all the timein the world and suddenly there’s theinfamous kink, just daring you to takeit flat out.Back in the pits, the regular hackboysare friendly enough and everytime the Jag stops they’re all over it,scrabbling about under the bonnet.They love it. In fact it’s hard work to40 February 1995 Top Gear

LORDS OFTHE RINGThe Jaguar shows adisconcerting lackof grip in cornering,all that low-downtorque needing moreeffective tractioncontrol to tame itThe Merc has the looksof a night club bouncerand it acts like onetoo. It’ll run straightthrough a brick wallwith power and poise,but demand a bit ofguile and it’s foundwanting. It is heavilyrepressed by tractioncontrol which kills theengine when you try topower out of a bend,leaving you to wallowWhile the Jaguar XJRslithered and snakedits way around theNurburgring and theMercedes refused toattack the circuit withthe necessary vigour,the BMW proved thebest car for the all-outdriving experience, itsspecial NurburgringSuspension Packageliving up to its nameTop Gear February 1995 41

LORDS OFTHE RINGT H E R I N G P S Y C H - O U TBMW M5 Jaguar XJR Mercedes E500stop them clambering into the back.Nobody can dispute the fact that theBMW has the best-balanced chassis forthe circuit – hardly surprising whenyou consider that it’s fitted with whatBMW describes as the NurburgringSuspension Package. But its six-speedgearbox ratios aren’t so well suited tothe job. With its oodles of torque, thefive-speed Jag often offers the perfectgear, where the BMW leaves youchanging indecisively.Right, this is definitely the last go,only this time there’s a GermanregisteredBMW in the mirrors of ourown Beemer. He’s two-up and we’rethree-up. Is that a row of little unionjackcars we can see crossed off on hisfront wing? There’s no time to check,for the race is on. All through thecorners we hold him, even pullingaway on the more open ones, but nearthe end of the straight he gets by. Laterhe admits his BMW has been chipped.Exhilarated, we eat our last Germanmeal and head for home, but the Mercisn’t out of it yet. Lolloping along at100mph in convoy on a clear stretch ofAutobhan, I floor the Merc’s throttlehard and, whoomph, it’s gone.The instant-kickdown acceleration –even from that speed – is astonishing.And when a wayward, and obviouslyblind, truck driver pulls out on us, itsbrakes are superb. It takes a while forthe Jag and the BMW to catch up.But that’s the Merc’s problem. TheJaguar and the BMW will always catchup, and off the motorway on twistierstuff they’ll both leave it behind. It’s asuperb piece of engineering, the bigMercedes, possibly the ultimate highspeedcruiser – but not quite theultimate sporting saloon.The Jag and the BMW are harder tochoose between. In fact, there arealmost a few split lips when it comes tomaking a final decision.There’s no doubt about it, the BMWis definitely the better pure performancedriving machine of the two; it’ssharper and more switched-on than itsrival on the twisty stuff. And on thistrip it’s shown few weaknesses.But it falls at the last hurdle. We rolloff the 1.30am ferry back in Dover, hitsome British roads and bang! crash!thump! – the suspension that worksperfectly on foreign roads comes oververy uncomfortable. Switching theadaptive setting to ‘comfort’ modeimproves matters a little, but notenough. Where the Jaguar cruises, theBMW bruises.On the same stretch of road theJaguar remains perfectly composed andthe driver can take satisfaction in theknowledge that, as a sporting saloon, itcan do almost everything the BMWcan – but in a more refined fashion.The real comfort, though, is found inthe seven grand saving.Come Monday morning we’re tiredbut still on a massive high. One by oneby one the keys are plopped back intothe plastic jug. It’s someone else’s turnto drive the cars now.When they do go back, it’s the onewith a British Racing Green key fobthat we hand over most reluctantly ■Performance0-30mph (secs) 2.2 2.4 2.60-40mph (secs) 3.3 3.4 3.60-50mph (secs) 4.4 4.5 4.80-60mph (secs) 5.6 5.8 6.20-70mph (secs) 7.4 7.6 7.90-80mph (secs) 9.2 9.6 10.10-90mph (secs) 11.1 11.7 12.30-100mph (secs) 13.9 14.5 15.00-110mph (secs) 17.0 17.6 18.30-120mph (secs) 21.0 21.7 22.970-120mph (secs) 13.6 14.1 15.0100-120mph (secs) 7.1 7.2 7.930-50 in 3rd (secs) 4.1 3.3 n/a30-50 in 4th (secs) 5.8 5.1 2.250-70 in 5th (secs) 7.6 7.1 3.150-70 in 6th (secs) 10.3 n/a n/a30-70 through gears (secs) 5.2 5.2 5.3Max Speed (mph) 160.0 (5th gear) 150.6 154.0Standing 1/4 mile (secs) 14.2 14.4 14.7Terminal speed (mph) 101.0 99.8 98.9Braking 70mph-0 (feet) 161.5 155.9 157.8CostsList price £52,480 £45,450 £61,000Price as tested £54,640 £45,950 £61,993Test mpg 16.2 14.7 17Euromix mpg 25 23.9 21.1Insurance group 20 20 20Service interval as per indicator 10,000 miles 6,000 milesWarranty 3yrs or 60,000 miles3yrs, 60,000 miles 1 yr unlimitedWhat you getTraction control no yes yesAlarm option yes yesimmobiliser yes yes yesRadio CD option option optionHeated seats option option yesSunroof yes option yesCruise control option option yesAir conditioning yes yes yesLeather upholstery option yes yesAnti-lock brakes yes yes yesDriver airbag yes yes yesPassenger airbag option yes yesTechnicalEngine 6cyl, 24v, dohc 6cyl, 24v, dohc 8cyl, 32v, dohcCapacity 3,795cc 3,980cc 4,973ccMax power (bhp/rpm) 340/6,900 321/5,000 322/5,700Max torque (lb ft/rpm 295/4,750 378/3,050 354/3,900Transmission 6-speed manual 5-speed manual 4-speed automaticFront brakes vented discs vented discs vented discsRear brakes vented discs vented discs vented discsFront suspension MacP strut, adaptive dble wishbone/coil dble wishbone/coilRear suspension MacP strut, adaptive dble wishbone/coil five-link/coilWheels F: 8J, R: 9Jx18 8Jx16 8.5Jx17Tyres 245/40 ZR18 225 45 ZR 17 245/45 ZR 17Dimensions (ins) L: 185.5, W: 69 L: 197.8, W:81.7 L: 187, W:70.742 February 1995 Top Gear