As Wall Street values soar, thoughts turn from paper stock to rolling stock. From the November 1999 issue of Car and Driver. As we powered away from the Car and Driver parking lot to begin this test, the Dow stood at 11,187.68, down just a stutter step from its record 11,209.84 close on the previous Friday.
We're all market watchers now, checking indexes and cheering on the "dot coms" and refiguring the date when we can afford to saunter into the boss's office and tell him how far to shove it. After that, what to drive?
Can we show you something in a gilt-edged sedan? The five four-doors grouped here all have V-8s near enough to 300 horsepower, five-speed automatics, more leather inside than a Gucci emporium, and a dazzling crew of electrical gadgets awaiting your touch of various pushbuttons.
View Price on AmazonYes, sir, we know that you no longer have to ask, but a check for $70,000, more or less, will put you in the chair, plus tax and license, of course. What can you get for 70 large? Four old favorites and one fresh-baked Benz round out the choices.
In its first road test in the May 1999 issue, we wondered in print if the svelte and swoopy new S-class Mercedes could be "possibly the finest automobile built." For this price class we selected not the overdog S500 with the big V-8, but the entry-level (in the United States) S430 packing a 4.3-liter V-8 and more gizmos than Inspector Gadget's pit crew.
Last time we gathered this group (C/D April 1998), the Mercedes S320 was outscored by four other cars. Our winner then was the Lexus LS400, a silken slipper of a sedan that always impresses with its refinement. In second place was a BMW 740iL, the sporting driver's favorite, followed in order by the aluminum-suited all-wheel-drive Audi A8 4.2 Quattro and the sensually sculpted Jaguar Vanden Plas.
Those four players, the Audi and the Bimmer upgraded for 2000, round out this select group. We rushed this comparison to press, knowing that the Dow may have punched through the 12,000 barrier—some pundits say 12,000,000 isn't far away—and you're facing an ASAP decision. Which sedan has the right stuff for Easy Street?
We rate them as follows. Calling all traditionalists. Imagine taking a seat in the lap of luxury, done up British style. The Vanden Plas knows the recipe exactly. Think fine furniture; lots of carefully matched burled-wood trim and aromatic Connolly hides.
Even the nose responds to this recipe for indulgence. The top-of-the-line Vanden Plas, its name commemorating a grand Belgian coachbuilder of yore, gets an especially detailed wood treatment in which a pinstripe accent is formed by an inlay of light grain in a field of dark veneer.
Jaguar furniture reaches its zenith in the airline-style tables that fold down from the backs of the front seats for the two rear passengers. The soft arc of the table surfaces and the intricacy of the veneer matching are impressive indeed. But why is the table top arched instead of flat? And why do they deploy at just the right incline to tip m'lord's soup into his lap? They're decorous rather than useful.
The Vanden Plas's rear-seat appointments suggest owner occupancy back there, with driving left to the hired help. The right-front seat has position switches on the back, so Mr. Big can slide it forward out of his space. Fine, but driving is our passion, and these details hint at why the Jag is our least favorite.
Source: caranddriver.com
