If money is no object, if power and torque matter more
than a small carbon footprint, and if your dream car is an imaginary
five-seat Porsche 911 with an extra large trunk, you might consider making room
in your garage for a Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG, a Jaguar XJR, or an Audi S8.
Or maybe not.
2012 Mercedes Benz S63 AMG
We’ve
brought together the quickest and most powerful V-8 variants of three of the
most desirable and prestigious full-size luxury sedans in the world, the Audi
A8, the Jaguar XJ, and the Mercedes-Benz S-class. In doing so, we have stuck
with the assumption that the essence of old-fashioned, white-knuckle,
temple-throbbing driving pleasure in the year 2014 is still composed of howling
V-8 engines, flickering stability control warning lights, and
a lust factor that grows in proportion with revs, acceleration, and
speed. The Audi S8, the Jaguar XJR, and the Mercedes S63 AMG 4Matic have no
interest in stitching up the yawning hole in the ozone layer, in saving baby
whales or rain forests, or in setting a shining example of social
responsibility and self-denial. Quite the contrary: in this particular seventy-two-hour
contest, we staked out a remote, radar-free environment and targeted a set of
breathtaking primary and secondary roads where we could drive the rubber socks
off of three remarkable, 500-plus-hp, high-performance boardroom
haulers on a no-holds-barred tour de force of rural Upper Bavaria, Salzburg,
and Tyrol.
Jaguar XJR
Although
the 577-hp S63 eclipses the XJR by 27 hp and the S8 by 57 hp, the mean-looking
Merc is actually quite jovial and obliging in character. Its big-bore
twin-turbo engine runs so smoothly and quietly, you might think you’re wearing
a pair of wax earplugs. Throttle response even in sport mode is
relatively restrained and relaxed, the transmission rides the torque surf
in seven subtle steps, the suspension is firm yet supple, and the
sound-deadening materials give the term “splendid isolation”
a whole new meaning. Whereas the eight-speed automatics used by Audi and Jaguar
will shift up with near-whiplash force and lightning-like speed in sport mode,
the Benz changes gears with rapid fluency and velvet-glove urgency. Despite
these gentlemanly manners, the S63 can accelerate to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds with
no trace of takeoff wheel spin, up to 664 lb-ft of physical punch between your
shoulder blades, and only one gear change.
2013 Audi S8. Audi's new king-size
sports sedan is definitely fast, but it could be sportier.
The
Audi, too, benefits from the traction bonus only four-wheel drive can pro-vide.
Against the stopwatch, the S8 is equal to the bigger and heavier Mercedes,
according to their manufacturers. On slippery surfaces, through tight corners,
and at the start of every traffic-light grand prix, both German contenders
compete in a league of their own. In winter, only the rear-wheel-drive Jaguar
struggles on icy on-ramps, when tackling snow-covered climbs, while easing into
and out of un-plowed roadside parking spots, or when attempting to merge with
fast traffic. Fit-ted with a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 redlined at 6400 rpm, the
Audi is between five and ten percent more economical than the other two
V-8-powered sedans. During our test drives, it averaged 17 mpg versus the
Jaguar’s 15 mpg and the S63’s 16 mpg. In terms of sheer power and torque,
however, the S8 (520 hp, 481 lb-ft)
cannot quite match the XJR (550 hp,
502 lb-ft) or the even brawnier S63 AMG (577 hp, 664 lb-ft).
