New M5 vs new GT-R

Interesting - it certainly shows the GTR as a fine car, but let's face it - very few owners of such cars ever use more than a fraction of the available performance!  It's like people who 'MUST' have a 200 mph motorcycle, and then, as they do not have a death wish,  ride it at sensible speeds where half the performance so dearly paid for is never used. 

I remember back in 1981, when the mere 120 mph of my BMW R100RS was generally dismissed as being 'Only fit for touring,' yet it has carried me further, and for longer, than any Japanese whizbang of the time would ever have done, and I could still ride it anywhere with confidence - and it still looks better than new!  Given a decent rider it will even out-corner the usual inexperienced rice rocket pilot - even if they do stick their knees (pathetic) out on every corner . . .



What I am getting at is that using the type of performance on offer is simply something people never use in the real world, where the wonderful qualities of the GTR simply don't count any more than do those of the M5 - it's just marketing hype.

Quite apart from that, Autocar has a record of running down anything from BMW - I remember reading their comparative test of the 2.8 Z3 and the 2.5 Porsche Boxster, where they glossed over the facts that the Z3 wiped the floor with the Porsche for in-gear accelleration, and with similar equipment levels was £11k cheaper!  In this case, they never even mentioned thatgthe M5 can carry 4/5 people, and lap the Nurburgring in eight minutes while doing so - try that in a GTR!

What WOULD be interesting is a similar test after ten years of typical use, being hacked around town with the (very) occasional 100 mph burst on a  motorway, and plenty of travel on the potholed and salt-laden roads of the UK.  I would bet that after that the M5 will be quite well degraded in engine and body, but still be a decent car, whereas the poor old GTR will probably have dissolved, or been thrown on the rubbish tip due to the cost and difficulty in keeping it going.

Another reason not to take any notice of road tests!  Anyway, most owners of such cars would be better off with a good diesel . . .



Edited by Mike Fishwick - 04 Feb 2012 at 10:58am