Anyone read thew new comparo in C&D shootout between the Maserati Coupe, BMW 645Ci & CLK55 AMG?

It's a great read...places as follows:

3rd: Maserati Coupe
2nd: BMW 645Ci
1st: CLK55 AMG

Sweet, the AMG beat the Maserati.

scannnnnn....!

LOL, alright alright, i'll scan it in a bit when I get a chance

Cool, that'll show those guys at Road and Track!

What were the QT and 0-60 times?

Its awsome that the CLK55 came first and beat the maserati!!

Where is the scan?

hehe, my bro stole my magazine from me !!!!!

I PROMISE i'll get it up tonight, PROMISE! If not, you can do something :p

Tell him to give it back!!! LOL

I haven't received my own new issue yet.

Thanks

last chance... 3 strikes and you are out!! :p

oh shiznit

i'll get it up tonight

ok...as promised

let me know if you can read it...

WOW 0-60 in 4.5 for the CLK 55!!! 13.1 @ 109 for the Quarter Mile!!! Thanks for the scan Gdawg.

Thanks for posting. I think this is the first time I call recall that a Mercedes-Benz outbrakes (by a large margin) a comparable BMW!

hehe, no problem guys! anytime, if i get more interesting articles, i'll scan 'em in!

Gdawg. How long ago did you get this issue? Mine is MIA

um...got it Saturday afternoon.

As an owner of a 208 CLK55, I'd like to know how it would have matched up with these other three?

I just realized that the new CLK55 has 3.06's compared to the 2.82's in the 208CLK55.

I believe the tranny gearing is more agressive as well.

I knew it could not have been the 20 hps to get it to 13.1's.

Now I am jealous. That is the tranny/rear combo I want in my car.

...109 mph trap speed with 3740 pounds curb weight and 362 horsepower? Let me see....180 pounds for driver + test equip gives an as-tested weight of 3,920.

crank hp = (as-tested weight)*(trap speed/234)^3.

= 3920(109/234)^3
= 3920(0.101072)
= 396 crank hp.

In a car rated with 362. That's about 9% above rated...not huge, but it definitely accounts for the high trap speed; I'd expect a 107 mph trap speed with that power to weight.

How do the other two cars in the comparison stack up?

Maserati = 3780 pounds, trap speed = 109
=> 3960(109/234)^3 = 400 horsepower. Also a bit high, but within the +-5% of the equation's accuracy.

BMW = 3860 pounds, trap speed = 102.
=> 4040(102/234)^3 = 335 horsepower. Ditto. Ten up from stock...

...that will help the 0-60 time, not so much in the 1/4. The trap speed is indicative of higher-than-rated hp with this car...

I have always heard that those cars are supplied by the manufacturers and are 'tuned' for the event.

...back in the 60's, Pontiac gave the mags a "production" GTO, with what was actually a full-race motor! Pretty notorious example....

BMW seems to have remarkable luck with their cars as well...the first E46 M3's tested were trapping at 107+, when they should have been trapping at no more than 105 or so...which is exactly what the more recent examples have been doing.

I remember all of the magazines had the M3 about 3 to 5 tenths faster than the M3. It is not really the case at the track stock to stock.

It is pretty slick for the manufacturers to do that though.

Just a thought, I remember an article on the Lingenfelter Corvette, Hennessy Viper and a couple of other cars.

These cars were tested and only produced E.T.'s a second or less faster than the stock numbers posted.

Well, I saw one of these tests being done on the modified cars and the times were real. It just proved to me that the stock cars were not actually stock.

How many bone stock Z06's do you see breaking into the low 12's?

It is all a marketing ploy and they all should be called out on it.

The only cars in recent memory living up to the hype are the 211 E55, the Porsche TT and the new Viper.