US Automotive Car Reviews

Price est.: $194,800

HP: 604 @ 4,800 – 5,100

Torque: 738 lb-ft @ 2,000 – 4,000

0 – 60 mph: 4.4 seconds

¼ mile: 12.6 seconds

So… is there really any reason for spending what is undoubtedly over $200,000, by the time you drive off the lot, on a four-door sedan? Well if you have the means, why not buy the most extravagant combination of luxury and speed?

This monstrous AMG-built, SOHC 36-valve, bi-turbo V-12 specimen is by far, the finest driving machine on the road today (or at least four-door driving machine!). Most of us will never be fortunate enough to own a car of this caliber, but that shouldn’t stop us from picturing ourselves behind the wheel.

Can you imagine… opening the driver’s door for the first time, climbing in, adjusting the seat then firmly gripping the steering wheel with both hands? Insert Mercedes’ SmartKey into the ignition and start the vehicle. Do you hear that? Of course not, the motor is running and not a whisper out of it. Shift into gear, pull-out of the parking lot and gently accelerate through the first gear; only to be soothed by the gentle purr of twelve cylinders working in sync.

Joe Oldham recently wrote about his experience driving a 2007 S65, here is what he had to say: “Speaking of torque, we must say there is something supremely entertaining about doing a brake rev burnout in a $190,000 car where you smoke the tires through 1^st gear, hit the shift button and smoke them again halfway through 2^nd. That’s with the electronic stability program switched off. With it on, we once floored it away from a light. The car had full traction off the line, but then as all that torque came on at 2,000 rpm, the engine actually overcame the ESP and broke the tires loose at the top of 1^st gear.”

To learn more about Mercedes’ S65 visit the links listed below, and for information on locating a dealer click here.

Edmunds Inside Line

Oldham, J. (November 11, 2007). Edmunds Inside Line: 2007 Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG, flagship of the fleet. Automotive. Retrieved February 29, 2008, from http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Followup/articleId=123565

Mercedes-Benz USA

MBUSA. (2008). The 2008 S65 AMG. Retrieved February 29, 2008, from http://www.mbusa.com/models/main.do?modelCode=S65

Price est.: $70,000

HP: 480 @ 6,400 rpm

Torque: 430 lb-ft @ 3,200 – 5,200

0 – 60 mph: 3.5 seconds

¼ mile: 11.7 seconds

Here is one of my all time favorite sports cars, the Nissan Skyline GT-R. For the first time ever, Japanese auto manufacturer—Nissan, will be gracing North America with their prized sports car. The Skyline will be sold simply as the GT-R. Why Nissan chose to drop the word Skyline is unknown, all that matters is that the GT-R is coming and should be available in the summer of 2008.

If you’ve ever indulged in the video game Gran Turismo, you can easily speculate to this beast’s performance capabilities. Nissan Motor Co. has reported that over 2,000 pre-orders were made in Japan, prior to the official release early October 2007, which accounts for an entire month’s planned sales volume.

What makes the GT-R so unique, is the fact that it compares to sports cars twice its price—the Mercedes SLR McLaren, Porsche Carrera GT, and the Bugatti Veyron. Car and Driver’s Tony Swan compares the GT-R’s down-force, of 176 pounds at 186 mph, to the Porsche 911 Turbo’s ($50,000 more than the GT-R); which only produces 60 pounds of down-force, at the same speed.

The GT-R’s engine is a cast aluminum cylinder block, 3.8 liter, twin-turbo V-6. Which bangs out a much needed 480 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque, to hurl the 3,850 pound vehicle from zero to sixty in 3.5 seconds. According to Swan, “Nissan left with a hot-lap claim on the Nordschleife—7:38—that puts its competition on the trailer. A current Corvette Z06 covered those 12.9 wicked miles in 7:49. A 911 Turbo is on record at 7:54.”

Make no mistake this super production car is worth every penny spent on it. Expect to find car enthusiasts from multiple demographics to yearn for an opportunity to own this incredible vehicle. For presale information, contact your local Nissan dealer or click here.

To read more about the 2009 Nissan GT-R, click on the resources listed below:

GT-R Nissan

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (2007, November). Advance orders for Nissan GT-R exceed 2,200 – Strong demand for Skyline coupe fueling sports car revival in Japan. Communications CSR Department. Retrieved February 28, 2008, from http://www.gtrnissan.com/item.en.us.html?id=Advance_Orders_en&type=press

Car and Driver

Swan, T. (2008, February). Car and Driver: 2009 Nissan GT-R, a gripping blend of speed and technology. Automotive, vol. 53, no. 8, p. 102-103.

US Auto Choice Blog is designed to promote cars, SUVs, and trucks, sold throughout the United States – which we like! That’s right… the automobiles that we choose to write about are based solely on kick-ass features, details, and overall performance. The majority of car reviews will be focused on production vehicles, domestic and foreign, that are available from national car dealerships.

Visitors of US Auto Choice Blog can expect to: find 0-60 and 1/4 mile times for every vehicle discussed (including many more); read about top-of-the-line SUVs, and the features and capabilities they possess that sets them apart; learn exactly why Mercedes gets away with charging the prices they do for their luxury sedans; and discover the sports cars that when driven, truly exhilarate!

If you are a car enthusiast and you either love, appreciate, or have any ounce of respect for any of the vehicles written about – please feel free to comment. Comments posted will be permitted to have the ‘no-follow’ attribute removed after 5 posts; spam comments are filtered and will not be accepted.

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- US Auto Choice