F
FQ 340
Guest
Amazingly this is not just a link to U-tube but a little incident that happened to me recently.
Now, I know this is a Subaru website but I thought a story for all who enjoy four wheel drive turbo nut mobiles wouldn't be completely unwelcome. In any event, my last post comparing the Evo to my RB5 went down very well and concluded that subjectively there was not a huge amount between the cars, so the comparison has some relevance to scooby drivers.
Anyway, I was recently making my way peacefully around the M50 late one evening. I came on at the Red Cow heading south, nothing special or unusual, gave it a bit of stick down the off ramp as it was clear and pulled onto the M50 and then out into the fast lane to clear some slower traffic. About a half a mile in I had to slow for some muppets in the fast lane doing fifty, no brakes required, just down the gears.
Next thing I see a guy coming down on me at serious speed, who stops just short of my boot. Anyway, I was slightly alarmed at the pace this guy came up on me at but he quickly backed off to a safe distance so I assumed he was just changing channel on the radio or whatever and had failed to spot me as I had gone down through the gears and therefore, no brake lights.
The two boys in front kept doing fifty and took an absolute age to get around the slower traffic on the inside lane, and, needless to say, stayed in the outside lane after clearing the slower cars (why?). I stayed well back and your man behind did the same so I quickly forgot about him. After patiently waiting for the two boys to pull back in I gave a little flash of the lights to persuade them to pull over, but to no avail. I could see ahead that there was another line of cars coming up in the inside lane and the two boys had no intention of pulling in. Nothing for it then but to go up the inside, which I HATE having to do. Honestly, these punters must think it's called the M50 because they think that's the speed limit on the fooking thing.
In I go, not gunning it, just giving it enough pace to clear safely and comfortably up the inside before meeitng the next line of cars in the left lane. I pass the two boys and pull out to the sound of blaring horns.
Now, this annoys me, I am sick of Mr Self Righteous dawdling in the overtaking lane and flashing and honking everybody who is forced up their inside in order to make progress, so I have a glance in the rear view mirror and prepare to deliver the customary response when I realise all I can see in the mirror is a black saloon car being driven by a guy in blue shirt and navy tie. This guy is so close his headlights aren't visible over my bootlid.
All I can think is bollox, Plod, ba*tard had a close look then waited for me to do something illegal, like overtake on the left, bollox.
So I do the usual indicate, and politely pull into the slow lane and wait for the Mondeo to come alongside and point me into the hedge.
However, to my surprise, this thing just roars past me so quickly my brain is just about capable of spotting the four exhausts on the rear of what turns out to be a black E class. I don't give chase, I'm still somewhat chastened by my belief that I've just been nicked. However, not a half a mile further up, another muppet is blocking the outside lane and there he is, 05 E55 AMG.
Now, I'm not a man for racing, and never on the public road, but I don't mind a nice legal pull from a slow speed on a clear motorway, it is about the only safe and legal fun you can have in a car, other than the fun of just driving itself.
This is about the best opportunity one could have to test the car against one of the fastest cars around.
The dawdling muppet is crawling past three very slow and heavily laden trucks carrying wide loads and orange flashing lights. We're doing about 40, maybe a bit under, and your man is chomping at the bit, he's seen me and he is determined. The poor crawler dosen't know what's going on, this guy is practically touching him. Ridiculous, obnoxious driving from your man and counter productive as the poor guy was obviously struggling as it was, last thing he needed was his mirrors full of Merc, so he's actually at the brakes.
Anyway, I had an age to get ready for the inevitable run. I was trying to decide how to approach it, I was out of the turbo in fourth, not by much, but enough and third was a bit uncomfortable waiting for your man to clear in front. Also, I was maintaining a good distance back, and I was wondering should I try and slip him or stay where I was. Ideally what I wanted to do was to pull alongside and do it properly, but I knew this guy wouldn't hang about.
In the end I figured what I wanted to do was see how the cars compared in real driving so I decided I'd hang back so as not to slip him and go for a single gear pull, I opted for fourth as I wanted to see how the cars compared torque wise. Remember, the E55 has 516 Lbs/ft from its supercharged V8 to my 320 and while its lugging 1750 kg to my 1400, all the reviewers raved about its massive in-gear grunt and I wanted to see how the Evo compared.
We finally cleared the last truck and your man starts to pull over, I go for it, hoping to have the turbo spinning by the time your man clears. Mr Merc however has had the same idea and, I'm not joking, actually puts one wheel on the grass he is so keen to be off. The result is, he actually pulls a bit out of me on reaction time but we're still about the same distance apart clearing the traffic, but now at least my turbo is coming on strong.
Now, I've heard some noises in my time, but all hell breaks lose when that V8 is opened up. Unreal. That noise combined with the hurricane force wind it seems to throw back out of the quad tailpipes really is something to behold, so too are the bits of tarmac that the massive rear tyres rip up and fire back at you.
What is more surprising is that it is not pulling away from me. I'm far enough away not to be gettting any aerodynamic assistance so he should be gone, in fact, I wish he would be gone as I'm also not far enough away to be spared the debris his tyres are firing everywhere and am starting to worry about my paintwork.
Anyway we continue, I see a little puff of some smoke as his box grabs another one of its seven speeds. What I don't see is any relent in its acceleration. Obviously, when he gunned it the box dropped a couple of cogs and now it was going back up through the gears. Now, I'm still only about two thirds through fourth when he's changing but I can tell you that that auto box or paddle shift (if he was doing it himself which I doubt) is uber fast. So much quicker than any manual. None of that twenty feet fall off that usually accompanies a shift in a pull (usually punctuated by the hiss of the dump valve in the glanza that you can now hardly see in your mirrors).
After the shift he did start to make some ground, but not much and I was starting to run out off gear. I was really tempted to grab fifth and go again but sense prevailed and I backed off, short shifting into sixth and letting your man disappear, which he did at a frightening rate of knots. I watched him disappear up the road before passing a line of traffic on his left at what must have been 120 plus, not a bother, I'd say he was doing 150 before he was forced to back off for slower traffic, crazy motherfooker. It took me an age to catch up at a normal speed.
As it happened we were both getting out at the next exit so there was a bit of shorter gear fun before we hit a built up area and I let him off, once again watching him disappear at stupid speed.
In the end, yes the E55 is ultimately a quicker car in gear and in a straight line than the Evo, but not by much, and certainly not by as much as the 516 lb/ft would suggest. Subjectively, a passenger would be utterly unable to tell the difference. As a driver, it would be an entirely different experience I'm sure, but for the money, it can't be worth it.
I'd say head to head, the RB5 would have struggled a bit more, but again, I'd say there wouldn't be a whole lot in it on the road and nothing at all subjectively. In fact, the longer gearing might have helped in a single gear pull, although I'd have been over the ton at the end.
Anyway. there are three points to this essay:
1. These cars of ours really are special.
2. Boy racers and crazy fookers also drive Mercs.
3. There is nothing on telly tonight.
Now, I know this is a Subaru website but I thought a story for all who enjoy four wheel drive turbo nut mobiles wouldn't be completely unwelcome. In any event, my last post comparing the Evo to my RB5 went down very well and concluded that subjectively there was not a huge amount between the cars, so the comparison has some relevance to scooby drivers.
Anyway, I was recently making my way peacefully around the M50 late one evening. I came on at the Red Cow heading south, nothing special or unusual, gave it a bit of stick down the off ramp as it was clear and pulled onto the M50 and then out into the fast lane to clear some slower traffic. About a half a mile in I had to slow for some muppets in the fast lane doing fifty, no brakes required, just down the gears.
Next thing I see a guy coming down on me at serious speed, who stops just short of my boot. Anyway, I was slightly alarmed at the pace this guy came up on me at but he quickly backed off to a safe distance so I assumed he was just changing channel on the radio or whatever and had failed to spot me as I had gone down through the gears and therefore, no brake lights.
The two boys in front kept doing fifty and took an absolute age to get around the slower traffic on the inside lane, and, needless to say, stayed in the outside lane after clearing the slower cars (why?). I stayed well back and your man behind did the same so I quickly forgot about him. After patiently waiting for the two boys to pull back in I gave a little flash of the lights to persuade them to pull over, but to no avail. I could see ahead that there was another line of cars coming up in the inside lane and the two boys had no intention of pulling in. Nothing for it then but to go up the inside, which I HATE having to do. Honestly, these punters must think it's called the M50 because they think that's the speed limit on the fooking thing.
In I go, not gunning it, just giving it enough pace to clear safely and comfortably up the inside before meeitng the next line of cars in the left lane. I pass the two boys and pull out to the sound of blaring horns.
Now, this annoys me, I am sick of Mr Self Righteous dawdling in the overtaking lane and flashing and honking everybody who is forced up their inside in order to make progress, so I have a glance in the rear view mirror and prepare to deliver the customary response when I realise all I can see in the mirror is a black saloon car being driven by a guy in blue shirt and navy tie. This guy is so close his headlights aren't visible over my bootlid.
All I can think is bollox, Plod, ba*tard had a close look then waited for me to do something illegal, like overtake on the left, bollox.
So I do the usual indicate, and politely pull into the slow lane and wait for the Mondeo to come alongside and point me into the hedge.
However, to my surprise, this thing just roars past me so quickly my brain is just about capable of spotting the four exhausts on the rear of what turns out to be a black E class. I don't give chase, I'm still somewhat chastened by my belief that I've just been nicked. However, not a half a mile further up, another muppet is blocking the outside lane and there he is, 05 E55 AMG.
Now, I'm not a man for racing, and never on the public road, but I don't mind a nice legal pull from a slow speed on a clear motorway, it is about the only safe and legal fun you can have in a car, other than the fun of just driving itself.
This is about the best opportunity one could have to test the car against one of the fastest cars around.
The dawdling muppet is crawling past three very slow and heavily laden trucks carrying wide loads and orange flashing lights. We're doing about 40, maybe a bit under, and your man is chomping at the bit, he's seen me and he is determined. The poor crawler dosen't know what's going on, this guy is practically touching him. Ridiculous, obnoxious driving from your man and counter productive as the poor guy was obviously struggling as it was, last thing he needed was his mirrors full of Merc, so he's actually at the brakes.
Anyway, I had an age to get ready for the inevitable run. I was trying to decide how to approach it, I was out of the turbo in fourth, not by much, but enough and third was a bit uncomfortable waiting for your man to clear in front. Also, I was maintaining a good distance back, and I was wondering should I try and slip him or stay where I was. Ideally what I wanted to do was to pull alongside and do it properly, but I knew this guy wouldn't hang about.
In the end I figured what I wanted to do was see how the cars compared in real driving so I decided I'd hang back so as not to slip him and go for a single gear pull, I opted for fourth as I wanted to see how the cars compared torque wise. Remember, the E55 has 516 Lbs/ft from its supercharged V8 to my 320 and while its lugging 1750 kg to my 1400, all the reviewers raved about its massive in-gear grunt and I wanted to see how the Evo compared.
We finally cleared the last truck and your man starts to pull over, I go for it, hoping to have the turbo spinning by the time your man clears. Mr Merc however has had the same idea and, I'm not joking, actually puts one wheel on the grass he is so keen to be off. The result is, he actually pulls a bit out of me on reaction time but we're still about the same distance apart clearing the traffic, but now at least my turbo is coming on strong.
Now, I've heard some noises in my time, but all hell breaks lose when that V8 is opened up. Unreal. That noise combined with the hurricane force wind it seems to throw back out of the quad tailpipes really is something to behold, so too are the bits of tarmac that the massive rear tyres rip up and fire back at you.
What is more surprising is that it is not pulling away from me. I'm far enough away not to be gettting any aerodynamic assistance so he should be gone, in fact, I wish he would be gone as I'm also not far enough away to be spared the debris his tyres are firing everywhere and am starting to worry about my paintwork.
Anyway we continue, I see a little puff of some smoke as his box grabs another one of its seven speeds. What I don't see is any relent in its acceleration. Obviously, when he gunned it the box dropped a couple of cogs and now it was going back up through the gears. Now, I'm still only about two thirds through fourth when he's changing but I can tell you that that auto box or paddle shift (if he was doing it himself which I doubt) is uber fast. So much quicker than any manual. None of that twenty feet fall off that usually accompanies a shift in a pull (usually punctuated by the hiss of the dump valve in the glanza that you can now hardly see in your mirrors).
After the shift he did start to make some ground, but not much and I was starting to run out off gear. I was really tempted to grab fifth and go again but sense prevailed and I backed off, short shifting into sixth and letting your man disappear, which he did at a frightening rate of knots. I watched him disappear up the road before passing a line of traffic on his left at what must have been 120 plus, not a bother, I'd say he was doing 150 before he was forced to back off for slower traffic, crazy motherfooker. It took me an age to catch up at a normal speed.
As it happened we were both getting out at the next exit so there was a bit of shorter gear fun before we hit a built up area and I let him off, once again watching him disappear at stupid speed.
In the end, yes the E55 is ultimately a quicker car in gear and in a straight line than the Evo, but not by much, and certainly not by as much as the 516 lb/ft would suggest. Subjectively, a passenger would be utterly unable to tell the difference. As a driver, it would be an entirely different experience I'm sure, but for the money, it can't be worth it.
I'd say head to head, the RB5 would have struggled a bit more, but again, I'd say there wouldn't be a whole lot in it on the road and nothing at all subjectively. In fact, the longer gearing might have helped in a single gear pull, although I'd have been over the ton at the end.
Anyway. there are three points to this essay:
1. These cars of ours really are special.
2. Boy racers and crazy fookers also drive Mercs.
3. There is nothing on telly tonight.
