Guy
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2002
- Messages
- 790
- Location
- Manchester
- Car
- Maserati Quattroporte : Brabus A200CDi D3 : E300TDT
Macclesfield Garages were kind enough to invite me, [a known defector] to an AMG day today.
It was held at the Cloudside Shooting Club, in the hills, near Rushton Spencer. Now I could do a Jeremy Clarkson, and write paragraphs about the club, the food, the people and give you just a couple of throwaway lines about the car at the end, but I won't. The club, the food and the people were very good, very tasty and very interesting - in that order.
The car - well I should say that in the morning I drove an E63, then a CL65 Bi-Turbo, and finally an SL63. We were on public roads with instructors, it was all very professional, the only disappointment being we had to drive and stay in convoy, no overtaking and no dropping back to 'make space' to speed into. The pace was pretty good, even so.
And I thought my chance had gone - the SLS had been bagged in my session by people who had been there since dawn or perhaps even camped out overnight. But I was very lucky - my instructor was a great bloke who put a word in for me, and at 3.30 a huge bloke called Cliff sidled up to me and asked for 'a word' - the effect of which was keep your mouth shut and follow me. And we were away in the SLS, and no convoy.
Or we would have been if I could have got in. I did eventually, but its not easy and its certainly not elegant if you have really long legs. Having to grab your shin to pull your knee up under your chin is not cool. There must be a better way than **** (can you really not say ass on here?) first, which was the advice. The sill was really badly scuffed too.
But nothing like that matters once you start the engine. It starts with a serious roar - a really seriously load roar. You could not sneak out in this car, and neither did we, but we were on our way. The exhaust noise is fantastic, burbling, popping and sounding great as you change down when the throttle is automatically blipped. Throttle response is fearsome - you can drive that car fast, really fast without using much right foot.
The suspension is nothing like as hard as I expected - I'd heard from one guest he'd found it uncomfortable, but I didn't, and was pleasantly surprised.
We got to the main road, the A535 towards Leek, crested a hill and found a tractor with trailer, followed by a French reg Renault. We'd been warned at the briefing about overtaking, speed etc etc but before I could ask Cliff said get past when you can - so, with a clear view to the top of the next crest, 2nd gear, lots of headlights, I squeezed the throttle and the car just flew past the traffic. I was conscious of the green orange red LED's at the top of the speedo as it shifted itself into 3rd [we were in M] and also of the fact that we would shortly be going over the next crest at a fair old lick... ceramic brakes to the rescue. I have never ever driven with them before, but they seemed a lot more progressive, with less snatch or bite than you sometimes get. Next was an artic;we followed him for half a mile or so, then a chance to pass - 2nd gear, a bit of road that curves, rises and bends - I tried to be 'progressive', but effectively floored it. I've had some nice cars, and I've been driven by other people who have even nicer ones, but I have never ever experienced anything quite like this afternoon.
The noise inside the car is spectacular, from engine as well as exhaust. There was no sensation of nose up or down under fierce acceleration or braking, and as well as flat, the car stays utterly level. The steering is marvellous - I really didn't get the chance to judge about roadholding - way out of my league - but the handling is tremendous. It was definitely the most involving, captivating and memorable 30 minutes of driving I have enjoyed.
If you get the chance, drive one. Put on the best suit, or the holiest jeans you've got, whatever makes you look like you might just have the money.
If you think you want one now, wait until you've driven it.
.
