Penthouse Living at Ground Level: 2000 Large Luxury Sedan Comparison Test

As Wall Street values soar, thoughts turn from paper stock to rolling stock. View PhotosKen Hanna|Car and DriverFrom the November 1999 issue of Car and Driver. As we powered away from the Car and Driver parking lot to begin this test, the Dow stood at 11,187.68, down just a stutter step from its record 11,209.84 close on the previous Friday. We're all market watchers now, checking indexes and cheering on the "dot coms" and refiguring the date when we can afford to saunter into the boss's office and tell him how far to shove it. Can we show you something in a gilt-edged sedan? The five four-doors grouped here all have V-8s near enough to 300 horsepower, five-speed automatics, more leather inside than a Gucci emporium, and a dazzling crew of electrical gadgets awaiting your touch of various pushbuttons (you thought qwerty was obtuse; wait'll you meet navi, your GPS navigation system). Yes, sir, we know that you no longer have to ask, but a check for $70,000, more or less, will put you in the chair, plus tax and license, of course. See all results for used 2000 Audi A8 for sale near 11501 What can you get for 70 large? Four old favorites and one fresh-baked Benz round out the choices. In its first road test in the May 1999 issue, we wondered in print if the svelte and swoopy new S-class Mercedes could be "possibly the finest automobile built." For this price class we selected not the overdog S500 with the big V-8, but the entry-level (in the United States) S430 packing a 4266-cc V-8 and more gizmos than Inspector Gadget's pit crew. Last time we gathered this group (C/D April 1998), the Mercedes S320 was outscored by four other cars. Our winner then was the Lexus LS400, a silken slipper of a sedan that always impresses with its refinement. In second place was a BMW 740iL, the sporting driver's favorite, followed in order by the aluminum-suited all-wheel-drive Audi A8 4.2 Quattro and the sensually sculpted Jaguar Vanden Plas. Those four players, the Audi and the Bimmer upgraded for 2000, round out this select group. See all results for used 2000 Audi A8 for sale near 11501 We rushed this comparison to press, knowing that the Dow may have punched through the 12,000 barrier—some pundits say 12,000,000 isn't far away—and you're facing an ASAP decision. Which sedan has the right stuff for Easy Street? Calling all traditionalists. Imagine taking a seat in the lap of luxury, done up British style. The Vanden Plas knows the recipe exactly. Think fine furniture; lots of carefully matched burled-wood trim and aromatic Connolly hides. Even the nose responds to this recipe for indulgence. The top-of-the-line Vanden Plas, its name commemorating a grand Belgian coachbuilder of yore, gets an especially detailed wood treatment in which a pinstripe accent is formed by an inlay of light grain in a field of dark veneer. Jaguar furniture reaches its zenith in the airline-style tables that fold down from the backs of the front seats for the two rear passengers. The soft arc of the table surfaces and the intricacy of the veneer matching are impressive indeed. But why is the table top arched instead of flat? And why do they deploy at just the right incline to tip m'lord's soup into his lap? They're decorous rather than useful. The Vanden Plas's rear-seat appointments suggest owner occupancy back there, with driving left to the hired help. The right-front seat has position switches on the back, so Mr. Big can slide it forward out of his space. Fine, but driving is our passion, and these details hint at why the Jag is our least favorite. If we did want to ride in back, we'd prefer the cavernous space of the Mercedes or the BMW. True, the Vanden Plas has a stretched wheelbase, as do the two Germans (Audi's stretch arrives next year), to add legroom back there, but the Jag's low roof, low seat cushion, and narrowest-of-all beam add up to a less hospitable space. Jaguar enthusiasts will say, "Of course, the intimate mood of the cockpit is part of the marque's sporting character." Well, yes, but for some of our taller and broader staffers, the other sedans here simply fit better. The Jag's driver space is narrow, and underdash stuff weeps down low toward the legs. There's little space for the long-distance driver to shift positions. Nor are we keen on the blur of buttons for controlling music, interior climate, and whatnot that crowd low on the dash toward the tunnel; finding the switch you want takes the eyes off the road for too long. In fact, transport by Jaguar is less sporty than it is elegant. The shocks allow the suspension to move, to flow, and the Vanden Plas slips silently over the road, with less harshness and less impact noise from its tires than all others here but the Lexus. There is a price for this isolation: a jiggly, rubbery shake you feel in the tunnel, floor, and column over rough stuff. Such isolation in ordinary cars is accompanied by a certain Novocain numbness when you hustle. But no, the ca

Penthouse Living at Ground Level: 2000 Large Luxury Sedan Comparison Test

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