Shootout: The king of cars

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We waited 'til now because we wanted to do this test in conjunction with the arrival of our very own long-term BMW M5, but it's also been good in that the M5 turned out to be Cars in Action's Performance car of the year and this test serves to double-check our findings there...

So, here we have ? alphabetically ? the M5, Jaguar's S-Type R, the Merc E55 AMG and Maserati's Quattroporte. It was in fact three years ago exactly when we had the Jag and the Merc together with the old M5 as part of the cover of our first February Cars in Action Power Edition back in 2003, but since then things have changed a little...

Notably, we see the somewhat chameleon Quattroporte as being as central to this comparison as it is to a S-class/7-series or a 6-series/CLS shindig, but more significantly, it's about the new M5 that we have to re-shoot this bunch out...

Back then we concluded that E55 was the business in a finely balanced battle. The hammer-like Merc with its crazy power and dilly torque had the better of its ageing Bavarian and suave Coventry contenders, although the BMW and the Jag were still brilliant buys.

But time moves on and Bavaria has struck back with a car so sublime, it makes the E55 seem, well almost normal by comparison...

See, the previous M5 was a legend of its time ? that 4.0-litre V8 managed to keep it in contention even when Merc supercharged it 5.5-litre V8 lump ? the BMW was more pointed and more precise than its Swabian rival. But the Merc was just so frighteningly fast, that it didn't really matter how trick the Beemer was. We chose the Merc as the car three years back.

How things have changed...

In response to Merc's force-fed fantasy, BMW M sought revenge via what it calls F1 technology. It based the new M5's heart around the engine it was supplying Williams at the time ? an albeit far less stressed V10 pumped up to 5.0-litres and churning out just over 500 brake horses (373kW) and 507Nm. No supercharging, no turbos, just BMW M brilliance.

If that wasn't enough, they slotted it onto a seven-speed robo-clutch SMG 'box and made the 500 horses available only when you need them via the M-button on the steering that you can configure to come in exactly as you like it. You have a Jag-like 400 (298kW) for everyday driving...

For the rest, M5 is a no-holds-barred supercar with the bonus of being a sedan, too - a class act that's going to take quite some beating.

The Maserati is a bit of an enigma ? it brought Ferrari's brilliant new V8 onto the scene before it even appeared in the F430. But the Maser is without a doubt the most luxurious car of the lot here ? it is equally capable of questioning S or 7 as it is M and AMG.

Designed as a sporting limousine, the big Italian is more expensive than its rivals here and perhaps, when considered versus the Germans, it's not quite as pointed, especially the M5. Its skyhook suspension system combines sportiness almost as pointed as the BMWs with luxury that, albeit not quite in the S and 7 league, certainly tops the pile here...

Jaguar builds the only other car that can currently call itself an M5 rival. But it's now the oldest car here and the furthest from the madding mark the Bavarian sets this niche. Still, the Jag certainly is no joke ? especially considering that its asking price is a full 215 grand cheaper than the next most expensive and almost half the price of the dearest car here. The supercharged Jag is also as agile and as tractable as anything out there.

So the M5 doesn't need supercharging or anything like that to make it the most powerful car here, although while the Merc is far torquier with its staggering 700Nm, even the Jag pips the M5 to third. See, I told you the S still really belongs here. Indeed the Maserati is the least powerful and torquey of the lot, but it definitely is the most beautiful and unique...

On paper (and at the coast) the Merc and the BMW are rated the quickest cars here at 4.7-seconds 0-100km/h. Jaguar says S-Type R will get there in 5.6 seconds and the Maserati does it in six.

But in Johannesburg, where 70 percent of you live and drive at some 1500m altitude, how do they shape up? Well our tests reveal the M5, despite its apparent approximate 15 percent loss in power due to lower ambient pressures at such an elevation, achieves a 4.8-second 0-100. The Merc, which overcomes altitude sickness with its supercharger does the dash in just under five seconds and the Jag is impressive at 4.7, while the Maser suffers both altitude and its bulk up here at 6.6 seconds.

The Merc hammer comes back to crush the quarter mile in 13 seconds flat at a sobering 190km/h, 0.2 quicker than the M5, which reaches a 180km/h terminal velocity, while the Jag manages a 14.9 quarter at 167km/h and the Maserati does it in 15 seconds at 161km/h.

Tractability wise, the Merc beats the Beemer in our 80-120km/h dash ? taking 3.3 seconds versus 4.5, but the BMW blasts back to crush the Mercedes from 120 to 160km/h, taking just an astonishing 3.8 seconds ? half a second quicker. The Jaguar and the Maserati are impressive at a respective 5 and 4.8 seconds 80-120 and 5.7 and 6.8 120 to 160.

So, the M5 overcomes its most obvious disadvantages at altitude to destroy the rest everywhere except the quarter and in bottom-end tractability, where the Merc succeeds to just pip it. But why?

There are two reasons: Firstly the BMW's more sophisticated high-tech V10 is the more athletic engine ? it's more powerful, although it's likely not the case up at the Reef, and less torquey. But the BMW gets its power down better.

Indeed, it's a struggle to get M5 off the line, but not nearly as much of a challenge to get the Merc moving, which squanders even more power, traction and torque than the BMW does in smoke, screeching and tyre marks on the tarmac because it simply has far too much of it.

M5 in essence ? and perhaps the S-Type R and Quattroporte also, to an extent ? show up the flaws of excessive power and torque all too well. No matter how good the traction control.

So much so that Mercedes-Benz will drop supercharging in the next series of AMG hammers and replace it with cubic capacity in a high revving 6.3-litre V8 that will give us the opportunity to do all this again in the not too distant future.

So yes, the M5 takes this one conclusively. Not only is it the quickest all-rounder, the most sophisticated and the most coveted of the four right now, but it's also the second cheapest. And that again goes a hell of a long way to justifying why we recon M5 is the finest car you can buy today in our eyes.

The others are just as brilliant ? never mind age, size, price or anything else right now. They offer equal luxury, specification and versatility, although the BMW certainly does have them covered when it comes to sophistication and out-and-out pace. But they'll certainly still keep their respective owners as happy and content as they'd be if M5 hadn't even come along and upset the applecart in the first place.

They'll all react to Munich soon enough ? Mercedes, Maserati and Jaguar, let alone the rest ? starting with the Merc. But there's little denying that the BMW M5 is the undisputed king of cars right now.