The saloon car is a dying breed these days, which is a shame because it makes for such a good looking car.
My nominees;
W126 Merc for its sheer presence. I’d love to have one now.
3rd gen E55 AMG. Soooo comfortable, and with ‘that’ 5.5l supercharged V8. Last of the ‘subtle’ AMG’s.
Mazda 6 MPS/Mazdaspeed 6. A proper Q-car among the WRX/Evo’s of the day. Super comfy, and incredibly talented. Subtle changes outside to accommodate wider track and outsize intercooler stack (the bonnet was 2 inches higher than the standard car). Huge changes to the chassis though to accomodate various braces and the rear axle from an RX8. To look at it you’d never know that it was an all wheel drive barnstormer with getting on for 300hp.
Mk2 facelift Ford Granada 2.9 Ghia X. No arguments accepted here. The Mk2 Granny is a damn good looking car.
Vauxhall VXR8. Vauxhall is a company I’ve long despised for its half hearted engineering and mediocre ‘that’ll do’ offerings. The very sight of a Vauxhall Mokka makes me want to self harm, but just occasionally, as with the aforementioned Lotus Carlton, they do so something so mad you have to take notice and even applaude them for it. After the lunatic VX220turbo took an Elise and turned it up to eleven, they started importing hairy chested V8 Holdens and rebadging them as Vauxhall’s. The VXR8 in 2007 was a leather lined 6.0 V8 missile, and it was only £35k new when a decent AMG merc would cost you double that. To add to the already unhinged offering, you could have dealer endorsed, supplied and warranty friendly upgrades that boosted power to over 570hp.
