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My friend (John) and I were joined by Lee (FieldL) at 6 am on a cold damp morning to spend several hours on a quest to find some quiet roads.
All 3 of us have purchased our cars around the last 2 months. I have done 1500 miles so far in the M5, with only around 5 of these where I could thest the car. My friend in the Vantage has covered 2k miles and it would be fair to say he hasn't driven it seriously in the way Lee and I would call serious. Lee (put me right Lee if needed) hasn't done many miles and hasn't tested his machinery.
So we set out to do some testing and get used to the cars but not to push the cars to their limits.
We started out with the intention to do a rough reversal of Chilled's suggested route. We got to Settle, headed over to Hawes, and before we knew it we were in Richmond (just south of Darlington) by 8.20 am where we stopped for a cuppa. Then back towards a little village called Askrigg for a bacon buttie and them headed home through Hebden Bridge-back home for 2.
Distance covered approx 220 miles.
The bits you are interested in I guess are impressions/comparisons
Firstly noise.
Lee's car sounds fantastic-I know little about Porsches but apparantly he has got a Porsche sports exhaust. To me it sounded like something between a TVR and a Honda with a specialist exhaust on.
The vantage obviously sounds great and more refined than Lees, almost grown up and in my humble opinion better for it. However it is not as loud.
My sound-well forget it
There was a moment on the trip up the M66 on the way to Settle where Lee and John went past in quick succession and the sound was that familiar rumble of some serious machinery.
Looks
Again the Vantage receive positive reactions. At the stop for fuel in Settle, the driver of a co-op truck who had just finished and came over asking what power was produced by the V8 Vantage. 380 to which Lee and I chirped up (not wanting to feel left out, 320 and 400 respectively.
He seemed quite amused that his truck was only putting out 240 bhp (pity there wasn't an S with us )
Poise/handling
I spent 30% of the time at the back and around 70% at the front. I never once saw both the Porsche or the AM step out of line-both seemed glued to the tarmac on what was a damp morning for the first half of the journey.
In fairness none of us were pushing along the bounds of "stupidity" so it is hard to judge the 3 (same goes for performance) but my traction control was kicking in an awful lot (didn't dare turn it off). It turns out John's didn't kick in once and Lee's did a few times and I think It's fair to say that in order of handling it would be AM, Porsche, M5
However, from my point of view I used the morning as a test bed to get a feel for the car. I was early braking, scrubbing speed off early before corners,full throttle in starigts, backing off etc. By late morning my confidence had grown immesurably, and for one section of the journey where I was in front I drove very spiritedly for 4-5 miles and left the other two behind. .
My respect for the M5 has grown twofold, there's a way to being as confident as I was in the S, but i believe I can have as much fun (albeit in a tin top).
performance
Very hard one to call and I think we all agreed they are in the same bracket performance wise. Lee commented that getting into silly speed figures my M5 started to walk away, but i think this backs up the stats.
It was difficult to compare the Vantage as John has a diffeernt driving style to Lee and I however the only occasion he was left behind was wwhen he was rummaging around in his glove box and we shot off due to an overtaking opportunity.
All in all this was one of the most enjoyable car drives I have had, insomuch as a learning experience, comparison of 3 fine cars and from the driving standards from my Lee and John There were very few cars on the road which was great and only one sign of negativity (I'll let Lee explain that-great example of a pincer movement )
Forgot to mention - saw an excellent and a god awful piece of driving from other motorists.
1. Mondeo man. Driving along an unmarked/B road, we were sat behind him for about 5 miles. Although the road was undulating and fairly twisty I don't remember seeing him braking more than twice, and kept the speed up to a good rate
2. some crappy car overtaking (very slowly) a slow moving car on the blind crest of a hill, just before Skipton
Lee's Porker looks really nice in the metal - very low, squat and menacing, especially since it's black and sounds like the Devil's own personal chariot when he turns the PSE on and revs it - but both the C4S and the M5 pale and look "ordinary" (at least IMO) next to the AMV8
10-08-2006, 01:52 PM
A vantage an M5 and a C4S
where we stopped for a cuppa. Then back towards a little village called Askrigg for a bacon buttie and them headed home through Hebden Bridge-back home for 2.
)
There were very few cars on the road which was great and only one sign of negativity (I'll let Lee explain that-great example of a pincer movement 
