On the road again

Ask me a few days ago as to whether or not I’d ever want to own a top of the line GT and I’d have whipped out a convincing no. But today the answer is different. I have since learnt that I felt that way because I’d never driven a GT under the conditions they are designed for. My eye-opener came with a swift 400-kilometre journey, and it wasn’t a dash across the Alps. Time constraints and deadline issues meant that the quickest way to get the new BMW 650i from the launch to the photo shoot you see here, was to drive it from George to Cape Town.

I’d left Jo’burg at 6am, flown to George and driven around 250km on the launch. It had already been a long day by 4 o’clock when I hit the road to Cape Town, so I was a little unwilling to get into a harsh performance car. I needn’t have worried though, as the Beemer was superbly smooth, quiet and had all the creature comforts you’d expect in a car in this price range. Even better was the fact that if I wanted to attack a twisty section, it did so with a growling V8, heaps of acceleration and respectable road manners.

A GT is exactly what it says — it is a Grand Tourer. I want one, not to ferry the family around or to be the quickest at a track day, but to eat up SA’s roads while listening to either a decent CD or the glorious exhaust note.

Anyway, I reached my destination and thought I made my mind up on the 650i. But then the latest Maserati Gran Turismo came into view and a few moments later, a Jaguar XKR. It was going to be a long hard day of driving and feeling out three of the most beautiful cars out there — but someone had to do it.

Start at the beginning

Let’s start at the beginning. The three cars assembled here are true GTs, designed for long-distance driving with a whack of performance but with less compromise in the comfort departments than a traditional sports car. They do however differ dramatically when it comes to cost. The BMW starts the ball rolling at R866 800. The Jag will see you coughing R1 031 500 and the Maser even more at R1 550 000. That said, it is not necessary the old case of you get what you pay for with this trio.

Even though the Beemer is the ‘cheapy’, it comes out fighting with standard features like lane departure warning, active rear collision headrests, stability control, cruise control and, of course, a more than adequate sound system. Options will push the price up a bit, but do mean that the 650i will have more gadgets than the contenders. Extras on the list include Head-up Display, navigation system, night vision and even a trick variable light distribution program that adapts the car’s headlight focal range depending on the driving situation.

Like the 650i, the Jaguar XKR has keyless ignition and a user-friendly information screen. With a simple prod of the touch-screen, the driver can control the climate, audio and entertainment system. Jag too has safety in mind and comes to the party with a sophisticated Active Restraint Technology System that assesses the severity of an impact and controls deployment of airbags to suit. Again, Bi-Xenon lights are standard and an active lighting set-up is an option.

The Gran Turismo might be the most handmade of the bunch, but it is by no means that old craftsmen with no understanding of modern technology who assemble the car. Like the Beemer and Jag, the Maserati has all the necessary safety and comfort level gadgets. Believe it or not but Maserati has led the way in LED lighting since it fitted the revolutionary diode system to the 3200GT and it continues with the Gran Turismo. As standard the Italian gets an adaptive light control system.

Enough said, all three of the cars have what it takes to make your journey a comfortable, safe and cutting-edge drive. That is not really what these cars are about however. A GT is about performance, but most importantly, performance with style.