Week 2
I am astonished how completely different car culture is in London. I was surprised to by all aspects of cars, whether it is the different engine options that aren’t even offered in the US (mostly diesels), the amount of supercars and luxury vehicles, car companies we don’t have in the US like Renault and Peugeot, and especially the lack of US car companies.
I saw one of my dream cars: the Audi RS6 Avant. It pains me to see this car, not because it is wildly expensive and do not get me wrong a RS6 Avant is still expensive about $150,000 (in the grand scheme of my dream cars it mine as well be pocket change), but because we don’t have them in the states. It is not like Audi can’t bring it to the States because they can, but for some ridiculous reason they do not think people will want or especially buy them. You also can not buy one in another country, even if it is left hand drive, and import it in because since it was not sold in the US, it has not gone through the necessary safety and emission tests. The Audi RS6 Avant is based off the normal Quattro (Audi’s All Wheel Drive System) Audi A6 which you can buy in the US. What makes it different is that it has over 600 horsepower and the Avant means it is a wagon bodystyle. The RS6 Avant is the ultimate utility sports car for those who want a fast, exciting car, but also four doors and a trunk that can actually hold larger items like to me: fishing rods. German auto manufacturers have believed US drivers do not want fast wagons, but many do. In many of the car magazines I read always love the fast wagons and their only criticism is that it isn’t available in the States. Luckily for me, I got a taste of what it would be like to own an RS6 Avant this week when Sam Moran and I went car hunting and landed in an Audi Dealership. Front and center was all black RS6 Avant and the salesman let me even sit in the driver’s seat. In that moment, the knife was just twisted and ripped out of my gut. I guess I will just have to wait 25 years for it to be considered a grey market car in the States which means they no longer need to be safety or emission tested.
Another surprise was how many cars, especially Mercedes, we have in the states but with different model numbers indicating its engine. In the US, the Mercedes S class, their highest and most expensive level of luxury sedan, comes as a s460, s560 and from their very own inhouse aftermarket group called AMG, the s63 and s65. The s460 has a gas powered 3.0L twin turbo v6 making 362 horsepower. The s560, a gas powered 4.0L twin turbo v8 making 463 horsepower. The s63 and s65 a handcrafted gas powered 4.0L twin turbo v8 and 6.0L twin turbo v12 making 603 and 620 horsepower respectively (if your wondering why 4 more cylinders and 2 extra liters of displacement only make 20 more horsepower, it is because a v12 is the smoothest engine since there is less time between each cylinder fire meaning the v12 is meant more to be smooth which happens to make it fast whereas the v8 is only meant to be fast). In London, the most common S class is the s350d which is a diesel 3.0L straight 6 making a mere 286 horsepower. I have learned that gasoline (petrol) is far more expensive in the UK which has led to car companies like mercedes to offer smaller displacement diesels which are more fuel efficient. Either, you have a lot of money and do not care how much fuel your car uses or like most, aren’t rich and do have to worry about fuel consumption.
That being said, I have been blown away with how many supercars and sports cars I have seen. I have seen more sports car in the past two weeks than in the last 6 months in Boston or at home. Everyday I can almost bet that I will see some sort or Bentley, Rolls Royce or Aston Martin (all British companies); possible a Ferrari, Lamborghini or Mclaren; and can guarantee that I will see an RS Audi, M BMW or AMG Mercedes at some point. I understood coming to London that there is a lot of money here, but I was not expecting for it to be spent of expensive, fast cars that won’t exceed 20 or 30 mph ever. I am not complaining because I love see such rare and amazing cars, but to me, what is the point of owning a fast car if you can not even take it out of first gear?
The economy class British car companies (not Bentley, Rolls Royce, Range Rover, Jaguar, Aston Martin or Mclaren) like Peugeot, Renault, Vauxhall, Opel, Dacia, and Skoda make some of the ugliest cars I have ever seen. These companies are equivalent to Toyota or Honda in the US. London has very few American car companies. The most common American car is the Ford Transit van. Since Britain discourages pickup trucks Ford or Chevy Fullsize pickups practically do not exist. Some of the most successful models in the US do not exist in London. The only pickup truck I have seen is the Ford Ranger which is Ford's smaller pickup truck. London has made me realize just how dependant the US is on SUVs. There are no large or small SUV’s in London with the exception of Land Rover/ Range Rovers. Where the US uses SUV’s, the UK uses wagons. Two completely different places with to completely different car worlds.
This week I visited an Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Mclaren, BMW and my personal favorite Rolls Royce dealership. I also was able to go to the London Motor Show. On my walk to the dealerships, I saw two Ferrari’s: a white 458 and a Paint To Spec (PTS) blue 488. At Audi, I got to sit in the 605hp RS6 Avant and see their supercar, the R8 which features a naturally aspirated V10. At Porsche, I saw the all new wagon Panamera and thankfully, they brought them to the States as well. I barely stopped at Bentley because next door at the Rolls Royce dealership, they had the brand new Cullinan which was world debuted, at that dealership the day before. The all new Cullinan was no disappoint either as a $350,000 SUV should be. The interior and exterior design was spectacular. Directly next to the beautiful red Cullinan was the mud caked test Cullinan that was driven 12000 miles off road in Australia. At Mclaren, I saw another one of my dream cars, the 720s and I can not wait for depreciation to hit this car. The 720s does 0-60 mph in 2.5, 0-100 in 5.1 and the quarter mile in 10.2 at 140+ mph. On the track, the $350,000 720s on street tires was faster than the over $1,000,000 Porsche 918 on racing track tires. The 720s blows my mind and the laws of physics. At the London Motor Show, I got to see many of the cars I saw at the dealerships, but there were a few that were especially unique. I got to see a $2,000,000 Bugatti Veyron and an almost $3,000,000 1 of 1 Koenigsegg Agera N. I have seen a Bugatti a few other times, but never in my life did I think I would be able to see a Koenigsegg. Bugatti is one of the many companies owned by Volkswagen, meaning they have a lot of resources at their disposal. Koenigsegg on the other hand, is an extremely small company, making only a few cars a year. My favorite part about Koenigsegg is that every single part, nut bolt or screw is built by them. The only part not made by them inhouse is the tires. I was also able to see the newly released Lamborghini Urus, their own super SUV if you will. Overall, the show was a little disappointing, but I still had a lot of fun and learned a significant amount car culture in Britain. In the future I hope to continue learning about the car culture here in London. I still want to know why we can’t have RS6 Avants in the US? Why not Audi!?
I saw one of my dream cars: the Audi RS6 Avant. It pains me to see this car, not because it is wildly expensive and do not get me wrong a RS6 Avant is still expensive about $150,000 (in the grand scheme of my dream cars it mine as well be pocket change), but because we don’t have them in the states. It is not like Audi can’t bring it to the States because they can, but for some ridiculous reason they do not think people will want or especially buy them. You also can not buy one in another country, even if it is left hand drive, and import it in because since it was not sold in the US, it has not gone through the necessary safety and emission tests. The Audi RS6 Avant is based off the normal Quattro (Audi’s All Wheel Drive System) Audi A6 which you can buy in the US. What makes it different is that it has over 600 horsepower and the Avant means it is a wagon bodystyle. The RS6 Avant is the ultimate utility sports car for those who want a fast, exciting car, but also four doors and a trunk that can actually hold larger items like to me: fishing rods. German auto manufacturers have believed US drivers do not want fast wagons, but many do. In many of the car magazines I read always love the fast wagons and their only criticism is that it isn’t available in the States. Luckily for me, I got a taste of what it would be like to own an RS6 Avant this week when Sam Moran and I went car hunting and landed in an Audi Dealership. Front and center was all black RS6 Avant and the salesman let me even sit in the driver’s seat. In that moment, the knife was just twisted and ripped out of my gut. I guess I will just have to wait 25 years for it to be considered a grey market car in the States which means they no longer need to be safety or emission tested.
Another surprise was how many cars, especially Mercedes, we have in the states but with different model numbers indicating its engine. In the US, the Mercedes S class, their highest and most expensive level of luxury sedan, comes as a s460, s560 and from their very own inhouse aftermarket group called AMG, the s63 and s65. The s460 has a gas powered 3.0L twin turbo v6 making 362 horsepower. The s560, a gas powered 4.0L twin turbo v8 making 463 horsepower. The s63 and s65 a handcrafted gas powered 4.0L twin turbo v8 and 6.0L twin turbo v12 making 603 and 620 horsepower respectively (if your wondering why 4 more cylinders and 2 extra liters of displacement only make 20 more horsepower, it is because a v12 is the smoothest engine since there is less time between each cylinder fire meaning the v12 is meant more to be smooth which happens to make it fast whereas the v8 is only meant to be fast). In London, the most common S class is the s350d which is a diesel 3.0L straight 6 making a mere 286 horsepower. I have learned that gasoline (petrol) is far more expensive in the UK which has led to car companies like mercedes to offer smaller displacement diesels which are more fuel efficient. Either, you have a lot of money and do not care how much fuel your car uses or like most, aren’t rich and do have to worry about fuel consumption.
That being said, I have been blown away with how many supercars and sports cars I have seen. I have seen more sports car in the past two weeks than in the last 6 months in Boston or at home. Everyday I can almost bet that I will see some sort or Bentley, Rolls Royce or Aston Martin (all British companies); possible a Ferrari, Lamborghini or Mclaren; and can guarantee that I will see an RS Audi, M BMW or AMG Mercedes at some point. I understood coming to London that there is a lot of money here, but I was not expecting for it to be spent of expensive, fast cars that won’t exceed 20 or 30 mph ever. I am not complaining because I love see such rare and amazing cars, but to me, what is the point of owning a fast car if you can not even take it out of first gear?
The economy class British car companies (not Bentley, Rolls Royce, Range Rover, Jaguar, Aston Martin or Mclaren) like Peugeot, Renault, Vauxhall, Opel, Dacia, and Skoda make some of the ugliest cars I have ever seen. These companies are equivalent to Toyota or Honda in the US. London has very few American car companies. The most common American car is the Ford Transit van. Since Britain discourages pickup trucks Ford or Chevy Fullsize pickups practically do not exist. Some of the most successful models in the US do not exist in London. The only pickup truck I have seen is the Ford Ranger which is Ford's smaller pickup truck. London has made me realize just how dependant the US is on SUVs. There are no large or small SUV’s in London with the exception of Land Rover/ Range Rovers. Where the US uses SUV’s, the UK uses wagons. Two completely different places with to completely different car worlds.
This week I visited an Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Mclaren, BMW and my personal favorite Rolls Royce dealership. I also was able to go to the London Motor Show. On my walk to the dealerships, I saw two Ferrari’s: a white 458 and a Paint To Spec (PTS) blue 488. At Audi, I got to sit in the 605hp RS6 Avant and see their supercar, the R8 which features a naturally aspirated V10. At Porsche, I saw the all new wagon Panamera and thankfully, they brought them to the States as well. I barely stopped at Bentley because next door at the Rolls Royce dealership, they had the brand new Cullinan which was world debuted, at that dealership the day before. The all new Cullinan was no disappoint either as a $350,000 SUV should be. The interior and exterior design was spectacular. Directly next to the beautiful red Cullinan was the mud caked test Cullinan that was driven 12000 miles off road in Australia. At Mclaren, I saw another one of my dream cars, the 720s and I can not wait for depreciation to hit this car. The 720s does 0-60 mph in 2.5, 0-100 in 5.1 and the quarter mile in 10.2 at 140+ mph. On the track, the $350,000 720s on street tires was faster than the over $1,000,000 Porsche 918 on racing track tires. The 720s blows my mind and the laws of physics. At the London Motor Show, I got to see many of the cars I saw at the dealerships, but there were a few that were especially unique. I got to see a $2,000,000 Bugatti Veyron and an almost $3,000,000 1 of 1 Koenigsegg Agera N. I have seen a Bugatti a few other times, but never in my life did I think I would be able to see a Koenigsegg. Bugatti is one of the many companies owned by Volkswagen, meaning they have a lot of resources at their disposal. Koenigsegg on the other hand, is an extremely small company, making only a few cars a year. My favorite part about Koenigsegg is that every single part, nut bolt or screw is built by them. The only part not made by them inhouse is the tires. I was also able to see the newly released Lamborghini Urus, their own super SUV if you will. Overall, the show was a little disappointing, but I still had a lot of fun and learned a significant amount car culture in Britain. In the future I hope to continue learning about the car culture here in London. I still want to know why we can’t have RS6 Avants in the US? Why not Audi!?