TO THE MAX: BIMMER SPECIALIST UNLEASHES SPEEDY SUPER-SEDAN

摘要

"VMAX OR YOU'RE a [cat]," the co-driver bleated, using another word meaning cat. "A [cat]? No one calls me a [cat], why I'll..." Vmax - aka maximum velocity, otherwise known as top speed - was 198 sizzling mph along the autobahn in this 540-hp twin-turbo BMW Alpina B6 super-sedan. We kept the throttle mashed to the unique hand-stitched, carpeted floor mat. 150, 160, 170, 180... Telephone poles looked like a picket fence. Time bent. We got younger. What happened next took place in about the time it took you to read this colon: What's that on the horizon? Traffic? Three little ultra-compact sedans, mere road bumps, in our lane. And just like that, it was hard on the binders, in this case single-piston steel brakes. And sure enough, we slowed to a lumbering 55 mph, knocking more than 130 mph off the pads in less time than it takes to say, "I could never afford one of these things anyway." Subsequent tests would record 60-0 in 108 seatbelt-stretching feet, amazing considering this massive sedan weighs more than two tons.