As some of you are aware, I tend to drive the 500E as it was designed for ... well this morning on the way to the office, I was driving casually along Pacific Coast Highway. Light traffic, approximately 6:45 am, clear spring day, waves crashing nicely.

As I was driving through Solana Beach, I came to a stop at an intersection waiting for the light to change; I was in the #1 lane (two lanes each direction, undivided road). No vehicle in front of me but just to the left of me in the #2 lane. All of a sudden, this white X5 4.4i pulls up along my right side. I thought maybe he will be making a right turn soon, maybe waiting for the light to turn green. He couldn't be thinking that he'd snake (or spank) a lowly old W124 300E when the light turned green? My 500E is unbadged.

Well he did try. SURPRISE! As I waited for the light to turn green, I slapped the tranny into 1st gear ... waiting ... checking traffic. Green light ... he never had a chance ... how could he be spanked, he thought! The 500E quickly launched through the intersection; no ASR (Firehawks doing well!). I shifted up to 2nd gear but with my Pb foot in the throttle, 1st was held till 6250 rpm ... about two car lengths ... then 2nd gear came ... three, four then five lengths ... then I shut it down, traveling approximately less than 90 mph. I braked to slow down to the posted speed at waited for him ... he didn't even acknowledge anything ... his girlfriend must had yelled at him or he was just SHOCKED as he just got killed by a W124 ... okay, I'll admit, the unbadged 500E has an HP/TQ advantage. But still, the permagrin felt satisfying.

1992 500E ... 5.0 L, DOHC, 32 valve, 322 hp / 354 foot-lbs ... ~3800 pounds

2003 X5 4.4i ... 4.4L, DOHC, 32 valve, 290 hp / 324 foot-lbs ... ~4800 pounds

Never was a contest ...

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1992 500E (Daily Driver)
2004 Porsche RUF 955 Dakara 550