The Top Three for Oh-Five

December 31, 2005 - By John LeBlanc

Most Surprising Drive -T-RexThe undistinguished, cinderblock shop on the outskirts of a small Quebec dairy community is one of the least likely places you'll find a car that can match performance numbers with current Ferraris or Lambos.

But the factory location is just one of the biases you have to leave in check when discussing the T-Rex.

Another preconception is that all sports cars require four wheels, as the T-Rex's foundation is a welded tube-frame and a custom-built, racecar style suspension up front with the drivetrain from a Kawasaki ZZR-1200 sportbike out back. But one drive in the T-Rex will erase any misconceptions that this vehicle is some whacked-out, California VW Bug trike kit that you can mail order out of the back of Kit Car and Driver.

For the price of a new Honda S2000, the T-Rex performs like exotics costing five times its price. Quel surprise!

Most Cynical Drive - Saab 9-2X Marrying Scandinavian-cool styling with Asian-reliable nuts and bolts may make for a good PowerPoint presentation if you (General Motors) had a financial stake in both entities (Saab and Subaru). But the first of what was to be a string of Saabarus, the Saab 9-2X, ended up being nether fish, nor fowl.

Based on the old Subaru Impreza platform (that's just been refreshed for 2006), Saab's premium compact 9-2X simply didn't cut it for Saabistas. Where's the between-the-seats ignition, jet cockpit-inspired "night panel", or drive-until-the-midnight-sun-sets-comfortable thrones?

If you pop the hood on the Saab, its all Subaru. Oh sure, they added some noise reduction materials, and the suspension was tuned for better high-speed stability. The 9-2X Aero model ended up being the best Impreza ever, and the most expensive Impreza ever, all at the same time.

The Best Drive - BMW M5 You'll more than likely recognize Carly Simon's song, Anticipation, as the background theme to an old Heinz ketchup TV ad. But it's also the theme that looped in my head for the 24 months since the last BMW M5 went out of production.

You see, the M5, and me, we go way back. I still have the 1988 issue of Car and Driver where Hurley Haywood gets the then new to North America M5 sideways in the rain in. On a public freeway. In traffic.

That's three generations of M5 ago.

Now, the last M5, with its 394 horsepower V8, wasn't exactly a slouch. But rumours of the new iteration sporting Dodge Viper-ish power ratings from a V10 engine “inspired” from the same mill running around F1 circuits in the back of Frank Williams's racecars only added to my eagerness.

Then, last fall, my keenness was further fuelled. I had to sit here in Canada and read about a bunch of lucky bastard jorunos who were invited to a vacant airport in Germany to give the new M5 a go.

Argghhh!!

Another winter of discontent passed slowly by. Then the call from above came last month.

BMW Canada's grand PR frommage, Kevin Marcotte: “Hey, John, the eagle has landed.”

Sometimes in life, the actual event never lives up to the anticipation. Think any of the past SuperBowl games. Think first wedding nights. Trust me, the new M5 will not let you down.

But is it still the ultimate Q-ship?

Despite no manual gearbox (yet), and a plethora of technical features that will overwhelm you Commodore 64 users out there, the new M5 is still the king of super-sedans, spanking challengers to the crown like Cadillac's STS-V, Jaguar's S-Type R, or Mercedes' E55 AMG. Even drivers of such high regarded sports cars-like, oh say, Porsche's 911-need to keep an eye on their rear views when the M5 is lurking.

How?

Most BMWs intuitively connect with their drivers, mainly through the subtle capabilities of the suspension and steering. But whatever setting you have the M5's electronically controlled suspension, grip and feedback are in plenty of supply. And BMW has wisely ditched their active steering in the M5. Matched with generous 19-inch rubber, the V10's prodigious 500 h.p. always feels under control.

One day with the M5, and the space allocated to this article, really isn't enough time or space to properly describe the car's overwhelming capabilities. (Hint, hint: I need more time, Kevin.)

Enough to say that waiting for BM-darn-W to release the new M5 not only made it my most anticipated drive for 2005, it also made it my best drive of the year.

- John LeBlanc, Publisher, www.straight-six.com

© National Post 2005. This article originally appeared in The National Post's Driving.