User:That Thing There/Ubermacht Sentinel XS

Welcome to Test Drive Auto: Liberty City, where we take your favorite cars on extensive test drives and bring you the cold, hard facts. This week's article is brought to you in part by The Bank of Liberty, which reminds you to Spend.

How Ubermacht rekindled the flame

So here we are. Well, at least here I am. I was told to be at Autoeroticar at 0530 on Wednesday for my assignment. All I knew was, I was going to be driving something new for a week. Hey, anything is better than that Primo I had last week. I roll up in style, a Schyster Cabby. Check the phone one last time, 0525. Right on time.

I walk in the office, and a very busty female greets me. She's got a manila folder with my name on it, sitting on the desk. I felt a bit, strange, to say the least. Still though, I had no idea what I was going to be reviewing, but the guys at the office kept telling me how lucky I was to have scored this one.

When I asked her where my car was, she scoffed and told me to open the envelope. Inside I found a remote fob and key for an Ubermacht of some sort. My first thought was the Rebla, but then my mind clicked. That shiny black Sentinel XS out front was my ride of the week. Now I knew why I was so lucky.

If I can give you a bit of a backstory on the Sentinel.. From the mid-80s to about 1998, the Sentinel had captured America's love of sport sedans. Perhaps none better than the original Sentinel XS, which debuted at the 1985 Vice City Auto Show. With a torque-y V8 and a supreme suspension, the Sentinel had it all. Comfort, style, speed, sophistication. When the second generation Sentinel came to life in 1991 at the Las Venturas Auto Show, the crowd was stunned. Ubermacht kept true to it's form and made the Sentinel more beautiful than it ever was. Things got quiet after that, and in 1997 Ubermacht came back with the third generation Sentinel, which was such a machine that the Italian Mafia bought quite a few of them, giving the nickname "Mafia Sentinel". Ubermacht went quiet for a while and kept the third generation alive, until 2007, at the Algonquin Motor Gallery, they released to society what could be the greatest iteration yet: The 4th Generation Sentinel. When onlookers saw what Ubermacht had done, they burst into applause.

No longer was it a sedan, but a sports coupe. With a curvaceous body, a stunning new 4.7L Supercharged V8 engine and sleek ground effects, the new Sentinel was a show stopper. With a 0-100km time of less than 5 seconds, a RWD platform and lightweight chassis, the Sentinel became a whole new benchmark in small sports coupes.

Back to the review. So I picked it up with 8.5mi on the clock, a full tank of gas and a freshly waxed body. It was now 0545 and I was ready to hit the road. Packie, my partner in crime, was more than likely down visiting his brother at the correctional facility, so I jumped onto the Plumber's Skyway and called him. I knew Katt Williams was back in town and since Packie needed a laugh, it was decided. After blasting through 4th gear and still feeling the car had more to give, I backed off. I didn't need to have this poor thing messed up before I did some real testing. I found the suspension to be very taut and firm, keeping the Sentinel flat through the corners. For as much power as it had, the rear end felt firmly planted on the road, and the driving position was simply superb. If only it had come with ABS.. Sigh.

-- TBC