The Perfect movie car chase

Ronin was on the television the other night. For anyone unfamiliar with the movie it is a spy thriller from the late nineties starring Robert De Niro, Jean Reno and Sean Bean. To be honest it's a fairly routine movie with a standard plot about retrieving a mysterious case from some equally mysterious and unsavoury characters. What lifts the movie in the eyes of many car enthusiasts is two outstanding car chases. The entree is a chase sequence starting the foothills above Nice before descending into the old part of Nice itself. The "heroes"  use an Audi S8 (with nitrous oxide injection) and a Mercedes 450SEL 6.9 while the principal hood uses a Citroen XM escorted by a number of heavies in Peugeot 605's.  The main course and arguably the centre piece of the movie is a chase sequence with De Niro and Reno in a Peugeot 405 chasing a different set of bad guys in a E34 BMW M5 around the streets of Paris through over and under the heavy Parisian traffic.

From a purely technical point of view I think it is the best car chase ever put on cinema. All of the action is real, with no use of CGI. and I suspect virtually every stunt driver in Europe must have contributed as the two cars weave through the oncoming traffic. The director the late John Frankenheimer elected to use right hand drive cars for the sequences so the actors could be in the cars holding dummy steering wheels while the stunt drivers drove from the other side. If you look closely De Niro the famous method man genuinely looks terrified in some of the sequences.

One thing lets the chase down though and that is the cars itself. The E34 M5 is fine (it's an early example with the 3.5 litre 6 and odd turbine wheels) and fits nicely in the context of the movie but the Peugeot is such an uninspiring choice for a movie car and even in the circumstances of the chase you would expect the considerably more powerful BMW to easily out run it.  Another classic car chase from Bullitt got this spot on by pitching Steve McQueen's Ford Mustang GT390 against the bad guys (actually stunt driving legend Bill Hickman) in a Dodge Charger.

This prompted the question which I asked on Twitter as if you were picking two modern cars for the perfect car chase (one hero car and one villan car) what you would pick?

Thanks to those who responded  Evo magazine journalist @Dickiemeaden @jamiewolfcale of Drivecult @MartinSpain of Hold Back the Sky and @chrisratcliff the Fstopjunkie,  and here are the very unscientific findings.  Firstly supercars don't seem to come up very much, the lightweight of the modern supercar means it's probably not a good car to choose if the chase gets physical (and most good car chases do at some point). Also most car enthusiasts wince at seeing exotic metal being put in that position. The only exotica that did crop up all as the hero car were the Mercedes SLS AMG and the Maserati Grand Turismo S.

One theme clearly emerged when it came to the villan car namely the hoods car of choice should be some form of AMG Mercedes. All of the C63 (in both saloon and wagon versions) E63 and CLS63 came up most and usually suggested that the car should be black as well. There is clearly something sinsiter about the quick Merc saloons that makes them a popular choice as a villain car. The other choices that came up were the new Jaguar XJ Supersports (the supercharged version) for perhaps a Guy Richie movie? and the Porsche Panamera Turbo.

Hero cars had a slightly wider range but again German sports saloons and coupe's figured prominently, including the M3 in both E92 and E46 forms, the E39 M5, along with the new Audi RS5. For a more sporting vein the 911 Carrera S was suggested.

Now with a list of cars of which I would mix and match Dickie Meaden's suggestion of the Maserati Gran Turismo S (purely for the awesome noise they make) as the hero car and Jamie Wolfcale's suggestion of the E63AMG in black obviously, attention should turn to where the chase should be staged?

The first Ronin chase uses Nice and the French Riviera as the backdrop. I know this area well and it certainly provides a very suitable location with many exciting mountain roads and narrow streets in the towns.

However purely because I can't recall a major movie car chase ever being staged here (please let me know if I'm wrong?) I am going to nominate London. Iconic and varying backdrops tight streets seem to be ideal although I do accept that the traffic may prove difficult so the sequence would probably have to be filmed early on Sunday morning.

So Maserati vs Mercedes on the mean streets of London is my recipe for the perfect car chase.