Supercars. Meh.
Discussion
My wife bought me a 6 hour super car driving experience in Toronto last weekend, I thought some of you may be interested.
The event consisted of driving six cars out to the hills near the city, around a bit, lunch, more hills then back to base. Two people per car - my wife didn’t come so I shared with a guy who was also there on his own. More of this later. The group leader told me that the more “spirited driving” (not, as it turned out) happened near the end, so I started out with the most “normal” car and saved the more dramatic ones for the middle/end of the trip. Just worked out in that order. The group was led by a Tesla Model Y, which they also used to take video on the move. We were told to keep close to each other as it made the video better. As it turned out, it rather spoiled the driving. OK, to the cars, and my impressions. Bear in mind I’m in my 50s, I’ve had a couple of Porsches and a Maserati and rode big bikes for years, just for reference. I should also preface this by saying that there was a bit of a family argument that morning so I wasn’t in the most positive of moods! Also, sadly the two cars I really wanted to try, a 911 GT3RS and the new Corvette, weren’t available to us.
An Audi RS convertible was first. Since I’m on the wrong side of the car, I though this would be an easy start, and indeed it was. It’s like every decent spec Audi you’ve been in. Under 50mph or so, it may as well be a TT. Nice noises, looks ok, unmemorable. Then my driving companion took over. The only way he could get some full(ish) throttle action was to hang back from the car in front and nail it. Again. And Again. And… you get the idea.
Then an Acura NSX. This was more interesting. Way more dramatic to look at, more gadgets than anything else, stupidly good grip and traction as far as I could tell, but the electric to IC transition was just awful. My wife has a 330e and it just seamlessly moves from electric to hybrid. The NSX just got confused all the time, in any mode. Worst was making a left turn from a stop. It juddered, bucked a bit, decided what it was doing and took off like a nutter. Quite fun, and a surprisingly good ride, but driving at normal speeds with stop signs, traffic lights etc wasn’t much fun. I looked up the US price - it’s a lot, of course, but probably the best value in the group.
Into the hills, and into a Lambo Aventador. My partner was driving at first, and caught me unawares with his first “pull” and hurt my back. This thing is brutal, it kicks you in the kidneys and deafens at the same time. However, that seems to be its one party trick. The interior is shockingly bad, even down to the awful font on the buttons, cheap leather, plastic trim, confusing instrument display and badly placed controls. On the upside, the AC worked quite well (needed in that thing, it’s like an oven) and the seats aren’t bad. But oh my, what a stupid gearbox. In auto it changes gear at the slightest provocation. Oh look, there’s a tiny incline, I MUST CHANGE DOWN AND GO BWAAAH. It’s like a toddler with a sugar rush. It’s all LOOK AT ME BWAAAH BWAAAH ISN’T IT FUN TO HIT DADDY IN THE KIDNEYS. Engine felt like it had little torque either, especially compared to what came next. I honestly hated this thing. It’s an engine with some 90s arcade game wrapped around it. Wooden steering, crappy suspension, cheap and fragile everything - no wonder there seem to be lots of low mileage ones. The best bit was when we parked up for lunch, and a little kid was just staring at it. I let him sit in the drivers seat for his mum to take pictures.
OK, now a Ferrari 488. I’ve never been a huge Ferrari fan, having test driven a couple and decided not to buy, but this is actually a proper car. Great seats, amazing ride (by this point my back wanted to go home on its own), usable controls, lovely interior finish. And it’s a great mix of muscle car with low down torque, and supercar with a screaming, growling top end. Gearbox works well in auto or manual, grunt from any speed - you could put it in sixth and drive it anywhere pretty much. Probably the nicest view too, the front arches make it easy to see where the corners are and it’s a pretty cool sight. On the down side, I’m now a balding middle aged man in a Ferrari. With the roof down. And another bloke in the passenger seat. Nice car but you couldn’t even get hand luggage in it, so the cross-country tour is out.
And then the McLaren. A 670 I think? In “normal” mode, the steering is heavy and wooden, but improves in sport mode. Compared to most of the others, the engine/exhaust noise is nothing special, the ride is ok in Normal but pretty unpleasant in any other mode. It’s probably programmable but we didn’t have time. Sure it’s quick, but not terribly exciting. OMG the seat controls are awful - I ended up with the steering wheel in my chest until I found the “go back” control buried between the seat and the centre console. I’m sure this would be the best on track, otherwise pretty forgettable. The glass roof panels were a pain, there’s no way to cover them so it gets hot real fast and spoils the visibility as the sun got in my eyes. I haven’t lived in the US long enough to wear a baseball cap everywhere so no relief there.
Finally into the AMG SLS. Instantly at home after my R-class and a couple of A classes and a rental S class, it’s standard Merc parts bin. Without the shouty engine it could be a S class with the back cut off and welded on the front. All bonnet and hairy-chested grunt, it’s pretty good fun. Tons of torque, pops and bangs on the overrun, much faster than it feels probably because it has that looong bonnet and the others have little to see in front of the windscreen. It’s clearly a GT, there’s luggage space, proper grown up seats, auto everything like the S-class and it all just works. But I don’t see the point of it. It doesn’t have the gullwing doors, an E63 makes more or less the same noise and the interior is the usual mess of satin chrome, piano black and silly mouse-like interface.
They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes. None of these was my hero, but I really expected something special. My companion’s driving style left me pretty nauseous at times too, and the bone-jarring ride in everything but the Ferrari didn’t help. It was quite telling for me that the most memorable car was the ‘57 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible which was pulling out of a driveway. Super rare, hand built, fabulous looks and that great OHV V8. As for the supercars, the Ferrari was clearly the pick of the bunch with the NSX second, but the Tesla leading the group probably had more acceleration in real world road driving and I bet none of the guys in that needed pain killers after the trip!
Anyway, hope you found this interesting or maybe entertaining, I’m expecting to be flamed for hating the Lambo, but there you go.
The event consisted of driving six cars out to the hills near the city, around a bit, lunch, more hills then back to base. Two people per car - my wife didn’t come so I shared with a guy who was also there on his own. More of this later. The group leader told me that the more “spirited driving” (not, as it turned out) happened near the end, so I started out with the most “normal” car and saved the more dramatic ones for the middle/end of the trip. Just worked out in that order. The group was led by a Tesla Model Y, which they also used to take video on the move. We were told to keep close to each other as it made the video better. As it turned out, it rather spoiled the driving. OK, to the cars, and my impressions. Bear in mind I’m in my 50s, I’ve had a couple of Porsches and a Maserati and rode big bikes for years, just for reference. I should also preface this by saying that there was a bit of a family argument that morning so I wasn’t in the most positive of moods! Also, sadly the two cars I really wanted to try, a 911 GT3RS and the new Corvette, weren’t available to us.
An Audi RS convertible was first. Since I’m on the wrong side of the car, I though this would be an easy start, and indeed it was. It’s like every decent spec Audi you’ve been in. Under 50mph or so, it may as well be a TT. Nice noises, looks ok, unmemorable. Then my driving companion took over. The only way he could get some full(ish) throttle action was to hang back from the car in front and nail it. Again. And Again. And… you get the idea.
Then an Acura NSX. This was more interesting. Way more dramatic to look at, more gadgets than anything else, stupidly good grip and traction as far as I could tell, but the electric to IC transition was just awful. My wife has a 330e and it just seamlessly moves from electric to hybrid. The NSX just got confused all the time, in any mode. Worst was making a left turn from a stop. It juddered, bucked a bit, decided what it was doing and took off like a nutter. Quite fun, and a surprisingly good ride, but driving at normal speeds with stop signs, traffic lights etc wasn’t much fun. I looked up the US price - it’s a lot, of course, but probably the best value in the group.
Into the hills, and into a Lambo Aventador. My partner was driving at first, and caught me unawares with his first “pull” and hurt my back. This thing is brutal, it kicks you in the kidneys and deafens at the same time. However, that seems to be its one party trick. The interior is shockingly bad, even down to the awful font on the buttons, cheap leather, plastic trim, confusing instrument display and badly placed controls. On the upside, the AC worked quite well (needed in that thing, it’s like an oven) and the seats aren’t bad. But oh my, what a stupid gearbox. In auto it changes gear at the slightest provocation. Oh look, there’s a tiny incline, I MUST CHANGE DOWN AND GO BWAAAH. It’s like a toddler with a sugar rush. It’s all LOOK AT ME BWAAAH BWAAAH ISN’T IT FUN TO HIT DADDY IN THE KIDNEYS. Engine felt like it had little torque either, especially compared to what came next. I honestly hated this thing. It’s an engine with some 90s arcade game wrapped around it. Wooden steering, crappy suspension, cheap and fragile everything - no wonder there seem to be lots of low mileage ones. The best bit was when we parked up for lunch, and a little kid was just staring at it. I let him sit in the drivers seat for his mum to take pictures.
OK, now a Ferrari 488. I’ve never been a huge Ferrari fan, having test driven a couple and decided not to buy, but this is actually a proper car. Great seats, amazing ride (by this point my back wanted to go home on its own), usable controls, lovely interior finish. And it’s a great mix of muscle car with low down torque, and supercar with a screaming, growling top end. Gearbox works well in auto or manual, grunt from any speed - you could put it in sixth and drive it anywhere pretty much. Probably the nicest view too, the front arches make it easy to see where the corners are and it’s a pretty cool sight. On the down side, I’m now a balding middle aged man in a Ferrari. With the roof down. And another bloke in the passenger seat. Nice car but you couldn’t even get hand luggage in it, so the cross-country tour is out.
And then the McLaren. A 670 I think? In “normal” mode, the steering is heavy and wooden, but improves in sport mode. Compared to most of the others, the engine/exhaust noise is nothing special, the ride is ok in Normal but pretty unpleasant in any other mode. It’s probably programmable but we didn’t have time. Sure it’s quick, but not terribly exciting. OMG the seat controls are awful - I ended up with the steering wheel in my chest until I found the “go back” control buried between the seat and the centre console. I’m sure this would be the best on track, otherwise pretty forgettable. The glass roof panels were a pain, there’s no way to cover them so it gets hot real fast and spoils the visibility as the sun got in my eyes. I haven’t lived in the US long enough to wear a baseball cap everywhere so no relief there.
Finally into the AMG SLS. Instantly at home after my R-class and a couple of A classes and a rental S class, it’s standard Merc parts bin. Without the shouty engine it could be a S class with the back cut off and welded on the front. All bonnet and hairy-chested grunt, it’s pretty good fun. Tons of torque, pops and bangs on the overrun, much faster than it feels probably because it has that looong bonnet and the others have little to see in front of the windscreen. It’s clearly a GT, there’s luggage space, proper grown up seats, auto everything like the S-class and it all just works. But I don’t see the point of it. It doesn’t have the gullwing doors, an E63 makes more or less the same noise and the interior is the usual mess of satin chrome, piano black and silly mouse-like interface.
They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes. None of these was my hero, but I really expected something special. My companion’s driving style left me pretty nauseous at times too, and the bone-jarring ride in everything but the Ferrari didn’t help. It was quite telling for me that the most memorable car was the ‘57 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible which was pulling out of a driveway. Super rare, hand built, fabulous looks and that great OHV V8. As for the supercars, the Ferrari was clearly the pick of the bunch with the NSX second, but the Tesla leading the group probably had more acceleration in real world road driving and I bet none of the guys in that needed pain killers after the trip!
Anyway, hope you found this interesting or maybe entertaining, I’m expecting to be flamed for hating the Lambo, but there you go.
Thanks for the kind comments! I’ll try and reply to the main points:
We tried the NSX in Sport and Sport+, it still had the same problem pulling away from a stop sign at a T junction. It really should be able to do that, then go mental when needed. It wasn’t awful, but oddly poor for Honda.
The cars weren’t terribly leggy. I think the Ferrari had 66K (KMs) and it was in fine condition. The only one with broken controls was the Lambo.
I get the point about ride comfort, but Porsche can do it, Maserati can do it, the Ferrari had it so there’s really no excuse. I’ve driven a 996GT3 and that was better too, and a 996 Turbo I test drove was lovely and pretty quick.
There’s a reason the 911 is so successful, and I’m not a 911 fan. It just works. You can drive to the shops, no drama, or put your foot down and off you go. Want to be shouty and dramatic? There’s models for that.
I’m eyeing up a GranTurismo now.
We tried the NSX in Sport and Sport+, it still had the same problem pulling away from a stop sign at a T junction. It really should be able to do that, then go mental when needed. It wasn’t awful, but oddly poor for Honda.
The cars weren’t terribly leggy. I think the Ferrari had 66K (KMs) and it was in fine condition. The only one with broken controls was the Lambo.
I get the point about ride comfort, but Porsche can do it, Maserati can do it, the Ferrari had it so there’s really no excuse. I’ve driven a 996GT3 and that was better too, and a 996 Turbo I test drove was lovely and pretty quick.
There’s a reason the 911 is so successful, and I’m not a 911 fan. It just works. You can drive to the shops, no drama, or put your foot down and off you go. Want to be shouty and dramatic? There’s models for that.
I’m eyeing up a GranTurismo now.
Thanks for all the comments. Glad some of you enjoyed the writing! Just to pick up on some of them…
I’m not THAT old! In the past I’ve had a Porsche 944 Turbo, a 928 S4 and a GranSport. I’m happy with a manual, an auto (with the right engine behind it) and was quite happy with the Maserati’s single clutch paddle box. I daily drove all of these, along with a Jag Mk2 3.8 with E-type cams and a Moss ‘box and, at one point, a ‘59 Ford 100E. So I don’t mind cars which are by modern standards a complete pain in the backside. For a while I drove a ‘56 F100 pickup as a commuter - not the best choice! None a supercar of course, but I’m familiar with compromise.
To reiterate, the 488 was by far the best. All the cars were driven in all modes, manual and auto. Generally we started in Auto to get familiar with the controls, then turned it to manual/sport etc to try them all out.
I’d have a DB9, no problem. Or a Vantage. As I said, I thinking about a GranTurismo, but the XKR is quite attractive as they’re not silly money and still decently quick. I don’t think any of them is a supercar though, but there are plenty of threads on that.
I’m not THAT old! In the past I’ve had a Porsche 944 Turbo, a 928 S4 and a GranSport. I’m happy with a manual, an auto (with the right engine behind it) and was quite happy with the Maserati’s single clutch paddle box. I daily drove all of these, along with a Jag Mk2 3.8 with E-type cams and a Moss ‘box and, at one point, a ‘59 Ford 100E. So I don’t mind cars which are by modern standards a complete pain in the backside. For a while I drove a ‘56 F100 pickup as a commuter - not the best choice! None a supercar of course, but I’m familiar with compromise.
To reiterate, the 488 was by far the best. All the cars were driven in all modes, manual and auto. Generally we started in Auto to get familiar with the controls, then turned it to manual/sport etc to try them all out.
I’d have a DB9, no problem. Or a Vantage. As I said, I thinking about a GranTurismo, but the XKR is quite attractive as they’re not silly money and still decently quick. I don’t think any of them is a supercar though, but there are plenty of threads on that.
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