Choose Your Own Supercar Test Adventure
Anybody notice I’ve been gone for a while?
No?
Thought as much. Well, the truth is that I’ve been circling the world drain racetrack putting together a comparison test of late-model supercars for you, the discerning TTAC reader. As fate would have it, however, there were too many cars involved. So I need your help.
I’m going to list the following automobiles:
- Ferrari 458 Italia
- Ferrari 430 F1
- Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 (2013 final model, AWD, e-Gear)
- Lamborghini Gallardo LP500-2 Ad Personam (2013 final model, RWD, e-Gear)
- McLaren MP4-12C hardtop
- Mercedes-AMG SLS Roadster
- Audi R8 4.2 R-Tronic
- Nissan GT-R Premium
As part of a gig I took last week coaching for a supercar rental company (more about that later, I promise) I was able to take multiple laps around a road course in all of these cars, in both dry and wet-weather conditions, and I took pretty careful notes about the differences and similarities between them.
As a bonus feature, I’ll discuss how three of the up-to-the-moment supercars I’ve driven lately — the Nissan GT-R NISMO, Ferrari 458 Speciale and the McLaren 650S — compare to the ones in our list.
So. Eight cars. Pick four, give your reasons if you like. At the end of tomorrow I’ll read all the comments and the comparison test will run starting Monday. Over to you, B&B!
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Jesus looks great in a crash helmet. Bet he sets a trend in heaven.
Nissan, Audi, Mercedes and the 458.
Jack, you know we'll always love you and never leave you. I got a chance to read your lengthy R&T car of the year article this week. I prefer your insane, lengthy expositions on here and your blog, but I understand not everyone can or wants to read a Neal Stephenson or William Gibson in a lil' magazine. You're the closest thing I've found to a Haruki Murakami of journalism. So, with your R&T experiences fresh in your mind, I'm curious as to what's the real difference between an insanely-expensive GT-R premium and a *ridiculously* expensive NISMO GT-R. Contrasting a regular 370Z with the NISMO 370Z is a lot more straightforward (more power! More fast corners!), but for something that's already at the GT-R's performance envelope..? Does it matter? Is the extra performance attainable? As to your actual question: I concur with Kamil, how does the last AWD Gallardo compare with its sibling?
I too instructed at one of these fiascos. I found the E 63 AMG to be an amazing vehicle, the S 63 AMG to make the best noise, the Ferrari 430 and the Gallardo to be gigantic heaps of shit and the Carrera 4S to be the best of the lot by far.