My day test driving four exotics (Ferrari, Lambo, Aston...)

janstett

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Messages
1,924
Location
Chester, NJ
Car(s)
86 944 Turbo, 2000 TA, 09 GC Overland, 11 CLS550
I had the opportunity to test drive several exotic cars on June 5, and I wanted to share my thoughts and experiences. Some people may never get the chance to drive these cars, so I want to share the experience of what it felt like to slip behind the wheels of these dream cars. I know I can't do the job of a professional, but I think the reviewers we listen to become jaded and callous to the special experince of driving an exotic. My words are the words of an amateur enthusiast.

The Event
World Class Driving (www.wcdriving.com) is a business that just started up this year. The idea is that ordinary folks pay a fee and get to test drive exotic sports cars in scenic locales. They tour the country with their fleet. Each driver can expect about 1/2 hour with each car.

The Setting
I went to the NY area event, held at West Point. It turns out not just the town of West Point, but hosted in the famous United States Military Academy at West Point. The USMA is located at the end of a small town USA Main Street with parks, supermarkets, et al. But once you're out of the town, there are some glorious twisting mountain roads with some beautiful views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains. Thanks go out to the local Police departments, first for showing the group where the best mountain roads were, and second for showing lenience and tolerating the snarling exotics. While getting stupid was discouraged, let's just say there were some triple digit romps and leave it at that.

Some people got dangerous on the public roads (reportedly the only ticket given out was a speeding ticket by someone doing 144 mph in the Ferrari). My approach was to stay within 30 mph of the speed limit :) and enjoy the handling in the curves; there were several winding sweeping curves up and down the mountain at the 55 mph limit that were challenging enough to bring forth each car's true character. But I saved my ultimate test for the offramp from the highway back into town -- an extreme hairpin turn that heads uphill and doubles back upon itself. Having autocrossed for several years, I knew you can have a lot of fun in a car at relatively low speeds by doing something like that. I have to say that this offramp was the most fun of all.

The Cars
Six exotics were on the list to be driven.
- Ford GT
- Corvette Z06
- Aston Martin DB9
- Bentley Continental GT
- Lamborghini Gallardo
- Ferrari F430

The Disabled List
Unfortunately, some neanderthal with more testosterone than brains wrecked the Ford GT during the previous day's session, and robbed dozens of people of the pleasure of experiencing this most rare of cars. If you're out there, thanks a lot a55hole! Apparently the moron redlined in first gear from a stop and powershifted into 2nd, fishtailing and smoking tires the whole way, and ran into the guard rail, totalling the vehicle. All that was left for the rest of us to enjoy was a few yards of bent guardrail and red paint. I was looking forward to driving this car.

Sadly, the Corvette Z06 was also out of commission. I'm considering buying one and looked forward to this test drive, most people buy them months ahead of time sight unseen. Reportedly the Z06 sufferred an engine failure and lost compression totally. Based on word from other Z06 owners, the club says this seems to be a problem with the new hand-built 7 liter LS7 but I'm suspicious that it may be a case of exuberant owners not waiting for sufficient break-in before goosing it.

As compensation, the club offerred a partial refund or a return trip to test the missing cars on their next return to the area; I chose the latter.

Aston Martin DB9
First up for me was the Aston.
http://img397.imageshack.**/img397/7231/img76876uh.jpg
Both of the British cars were large and it felt that way. It's always easy to tell a British car by the amount of wood inside. Unfortunately, every car remaining had the annoying flappy-paddle gearboxes (only the GT and Z06 were manuals). Getting the car moving was an unintuitive chore. First, the e-brake was engaged but was not mechanically linked; the lever was more like an on-off switch. When factoring in that the e-brake lever is outboard aside the driver seat, I can see why Aston decided to do this. My 944 has its ebrake in the same location and with the brake deployed it's easy to spear one's thigh (and accidentally release the brake) getting out. Next, moving out of neutral involved a dance with the up and down paddle shifters that wasn't easy to figure out. (An indictment of quality control -- the Reverse button had popped inside the dashboard, the story was that someone shut the car off without being in neutral. When someone put it in reverse, the car didn't respond, so they kept tapping the button. After a few attempts it popped inside the dash. So here was a DB9 with no usable reverse gear, we'd have to manually push it backwards when parked). Once moving, the Aston's 6.0 liter V12 sounded throaty and beautiful; but I must confess it didn't have the baritone I expected a V12 to have. Taking the car up into the mountains, the brakes were spectacular if too quick to engage. I had a hard time finding the braking threshold, it was more like an on/off switch. The Aston had very tight steering and was easily placeable in the sweeping mountain curves. However, something about the handling just wasn't right, and was especially accentuated in the hairpin offramp. The Aston is a big, heavy car; think of it as a gorilla in a tuxedo. I'm not sure how to account for the handling, my best guess is that there is some sort of electronic suspension program... The car felt as if, at the limits, it was trying to readjust itself, the manners of the car were incrementally changing. It could have just been the massive body shifting on the suspension, but I suspect some nanny electronics were at play.

Bentley Continental GT
Next up was the Bentley Continental GT.
http://img397.imageshack.**/img397/2913/img77266hy.jpg
I felt this car didn't really belong in the group before I sat inside. My image of the Bentley GT was a soft luxo-boat for the rich person who wants to pretend they have a few sporting bones in their body. I see one or two in my home town which does have more than its share of Pharmeceutical CEOs. Stepping inside the cockpit, it was very luxurious and wooden, but the first thing I noticed was that it didn't even have the flappy paddles, it was an automatic. Yet, curiously, in the car most geared for luxury, I found my right knee jammed against the center console. I am tall (6'2") and husky of build; luckily I fit into all the cars. Taking the Bentley into the mountians, I found it had the power to keep up with the rest of the cars but it was just too soft, confirming my prejudices. Trying to take the sweeping mountain roads in the same manner in which I had done with the Aston, I found I did not have confidence in the car's handling and consequently braked far earlier and more often. The offramp hairpin confirmed the Bentley was too soft. The Bentley is clearly for the country-club golfing set, it was OK for a Bentley but didn't belong with the other entrants. I would have much preferred to have its spot taken by a strangely absent Porsche 911 turbo.

Lamborghini Gallardo
I grew up dreaming of Lamborghinis.
http://img397.imageshack.**/img397/8397/img76944yh.jpg
I cannot tell you how many pictures of Countaches graced my walls as a child. Even today as I peer over my computer monitor to my shelf of die cast cars, the first ones to hit my retina are the Gallardo, Murcielago, Diablo, and Countach. In the great Lamborghini-versus-Ferrari debate, I always sided with Ferruccio's boys. Ferrari was the stodgy old guard, Lambo the outrageous upstarts. So you can imagine I was excited to sit inside the Gallardo. Let me start by saying that it is a small car, perhaps that was exaggerated by coming from the Bentley to the Gallardo. But looking at it, it appeared to be Lotus small. Getting inside was difficult, but with the seat's altitude adjusted to the lowest position and the seat back reclined ever so slightly, I made it in. Sitting inside the descendant of my dream car, it felt ... somewhat bland. First, the doors, where were my Lamborghini scissor doors? Why did the doors open normally? The disappointment continued inside as I looked at the Audi steering wheel with the flat-spot on the bottom. I didn't feel like I was sitting inside a space ship, it all looked and felt relatively normal. Not bad, mind you, but normal. The Lamborghini V10 sounded nice but something was missing. It didn't have even the vocal feedback of the Aston. I expected more having a Lamborghini V10 inches from my right ear. Taking the Gallardo up into the mountains, it held the road perfectly and didn't have the bulk of the Aston. This was definitely the most enjoyment I had yet. I found myself subconsciously smiling flinging the Gallardo in the mountain roads. The steering felt slightly disconnected but still responsive. Entering the hairpin offramp, I involuntarily blurted out several times "I love this, I love this" speeding through the Apex, the all wheel drive clawing its way up the incline. In town, naturally everybody applauds the Lambo, several people shouted approvingly. I thought I had finally, at long last, found my slice of automotive nirvana.

Ferrari F430
Oh my, how I was about to have my world rocked.
http://img390.imageshack.**/img390/1380/img76831ot.jpg
By the time my slot in the Ferrari had come, the sun was beginning to set and I was getting exhausted from being on my feet all day waiting. I slid into the bright Ferrari red rocket (once again, having to lower the seat elevation, but I did fit). Now here was something special. The seats were exquisite, extreme side and thigh bolstering, rich Italian leather carefully clinging to the surface. Acclimating myself to the cockpit, I did get the feeling of being in something special. Everything was purpose built. I fiddled with the suspension setting dial on the wheel and glanced over at the start button. I was saddened to see no clutch and that I'd have to settle for the dreaded flappy paddles. I fastened my seat belt and gripped the wheel, feeling a grin wash over my exhausted face. I adjusted the rear view mirrors, and as I aligned the driver side mirror over those beautiful hips and stared at the abyss of the black air intake scoops, I did get the boyish feeling that I was Luke Skywalker doing a pre-flight check in his X-Wing. As I waited for the lead car in my hyperspace flight to get ready, two young neighborhood kids came up and peered into the window. "Nice car, mister", or something to that effect, was what they said. Being an engineer, and by definition a pessimist, rather than basking in the glow, the first words out of my mouth were something like "yeah, but it's not mine, you see there is this club..." blah blah blah. Thinking back, I should have offerred one of these kids a ride. This is the stuff that dreams are made of, that kid would have grown up loving cars had I thought. Oh well, remove foot from mouth and place it on the gas, it's time to go. The Ferrari "only" had a mid-mounted V8, but what a V8. Ferrari understands the audible part of the experience that Lamborghini missed. The F430 was LOUD. But I like it loud, so thank you Enzo's boys. That high-pitched roar combined with throatiness, the sound of a Ferrari engine, is something that will be etched in my memory forever. Rev her up to take off, even at a pedestrian pace, and wow the smile comes over quickly. Shifting into second, neigh, shifting at all, is an experince as joyous as the sound of the engine revving. But more on that later. As I found myself on the on-ramp to the mountain roads, I had no idea what awaited me. Not wanting to be "the idiot who wrecked the F430", I kept it well within my limited driving skills. 3... 2... 1.... blastoff! Oh my god. First thing you notice is that it revs FAST. First gear is gone in a blink. Most cars are like vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrom, the Ferrari is like vrrroom and you're at red line, which is typical Ferrari high (8000?). Quick, shift up dummy. With a flick of my wrist, BOOSH, I'm thrown forward and hear what sounds like a wastegate dumping (even though there is none), it's just a "boosh" sound. A split second later the gear shift is complete and I'm thrown into my seat back. Wow, this beast shifts HARD. Vrooom, and I'm already at red line. Flick the wrist again, into third, thrown forward and then back, repeat again into fourth, and we're cruising a little too fast around 100, settle down at a cruise somewhere in the same galaxy as the speed limit. The engine is hovering close enough to 3-4000 to sound incredible as I take the mountain roads. I hug the walls of the climbing, winding roads and the steering is... telepathic. The slightest motion puts you exactly where you want to go. There is NO wander. The car does not get the slightest bit upset being tossed around. It handles like it's on rails. To call it go-kart like does not do it justice. No go kart I've ever driven handles like this. It's just ... perfect. No driving experience in my life will ever match up to this... I now can understand Jeremy's sadness in knowing the Bugatti Veyron is as good as it gets. I can sympathize, mate, every other car in the world has just been ruined for me. As I stare into the sunset, I start to get weepy-eyed at the thought of just how perfect this car is, how beatiful it is. Coming back down the mountain, I had come to appreciate how perfect this Ferrari was and just how great the moment was as the sun was setting. Down-shifting down the mountain was another pleasure, the sound that Ferrari makes there is just as much of a joy as climbing the gears. I can't describe it properly, it is a growl, think of the gruff bark of a small mean dog like a pit-bull, mixed with the braying bronx cheer of a thoroughbred horse. That has become one of my favorite sounds. Coming off the highway back into town, there waiting for me was the icing on the cake, that hairpin offramp. The Ferrari stayed true to what I learned in the mountains, it was telepathic and screamed up the hairpin with no drama whatsoever. Screw AWD, the Ferrari didn't need it. As I slowed to a 30 mph cruise (more of that wonderful downshifting), I was sad that one of the best experiences of my life was coming to an end, yet happy that I had done it. The Ferrari has ruined me for all other cars. Of course, nothing is perfect, so I must complain about something -- I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to turn the stinking headlights on.

Complete pics of the day here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/551145632ZXPJbp

The lesson of the day, however, is that you can find driving pleasure at all ends of the spectrum. I do have to say, the steering feel on my 1986 944 Turbo is superb, besting even the Ferrari. Go out there and find enjoyment in whatever you can afford, you don't have to spend insane money to find a slice of driving delight.
 
Nice writeup. How many people were driving the cars at one time? Just 4? Or did you have to switch, have some time off, etc...
 
flamingice said:
Nice writeup. How many people were driving the cars at one time? Just 4? Or did you have to switch, have some time off, etc...

There were 24 people that day, so there was a lot of standing around waiting for turns. Obviously only 4 people drive at a time. But this was worsened by the unexpected loss of 2 of the 6 cars, making the wait time longer.
 
You kind of ruined the DB9 for me :(. I love the DB9. Nontheless, a great review. It's nice to see an amateur review of expensive exotics rather than see professional reviews all the time.
 
janstett, absolutly terrific.

I saw you're posts in the "I saw" pictures thread, and looked up the club you got yourself in. Only about $700 for membership, right?? that's not bad at all.

You live resonably near to me (PA), and for me West Point is only about 2 hours away. I might have to look into a membership.... :twisted:
 
Great writeup jansett, thanks a lot for sharing. :cheers: Luckily, the DB9 is going to come with a manual, cementing it further on my list of cars I'd kill people for.

Of course, nothing is perfect, so I must complain about something -- I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to turn the stinking headlights on.
:lol:
 
Wonderful selection, great report and nice pics :thumbsup: like most im glad Aston is giving the DB9 a manual gearbox
 
Thanks for the compliments, guys. I just want to say that maybe I sounded too negative with regards to the Aston. It is a very fine car I'd be happy to own. But my personal preference goes to the lighter pure sports cars and my heart now to that Ferrari.

http://img153.imageshack.**/img153/638/dsc030528jw.jpg

http://img153.imageshack.**/img153/5685/img77359th.jpg
 
So, which one are you interested in buying? :thumbsup:

EDIT: It's too bad there could be GT / F430 comparison.
 
:shock: Absolutely brilliant write up, janstett, brilliant!
 
lovely to hear the f430 is so good. ofcourse, everyone here has head clarkson say it, but its good to know you dont 'potentially' have a producer proding you in the arm saying 'make this one sound good' haha

great write-up and pics :thumbsup:
 
You are one lucky SOB. :lol: :cry:
 
JanStett,

Wondering if you have ever driven an elise and how you would compare it to the Gallardo. I'm considering purchasing one as my next car in a year or so but am worried that it will be too different from my elise. How is the feedback from the car? Did the car have E-gear? I've been told the gallardo is a bit of a brute under 100mph and I will differently notice the difference in response, pedal fell, etc coming from an elise.

Thanks

Oh and if you by chance have driven a Noble how would you compare the two?
 
JediMindGamez said:
Did the car have E-gear?

JanStett said in the begining that all the cars were either autos or flappy paddle-ed in their gearboxes. The only 2 manuals would have been the Z06 and the GT.
 
Re: My day test driving four exotics (Ferrari, Lambo, Aston.

Re: My day test driving four exotics (Ferrari, Lambo, Aston.

Excellent write-up.

janstett said:
Go out there and find enjoyment in whatever you can afford, you don't have to spend insane money to find a slice of driving delight.

:thumbsup:
 
I was wondering if you were going to have a write up like this.


Great article though, like the others say, its nice to see an ameteur have a go a exotics like this. Thanks for writing this up and sharing.
 
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