The Car Thread

[diagrammatiks]

https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/models/urus

This car is so ugly in person.
and has the plainest interior I've ever seen in my life.
I was disappointed.

I'd take the v12 bentayga out of that family of cars anyday.

whoops I responded to a hella old comment.

Anyway have some pictures.

 

[Furtive Glance]

I went to the Tokyo Auto Salon in January. It was a bucket list item for me - I was enamored the entire time with the sheer spectacle of the place.

 

[bulb]

Got my Perf!

Pics: https://imgur.com/a/1qER434

2018 Lamborghini Performante Review:

This car is next level incredible.

Now that we have that covered, let me expand with a look at the past (Warning: very long post).

I have been fortunate enough to have driven and owned a fair number of awesome sports and supercars, and I think I have been on the car equivalent of what guitarists might call a "tone quest". I'm on a "Car Quest". Trying a bit of everything and figuring out what will work for me. In my experience, there is unfortunately no substitute for actually living with a car to know how you feel about it, a Test Drive only does so much. As much praise as a car might get in reviews, rarely are the people reviewing it from the context of ownership. So the cars I have owned in the past have greatly informed what I was looking for this time around.

I loved my 991.1 Turbo S, perhaps one of the best all around cars that blurs the line between sports car and everyday supercar. One of the easiest and most refined cars to live with, though at the cost of not being the most exciting on your average drive. I had come from an E90 M3, and though almost everything was a massive upgrade from the M3, I was particularly disappointed by the Turbo S's engine note.

The Ferrari 488 I had after the 911 was all excitement, perhaps to a fault. It taught me that a constantly "engaging" car may not always be the most fun to drive all the time. It could be a handful in the wrong conditions, and I also learned quite a bit about Ferrari as a brand, which wasn't to my personal taste. The R8 I traded the 488 in for, gave me a kind of this balance between those two worlds. It was immensely easier to live with and drive everywhere for a multitude of reasons. It boasted the everyday convenience of the 911 with a lot more excitement. The genuinely nice Audi cabin, seats and sound system paired with a NA V10 engine and a fantastic AWD system made that car one of my personal favorite cars I have ever owned and lived with. It felt like it could tackle almost anything with confidence.

Because I have a car problem, I wanted to see what the "next level" of supercar had to offer. I had driven the McLaren 720S largely expecting to find myself calculating ways to afford it after the test drive, but I found that car to be a bit overwhelming and perhaps even scary. The car is light, has an insane amount of power to the rear wheels, and is mindblowingly fast, even at speed! But it was a bit intimidating on the test drive, and I was worried that living with it might be a bit of a handful. I think if I were a better driver I might be less intimidated by that, but I think with this much power, in the real world there is a huge benefit to AWD. When you are driving around traffic, and navigating around other drivers and cars, having a car that feels solidly planted when you are managing this much power and torque is a huge benefit.

I genuinely love McLaren as a brand, and I really respect their business model and what they are doing to the market (even at the cost of their own used market), but I do feel like the cars are still a bit quirky and a touch unreliable still, but I think they are really close to making a really perfect car for me. That 600LT was damn close!

So this brings us to now, or let's call it last summer:

I went to test drive the Performante after my friend recommended that I check one out. I wasn't expecting too much, after all this has a tweaked R8 engine, with a marginal 20 or so extra horses and 30 lb/ft of torque. The car shares the same platform and they have similar AWD systems. I figured that as the glorified "Lamborghini R8" with a wing, it might be a bit more Loud and Italian, but effectively the same car.

The test drive, however, proved that wrong. The Performante absolutely blew me away and I couldn't stop thinking about the car. So I started studying the market and shopping, and waiting for the perfect time to strike. Eventually I found the spec I wanted on a pre-owned one at a price I was happy with, and I went for it. On a quick side note, I have to thank Lamborghini Dallas and Tactical Fleet for helping me work out this deal!

 

[bulb]

Anyways here are my very initial thoughts on my new to me Performante:

What an engine! Although as smooth and quick in response as the R8 and familiar in character, now sounds like it's being powered by a dying star, right behind your head. If the engine being too loud to live with is an 11, this is perfectly sat at 10. And for being slightly more powerful, the car somehow feels noticeably faster in a straight line. I can't imagine an aftermarket exhaust doing much for the sound honestly, it already sounds like one. I thought the R8 sounded amazing, but this is just a completely different level.

What it also feels, is notably lighter, and the 200 or so lbs shaved off of the R8's weight account for a bit of that, but the brakes must be the other half of that equation. This car feels a lot lighter and nimbler than its 3424 lbs curb weight might suggest. Keep in mind that's still 250 lbs heavier than the 720S, but this car can stop arguably more confidently on the road thanks to the fantastic brake feel. But that's not the best part.

The best part is the cornering. Now I haven't pushed this car near the limit so far, but I did take the R8 to the track and on some fast and fun spirited drives, and the way the Performante by comparison turns in and grips just on the road is just nothing like I have experienced to far. It remains so planted and confident in those moments that you just keep on wanting to push it. The steering is near telepathic, I don't know how much more direct steering can feel on a car before you just end up with an oversized go kart. To be fair, the 720S and the 600LT steering and feel were damn good as well in this category, with the 600LT actually being maybe a true 10/10 to the Performante's 9.9/10. And yes, the 600LT basically feels like an oversized go kart. In a good way.

This car is also somehow comfortable. Now I have read very polarizing things about the comfort seats' comfort, but at 5'10 or so and not skinny I'm actually very happy in the cabin. The ride is firm as one might expect, but given that I had the R8 V10 plus which forces fixed suspension, the Performante in Strada mode is actually a bit better at absorbing the bumps. Put it in to Sport or Corsa, though, and you will be able to tell if that nickel you just drove over was heads or tails.

This car, by the way, is so easy to drive. This is not intimidating. I feel like in Strada, anyone who isn't a car enthusiast could confidently drive this car. They somehow maintained that friendliness and ease of driving that the R8 gives you packaged in this fighter jet themed cabin.

One thing I would personally steer clear of, unless you plan on mostly tracking the car or driving it hard, are the Carbon Fiber seats. They look amazing (though they don't match the Forged Carbon in the rest of the cabin) but they are perhaps the single most uncomfortable sports seats I have sat in. Maybe they were built for small framed Italian men, but if you have anything close to broad shoulders, those will be absolutely crushed in to proper driving position as you drive. If you like driving in any position other than absolutely upright you will not be happy. By contrast, I think both Porsche and McLaren make substantially more comfortable sports seats that seem to offer just as much support and bolstering. Had something like those been available for the car, I might even have opted for those. The comfort seats are actually surprisingly supportive for what they are, and should be good for longer drives, so that's the way I went on mine.

By the way that forged carbon has to be one of my personal favorite accents on the car. The gloss front splitter and rear wing look like shiny black marble and contrast the car beautifully in basically every color. The inside satin forged carbon accents not only work beautifully Alcantara covered interior, but also stop any of those surfaces from blinding you when the light hits them. Good thinking. This is what happens when Germany and Italy work together.

With all of that said, no car is perfect, so let's cover some of the faults and downsides:

The cupholder situation is hilarious. If you opt for the 600 dollar travel/smoker package you get an ashtray and a single Porsche 911 style cupholder that comes out of the dash above the glove box. The front trunk is probably the smallest I have ever seen. You might think they are all small, but seriously check out how big they are on the 488 and 720S, they are almost...practical? Actually there isn't really much interior storage space other than some nets behind the seats and the glovebox.

The rear visibility is hilariously bad, though in a funny way, it's slightly better than the R8 with there being small vents on either the side of the rear glass that you can sort of peer through, but still, it's not great. Also the car sits low, and although these pretty much are always spec'd with lifts, you have to remember not only to use it, but to lower the car before you park it because it's bad for the lift to sit up for extended periods of time.

Also, this is a bit of a weird one, but I have noticed on the Gen2 R8 and the Huracan, the dead pedal area is quite small and not that far from the brake, you kinda have to get used to how that feels, because it's different from most cars.

The sound system is also not great, maybe I was spoiled by the genuinely awesome Bang and Olufsen system in the R8, but I have the upgraded Sensonum sound in mine, and it's just not that good, probably not worth spending the money on to be entirely honest, as in true Lambo fashion, it's an expensive upgrade.

Now these little issues genuinely don't ruin the experience, some of these are just things you deal with this type of car, just like the attention you know a supercar will garner. So it's down to a cost/benefit analysis with this car, but in my case it's an easy win for the benefits on this one.

I don't think I have ever instantly connected with or been as content with a car I have brought home, and for the first time ever, I find myself not really wondering about what else is out there for me. It kinda feels like I have finally found my own personal dream car.

This is not to say I won't trade into something else down the line, though it would be nice to have this for at least a few years. But i'll put it this way: Whatever car I will move to after this one doesn't exist yet.

tl;dr: 10/10 would recommend

 

[diagrammatiks]

Congrats on the car. It looks awesome.

 

[Given To Fly]

Today is your day Misha! Maybe even the rest of the week too!

 

[TheShreddinHand]

That's awesome Misha and congrats! Did you ever talk to Cody (DoctaM3) about the Huracans?

 

[Furtive Glance]

In my experience, there is unfortunately no substitute for actually living with a car to know how you feel about it, a Test Drive only does so much. As much praise as a car might get in reviews, rarely are the people reviewing it from the context of ownership.

By far and away my biggest annoyance in automotive journalism. Most reviews are just a string of hyperbole praising how fast a car is and how it's a "race car for the street" or whatever else. I bet if you compiled a huge document of every $100,000+ car review in the past two decades, you'd find a ludicrous amount of recycled terms.

Amazing car, by the way!

 

[bracky]

Your closest twisty roads are in West Virginia. I hope to see you around sometime. Awesome car!

 

[p0ke]

Funny how all over the place car stuff can be on a forum like this There's Misha talking about his Lambo and then I have my '99 Focus on which nothing that's optional in any way works The latest thing is that the blower motor selector switch stopped working, and now it's been -10 C outside and I don't have heat in the car. It does work when you push it down as hard as you can with the selector on 0 though, so shouldn't be a problem to fix, if only I had some time...

 

[guitaardvark]

Buddy got a miata after driving mine, so we took ours out for a shoot.

 

[shadscbr]

^^ based on that shadow, what else was going on?

 

[guitaardvark]

^^ based on that shadow, what else was going on?

The miata owner secret handshake, of course.

 

[bulb]

Probably the reason I’m most excited to get a miata

 

[guitaardvark]

Probably the reason I’m most excited to get a miata

It's a truly excellent car and doesn't feel 27 years old at all. I unfortunately don't have the means to track it (which is unfortunate considering I live 15 minutes away from Laguna Seca), but it's an absolute blast to drive. It's the only car I can floor around town and not get a ticket.

 

[shadscbr]

lol, I guess it depends which shadow you are, no Miata is worth being the left shadow

 

[bulb]

It's a truly excellent car and doesn't feel 27 years old at all. I unfortunately don't have the means to track it (which is unfortunate considering I live 15 minutes away from Laguna Seca), but it's an absolute blast to drive. It's the only car I can floor around town and not get a ticket.

You live 15 mins from there and you own a Miata and you haven’t tracked it? That’s insanity. You do realize that track is incredible AND the Miata is perfect for it right?

 

[bulb]

In all seriousness I am thinking about getting a fun manual track car that will also double as a good daily for the gf:
Thinking
Nd Miata club
Brz/86 (with some proper tires)
C7 grand sport

What you guys think?

 

[diagrammatiks]

In all seriousness I am thinking about getting a fun manual track car that will also double as a good daily for the gf:
Thinking
Nd Miata club
Brz/86 (with some proper tires)
C7 grand sport

What you guys think?

One of those things is not like the other.

 

[guitaardvark]

You live 15 mins from there and you own a Miata and you haven’t tracked it? That’s insanity. You do realize that track is incredible AND the Miata is perfect for it right?

Yeah, I got it late 2017, but I don't have the time or money since I'm finishing up school 350 miles away and saving my pennies for credential/grad school. Trust me, it hurts, especially when they do the annual miata race.

In all seriousness I am thinking about getting a fun manual track car that will also double as a good daily for the gf:
Thinking
Nd Miata club
Brz/86 (with some proper tires)
C7 grand sport

What you guys think?

Miata is the better track car because it's the BEST, BRZ is the better daily because backseats and more storage. Not to say that a miata is a bad daily, but it's less than ideal in some situations. I bought an office chair and had to carry it in my passenger seat with the top down. The wheels spun like a propeller behind me.

I'm also biased on this, but consider an NA. For a third of the price of what a new ND club costs, you can get an excellent condition NA with a bolt-on CARB legal supercharger (https://www.fastforwardsuperchargers.com/products.html#kit) and an incredible suspension. They're robust and reliable as hell, and you won't feel like shit when you scuff something at the track or push it too hard because parts are dumb cheap. Everything is mechanical, so it's stupidly responsive (compared to something like a newer Mini, which just feels sterile. Can't speak to how an ND feels). My NA is my favorite car I've ever driven.