There's no real Boxster content here, so I'm putting it in the "Off-Topic" forum.
My wife bought me a package with "#XTREMEXPERIENCE" at my local racetrack (UMC). This is their first time here in Utah, but my daughter drove with them in Vegas, and had a blast.
So the package my wife bought was for 3 cars; Lamborghini Huracan, Porsche 911 GT3, and the Ferrari 488GTB.
I'm not sure it was worth the 4-figures she paid for it; they made me stay 3-feet from the curbing, and didn;t allow any of the nannies to be turned-off. But it WAS a ton of fun to drive those cars back to back and be able to identify and compare the differences between them.
The Lambo was first for me. It's nasty. It seems that there's a cam on the throttle that makes about 75% of it come-in in the first inch of travel. After that you can modulate more easily, but that initial squeeze onto the throttle probably gets a LOT of people in trouble. The thing goes around corners as you'd expect it to: planted and solid, with perhaps just a little "light-feeling" in the front on a particularly-fun series of corners where getting the front to bite and the rear to rotate is the real ticket. It's squirrely on the brakes. I was surprised. at turn one, hauling down from around 120mph, it weaves-n-bobs just a bit. Feels just like the front casters on a shopping cart, haha. But the moment you transition back to the throttle, you forget all that, because the brutal-ness of the throttle-tip-in is trying to bite you. As far as comforts? The gap between the (very-wide) door sill and the roof-line is smaller than any of the others. it was tough getting in with a helmet on, and I frankly did the old-man "dive" to get out.... head first, palms on the asphalt, pulled myself out. Without a helmet it would've been more easily done.
The Ferrari was next. I expected to love this car (even though it was silver with black interior), because, well, I'm a ferrarista. This car could, once inside, fool you into thinking you could make it a daily-driver. It's very refined. The exhaust barks on start-up, but not so loud that you think it'd piss off the neighbors. Getting in and out was simple. Yes, you sit low, but lots of room to lean back, with visibility remaining very high. It was as I expected it would be, because I've driven many Ferraris before. It's very confident under braking, holds its line perfectly, gives impressive feedback from the front end, encourages you to do "more". Thye throttle and brakes were both easily modulated, and smooth. What this car does better than ALL of them, is the visceral experience when downshifting. The way it does the rev-matching for you is reminiscent of how I would do it myself... blip-up slightly over where you need to be, then slip the gear in as the revs come back down. And the noise it makes while doing that is just glorious.
The Porsche. Honestly, I didn't expect much from the Porsche. As I've mentioned here before, I'm not really a "Porsche-Phile". I have to walk to the back and look at the badge to tell the difference between a 911 and a cayman. (ok, I'm exaggerating) But truthfully: that Porsche did everything perfectly. The entry was easier. the seating position was more comfortable. the throttle was smooth and easy, the brakes were linear and impressive, the car rotated when the front dug-in for me... basically, the car was, in all respects, flawless. It even sounded good. I was surprised. Maybe even a bit humbled, that I've been so wrong for so long.
So the verdict:
3. For me, of the three cars, the LAST one I'd pick is the Lamborghini, for any purpose I'd be interested in. It's a switchblade. What do I think the Lambo is best suited for? "Showing-off". Truly. That's not to say it isn't fast and capable, but at a high-rate of speed, you'd better know what you're doing and be on your A-game, or it'll hurt you very quickly. It comes in the most heinous colors, and everything about the car screams "Look at (or listen-to) Me!" That's not my thing. But if I were 22 yrs old and wanting to pick-up loose women on Hollywood Blvd, that'd be the ticket.
2. If I wanted to go FAST, QUICKLY at the racetrack, the Porsche is the scalpel to do it with. I think that I, as a moderate-to-decent driver, could get in that car and be VERY FAST, with a relatively short learning curve. It's confidence-inspiring, stable, "planted", and incredibly willing to do more and more and more. I'm somewhat reminded, though, of when I moved from Ducati superbikes to Honda. YEs, my laptimes improved dramatically.... but it was so much less satisfying. Much less FUN. It frequently felt like the bike was doing it, rather than me. I think the Porsche may suffer from this same "detractor", if one can really call it that.
1. If I were given the choice to take one of these three cars home, the decision for me is an easy one: The Ferrari, hands-down. And I'll be honest about that: the SOUND is responsible for about 75% of that decision.
The car also made me feel like I was important to the equation.
In other words, when I got on the throttle and modulated right to the point of tires singing.... the Ferrari patted me on the head and said "that was fun! Let's do some more of that", where the Porsche said "Did you see what I just did there?" and the Lambo said "F*** you. Try that again and I'll put you on your ear!"
Fun day.
Linear Mode
