German Car Zone

We Toss Five Awesome Toys Around On Our Favorite Asphalt Playground


This is kids-in-candy-store stuff, plain and simple. You can quit looking at the cars on this page and struggling to imagine a narrative hook that logically connects such disparate players as an out-of-production Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR coupe and a Maserati GranTurismo-both front-engine, rear-drivers, with mid-engine superstars like a spanking new Lambo LP560-4, last year's Audi R8 4.2 quattro, and a 2007 Ferrari F430. There isn't one. This is like a rich collector's dream garage with all the doors open and all the keys in the ignition. We're playing with five cool cars that all gasoline-blooded MT readers would give their eye teeth (or $1695, if that's more convenient) to drive.

No, these stallions aren't freshly minted, factory-fettled, buffed-to-perfection press cars: They work for a living, touring the country in the service of World Class Driving. WCD gives enthusiasts an opportunity to take five of the world's hottest new exotic cars out for a spin-usually on twisty public backroads, occasionally on closed tracks. The $1695 price buys about a half hour of seat time in each of the five cars (for three extra Franklins, you can impress a passenger with your wheeling skills). Longer sessions and optional extras are offered. As WCD's 18-wheeler toy box is passing through SoCal en route to Hawaii, we've persuaded it to stop and disgorge its $1.1-million contents onto the tarmac at El Toro Marine Air Base so several of us can take a long enough stint in each car to decide which is the coolest, the best driving, the one we'd most like to own, or the one we'd soonest snap a picture of ourselves in to dress up our Facebook page-that is, you know, if we were civilian WCD customers. Since these cars don't compete with each other, we'll tell you how each compares with its closest natural rival, so you can talk like a high-roller during your World Class Driving experience.








Full Story: Motor Trend - The Ultimate Play Date: GranTurismo, R8, F430, LP560-4, SLR


M

LP560 > Everything else

GranTurismo for me! Probable the worst performance-wise, but definitely the sexiest of the bunch

It's a solid choice for sure. Most impressive is the exhaust note. Unlike most German GTs, the Maserati has the grunt of a Lamborghini.

In this segment people look either for the sexiest car or for the best handling car. There is no middle choise and I belong to the first category. I'm ok with the driving dynamics of an E46 Ci, but I'm dying for the sex appeal of a Maserati!

Mind you, the SLR has 42,000 hard driven miles. This just tells you how reliable and drivable it is. The Granturismo is a fabulous GT, but it does not belong here sames goes with the R8. Had Fabio not have crashed the 599 it probably would have been in the comparison. I choose SLR mainly because I love the SLR so much.

Gran turismo for me too!

Giving way to exclusivity, I'd go with SLR first and F430 second.

I don't understand this test. You can't compare supercars just because you got hold of 5 of them.

The SLR is in a much higher league. Compares with the Murcielago and Zonda
LP560 is a wonderful car, but it just doesn't compare to the mighty SLR. F430 is the Lambo's closest rival (though a bit underpowered) , while they need a V10 R8 to compete with those two.

You see that very clearly in the drag race

When has this ever stopped magazines from doing this? They always have some weird pissing matches for no reason besides having a cool headline to sell their magazine. "Supercar Shootout" sells better than "Prius to the max".