Categories
Exotic

2013 Ferrari 458 Italia Spider: Essence of the Mid-Engined Supercar

LOCATION SPOTTED: Rugby Ralph Lauren (East Hampton Town)
LOCATION SPOTTED: Rugby Ralph Lauren (East Hampton Village)

*Performance:

  • Acceleration 0 to 60: 3.0 sec
  • Braking 60 to 0: 106 feet
  • Quarter Mile: 10.9 sec
  • Slalom: 74.9 mph
  • Skidpad: 1.01 g
*Stats for coupe version

Ferrari makes a cool product. Everyone knows this. The “two-seater” sports car is synonymous with Ferrari and this new Spider iteration of the superb 458 Italia is no exception. Yes it has two seats and two doors, but what it doesn’t have (unlike the McLaren MP4-12C) is two turbo-chargers in it’s engine. For the rest of this posting I shall explain why this makes the Ferrari so compelling.

First of all, in case you haven’t noticed, most (if not pretty much all) high-end car makers like BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Bentley, Jaguar, and even Cadillac are switching from naturally aspirated engines to either supercharged or twin-turbocharged engines for better power-increases without sacrifices in fuel economy. Here’s the problem with that: inconsistent power band.

Take this Ferrari 458 for example. Because it has a naturally aspirated engine with tremendous red-line power (9000 rpm) it is very predictable and dynamic. The McLaren, no matter how good its twin-turbo system is, has the ever-so-slight tendency to produce turbo-lag, which makes the car handle a bit numb. In other words, it may put down similar performance to the Ferrari, perhaps even slightly better, but it leaves the driver wanting for involvement in the driving experience. McLaren, and several other brands mentioned above, have followed down this path of calculating and programming engine ECUs and digital throttle bodies for the turbos to produce the best statistics possible. However, there is more to the track driving experience than just making a car put down numbers, it’s all about how it puts down those numbers. Driving passion is fueled by driver involvement, not by computers that do all the work.

Categories
Exotic

2011 Porsche 911 Turbo S: Fastest Accelerating Production Car Under 200k

Location Spotted: Harbor Marina (Springs)
Location Spotted: Harbor Marina (Springs)

Performance:

  • Acceleration 0 to 60: 2.7 sec
  • Braking 60 to 0: 102 ft
  • Quarter Mile: 10.9 sec
  • Slalom: 73.2 mph
  • Skidpad: 0.99 g

Well, the Turbo S. A car that, in many ways, is a giant killer. For those of you who don’t know, a “giant killer” is a type of sports car that costs a fraction of the price of a supercar, yet matches or beats it’s level of performance. The 911 Turbo S certainly is not an inexpensive car, (MSRP: $160,700 without options) but it is roughly half the price of the Italian, blue-blooded 2012 Lamborghini Aventador. Yet the Lambo is no faster to sixty.

Ok, in the Aventador’s defense, it does pull away at the Quarter Mile at 10.5 secs and it will go to a top speed of 217 mph while the Turbo S only does 195mph. Awwwww boohoo, the Turbo S only does 195, who cares? No one. The Porsche is the definition of bad ass German engineering taking a sledgehammer to the aristocratic Italian supercar’s panache and style at less than half the price. Sure, most people don’t have a clue what it is when they see it, but enthusiasts everywhere know that Turbo S’s mean business. Only drawback is that it isn’t quite as dynamic or as fast on a curvy racetrack as some of it’s mid-engined competitors like the Ferrari 458 or a front engined Nissan GTR or Corvette ZR1, but in a straight line it can’t be beat for the money. Oh, and by the way it is still very fast on a racetrack regardless!

Categories
Luxury

2013 Bentley Continental GTC: This Elephant Can Tap-Dance

LOCATION SPOTTED: Georgica Beach (East Hampton)
LOCATION SPOTTED: Georgica Beach (East Hampton)

Performance:

  • Acceleration 0 to 60: 4.8 sec
  • Braking 60 to 0: 108 feet
  • Quarter Mile: 13.4 sec
  • Slalom: TBD
  • Skidpad: 0.90 g
More Pics and Info: http://www.bentleymotors.com/models/new_continental_gtc/
The Hampton roads are a wash of lots of expensive cars. BMW, Audi, and Mercedes generally make up the norm. However, there also lies a whole other level of expensive cars. These vehicles are owned by people who want to occupy the ultimate level of luxury, speed, and most importantly, panache. Enter the Bentley Continental GTC.

Ian Fleming may have portrayed Agent 007 as an Aston Martin fan, but the character from the 1950s novels actually drove a Bentley Continental, and for the 2012 model year, here comes a freshened version with updated styling and even more speed than ever before. Okay, maybe this car is not the absolute fastest convertible money can buy, (a 2013 Mercedes SL550 will make this luxury yacht look like a tugboat in a dash through the quarter mile) but that’s not really the point of what the GTC is all about.

Even with its 567 horsepower 6.0 liter W12 engine, this car will do 4.8 sec to 60 mph (Bentley estimates 4.5 sec, but Motortrend recently recorded 4.8). “Huh?” you might say, “But what about all that power…”. Well this car is that slow because it weighs 5558 lbs.!! So, with a curb weight that would make Peter Griffin feel thin, this car is not going to win over the heart of a hard-core performance minded enthusiast, if you are, than go buy a BMW M3 or something. The engineers over at Bentley Motors Limited put this much weight in the GTC, for one reason; ride comfort. When driven fast, the GTC feels like a 200 mph bullet train belting across the Japanese landscape, it’s that tank-like.

Sure the acceleration wouldn’t be impressive in an M3, but in a 5500 lb-plus convertible, it is astounding. The Continental’s weight and power, combined with very clever suspension (which is also adjustable) makes it a car with a bi-polar personality. Similar to the SL63 recently submitted; this car manages to coddle it’s occupants from point A to point B, in absolute comfort while getting there fast, just not as fast as the SL63. In the end it doesn’t matter who’s faster than who, because at the end of the day, YOU are in a Bentley driving in absolute comfort and THEY are not.

 

Categories
Obscure Performance

2012 BMW 335is Convertible: Budget M3 with better MPG?

LOCATION SPOTTED: Harbor Marina (Springs)
LOCATION SPOTTED: Harbor Marina (Springs)

Performance:

  • Acceleration 0 to 60: 5.1 sec convertible, 4.7 sec coupe
  • Quarter Mile: 13.3 sec coupe, 13.7 sec convertible
  • Braking 60 to 0: 111 feet coupe, 114 feet convertible
  • Slalom: 67.2 mph coupe, 66.0 mph convertible
  • Skidpad: 0.91 g both

Harbor Marina has recently become a true haven for exotic sports cars, however, this particular selection for this blog entry, is somewhat more obscure and kind of like a wolf in sheeps clothing to the untrained eye. The 335 is arguably the best small sports sedan ever.  It maintains a unique level of performance that simply can’t be matched by competetors (unless extra cash is spent i.e. Audi S4). In recent years, cars like the Audi S4 have become better, faster, and cheaper than ever before. This shoots up red flags to the eyes of BMW engineers, causing them to create a better competitor to challenge the S4. Enter, the 335is.

Some will argue that the M3 already competes with the Audi S4 and also the Infiniti G37 IPL, but not anymore. You see, ever since the introduction of the new E90, 92 M3 in 2008 and E93 in 2009, each of which with a 414 hp V8 engine, in place of the E46 M3’s 333 hp inline six, The M3 is one step above the competition, and the 335i is just on the edge of the mark. The 335is with a 20 hp bump in power and a 30 lb ft increase in torque helps fill that void in the 3-series line.

In a nutshell, the 335is has some of the major performance improvements from the M3, including transmission, suspension, and steering (the brakes and engine are not carried over).  There are also a few cosmetic improvements as well, including numerous “335is” badges indicating that this is not a regular 335i, and a bespoke front bumber difuser that makes even an M-Sport 335i look like a simpleton (well, not quite but it is still cooler than normal). The 335is makes the best compromise between outright performance and practicality. It gets 18/26 (city/highway) mpg which is only 1-2 mpg worse than the standard 335i, and it crushes the Infiniti G37 IPL in the sprint to 60 mph, even though it has 30 more horsepower (at 350 hp). This 335is has a tremendous sense of uniqueness from subtle interior touches to minor performance tweeks, this car is like a svelt punch to the faces of Audi and Infiniti.