lamborghini aventador 2015 vs ferrari 488 (Find out for yourself)
2016 lamborghini aventador 2015 vs ferrari 488 gti
ferrari 488 gti
There is currently a wait list of over two years for the 2016 Ferrari 488 Spider. If you are considering a purchase, that means every minute you spend reading this review could mean a few more people jumping in front of your place in line
So, to save you time, I’ll summarise it quickly: it’s very very good. Now, get on the phone and slap a holding deposit on the Centurion right away
For the rest of us, who have resigned ourselves to waiting a bit longer than two years for our own Ferrari, read on
The $526,888 (before options and on-roads costs) 488 Spider is Ferrari’s latest mid-engine V8 toupee fan.
Like its coupe sibling, the 488 Spider has new ditched the 4.6-litre V8 of the 458 and gone for a smaller 3.8-litre powerplant with twin IHI ball bearing turbochargers
Power is up 74kW to 491kW and torque has grown a whopping 230Nm to now 760Nm. For some context, this gives the 1515kg 488 Spider a power-to-weight ratio the same as the monstrous 598 GTO.
So you can impress your friends at the next BBQ, it’s called the 488 because each cylinder has a 499cc displacement. You’re welcome
But a Ferrari, particularly a convertible one, isn’t just about outright performance. The 488 Spider truly is a thing of beauty
lamborghini aventador
If you ever get a chance to properly put a Lamborghini Aventador through its paces, make sure you’re on the right kind of road - a test track or a spin on a German Autobahn should do
The Aventador, if you hadn’t already deduced from the photograph above, is the most extreme car to ever roll out of Lamborghini’s historic Santa’Agata Bolognese factory - and it’s been a full 50 years in the making
Lamborghini has been redefining the supercar genre since the covers were first pulled off the fabulous Miura at the 1962 Geneva motor show. In fact, it was the Miura that inspired the term ‘supercar’ in the first place
Lamborghini again redefined the concept of a supercar when it launched the outrageous Countach in 1975. Here was a car that pushed the automotive design envelope to the outer reaches of exploration, looking more like an inter-galactic spacecraft than any road car
upping the ante yet again by adding all-wheel drive to Lamborghini’s V12 weapons system
The Murcielago was a less convincing effort, more of a reengineered Diablo rather than an all-new creation like Lamborghini’s current flagship in Australia – the eye-popping Aventador LP 700-4. There’ll soon be an even faster model, the Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce
sale car
While the tech on-board the Aventador is current generation with a cockpit inspired by the F-21 Raptor jet fighter, it’s also a car that subscribes to the old-school supercar formula. It’s massively wide (2.24 metres!) and impossibly low to the deck - perfectly in-sync with its mid-mounted monster engine
ferrari 488 gtb
Leave the Manettino switch in Sport (essentially the standard setting), tap the ‘bumpy-road’ suspension button (best function name ever!) to soften the magnetic dampers, drop the F2 gearbox into automatic, and the prancing horse lopes along with a relaxed trot
The exhaust is quiet, the ride comfortable and even the radio clear and easy to hear. You can raise and lower the top at speeds up to 44km/h too (it takes about 12 seconds), so you can easily go from sun-tan to sun-smart while on the move
To keep your coiffed locks in check, too, you can raise and lower the little glass window behind the seats. It moves all but a couple of inches in each direction, but is enough to keep the wind at bay at urban speeds.
Even in this environment though, the 488 is still a driver’s car
There are no controls within reach of the passenger to adjust the music selection nor navigation destination. In fact the only job they have is tweaking the dual-zone climate control, and looking good
Speaking of those infotainment controls, though – if there is a minor gripe with the Ferrari’s cabin, this is it. A panel to the right of the instrument binnacle houses three buttons and a D-Pad style controller for moving and making selections
Ergonomically it works, but intuitively it doesn’t. The buttons require too much force and time to press, and a system like the proximity sensitive preset buttons in a BMW would be much better
lamborghini aventador 2015
Then there’s the suspension. It’s a race-inspired, ultra-exotic push-rod system that’s fixed directly to the cell itself and typically found only on formula racing cars
Any day is a good day to drive Lamborghini’s finest. All the more so, given the four year gap since I briefly drove an Aventador in Shanghai at the launch in 2012, but that was only a quick track test – so the opportunity to drive the car around town before hitting our private test facility was all the more interesting
Lamborghini has always been big on theatrics, especially when it comes to its V12 models
It’s also surprisingly easy to manage, though you will need to be ultra careful not to damage the Aventador’s impossibly low front splitter
Thank goodness for the electronically operated nose lift system, which raises the front of the car by around 10mm. It’s a mandatory feature on any Lamborghini, and the car can be driven nose-up at speeds up to 80km/h.
Once off the public road system, it’s time to hit the most extreme ‘Corsa’ switch with an opportunity to exploit all the Avenator has to offer
Dial up the launch control function, and the V12 will hold at 5000rpm before slingshotting the car in what can only be described as organ-rupturing acceleration – though the Aventador maintains an unflappable line
Make no mistake, this is an intimidating car, at least initially, but the grip from the 354-millimetre-wide rear tyres and pushrod suspension is so colossal it doesn’t take long before you feel comfortable enough to flat-foot it through the kinks
key ferrari 488 gti and lamborghini aventador
