Conclusion: “Whaddaya Think About the Cars?”

[From 2009]

            Let’s start with the easiest conclusion.  The McLaren F1 remains the ne plus ultra of modern supercars, even though it was first put to paper back in the ‘80s.  Sure, some features like the “high” profile rubber and dated switchgear are negatives when compared against candidates in 2010 hyper-car meme-sphere.  The stereo system, which sounds wonderful, runs off those archaic silver round bits – though, unlike the 612 (which can also play CDs), it’s actually quite easy to select different discs and songs.  The F1 has a certain analog, hand-made appeal, something that is lacking on modern Ferraris and Lamborghinis.  And don’t even mention the overpowered bus that is the Bugatti Veyron.

McLaren now offers xenon headlight upgrades (not quite as expensive as the custom paint on the 16M, but not far behind), and rumor has it that they’re working on carbon composite brakes and an iPod interface.  But even if you add all of that, the car is still going to be 15 years old.  And that underscores the sheer superiority of the McLaren that much more:  Grace Kelly is still an icon to this day, and so is the McLaren.  You will never, ever take the McLaren for granted, whether it’s doing 200+ mph, popping away with your two girlfriends, doing a lap of the Nurburgring or picking up some Big Macs.  Our only regret was that the DOT limitations meant that we couldn’t drive it more.

            The Ferrari Scuderia Spider 16M is, on paper, insane.  The 430 Scuderia coupe is the ultimate Ferrari road car; really, it’s practical, reliable, faster than an Enzo, has luggage room for a weekend getaway, and sounds like the war chants of Norse gods in Valhalla.  So what happens when you cut the roof off?  Yes, the 16M is every bit as good a convertible as the standard 430 Spider.  But is it worth the near 33% price premium? 

Yes, oh yes.  Because what that big difference in price gets you isn’t the exclusivity, the swagger that one may feel when parked against more common 430s.  No, that price grants to you the same feeling that one must get from a high-priced, black leather-clad dominatrix.  You’re paying for that pain – the deafening roar of the exhaust, the brutal kick in the ass of an 8,000 rpm upshift, the exquisite lateral pull as you clip that imaginary apex curbing.  You don’t have to grab the 16M by the scruff of the neck and wring it violently to enjoy driving it.  You don’t have to let the F1 transmission shift violently at full-throttle, but that’s exactly what you paid that big the premium for.

And despite all of this, it works as a cross-country transport too.  Like peon 430s, it has room for luggage up front, accommodates even extra-tall drivers, and it has quite a pleasant, windless cockpit with the top down.  Add a cup-holder and cruise-control, and you’d be ready to cross Kansas again.  Even the Paris Hilton paint job had grown on me by the end of the trip.  Oh, definitely and absolutely invest a few bucks in a better iPod integration system.

The 612 Scaglietti is intended for an onion-skin thin slice of the car-buying demographic.  It’s massively expensive, it depreciates faster than condos in Phoenix, and, compared to its stablemates, it lacks the dramatic beauty demanded of Italian supercars.  But for those who must have one, those for whom ordinary S-class or 7-series or even Quattroportes are just not sufficient, then the 612 Scaglietti hits it out of the park.  For the first time, Ferrari has offered a car that can carry four real-world adults.  Now, the two in back can’t be particularly big, mind you, but it is a real back seat.  As Dan has demonstrated in Boston, a set of snow tires and the big beast will just keep rolling. 

Crossing the country is the perfect element for this grand touring machine.  If you’ve mastered the Bose system, you’re golden.  The relentless torque of the big V12 means that there is nothing that you can’t pass (aside from gas stations, har-har).  Even when the roads get twisty, it’s neat and fast, though not lithe.  Even the much-impugned F1 transmission has improved to the point where a diehard manual shifter like me would consider it.  The 612 would have been the biggest surprise of the trip, but for the fact that….

We took a hand-built, unique, Pebble Beach show car out of the box (literally), filled it up with gas and drove it across the country.  Without any mechanical issues whatsoever (aside from the duct-taped spoiler bits).  Astounding.  It was never far from my mind that, as I’m driving the Mantide, one little error and Bertone would be out its Pebble Beach centerpiece.  But the Mantide just took it all on without a ruffle.  Full credit too must be given to GM, for building the underlying Corvette so well that it can suffer a dismantling and reassembly before being flogged across America.  And the magicians at Bertone for doing that work, and dressing up the Corvette in an Italian dress out of the pages of Vogue.  So the biggest question of the trip is answered thusly:  yes, even to those who would not otherwise consider a King of the Hill Corvette, this is among the world’s most desirable supercars.