LaFerrari: the official verdict and video - BBC Top Gear |
| LaFerrari: the official verdict and video - BBC Top Gear Posted: 29 Apr 2014 04:01 PM PDT What is it? It's the one we've waited a long, long time for. Ferrari's successor to the Enzo, its ultimate distillation of speed, its magnum opus. LaFerrari. Easy to get your hands on, then? Not so much. With a price tag of over £1m apiece, all 499 LaFerraris were sold before the car was first unveiled at the Geneva Motorshow last year. This despite the fact that to simply be considered LaFerrari ownership material, you needed (a) at least five Ferraris in your collection and (b) a first-name-terms relationship with Ferrari Chairman Luca Di Montezemolo, who personally approved all 499 owners. And thankfully let us have a shot, too. So how does it work? Ferrari heralds its creation as a rolling showcase of the limits of road-going possibility. Having sat through a three-hour technical presentation in which Ferrari's finest engineers attempted to explain degree-level theorems involving complex maths, physics, chemistry, aerodynamics and materials science, Top Gear has to agree with this assessment. So here's the shorthand version. At LaFerrari's heart lies a 6.3-litre V12, which fires 789bhp through a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox to the rear wheels. And what an engine: arguably the greatest V12 in Maranello history, a twelve-cylinder heart that revs to a staggering 9250rpm redline. In any normal game of supercar Top Trumps, 789bhp would be sufficient for victory, but in the hypercar stratosphere defined by the P1 and 918, that's merely the down-payment. Pinching tech from its F1 outfit, Ferrari has added a Hy-Kers hybrid system to the V12, not just to improve its green credentials but to make an already ballistically fast car even faster. Tell me about the electric bits. The Hy-Kers system provides an additional 161bhp - or very nearly a Fiesta ST's worth - of instant power through the electric motor mounted to the back of the gearbox. Unlike the 918 and P1, you cannot plug LaFerrari into a wall, nor cruise silently in all-electric mode - the e-motor is there to add punch to the petrol engine, not replace it. Read Clarkson's verdict on the McLaren P1 And what punch it adds. The Hy-Kers fills out the bottom end of the torque curve of the viciously high-spinning V12, meaning an utterly constant, stupefying surge of power from anywhere in the rev range to literally anywhere else. Stats? With a total combined output of 950bhp, LaFerrari will get from 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds, hit 124mph four seconds later, and top out 'in excess' of 218 miles an hour. OK, got it. It's very exclusive, very complicated and very powerful. But what's it actually like? As you open the front hinged swan doors and drop into a cockpit decked wall-to-wall in carbon fibre and leather, the first thing you notice is the seat adjustment. Or, rather, the lack of it. The seat forms an integral part of the LaFerrari's tub, so each owner will have their own set of seat pads tailored for them before delivery. To get comfy, you pull a lever below your right thigh to release the pedal box and adjust the pedals to the perfect distance, race car style. Shut the door with a hefty thud, adjust the steering wheel, insert the key - yes, it still has one of those -and watch the TFT screens blink into life. Thumb the 'Engine Start' button. Instantly, the V12 soul of LaFerrari barks into life, a sound that talks of pedigree, potential, and power. This is it. Truth is, even if you're lucky enough to have driven supercars before, nothing quite prepares you for a moment like this. Emotions? Excitement, no question. Privilege, too. But mostly fear. Quite a lot of fear. So it's scary to drive, then? No. Strangely, it doesn't take many minutes on the road before the fear melts away. Supercar rules dictate that size matters, so you expect it to be vast, but LaFerrari, despite its complex drivetrain, is actually 40mm narrower than the Enzo. Which is a good thing, given we're trying to explore the ultimate Ferrari's road car potential on a narrow ribbon of rutted, hairpin-riddled Italian B-road. But rather than a hair-raising, sweary sweat-fest, the LaFerrari is surprisingly... easy. The seating position, visibility and scale of the car allow you to place it neatly on the road - an unusual sensation in any hypercar. The steering serves up high-definition feedback without ever turning hyperactive, while there's a suppleness to the suspension that allows the LaFerrari to slip over the worst the broken Italian highway can throw at it. And when you put your foot down? Forget all you know about fast: this is a whole new stratosphere of performance, a relentless accumulation of speed accompanied by the greatest automotive soundtrack in the world. You don't so much accelerate in LaFerrari as warp scenery. As the V12 screams its way to the 9250rpm redline, the Italian countryside is hauled back and fired out of the rearview mirror. Read our in-depth Porsche 918 review As the LaFerrari pours down this tight and broken strand of tarmac, there's a hypnotic violence to proceedings: second, third, fourth, brake hard, down two gears, dual clutch box firing ratios faster than you can process, accelerate, third, fourth, repeat... It's violent, visceral, synapse snapping, and utterly, utterly addictive. Does the hybrid-stuff work? Seamlessly. Some worried that the integration of hybrid technology would blunt the Ferrari experience, but the Hy-Kers system dovetails immaculately into the drivetrain, simply adding yet more sharpness to the big V12. It's so seamless that you're unaware of the e-motor even doing its thing, your senses overloaded by your right foot's connection to what feels like the most instantly responsive V12 in history. And what about on track? Again, not half so scary as you might expect. Yes, the LaFerrari will do sideways if you've got the talent - not to mention a wallet big enough to cover the repair bill should things go wrong - but keep it pointing forwards and you'll discover a massively fast, surprisingly accessible track car. Within just a couple of laps, it's clear LaFerrari has a depth of ability you would never grow tired of discovering, encouraging you to push ever faster and exploit its genius to the very limit. So it's a bit good, then? More than a bit good. LaFerrari is an intoxicating blend of earth-shattering performance and confidence-inspiring technology. A 950bhp hypercar shouldn't be easy to drive, but this one is. That's the genius of LaFerrari, which takes the concept of driver aids that heighten rather than blunt the experience and propels it into a new dimension, which grafts F1 tech to a vast, traditional V12 to showcase the very best of Maranello old and new. Put it this way. Christening this car 'The Ferrari' was a high level gamble that could have backfired horribly. But really, the LaFerrari is just that. The Ferrari. Issues? Just one. So exhilarating, so extreme is the LaFerrari that it feels more an end rather than a beginning. With legislation strangling the upper reaches of the automotive performance envelope, are we living in the final, ultimate age of hypercars? Where can fast possibly go from here? Get gorgeous LaFerrari wallpapers here To read the full LaFerrari feature, and revel in our exclusive photos and videos, pick up the new issue of Top Gear magazine in iPad form here, or in all good newsagents now Internal combustion engine: Transmission: Performance:  |
| Lamborghini Huracan first drive <b>Review</b> | Autocar Posted: 30 Apr 2014 07:52 AM PDT What is it?It would be easy to feel a tinge of sympathy for dear old Lamborghini and its all-new Huracán, what with the knee-tremblingly good LaFerrari taking centre stage this week and the McLaren P1 rewriting just about every rule of road testing next week, more about which, er, next week. But once the hypercar hyperbole has died down the Huracán will, in fact, be the most important car Lamborghini will produce for at least the next three years and, as such, will sell in vastly higher numbers than both the uber-machines from Ferrari and McLaren combined. The styling of the Huracán has been described as subdued by some, but in the metal it has a simple kind of elegance to it that is both refreshing and appropriately intimidating. It looks quite small on the road, too, even though it isn't, and as a replacement for the 11-year-old Gallardo – of which some 14,000 were made between 2003-2013 – it borrows more than one or two ideas from both the existing Audi R8 and its forthcoming successor, which will appear next year. The Huracán's chassis, for example, will be shared with the next Audi R8 and uses a hybrid combination of RTN carbonfibre and aluminium which, claims Lamborghini, provides almost as much strength and stiffness as a full carbonfibre tub, but with nowhere near the same expense. It's also far easier and cheaper to repair in the event of an accident. The engine is a development of the familiar 5.2-litre V10 that we've come to know and love in both the R8 and Gallardo, albeit with a raft of modifications to its top end and exhaust system. This time round it produces a thunderous 602bhp (or 610ps, hence the LP 610-4 moniker) and 413lb ft of torque, which is sufficient to fire the Huracán to 62mph in a mere 3.2sec and to a claimed top speed of 202mph. Stop start also becomes a standard fitment to help reduce emissions and improve economy by over 10 per cent. The dual clutch seven-speed auto gearbox is also lifted straight from the R8 and replaces, at last, the clumsy e-gear six speeder from before. Which means that a traditional manual gearbox isn't even available as an option in Lamborghini's most popular car. As on the Gallardo, there are double wishbones at each corner with electronic dampers and anti-roll bars at either end. But this time these are joined by standard-issue carbon-ceramic brake discs and a new ANIMA button (which means soul in Italian), similar to Ferrari's manettino dial. This sits on the steering wheel and alters the responses of the dampers, engine mapping, steering, gearbox, four-wheel drive and traction control. The cabin is deeply Lamborghini in both look and feel, featuring a pair of ultra supportive bucket seats and a new 12.3-inch digital TFT screen that can be tailored to whatever kind of mood you might be in. The gearbox paddles are larger than before, the visibility out better in all directions, and there's a sophistication inside the car that the Gallardo never quite nailed. What is it like?Great, albeit in a new wave, old school kind of way. When you thumb the starter button and the V10 engine catches, for example, there is still the same sense of theatre in evidence as there was with the Gallardo. Like it or not, there's an almighty burst of revs at start-up, and even once the V10 settles to its idle speed of just under 1000rpm there's still an old fashioned supercar kind of racket to be heard from behind your head. And the Huracán wouldn't be a Lamborghini were this not so. On the move the car instantly feels more refined but also more comfortable than the Gallardo. There's a sense of maturity to the ride, steering response (no kickback whatsoever detectable), throttle weighting and even the exhaust note that elevates it well beyond its predecessor. But beneath the sheen of extra smoothness and civility there is still the raging heart of a conventional V10 supercar, thumping away, itching to let loose. This time, though, you get the distinct impression that the car's numerous electronic systems are very much there to help out, if and when things go wrong. The car feels so much less edgy and rounded in its resolve, you probably don't need the digital safety net to be anywhere near as great ironically. But that's the way Lamborghini knows it needs to play things in 2014. Nowadays, the vast majority customers aren't in the slightest bit interested in scaring themselves every now and again. Instead they want a car that looks beautiful (tick), sounds amazing (tick), that is easy enough to drive and that they could use it everyday if necessary (tick) and which won't bite their arms off if they make a mistake in it (tick). The compromise is that the Huracán probably understeers a touch more than a die-hard purist would want it to, and the engine note does sound more Ingolstadt than Sant Agata on occasions; particularly on overrun in Corsa mode when you get a digitally perfected crackle that sounds neither natural nor spine-tingling. But in just about all other respects, the Huracán represents a huge leap forwards for Lamborghini. And I personally happen to think it looks close to drop-dead gorgeous, too. Should I buy one?Lamborghini would certainly like it if you did, although the competition at this level, at this particular moment in time, is so fierce that you do wonder how many Huracán's Sant Agata will shift in the longer term, certainly in its more traditional markets of the USA and Europe, both of which are continuing to shrink, albeit glacially. In China, however, the Huracán no doubt will fly like the wind it is loosely named after, and that alone will keep the Raging Bull's accountants happy for the time being. Crucially, the Huracán is also very competitively priced beside its key rivals from McLaren and Ferrari at £188k, even if the new Audi R8 and current Porsche 911 Turbo will and already do make it seem fairly expensive. What matters most, though, is the way it drives, which in the most part means: beautifully. It's a more modern and capable car than the one it replaces but it's also a proper, hairy-chested Lambo at heart. And in this day and age that's really rather refreshing. Lamborghini Huracán Price £180,720; 0-62mph sub 3.2sec (claimed); Top speed 202mph; Economy 22.6mpg; CO2 290g/km; Kerb weight 1532kg; Engine V10, 5204cc, direct injection, petrol; Installation mid, longitudinal, four-wheel drive; Power 602bhp at 8250rpm; Torque 413 ft at 6500rpm; Power-to-weight 393bhp/tonne; Specific output 116bhp/litre; Compression ratio 12.7:1; Gearbox 7-speed dual-clutch automatic |
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