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Bruce Newton25 Sept 2014
REVIEW

Ferrari 458 Speciale and McLaren 650S Review

With cars like these, it is all about the driving... Purified, unadulterated, unfettered turning, going and stopping distilled to its beautiful, addictive essence

Do you know what driving the Ferrari 458 Speciale and McLaren 650S is like? No, you don’t do you. And up until a couple of weeks ago I couldn’t have told you either.

Well, now I know... It’s a detox. All the impurities built up in your driving psyche are flushed out by the purest of steering, the most responsive of free-spinning engines, the most ferocious of carbon-ceramic brakes and the sheer brilliance of the way they meld together into incredible driving experiences.

To step from (or in the case of the McLaren, sort of drag, haul, crawl yourself out and over) the cockpit after driving either of these cars with anywhere near the level they should be driven is to understand the apps, internet hotspots and autonomous driving the modern car industry occupies itself with are mere distractions.

They’re called Supercars for a reason; exhilarating doesn’t even begin to sum them up.

You drive along a winding, challenging, difficult road you know well, faster than you ever have before, with more confidence than you ever have before, wishing the drive would never end. It’s an experience full of joy, yet is also tinged with a little regret because you know it will end sooner than it ever has before...

Ahead, in the dimming afternoon light, the Ferrari is all darts and dives, piercing corners the way a gannet hits the water in search of prey. But the exit belongs to the McLaren, exploding off corners like a nuclear bomb -- the accelerative force of 678Nm almost as astounding as the ability of 305/30ZR20 Pirelli PZero Corsa rear tyres to hook up and drive forward.

Just for a moment I would have liked to have been standing in the bush by that road, listening as the shrieking 4.5-litre naturally-aspirated Ferrari and growling 3.8-litre twin-turbo McLaren approached... A symphony of 64 valves, 16 pistons, eight cam shafts, two crankshafts, 923kW and 1208Nm... And a combined value before the many, many options or on road costs of almost exactly $1 million.

They would burst around the nearest corner nose to tail; the dramatic lines of the Ferrari accentuated by its boy racer yellow paint and black stripes. Then the white McLaren, more mature in its look, but still with huge ducts in its flanks feeding that thirsty engine cold mountain air.

Milli-seconds later they would be turning out of sight, V8s brapping, dual clutch transmissions downchanging for the next corner, brake lights flashing, the Ferrari’s front right disc squealing as it had all day, the McLaren raising its active rear spoiler cum airbrake and spitting a little flame on the over-run.

And they'd gone, only the lingering sense of disturbed air and the receding engine notes giving any hint they were ever there. Did I just see and hear that? Incredible, just incredible.

Don't call it a comparison

Strictly speaking, in the rarefied world of Supercars, the Speciale and the 650S aren’t rivals. And this is definitely not a comparison test.

Consider it more a taste test of rival marques. Ferrari has been Supercar royalty for decades, British upstart (of Kiwi parentage) McLaren is determined to take the companies' Formula One rivalry to the road and the 650S represents the most recent step in that emerging battle.

The Ferrari is the track-oriented descendant of the 458 Italia, taking a brilliant package and making it lighter, stronger, faster and harder. The 650S is more all-rounder. It is a significant update of the MP4-12C, with more power and sharper reflexes, but without the Speciale’s brutal track-day focus.

The Ferrari is constructed around an aluminium monocoque, the McLaren’s is carbon-fibre. Both nestle their V8 engines behind two-seat cockpits and drive the rear wheels. They weigh under 1350kg, are a little over 4.5m long and have wheelbases separated by just 20mm. Suspensions and aerodynamics are active and the level of electronic assistance can vary from full nanny to fully off.

Our single day of driving started pre-dawn in the subterranean carpark at carsales.com.au HQ. The Ferrari looked out of place here, away from the sunshine, without a supermodel lounging in the passenger seat…

The 650S isn’t as dramatic, until you open the dihedral doors and they rise rather than swing. And what’s the story with that nose? While officially inspired by the new P1 McLaren, it reminded us of Ford Performance Vehicles’ raccoon eyes. Could there be a fan of Aussie muscle cars at Woking?  

Our course took us down the Geelong Freeway to the Australian Automotive Research Centre for a chance to explore performance in a controlled environment, then photography along the iconic Great Ocean Road, a drive up through the hills back to Geelong, the freeway and then finishing back at the Carsales office.

Eight-cylinder express

I am in the Ferrari first up. Easy to get into, a massive windscreen that dumps you straight on to the road, over a huge tacho and a squared off steering wheel festooned with switches. There’s a plethora of buttons and strange controls festooned around the dashboard so I can’t figure out how to connect the phone, turn up the volume or even retrieve the digital speedo when I accidentally change screens.

The interior is carbon-fibre and aluminium. No carpet, no fake wood. Not much in the way of luxury items either… but then the Speciale is 90kg lighter than the Italia.

And by God it’s noisy in here. There can be no insulating material at all. Which make sense, it’s a track car. But select the ‘bumpy road’ setting for the dampers and the ride is liveable, while in the most relaxed setting of the wheel-mounted drive mode selector (what Ferrari calls the Manettino) the driveline doesn’t shunt or stutter.

Into the McLaren and it is simply better all-round at this commuting stuff. Apart from the challenge of getting in and out and then getting comfortable in the optional ($11,900!) carbon-fibre racing seats, the interior is more luxurious (there’s even a sat-nav), the noise insulation far better and the ride and behaviour of the transmission in Normal mode astonishingly smooth.

By now we’ve had a couple of squirts out of a couple of roundabouts to get a hint of the acceleration of these two cars, but nothing prepares us for the experience of going all-out for times at Anglesea.

How fast?!

The Ferrari first. Launch control is easily engaged and the Speciale hooks up cleanly and rockets away from the line, engine wailing towards its 9000rpm redline, slicing through 100km/h in just 3.6sec, 200km/h comes up in 10.7sec and 400m in 11.4sec at 206.6km/h. Not quite as fast as Ferrari's claim, but still bloody fast!

But the McLaren is the main event. It mulls over the instruction for a milli-second after launch control is engaged and the brake released, but then it is all business.

As revs climb toward the 8500rpm redline the engine note becomes deeper, louder and more malevolent. It feels humungously fast and the numbers back that up: 0-100km/h in 3.2sec, 0-200 in 9.0sec and 0-400m in 10.7sec at 217.5km/h. The claim is 10.5sec and in optimal conditions there’s no doubt it would get there. Damn that’s impressive!

And so is the Ferrari when the traffic magically clears and I get a clean run on the GOR pretty much all the way from Lorne to Shrapnel Gully.

The steering is super, super quick and responsive. As in I-think-I’ll-turn-in-now-oh-I-already-have-and-I-am-on-the-gas-again-and-here-comes-the-next-corner-and-I-think-I’ll-turn-in-now-oh-I-already-have… And repeat. And repeat. And repeat...

The Speciale is at its best when it is being hammered. It demands you commit, get focussed and get into it. It’s one of those cars that consumes you. You can feel every road imperfection through the steering, every twitch of the rear-end as the throttle goes down, every movement of the body, which insists on staying so flat it’s a pancake.

It’s consummate, constant communication of the purest kind. And you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Except maybe the McLaren, which surrenders just a little steering immediacy, just a little suspension harshness and just a little body control, but delivers an incredible level of all-round traction and capability topped off by that booming throttle response...

There is immense front and rear-end grip, absolute surety of intent and absolutely no sense of being intimidated by the Ferrari.

In fact, corner-to-corner the 650S’s fantastic punch and grip make it the easier car to drive fast. It is a joy to rush toward a corner, clamp on the Superman-powerful yet feelsome brakes, flip the paddle for a lower gear, turn in with surety, then work into the throttle hard and early as the exit and your brain allow. Magic.

Departing is such sweet sorrow...

We finish with an evening run through downtown Melbourne, engine notes bouncing off concrete and glass, heads turning and cameras flashing as they have all day.

These cars are the rock stars of the automotive world… And we as their drivers bask in reflected glory.

But it’s not about the posing… I mean it. With these cars it is all about the driving. Purified, unadulterated, unfettered. Turning, going and stopping distilled to its beautiful, addictive essence.

Now I know what these cars are like to drive and I’m so glad I do. I hope someday you get the chance to find out too.

Second thoughts

Two supercars. Super expensive, super fast and, well, just super….

And for me the essential difference between these two can be illustrated with a single exemplar — the gear change. In both cases via paddles. In both cases faster than any human could ever hope to match.

But if when clicking through the gears the McLaren’s paddles feel like precise electronic micro switches, the Ferrari’s emulate the mechanical, purposeful accuracy of a top-end firearm.

The results of correct operation are almost exactly the same. Bang! In goes another gear with an explosion of power…

The 650 S, clinical like the business that builds it, seeks to be surgical and of the digital world. The Ferrari, in reality just as high-tech, is significantly more visceral — bordering on organic. As if it’s the deliberately analog counterpoint.

Neither car is practical, but the 458 Speciale is eminently easier to get in and out of… In contrast to the GT racer driving position of the 650 S, the driving position feels almost ordinary. This immediately puts the driver at relative ease. You feel like you can get more out of the Ferrari more often.

There is, however, absolutely nothing run of the mill about the soundtrack and performance of the Ferrari. It’s eye-wateringly rapid even in the potholed real world and the noises the engine makes are soulful, intoxicating and addictive. There now I’ve done it — descended into hyperbole.

In plain English both offer stunning levels of performance — across the spectrum not just straight-line speed. Turn-in is fast, accurate and linear, lateral and power-down grip levels are mega but so too is the amount of feedback to the driver… Both through bum and thumbs.

Picking a favourite is no easy task.

The McLaren’s turbo V8 is the performance standout, but there were a couple of little niggles that grated — not least of all a driver's door that developed a noisy sealing issue within half a day of picking up the car. It didn’t affect performance in any way, but this is a circa $500K car. I can only think McLaren boss Ron Dennis would not be amused.

In contrast to ‘temperamental’ Latin clichés, the 458 was in every way glitch free.

Indeed, the only ‘drama’ manifested by the Speciale was the road-going theatre you expect from a Prancing Horse every time it's spurred into action. And that my friends makes it so hard to walk away from…

- by Mike Sinclair

2014 Ferrari 458 Speciale pricing and specification:
Price: $550,000 (MRLP) / $633,447 (as tested, plus ORCs)
Engine: 4.5-litre V8 petrol
Output: 445kW/540Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual clutch transmission
Fuel: 11.8L/100km (ECE Combined)
CO2: 275g/km (ECE Combined)
Safety Rating: N/A

Performance figures (as tested):
0-60km/h: 2.0sec
0-100km/h: 3.6sec
0-160km/h: 7.1sec
0-200km/h: 10.7sec
50-70km/h: 0.7sec
80-100km/h: 0.8sec
0-100m: 5.1sec@129.5km/h
0-200m: 7.6sec@165.2km/h
0-400m: 11.4sec@206.6km/h
Fuel economy: 21.75L/100km

What we liked:
>> Magic engine
>> brilliant chassis
>> Inspiring looks

Not so much:
>> Very noisy
>> Harsh ride
>> Can’t afford one

2014 McLaren 650S pricing and specification:
Price: $441,500 (MRLP) / $512,290 (as tested, plus ORCs)
Engine: 3.8-litre V8 twin-turbo petrol
Output: 478kW/678Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual clutch transmission
Fuel: 11.7L/100km (ECE Combined)
CO2: 275g/km (ECE Combined)
Safety Rating: N/A

Performance figures (as tested):
0-60km/h: 1.9sec
0-100km/h: 3.2sec
0-160km/h: 6.1sec
0-200km/h: 9.0sec
50-70km/h: 0.6sec
80-100km/h: 0.7sec
0-100m: 4.8sec@138.4km/h
0-200m: 7.1sec@176.1km/h
0-400m: 10.7sec@217.5km/h
Fuel economy: 18.9L/100km

What we liked:
>> Magic engine
>> Brilliant chassis
>> Refined enough to drive everyday

Not so much:
>> FPV Raccoon face
>> Quality niggles
>> Can’t afford one

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