None of the (bi)turbo charged cars I drove so far come even close to the throttle response of the Performante. This is one of the reasons why I got this car. So far, the Ferrari 488 seems to have the best throttle response and best sound for a turbo charged car, at least compared to any McLaren model I have driven (I haven't driven the Senna or the 600LT...only in it).

Don't get me wrong: I think the 720S is an excellent offer from McLaren but I just cannot enjoy turbo charged cars anymore. Even my E63 S, which has a pretty good throttle response in Sport+ and Race mode, annoys me. Once you are spoiled by a n/a sport engine, it is difficult to go back. 

I still have hopes for the new hybrids showing up: A guy I know from Porsche told me that with the hybrid, the Turbo S (not sure if he means the one coming soon or the facelift) will have an amazing throttle response for a biturbo charged car, no lag at all (not that I haven't this before). I am pretty sure that with advancing technology and software programming, turbo lags will be a thing of the past at some point.

Sound? Well, different story and yes, we have restrictive laws in Germany and it is getting worse and worse.

You want to know how absurd this is? Example: My Performante has 94 dB in the car document. So far, so good. We all know that this is bullshit and the car produces more than 120 dB in reality. Now almost two weeks ago, I was together with a few buddies on a short trip to Garmisch, near Austria. Police had set up a checkpoint where they controlled motorcycles.

Unfortunately for us, one of my buddies had to fully accelerate in front of the police officers and...of course...they stopped us all (four cars). One of the cars was a C63 S (pre-facelift) with an aftermarket exhaust. This exhaust is legal, the owner had all documentation with him. Maximum noise: 92 dB. Measured noise (police): 99 dB. Tolerance error is 5 dB, meaning his car had 93 dB, one(!) dB too loud.

Consequence: No fine but my friend has to "fix" it and present the fixed car for a new measurement. We all had no clue how he can fix it because the exhaust was original, nothing modified and everything was OK. The police officer didn't care. He suspected maybe wear (exhaust was already over 15000 km "old") but how can you fix such a thing? 

Then, they measured my car. 94 dB in the papers, measurement in Strada mode (standard mode, they are not supposed to change any OEM driving programs). Result: 101 dB. This means 2 dB too loud. Consequence: None. They checked my car for any mods, couldn't find any. One of the police officers said that they know the Performante (he knew the precise car model, not just Huracan!) is much louder in the sportier driving programs but I am actually not permitted to be louder than what is in the papers. Funny laws. Now my friend made a complaint (stupid): "Why is the Lambo louder and I don't have to do anything and he has to go to "fix" it?" The answer of the police officer caused some big laughs: "The Lamborghini can be louder, your car not".  yes

So in the end, the police officer explained it a little bit better: The Lambo is loud from the factory, meaning that they cannot do anything about it other than to ask me to drive "less loud" and yes, they can fine me for driving too "loud" and it is in their judgement to tell if I was too loud or not. He basically told us that nowadays judges at court almost in 99% of the cases rule against loud acceleration or whatever, so you have ZERO chance to fight this in court. I believed him because I know how sensitive people are now when it comes to noise.
The Mercedes is a different story because it has an aftermarket exhaust. The aftermarket exhaust is not an original part and even if it has a legal certification, it needs to fulfill the values in the document. If it doesn't, they can ask for the removal of that part and there is nothing you can do about it. Funny (or not).

Yes, "great times" for sports car lovers ...not only in Germany. It is my understanding that the same laws and rulings apply in many other countries as well, little by little.

Another friend has been fined 50 EUR a couple of weeks ago. What did he do? He accelerated from a stop light and created too much noise (according to a police officer following him). I'm not kidding. He wasn't driving too fast, he didn't endanger anyone. The police officer just told him that locals are fed up with people making too much noise in he city. That friend drives a Challenger Hellcat with OEM exhaust, so you can imagine it wasn't extremely loud. yes

Sports cars like ours are a dying breed I'm afraid. At some point, there will be EV sports cars and some of their drivers will drive like nut jobs in the cities but nobody will actually notice because these EV sports cars will be super quiet. Wonderful new world. 


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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Lamborghini Huracan Performante (2019), Mercedes E63 S AMG Edition 1 (2018), Mercedes C63 S AMG Cab (2019), Range Rover Evoque Si4 Black Edition (2019)