Drive Report: Testdriven the F430
I had the chance to test-drive the F430.
Overall impression: I'm overwhelmed... car drives like a cart, comfortable like a GT and has the sound of the hell.
Optic: the car I had was blue metallic. In the showroom they had a rosso corsa one, too. I definatley would prefer the red one. The blue one looks boring.. that's my opinion, I know... everyone feels different. I think the car looks much much much more better in reality than on the pictures. It really seems very aggressive, flat and fast... very nice! Interior makes a valuable feeling, everything is either leathered, carbon or with a high-value carpet - GREAT! I think, much better than the first Modenas, as they had still plastic A-Column... so this looks great now. The seats (standard) are great from the beginning. Don't need to be order Daytona (which the testcar had - I personally wouldn't take it, think the standard ones are looking more modern, while having the same shape). Only thing which could be better - seat adjustment on the backend is to high positioned!
Power: Incredibly power. Even on low turns car is blowing like hell. There is no turn, where the car has a lack. Great feeling - it's a aspirated engine, so there is no typical Turbo-Feeling... but its great as the car has more power than imaginable. I also had testdriven the Gallardo, but compared to the Lambo, the feeling in the F430 is much higher. The Gallardo was even a little boring for me, didn't feel much better than my sportkit-996 (subjective feeling). Had a maximum speed of 310 with the F430.. which is easy to get. Between 250 and 290 the car still delivers power spontaneously - very impressing. Its almost analog - throttle and speed!
Chassis / suspension: much harder than my 996 (M30), but still comfortable on the highway. Wouldn't be a big issue to take the car for a long trip, car makes a daily driver impression on me. Chassis/suspension feels like on a cart. Easy to drift with the back, easy handling. Low turn-point, easy to react and to get it back on the street (ESP helps!!). Didn't switch to race as it was a little slippy and I was to much frightened about crashing the car, so I tried to behave and drove slowly enough.
Shifting (F1): Best F1 shifting ever driven! Impressingly soft and fast. I know the F1 from the Modena, Gallardo as well of the M3. Even on full throttle, shifting is smoothly. If taking away some power you even don't feel anything between the shifts. VERY VERY... GREAT! In the city speeds, it is soft like a Mercedes Automatic. Great shifting! The different gears are close together, except of the 6th one, this one is compared to the 5th very long. for me, it could be closer together. The whole handling; back-gear, shifting down on corners or stop-yields... everything works great and couldn't be better! Excellent!
Best of the car: Definatley the sound! Much more deeper than the Modena. For me the perfect sound. Almost like a F1 car.
Buy or don't buy: still not clear for me. Car is perfect and I think the 150k Euro worth. I'm still battling with the feeling of my clients and my neighbors. Will think about over Christmas, than I make my decision!
Overall impression: I'm overwhelmed... car drives like a cart, comfortable like a GT and has the sound of the hell.
Optic: the car I had was blue metallic. In the showroom they had a rosso corsa one, too. I definatley would prefer the red one. The blue one looks boring.. that's my opinion, I know... everyone feels different. I think the car looks much much much more better in reality than on the pictures. It really seems very aggressive, flat and fast... very nice! Interior makes a valuable feeling, everything is either leathered, carbon or with a high-value carpet - GREAT! I think, much better than the first Modenas, as they had still plastic A-Column... so this looks great now. The seats (standard) are great from the beginning. Don't need to be order Daytona (which the testcar had - I personally wouldn't take it, think the standard ones are looking more modern, while having the same shape). Only thing which could be better - seat adjustment on the backend is to high positioned!
Power: Incredibly power. Even on low turns car is blowing like hell. There is no turn, where the car has a lack. Great feeling - it's a aspirated engine, so there is no typical Turbo-Feeling... but its great as the car has more power than imaginable. I also had testdriven the Gallardo, but compared to the Lambo, the feeling in the F430 is much higher. The Gallardo was even a little boring for me, didn't feel much better than my sportkit-996 (subjective feeling). Had a maximum speed of 310 with the F430.. which is easy to get. Between 250 and 290 the car still delivers power spontaneously - very impressing. Its almost analog - throttle and speed!
Chassis / suspension: much harder than my 996 (M30), but still comfortable on the highway. Wouldn't be a big issue to take the car for a long trip, car makes a daily driver impression on me. Chassis/suspension feels like on a cart. Easy to drift with the back, easy handling. Low turn-point, easy to react and to get it back on the street (ESP helps!!). Didn't switch to race as it was a little slippy and I was to much frightened about crashing the car, so I tried to behave and drove slowly enough.
Shifting (F1): Best F1 shifting ever driven! Impressingly soft and fast. I know the F1 from the Modena, Gallardo as well of the M3. Even on full throttle, shifting is smoothly. If taking away some power you even don't feel anything between the shifts. VERY VERY... GREAT! In the city speeds, it is soft like a Mercedes Automatic. Great shifting! The different gears are close together, except of the 6th one, this one is compared to the 5th very long. for me, it could be closer together. The whole handling; back-gear, shifting down on corners or stop-yields... everything works great and couldn't be better! Excellent!
Best of the car: Definatley the sound! Much more deeper than the Modena. For me the perfect sound. Almost like a F1 car.
Buy or don't buy: still not clear for me. Car is perfect and I think the 150k Euro worth. I'm still battling with the feeling of my clients and my neighbors. Will think about over Christmas, than I make my decision!
(love those Xmas smileys)
