I finally booked and went to the drive day my wife gave me for my birthday last year. It was with Aus Sports Cars and unfortunately 2 people pulled out at the last minute so we only had 4 cars to field up to Red Hill (Arthur's Seat) and back.
A mini review on the four below.

BMW M3 e92 6 speed manual

The V8 sounds and feels like a proper beast. It's no doubt the centrepoint of the car. Pushing the M button sharpens up throttle response and even with EDC off the car is easily manageable when pushed. Great tourer as well and much better to drive than the C63 AMG I drove a while back. Although it didn't have the same explosive acceleration as the Merc, you felt more involved in the M3. The biggest gripe, and this is a biggie, were the controls. The steering wheel was way too thick, like I was holding someone's wrist. The gearbox although fairly accurate was notchy and the cluth had absolutely no feel or progression. Too much resistance the first inch of travel and then it just sinks to the floor with hardly any resistance at all. Great car with a superb chassis and engine but ultimately let down with the interface. iDrive wasn't as hard to use as everyone made it out to be though. And damn that ridiculously thick M steering wheel. I don't have small hands either. When my wife handled it her hands made the same pose as if she was going to strangle someone's neck.

Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale

This was a road registered race car and feels every inch of it. This was the only car that the organiser had to be in while we were driving (the others it was just me with my wife) because he had to keep a watchful eye we didn't stuff the clutch or engine up. There is no rev limiter and I found that out when I revved her out to 8000rpm and had him chastise me for doing so. The sound just drowns everything else out on the road. It was a flappy paddle and shifts are violent. The clutch is constantly engaged so coming to a stop you had to pull both levers to go into neutral. Suspension was hard and unforgiving. The car would bottom out when we ran over some bumpier B roads. Giving it some squirt and the front end would go all light and floaty. It was quite intimidating actually and never had the balls to push it hard around corners although revving that engine out was an experience. I was glad to step out afterwards still in one piece. On a racetrack that thing would have been awesome but on our country roads it's too twitchy, too hard and too raw. Unbelievably, this wasn't the fastest car on the day.

Maserati Gran Turismo

Absolutely beautiful car to look at. Flappy paddle box was irritatingly slow but the levers were beautifully made with chrome and leather. A grand tourer is every sense and wife fell asleep while I was driving it. Heavy and lacked ultimate feel around corners and slowest of the group. Made a nice sound but muffled in the cabin. Not much excitement here. But boy is she a looker.

Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet 997 6 speed manual

Oh. My. God. Third gear, punch throttle, turbos spool up, hang on for the biggest grin in your life. Even my wife chuckled. This thing was so easy to drive quickly it put the others to shame. The 911 had no trouble keeping up with the 360 and scoffed at potmarked roads whereas it would leave the 360 hopping around trying to gain traction. This car had more grip than you could ever use on the road. The engine had a little lag until 2500rpm but then all hell would break loose. This was effortless butal power and the steering was godly. Clutch was great although a little light but it was easy to use with good progression. Gearbox was excellent and on par with the S2000. The seats were the most coomfortable I have ever sat in. They didn't look crash hot compared with the wings and sportier designs of some other cars I sat in but strangely they hold you in so well with so much of your back supported and it was ergonomically perfect. If I could only drive one car for the rest of my life, I would be happy with this one.

Honda S2000

Well it was inevitable I had to return home in my little Japanese roadster. Compared with the exotics, the seating position and controls were right up there and even better than all except the 911. Clutch feels great and engagement point was much lower with less travel than the 911 or M3. Gearshift action is still the best and miles better than the M3 and a smidge better than the 911. So in terms of feel and driving controls the S2000 is right up there. Some say the steering lacks feel but I don't notice it (maybe I'm used to it). However getting onto the freeway on ramp and I floor it to 9000rpm and I wonder if my car's broken. Why aren't we going anywhere? Hell of a noise though. But after coming back from a car that does 0-100kph in 3.7sec and 100-200kph in "damn I couldn't press the stopwatch in time" you can't help but feel a little jaded. So I took the Jazz for spin and everything was recalibrated in my world again.

 

this ranks up there with ultimate bday gifts !

getting to drive all those exotics ...im turing bright green with ENVY !!!

great reviews , you've put me off buying a E92 M3

 

Yeah it was pretty spesh. I also got another fab present this year. I'm going to see Top Gear Live in Sydney in early Feb. 3rd row from the front so I get to smell Clarkson's breath.

 

mate , that romantic proposal is paying dividends now

theres a company in Syd offering drive days down south in Ferrari's ...

already sent the link to the Mrs to give her a hint for what i want for my bday next year .


Syd in Feb ... Cool .... hope to catch up with you then .

 

Gold! Reminds me of getting back into any car after go-karting. Takes a long time for it to feel normal again.

 

Nice review blackie