I got this for xmas. Ferrari vs Lambo experience plus a hot passenger lap.

The everyman setup is a disused airfield in Leicester, i've been there before for a Rally experience. It has scant facilities but certainly last time had fun instructors and decent cars.

Anyway i fancied driving the 458 they had and they also had a car i'd long lusted after in the Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni, basically a stripped out, rwd version of the LP550. So 2 dream cars for me which was a result.

First up the 458. In the flesh its difficult to describe the car, beautiful is the wrong word. Elegant is also off the mark, it has presence, like a fast big cat, a leopard or cheetah. You know its quick and aggressive but its also quite stunning. As in very stunning. In a pit full of exotic metal this thing stood out head and shoulders. Then you drive it. Then you drive something else and you realise its a game changer. Not only does it do everything well it does most things almost perfectly. The gearbox is light years ahead of the Balboni. Truly awesome.

This car is an amazing peice of tech. It is quite plain inside, lots of cf bits and the famed mannetino stuff on the wheel. Very elegant flappy paddles. But its more than all that.

The Balboni sounds lovely, looks nice but my god it feels like a tractor next to the Fezza.

Finally i forked out for a couple of laps in an Atom. Unfortunately it was a tired example with a knacked gear linkage. No servo on the brakes, dodgy geo and not a lot of guts meant it really disappointed me, it really tramlined throu the surface and did not inspire any confidence.

The Gallardo just didnt impress. The gearbox felt older than it was, every change dropped the revs like a slow manual change would. The 458 you kept it pinned and it barely dropped revs, it was truly awesome.

What i did learn was a lambo is not for me from that last gen. All looks and no driver appeal for me.

The 458 at £1/4 mill is out of my league

Its given me the track bug back so i'll be kitting the M3 out and taking it down to Donington this summer. Awesome day.

Did i mention i liked the 458?

 

Arrhhh. You have just crushed my dream car, the balboni.

I thought it would have been brilliant.

I like the 458 just from looks and what I've read but the balboni is the car that always got me excited. Sounds like its not all cracked up to be

 

That is because Ferrari operate it outside of it's limits. Merc SLS uses the same box and the Ferrari suffers failures...apparently.

 

I think ZZ if you get the manual (egear is an option) you would like it.

I'm falling for DCT though bigtime

 

Ahh, they didn't have the manual version, I thought they were all manual. That is part of the reason why I liked the Balboni, and the fact it was RWD. I'll start dreaming again then.

 

I'm driving an Atom at rockingham next month - fingers crossed it's a better example than yours was, it's a car I've dreamed of driving for years and plan for it to be a weekend car in a few years time..!

 

yeah, the Atom is a bit pricey as a toy for me and too compromised for anything else. I think one day i'll get an Exige for that but i still wanted a go and it left me underwhelmed.

the Balboni sounded truly awesome..