My Dream Driving Day

[M3Bliss]

Spent the day Tuesday enjoying my birthday present, an afternoon on the Gotham Dream Car Tour. Took an exciting 5 hour adventure through the lush green mountains of Eastern New York driving 6 heart stopping super cars.

Here are my rankings of the cars from best to worst:

1. Ferrari 599 GTB ) Highs: Tactile feel of the finest Rolex movement; Cheek folding acceleration; Kobe leather seats Lows: B list bodywork; The continent of Australia over the front wheels; Monday morning build quality The Skinny: An automotive masterpiece that is the daily driver of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

2. Lamborghini LP640 Roadster) Highs: Divine engine note; Baryshnikov balance; Rocket Sled acceleration Lows: Ground clearance of a snail; Coma inducing shift lag; Rear vision? What rear vision? The Skinny: Like going for a ride with Courtney Love. On crack.

3. Benz SLR McLaren) Highs: Locomotive thrust; Seats befit for Tutankhamun; Megan Fox body Lows: Sam’s Club paddle shifters; Snooze inducing auto shifts; Feather light rear end The Skinny: So fast I would buy it and my coffin at the same time.

4. Bentley Continental GTC) Highs: Exquisite interior; Faster to the newsstand than Quicksilver; Quick, responsive transmission Lows: Black hole mass; Sluggish dance shoes; Munchkin sized rear seat The Skinny: A chariot with more class than Sinatra.

5. Aston Martin DB9) Highs: Angelic body; Buttery ride; Responsive engine Lows: Ponderous handling; More moans than a geriatric ward; Less exciting than an M3 at more than twice the price The Skinny: A nice car for Moneypenny to hop in to pick up James’ suits at the cleaners.

6. Lamborghini Murcielago) Highs: Whoop-de-doo acceleration; Makes you the instant center of attention; Super glued to the highway Lows: Eardrum shattering engine note; Bone shattering suspension; More shift lag than in a union shop The Skinny: After an hour behind the wheel I could not hear myself think, in fact I could not hear anything.

I would highly recommend this trek to anyone who loves cars, especially embarrassingly expensive ones. The crew at Gotham does an outstanding job of making sure everyone has fun, safe day.
I will say this with complete honesty; the M3 does not embarrass itself in comparison with any of these cars. It is not as fast or as extroverted (everywhere we went people were snapping pictures and becoming our best friends) but it does deliver a high level of driving satisfaction and in fact I would choose it over the DB9. Thanks to my lovely fiancée who delivered the most exciting birthday present I have ever received. I’ll post some pix as soon as I can get them downloaded.

[kc1337]

Surprised the Lamborghini has such terrible shift lag.

[ilidon]

nice review!

[John Tanglewood]

Dammnit!! Post Picss

[quickbimmer90]

pics!!!!

[M3Fool]

Great post........ very creative, detailed explanation........ do you work for the Daily Planet?

[Small Yellow]

SO COOL!!!! I have to do this...

[M3Bliss]

Here are some pictures of the tour. Enjoy.

[M3Bliss]

Originally Posted by kc1337

Surprised the Lamborghini has such terrible shift lag.

This was the biggest and most unexpected suprise for me. In the Murcielago you could expect a delay of at least a second before it would upshift. At first I thought I was doing something wrong but the tour guys said that was the way it shifted. The 640, which had more modern technology, was faster but by no means swift or crisp. The F1 in the 599 was pretty fast and much smoother but the auto mode in the SLR was really pokey and I just put it in manual and left it there. Truth is the MDCT was a hell of a lot faster shifting than any of these prima donnas. To be fair, I know the F1 is a single clutch and i believe the e-gear in the two Lambo's are the same.
Still they were a blast to drive and inhaled asphalt ribbons at an insane pace.

[Scoobe]

Originally Posted by M3Bliss

This was the biggest and most unexpected suprise for me. In the Murcielago you could expect a delay of at least a second before it would upshift. At first I thought I was doing something wrong but the tour guys said that was the way it shifted. The 640, which had more modern technology, was faster but by no means swift or crisp. The F1 in the 599 was pretty fast and much smoother but the auto mode in the SLR was really pokey and I just put it in manual and left it there. Truth is the MDCT was a hell of a lot faster shifting than any of these prima donnas. To be fair, I know the F1 is a single clutch and i believe the e-gear in the two Lambo's are the same.
Still they were a blast to drive and inhaled asphalt ribbons at an insane pace.

Have to agree with you on the MDCT. I've driven Porsche's, Corvettes, CTS-V, Audis, and they all have good auto transmissions, but the MDCT is near perfection when I drove it (2010 model, my 2011 should be here next week while im out of town no doubt). When I walked away from my test drive, I called my old man (whos 70, im 37) and told him that this was the finest transmission I had ever driven. The Audi S4 duel clutch is not too far off, but the MDCT blew me away. Can't wait till mine comes in and I can play with it more. These other bozo's with 4 times the price should take a close look at the MDCT, based on your experience it makes them look like chumps.

[devo]

Originally Posted by Scoobe

Have to agree with you on the MDCT. I've driven Porsche's, Corvettes, CTS-V, Audis, and they all have good auto transmissions, but the MDCT is near perfection when I drove it (2010 model, my 2011 should be here next week while im out of town no doubt). When I walked away from my test drive, I called my old man (whos 70, im 37) and told him that this was the finest transmission I had ever driven. The Audi S4 duel clutch is not too far off, but the MDCT blew me away. Can't wait till mine comes in and I can play with it more. These other bozo's with 4 times the price should take a close look at the MDCT, based on your experience it makes them look like chumps.

Thanks to the OP for an excellent and interesting review. What rides!

I have to disagree with the above post, however. Porsche's PDK has the edge over BMW's DCT in both manual and automated mode. Both are great dual clutch transmissions though.

[H Bomb]

awesome B day present for sure

do you have any links or an idea of how much this tour costs?? thanks for the pics and review

[M3Bliss]

http://www.gothamdreamcars.com/dream-car-tour.htm

Here is the link which also contains pricing and some great pictures. It was a fun day which was well worth the cost. I would highly recommend it.

[SlammedR8]

thats great.

can you tell me how much you paid? because the site shows individual rental rates for each car. no package

[Scoobe]

Originally Posted by devo

Thanks to the OP for an excellent and interesting review. What rides!

I have to disagree with the above post, however. Porsche's PDK has the edge over BMW's DCT in both manual and automated mode. Both are great dual clutch transmissions though.

Yeah you might be right. I might be skewing my opinion a bit because of the M3's V8 mated to it. Such a great combo.

[M3Bliss]

Originally Posted by slammedm3

thats great.

can you tell me how much you paid? because the site shows individual rental rates for each car. no package

Just click on the "schedule" link. It is 895 for a single driver and 595 each for two drivers to split time. They first provide a meal and then do a briefing on each car and the logistics of the day. We had a blast: the cab ride from Manhattan was also interesting. Check it out you won't be sorry. We combined this with a vacation in the City and that made it all the more fun.

[SlammedR8]

Originally Posted by M3Bliss

Just click on the "schedule" link. It is 895 for a single driver and 595 each for two drivers to split time. They first provide a meal and then do a briefing on each car and the logistics of the day. We had a blast: the cab ride from Manhattan was also interesting. Check it out you won't be sorry. We combined this with a vacation in the City and that made it all the more fun.

oh!
Can you bring your gf/wife along with you? or do they have to pay to be a passenger even?

[M3Bliss]

Originally Posted by slammedm3

oh!
Can you bring your gf/wife along with you? or do they have to pay to be a passenger even?

No, your passenger is free and can be whom ever you choose; they just can't drive the car. The only exception on our drive was the Ferrari. They had only had it for 2 weeks and one of the staff drove as the passenger just to make sure no one went medieval on it. That covers my daily Pulp Fiction reference.

[M3Fool]

Originally Posted by shift@red

Very cool stuff...599 is the only front engine ferrary ive ever actually liked. The LP640 is a phenomenal car too. Great reviews...i like your analogies of the cars...very clever!

I have to disagree with you though...Porsche's PDK is simply the best dual clutch out there, and def better than DCT.
And Im not sure youre aware, but if it wasnt for Porsche, there would be no such thing as dual clutch as they invented the technology back in the 80's. Plus, when you pair the PDK with the Porsche engines its that much better. And they havnt even put PDK in a GT2 o GT3 yet!

At the end of the day... YOU feel the Porsche is better and that is ok. There are other Porsche owners on here as well that claim quite the opposite. It is all about how each person feels.

MDCT mated with the most sophisticated V8 on the planet, pure SEX my friend..... PURE SEX!!!!

[graider]

actually i remember reading a review somewhere that the mdct is better than the pdk if you are going to shift it manually. more customization to your taste as well. but in auto mode on the track, the pdk is the best cause it always know what gear to be in when you approach the corner.

so it really depend on what you are you going to use it for. if you like to drive in auto mode most of the time, pdk is the right choice. otherwise, mdct.

Originally Posted by shift@red

Very cool stuff...599 is the only front engine ferrary ive ever actually liked. The LP640 is a phenomenal car too. Great reviews...i like your analogies of the cars...very clever!

I have to disagree with you though...Porsche's PDK is simply the best dual clutch out there, and def better than DCT.
And Im not sure youre aware, but if it wasnt for Porsche, there would be no such thing as dual clutch as they invented the technology back in the 80's. Plus, when you pair the PDK with the Porsche engines its that much better. And they havnt even put PDK in a GT2 o GT3 yet!