Quote last section :

Conclusion : the F430 was definitely the car to be in if you wanted the ultimate wild ride sensation, but it was too flawed in too many areas to live with the others overall - both of which felt more sorted and were plain faster across the ground. Final answer regarding the F430 in this context reads as follows: Great car, great cabin, but the game has moved on since this car rewrote the rulebook just two years ago.

So in the end it was between the Gallardo and the 911. Clinical, efficient ground coverer versus highly strung but also the surprisingly well resolved V10 supercar. Germany vs Italy - for the second time of asking this summer.

I drove the 911 again and after the Ferrari, was amazed to discover just how much body movement there is when you drive this car quickly. It's not unchecked movement; in fact, it's always perfectly controlled, and the harder I drove it the more impressive the 911 Turbo became. The way it would just stick under the brakes and out of the corners was genuinely eye-opening, and the sheer speed it could generate down any straight was enough to pull several yard out of the Ferrari in an instant, seemingly with no more than the twitch of your right foot.

But besides the more sorted Lamborghini the 911 felt (whisper this) antiquated in its demeanour. The Gallardo would carve its way into and through corners with absolute stability and virtually no body roll whatsoever. It also had fantastic body control and amazingly much more adjustability available via the throttle if either end started to run wide. The 911, by comparison, rolled more, suffered from more pitch and dive under acceleration and brakes, sounded utterly unmemorable and felt neither as well balanced not as fluid as the Lambo in the quicker corners.

And here's the real killer,. When a littler later we accelerated them side by side from a rolling start at 25mph on an empty carriageway up to a speed we won't be publishing here, the Lambo stayed with the Turbo every inch of the way. Take the benefits of the 911 scorching 0-30mph ability out of the equation, in other words, and they're all but identically matched on acceleration. And the fact that when I drove it back down the M4 at the end of the day the Lambo generated less tyre roar than the 911 and felt, by and large, more civilised over the exact same road, well, it just about sealed it for the Gallardo in the end.

Porsche has produced a quite astonishing piece of engineering in the form of the new 911 Turbo, no question; it's the best of it''s kind so far by the margin. But the Gallardo, revised for 2006, is something else again. Bugatti Veyron aside, it's almost certainly the best supercar in the world right now.

Steve Sutcliffe
"Unquote"
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Wow, I wasn't expecting that.

 

How did I guess the winner of this comparison without even reading it.....hmmmmm poster maybe???

 

The new Gallardo is very impressive. You can't deny that one bit.

If it had a moddability factor comparable to the Porsche TT's, I would definitely consider purchasing one.

 

I like the Gallardo a lot, but the fit and finish of the 997TT is better and the 997TT interior is better. Would I want to drive the Gallardo for 4 hours straight? Hell no, but I did not have a problem doing that in the TT. The Gallardo is a nice car, but the 997TT is a better value at 2/3 of the price. The Gallardo is not $75,000.00 better than the 997TT.

 

but the gallardo costs 40 -60k more than the turbo..

 

Interesting perspective! The fact that the Lambo with an extra ~40 hp (as rated) over the Turbo and less weight to boot is merely identical in acceleration to the latter is a testament to the Porsche's powertrain and its amazing ability to transfer power to the pavement with minimum fuss.

Strange that the writer summarily dismissed the F430 as being outclassed even as other rags continue to pick it as IT car! Hmmm...

 

Truly, the only Ferrari I'd like to OWN is a 575M. Titanium Grey w/blood red interior, please.

 

Inmo, for the Gallardo to be able to run with the 997TT stock for stock is amazing. The 997TT is a VERY fast car. I liked the article because it finally shows what ive said for a long time in other magazine tests, that these writers dont know how to launch the Gallardo, or choose not to, and never show the true potential of the car. Since most of us never launch our cars from a dead stop, Im only concerned with how it fairs from a roll on race.

As for the modability of the Porsche, that cant be denied. Im working on somethings now with my G, and with a few bolt ons, can only HOPE to achieve my goal of making the G produce as much power as my Murci did bone stock which was 433awd hp.

Also, no doubt that the Porsche is a better daily driver than the Gallardo, not so much due to reliability, fit and finish or comfort, but due to the constant passerbys wanting to talk and ask questions. But then again, inmo, you dont buy any of these cars for daily drivers. Thats what Benzes and Bentleys are for.

 

That's an impressive report on the G and surprisingly down on the F430. I guess they are all pretty good anyhow.

Any scans Allan?

 

It just goes to show that on closely matched supercars that on any given day, any given writer will favor one over the other. That makes the armchair racers happy with one mag, and pissed with another.

 

F*@K!!
Should have bought another G!!