Why Supercars Aren't So Super

"Blake Noble" (blake-noble)
03/05/2015 at 17:30 • Filed to: Rants, Opinion

Supercars aren’t that all that great. No, I don’t mean to rustle your jimmies. I just don’t think present day Ferraris and Lamborghinis light a fire under the automotive industry’s ass like their predecessors used to. So before you light my ass on fire, hear me out for a moment.

From the time that I was a wee lad until I hit puberty, I was beyond enamoured with supercars. If I had seen a Ferrari in person back then, I would’ve acted like an extremist Christian getting to meet Jesus for Sunday brunch. That’s probably typical of every young automotive enthusiast, though.

Now that I’m well beyond the drinking age, I could care less about them. Hell, I’ll go a step further and say this straight out: Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other supercars keep me flaccid. That’s not to say that there aren’t supercars I like having around — I actually like the new Ford GT — but they’re expendable. If supercars went extinct tomorrow, I’d hardly feel sad, let alone shed a tear.

I know what you’re probably asking yourself and the answer is a big, two-lettered “no.” I don’t harbor apathy for supercars because they are and will remain “unobtainium” to an Average Joe like myself. In fact, I could buy my own if I really wanted to. A quick Auto Trader search reveals that there is a 1982 Ferrari Mondial close by that wouldn’t cost me much more than what I paid for my Dodge Dart. And sure, it is a Ferrari Mondial, which is old and literally the worst thing ever to wear a Ferrari badge. But it’s still red and still a Ferrari, so it’s exactly the same as Doug DeMuro’s 360 Modena that we’re all still sick of hearing about.

I don’t care about supercars because I’ve “just grown up,” either. I still buy gummy worms and candy cigarettes when I visit gas station convenience stores, so that means I’m still 12-years old and not double that. And it’s not because I “don’t like cars.” Far from it. If I didn’t like cars, what business would I have writing about them in the first place?

I could care less about supercars because I think they’re in a period of stasis, and becoming increasingly irrelevant. Allow me to explain.

When I was growing up, supercars were all about making you rethink everything you knew about cars. That was their whole purpose for existing. Supercars had to be daring, shatter beliefs and break boundaries. And when a supercar got replaced, all of carkind took a big step — sometimes a giant leap — forward.

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“Supercars excited me as a kid because I knew even then they represented the future that I would get to drive around in one day.”

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But more importantly, the engineering and technology that went into making one was supposed to eventually improve or “trickle down” to normal production cars. Supercars excited me as a kid because I knew even then they represented the future that I would get to drive around in one day. Even if I didn’t get to own a Ferrari 360, I knew much of what went in to making it would eventually find its way to a normal car I could own as an adult. And when I look at something like the Dodge Challenger Hellcat or the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, I know I was right about that all those years ago.

Supercars today are so damned lazy. Let’s take the new Audi R8, for example. Nothing about it screams, “I am the future, and I am awesome.” Everything about it says, “I’ve shown up, and that’s it.”

The new R8’s exterior looks like every other Audi made during the past several years. The interior features the same infotainment tech as the much cheaper Audi TT. The engine isn’t much of an upgrade from what you got in the old Audi R8. And so what if Audi is finally making an electric version of it? An electric supercar isn’t anything new or groundbreaking, sorry.

The same holds true for the new Ferrari 488 GTB versus the old Ferrari 458 Italia. Sure, the new 488 has a turbo V8 and more power, but it’s only marginally faster than the 458. It doesn’t look any better, nor does it look any worse. It’s banal and mediocre. It’s new without doing anything new.

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“Today’s supercars are all like AC/DC records.”

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The word “stasis” is defined in the dictionary as a condition where things do not change. I think the definition should also read “see: Audi R8, Ferrari 488 GTB, Lamborghini Aventador, et. al.” Or to put it another way, today’s supercars cars are all like AC/DC records. You get the same three chords, the same solo, and the same 4/4 rhythm every song. Nothing ever changes, and lowbrow disc jockeys won’t stop playing it.

And then we come to the new crop of hyper supercars, or hypercars: the Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder and the McLaren P1. These are all hybrids, correct? So these expensive exotic cars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars — if not a solid million plus — all are more or less based around technology we first saw over 15 years ago on a $25,000 Toyota sedan. It’s been pointed out before yes, but if anything, that makes me get a chubby for the Toyota Prius, not for the LaFerrari.

That’s not how these cars are supposed to work. Supercars and hypercars are supposed to be a batshit crazy preview of the car of tomorrow, not a fizzy, farting reminder of what’s already here. But if this trend of “trickle up” technology continues, then I have to question what relevance supercars actually hold, especially in the future. I guess wealthy accountants and fat, lazy automotive journalists still have to have something to drool over.

Surely I’m not the only person who feels this way. Surely I’m not the only person who thinks that these current crop of supercars suck. But if I am, then so be it.

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Hi! I’m Blake Noble and I think writing about myself in the third person is awkward. So instead, I’ll just depreciate myself in the first person. I am a writer that once spent half a year blogging !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I also !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! once that pissed off the entire Chrysler 2.2 fanclub. I drive a Dodge Dart because I was told its really an Alfa Romeo. You can follow me on Twitter !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

DISCUSSION (35)

Moves-Like-Senna > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 17:37

You know what Blake? I agree with you but for me I find many supercars aren't "enthusiast cars" anymore. I get more excited about a Miata, wondering what did the owner do to it?

Jedidiah > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 17:39

Completely agree.

Cars that offer an insane amount of performance are getting further and further out of Joe's grasp.

PushToStart > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 17:41

Kinja'd!!!

If there ever truly was a stasis in the extremity of supercars, and you don't think the P1, LaFerrari, or 918 broke that stagnancy, I think we can all agree this thing does. As if the 1,500 HP figure isn't enough (maybe it isn't?), this car basically says "fuck what you think you know about transmissions, we're doing something different today."

So yeah. My counterpoint to your article is the Koenigsegg Regera.

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 17:44

What needs to be remembered that cars are getting close to reaching the ceiling in terms of performance. We have cars on sale for 120k that can get to 60 in around 3 seconds, go back even ten years and think about that. There is a point where progress is bound to slow. Super cars used to look like a million bucks, now they preform like it. To ink that extra 2 mph, or mpg or whatever they need to be as streamlined as possible, which limits the design flexibility. And the hybrid motor comparison you made is like if someone made a brand new V8 and you were like whatever, we have that 4 cylinder one over there, basically the same thing.

Super cars today are more durable, and faster, along with that more people have access to them. That limits the exclusivity of them. And to some, limits the image of the super car.

djmt1 > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 17:44

I lost interest in supercars but then I tracked a 12c and the interest came flooding back.

scoob > Moves-Like-Senna
03/05/2015 at 17:45

THIS.

I feel most, if not all, supercars are just for showing off how much money you have. Or how much debt you're going to be in. So many of the people who have them don't give two shits about anything about the car. They don't care about the history of the brand/car, or what the torque figures are, or track days, or what N means on the gauge cluster, etc. They just care about whether or not they get all the looks when driving around.

dogisbadob > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 17:53

Yeah I get your point, but to be fair, the Mondial is awesome. Hey, at least it has a gated shifter! I am sooooo getting one when I can afford to.

Also ironic that there's an Audi tuner called Stasis, and you can even get a Stasis R8. Stasis mods to a stasis car :p

Not to mention diminishing returns with every passing year.

Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 17:55

Are supercars not super or has our definition of what super is changed?

DrScientist > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 18:00

if you don't think a current ferrari ff or huracan or this 488 when it becomes available, is the future compared to your dodge dart, then i believe you are missing out on the true engineering and "seat feel" of those cars.

granted i have not driven a ferrari manufactured after 2010, but i assume this reasoning holds true.

just because you can have a "driver's experience" behind a standard economy car these days, and need to experience what supercars have to offer on a track, does not mean that that supercar experience doesn't exist.

Ted Ladue > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 18:00

Personally, I'm over them they are merely status symbols. Yes, there are some people who track them, but most are bought to impress. And I've never understood the need to try to impress people by flashing your money. It's juvenile.

nermal > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
03/05/2015 at 18:01

That's pretty much the same thing that's said every generation though.

"Oh, cars will never accelerate 0-60 in less than five four three two seconds! It's un-possible!"

nermal > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 18:07

I think they are definitely still evolving as the top of the automotive food chain.

The market is evolving as well. No longer are the cars rolling testaments to the hookers-and-blow lifestyle of the Lambos of the olde times. No longer are they difficult to drive just because.

You're seeing a change in user experience, in that any old idiot that is capable of driving a Camry can get in a 918 or an Aventador and it will drive the same, but faster. No fancy footwork, or temperamental engines, or brutally heavy clutches are part of the experience.

DrScientist > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
03/05/2015 at 18:08

and they're also more efficient. dont forget that.

472CID > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 18:09

These cars used to be a little rarer, a little more special. Lately we've been a bit over-saturated with super/hypercars. I still get excited by them, much the same way a sportsfan gets excited by his team signing a great quarterback, but I don't really lust after them. My lusting cars are down to earth yet just barely out of responsible reach.

Conan > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 18:09

I think part of the problem is that you're looking at effectively the entry level models of these established manufacturers. There is insanity pushing the limits elsewhere for both much more and much less.

DrScientist > PushToStart
03/05/2015 at 18:11

totally agree.

if its not a "seat of the pants" measure we're talking about... because honestly, how many of us are going to be able to tell the difference between the performance of one of the hybrid triplets without lots of gauges and stop watches... then, its going to be engineering leaps like this.

this feat saved them ~400lbs i think i read. jesus christ. that's like telling your wife AND your sister-in-law they have to take the bus, if you live here in the states.

Tim (Fractal Footwork) > PushToStart
03/05/2015 at 18:16

I feel the Regera is the most innovative supercar car I can remember since... well, never (Veryron was the only thing I can think of).

I can get my head around most ICEs and electric motors, but I just cant wrap my head around the Regera's gearbox-nongearbox drivetrain; I'm sure I will at some point, but damn!

Racecars used to be the place to test innovation, but I think Christian v K is the first to truly realize that its better (for him at least) to just go straight to market as the regulations of racing are just too strict.

Manuél Ferrari > dogisbadob
03/05/2015 at 18:26

YES

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > nermal
03/05/2015 at 18:28

Yes, but the closer to zero we get the harder it gets to lower it. Its never going to be 0.

PushToStart > Ted Ladue
03/05/2015 at 18:32

See, that argument doesn't actually make sense, when you think about it.

That's not a problem with the cars at all. It's a problem with people who buy the cars. See, whenever a manufacturer is setting out to make a supercar, they don't gather around a conference room table and say "Great, we're all here, now lets come up with a car that's so expensive, it'll be a status symbol for all who manage to get their hands on one." No, they say "Lets make a brilliant car, thats faster, lighter, nimbler, and better than anything we've done before." or something to that effect. Typically, this means that they spend a shitload of money on development, and so they sell these cars for a high price. Enter the people who have the money. This is where your "problem with supercars" lies. As you say, many don't care about the performance of the cars, but they sure as hell have the means to buy them, and yeah, they love the attention that comes with it. But just because they're assholes and don't drive the car to it's full capability doesn't mean that it all of a sudden doesn't have a cutting edge ERS system or state-of-the-art tech buried under the super-light carbon fiber skin, or that Sebastian Vettel couldn't jump in the exact same car and set an insane time around the Nurburgring. It's still all there. So don't push the blame onto the cars or their respective manufacturers for the behavior of the owners. There's nothing they can do about how people act.

PushToStart > scoob
03/05/2015 at 18:33

Your comment is a lot like another one in this thread that I responded to, so for the sake of having a discussion, I'll copy/paste...

See, that argument doesn't actually make sense, when you think about it.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 18:35

welcome to the reason that the Geneva auto show is one of the least exciting for me...

SuperMegaHyperCars are sort of interesting as an academic exercise, to think about..

But I whole-heartedly agree... makes no impact whatsoever on my life.

Porsche Boxster/Cayman are interesting... they might actually be affordable before they become too old and too expensive to maintain.

I would be MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more interested in an AWD 3-door Sport Coupe with CUV ride height for conquering any road in any weather... a true retail-ready rally car.

Also, a MID-ENGINED SPORTS CAR that is affordable enough to be a second or third car. It doesn't need to be fancy, just quick, fun, and have at least one small trunk, unlike MR2 Spyder, which had nothing.

An actually SPORTY CUV, even if it is 5-passenger, that doesn't cost Porsche Macan money. A Sport Sedan is a thing... why not a more practical vehicle with a bit of power, and a a bit more taut suspension response, but still pot-hole tolerant suspension travel.

INTERESTING CARS FOR REAL PEOPLE, PLEASE.

I don't care about 300,000$ cars that sell to a few hundred multi-millionaires who can easily spend money on a whim. I care about 30,000$ cars that sell to a few million regular working-stiff joes, who happen to actually LIKE CARS, and have to choose what they buy more carefully.

E. Julius > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
03/05/2015 at 18:49

2215 Mclaren Z40—Instantaneous acceleration/interstellar travel.

Vzwolf > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 19:01

I'll relate supercars to iPhones.

The transition from iPhone 3G to 4 was HUGE. Retina display, all new feel, so much faster, etc. And since then it's slowed down. The 5? Oh you made it longer. The 6? Now you have Samsung sized phones.

The problem is every car manufacturer keeps promising another iPhone 4 one after the other. And it just doesn't happen. If you look at the 2006 Corvette Z06, it had 505 hp and weighed 3200 lbs. It weighed LESS than the base car. Incredible. It was lighter than damn near everything else at the time.

The Z06 went from weighing as much as Honda Accord LX to the new one weighing as much as BMW M4. It's a wonderful car but hardly the ground breaking car GM kept promising.

Blake Noble > PushToStart
03/05/2015 at 19:52

Well, the Toyota Prius is also a hybrid without a conventional transmission. Just saying.

Blake Noble > dogisbadob
03/05/2015 at 19:59

I'm giving you a big old star because the Stasis-Audi thing is just too perfect.

Blake Noble > Vzwolf
03/05/2015 at 20:01

Interesting post and comparison!

El Rivinado > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 20:30

Okay, this is something I wanted to say but never got the chance to. For the most part, supercars just don't excite me. I like plenty of old school supercars and some newer ones, but for the most part, while everyone around me is excited for these things, I just shrug my shoulders or scoff. But I have a theory why that is. Back in the day, supercars were made with something wonderful, call it love, call it passion, call it an 8-ball of coke and a bottle of Jameson at 3 in the morning, supercars actually felt special. They had insane top speeds, they were impractical, but more importantly, they were built with care and attention to detail and all these little things that make them what they are. Then this thing got released.

Kinja'd!!!

Let me make it clear, no matter how much I hate the Veyron, I will never deny its technological brilliance. Sure its ugly, stupid, and only appeals to 11 year old boys, but as a piece of engineering it's brilliant. That being said, this car brought out the worst trend from supercar manufacturers. When it was released, it changed everything, for the worse. Now supercars stopped being about insanity, it stopped being about the little details that made them, well, super. All of a sudden it was, top speed and acceleration at the expense of everything else. As a result, they just became sort of meh, and the faster they got and the more horsepower the put out, the less special they got and the more those great defining traits started to fade. Supercars mattered because they were the cars that nobody dared to build yet managed to be both technologically as well as in a sense culturally brilliant. Now thanks to the Veyron's legacy of "Make it go fast, hur du dur." and the complacency of the auto manufacturer's lust for top speed and horsepower, and appealing to 8 year old kids, supercars just stopped mattering. That's why the supercars of today, won't be as desirable in the future, they've lost too much character in the face of performance. Really ask yourself, will the new GT ever be as well remembered as the old one? Will the 488 ever be as desirable as the Testarossa or the F40? Will the Aventador, Huracan, or Gallardo ever be as lusted after as the Miura, Countach, or Diablo? I would say No.

PushToStart > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 21:03

True, but the context of that system is also very relevant. In the Prius, the direct drive system isn't under nearly as much load and its not having to deal with close to the same amount of power as the one in the Regera. The development of a system that can tolerate that much power and deliver it effeciently could change the game in a lot of upcoming racecars, supercars and sportscars. The Prius wasn't really serving as a testbed or encouraging any development for a higher application.

Vzwolf > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 21:39

Thanks!

I'll add that a lot of Corvette guys don't get it. The C6 Z06 was groundbreaking. The C7 just added a nice interior and shitty aero [falls flat on its face past 140 mph] and a shitty on board camera with a permanent green tint so bad you believe you drove in the Matrix.

Now as enthusiasts we have F1 and it sounds worse than most motorcycles. My 3rd world country bike revs like an F1 car does. Not impressive.

The only supercar I'm excited about is the Huracan. If it were my money, I'd buy one in a heartbeat. I'm also weird and don't like flat plane crankshaft v8's. Ford sounds nice, but Ferrari's is boring for me sorry.

But it's only exciting because everything else is so dull. I don't want a turbo engine. I want a screamer. Until everyone can make a turbo engine like AMG does, making power and sounding delicious, Lamborghini has my imaginary money.

The P1 and LaFerrari are cool in their own ways. Ferrari is easy it's an NA V12. I don't need the electrics to work. The 918 is useless. I have zero interest in that car. The Carrera GT is what still excites me. Still my dream car after all these years.

So I'd have to agree with you. Remember someone posted the crowd around that Pagani? That's what a supercar needs to be.

DasWauto > Blake Noble
03/05/2015 at 22:08

I think your stance here is based on a few factors. Your waining excitement for them is probably largely due to your own maturation, a realisation of the costs and resulting loss of interest as they lose relevance. This replaces your giddiness as a child, when the costs weren't known, relevant or considered, supercars were just fantastical fantasy items. As adults, not so much, a lack of attainability takes a toll.

You mention the new 488GTB and R8 not being huge leaps over their predecessors as a source of disappointment. It is unrealistic to expect revolution with every new [super]car. Product cycles are much shorter these days. How long was the Countach produced? How about the Testarossa, or the Diablo? These cars had decade+ runs, with iterative improvements throughout. Cars these days evolve much more quickly and many are adopting a sequence of big and small steps. This is true for supercars as well as your every day econobox. The 488 is a small(ish) step over the 458, which leapt over the 430, which was an evolution of the 360, which was a jump from the 355, itself an improved 348, and so on. The R8 is a similar evolution, not a revolution. Speaking of the R8, the previous one carried the corporate look of the time as much as the new one does, that's not a valid complaint over the old car.

Finally, you are equating the current crop of hypercars to 15 year old Toyota technology simply by association of the word 'hybrid'. This is ridiculous. If you don't think these cars are pushing the boundaries of what technology is capable of, you've got a couple of screws loose. These cars are cramming extreme amounts of motive power and energy density in their batteries, active aerodynamics and chassis rigidity into cars of similar weight to the aforementioned Prius, then putting all that power to the ground. Take 7 or 8 Toyota hybrid drivetrains, put them together into one package, add a chassis capable of handling the extreme loads these cars are capable of generating, then make it weight around the same as a Camry. These cars are no small feat, no mere "hybrids" based around 15 year old Toyota tech - they are amazing feats of engineering.

Ted Ladue > PushToStart
03/06/2015 at 09:49

Valid point. Yes, the vehicles themselves are still "brilliant". But that doesn't make me want one. They are irrelevant to me. I am not Sebastian Vettel. I am not a rich douchebag. I'm just the regular kind of douchebag and fawning over a car that is targeted at rich douchebags and/or people who aspire to appear to be a rich douchebag does not interest me.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Blake Noble
03/20/2015 at 22:04

I think it's an aero thing, Blake. Now that everything is aero, the Ferraris and Lambos don't stand out like they did 30 years ago.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Blake Noble
04/30/2015 at 13:48

As if any of us would ever own one of these, or drive one, or even stand next to one.

Supercars are less super because the run-of-the-mill cars are much faster and more sophisticated — and safer — than they were 50 years ago.

Behzad > Blake Noble
11/28/2017 at 03:38

Stop whining about technological nonsense and nerd stuff, you’re not a true enthusiast, the thing wrong with todays cars are the evergrowing brutal restrictions and saftey/eco regulations that put their feet on the throat of car makers and once we’re through, the squadron of bank accountants and nerdy soyboys in charge of desiging our cars and deciding what’s “cool” or “future”

Hybrids, electronic nannies, electric cars, automatic transmissions taking over, obsession with numbers and nurburgring, self driving cars ? ..... jesus christ !