Joined
·
6,924 Posts
Starting to put some miles on - thought I would share some first impressions - help satisfy the guys that are impatiently waiting for their 12Cs to arrive.. 
- All of the positive owner reviews are not a fluke or wishful thinking; you are going to love driving the car. I still have not wrapped my head around certain aspects of it, but there are many new sensations that I have not felt in any other car. The whole experience has a really high-tech feel to it. I'm not talking playstation nonsense; I mean it kind of feels like a slightly different mode of transportation than a car. The way the boost kicks, the whirring sounds of the pumps and faint hissing from the hydraulics when you adjust the handling dial, etc., it all gives the impression that you are inside a car from around 10-15 years in the future or something. Almost as if you could push a button on the console to extend swept back wings out the sides and then just roll into the throttle and lift off like a jet.
- Of course, you can drown all that out by flipping Powertrain to Track and letting the induction noise fill the cabin. It's loud, for sure, but I'm still not sold on the tweak and wonder if I might find it tiresome after a while. The middle Sport setting provides enough sound and still let's you hear everything else that is going on. I can understand why gallardo asked for the sound inlets to be plugged. I'll reserve final judgement until I get onto the track and see how loud it is while wearing a helmet.
- The lack of feeling inertia or G loading inside the cabin that michael glore talks about is definitely due to a complete lack of body roll. It feels a little bit foreign at first, when you take a corner (especially a long one like a freeway on/off ramp) and you expect to feel the car lean onto the outside tires, but instead the nose just darts to the inside and the whole car points in the new direction and it feels like not a single one of the four contact patches has grown or shrunk throughout the process. Almost as if you could steer by vectors and the car would just pivot on its yaw axis and continue in a straight line. I realize that sounds strange, but the gist of it is that you quickly realize that you weren't even close to the cornering limit of the chassis. For sure, the hydraulic suspension is responsible, as this is not the same "flat" feeling that you get from a go-kart or racecar, for example. It's a more complex sensation - you can feel things happening under each corner independently, yet the MonoCell, and therefore your body, doesn't roll at all. So, without your body tilting its own weight on yourself, you don't feel as much of the G load. Like I said, I'm still exploring the sensation, so haven't figured it out completely yet. I do suspect that, if I was only given 15 minutes to get to know the car, it may not be enough time to work up to, and explore, the full potential. It's not intimidating by any means, but it is just not what you are used to. Perhaps this is why some journalists haven't been able to get the most out of the car in their short time with it.
- Paddle action is too light now, for me. Damn you Harry Metcalfe and your arthritic fingers! I might get mine adjusted back to original spec weight, if the dealer can do it easily and inexpensively.
- Pre-Cog is endless fun, though. After 3 days, it already feels like I've been using it forever and can't imagine not having the detent, now. Feels incredible to brake hard into a corner and bang off 2 perfect Pre-Cog shifts in the blink of an eye. Wicked stuff.
- Not a glamorous detail, but the side mirrors are brilliant. I'm not sure how or why, but I seem to see rearward incredibly well with them, even better than my wife's SUV which has oversized truck mirrors! Good thing, since the straight back view is small - and even smaller when you need it most if the Air Brake goes up!
- Changing the suspension compliance via the Handling dial is more useful than I thought, even for daily driving. I'm constantly putting it into Normal when I get to rough road sections, back into Sport when it smooths out again or if I just want to change up how everything feels. I thought the Sport button in my RS4 was nifty, but this is something else altogether.
- Not a huge fan, yet, of the full Auto mode on the gearbox. Admittedly, I haven't used it much, but even when you are dawdling around, you can do a better job yourself with the paddles.
- and oh yeah, thank God the speedo is a big digital readout - even limited to 6000 RPM for break in, you can lose your license before you even have time to check the number.
- All of the positive owner reviews are not a fluke or wishful thinking; you are going to love driving the car. I still have not wrapped my head around certain aspects of it, but there are many new sensations that I have not felt in any other car. The whole experience has a really high-tech feel to it. I'm not talking playstation nonsense; I mean it kind of feels like a slightly different mode of transportation than a car. The way the boost kicks, the whirring sounds of the pumps and faint hissing from the hydraulics when you adjust the handling dial, etc., it all gives the impression that you are inside a car from around 10-15 years in the future or something. Almost as if you could push a button on the console to extend swept back wings out the sides and then just roll into the throttle and lift off like a jet.
- Of course, you can drown all that out by flipping Powertrain to Track and letting the induction noise fill the cabin. It's loud, for sure, but I'm still not sold on the tweak and wonder if I might find it tiresome after a while. The middle Sport setting provides enough sound and still let's you hear everything else that is going on. I can understand why gallardo asked for the sound inlets to be plugged. I'll reserve final judgement until I get onto the track and see how loud it is while wearing a helmet.
- The lack of feeling inertia or G loading inside the cabin that michael glore talks about is definitely due to a complete lack of body roll. It feels a little bit foreign at first, when you take a corner (especially a long one like a freeway on/off ramp) and you expect to feel the car lean onto the outside tires, but instead the nose just darts to the inside and the whole car points in the new direction and it feels like not a single one of the four contact patches has grown or shrunk throughout the process. Almost as if you could steer by vectors and the car would just pivot on its yaw axis and continue in a straight line. I realize that sounds strange, but the gist of it is that you quickly realize that you weren't even close to the cornering limit of the chassis. For sure, the hydraulic suspension is responsible, as this is not the same "flat" feeling that you get from a go-kart or racecar, for example. It's a more complex sensation - you can feel things happening under each corner independently, yet the MonoCell, and therefore your body, doesn't roll at all. So, without your body tilting its own weight on yourself, you don't feel as much of the G load. Like I said, I'm still exploring the sensation, so haven't figured it out completely yet. I do suspect that, if I was only given 15 minutes to get to know the car, it may not be enough time to work up to, and explore, the full potential. It's not intimidating by any means, but it is just not what you are used to. Perhaps this is why some journalists haven't been able to get the most out of the car in their short time with it.
- Paddle action is too light now, for me. Damn you Harry Metcalfe and your arthritic fingers! I might get mine adjusted back to original spec weight, if the dealer can do it easily and inexpensively.
- Pre-Cog is endless fun, though. After 3 days, it already feels like I've been using it forever and can't imagine not having the detent, now. Feels incredible to brake hard into a corner and bang off 2 perfect Pre-Cog shifts in the blink of an eye. Wicked stuff.
- Not a glamorous detail, but the side mirrors are brilliant. I'm not sure how or why, but I seem to see rearward incredibly well with them, even better than my wife's SUV which has oversized truck mirrors! Good thing, since the straight back view is small - and even smaller when you need it most if the Air Brake goes up!
- Changing the suspension compliance via the Handling dial is more useful than I thought, even for daily driving. I'm constantly putting it into Normal when I get to rough road sections, back into Sport when it smooths out again or if I just want to change up how everything feels. I thought the Sport button in my RS4 was nifty, but this is something else altogether.
- Not a huge fan, yet, of the full Auto mode on the gearbox. Admittedly, I haven't used it much, but even when you are dawdling around, you can do a better job yourself with the paddles.
- and oh yeah, thank God the speedo is a big digital readout - even limited to 6000 RPM for break in, you can lose your license before you even have time to check the number.
