Finally was able to dowload and read the full electronic copy of EVO.
(Available online on Zinio or on the I pad)
http://ca.zinio.com/browse/category/parent.jsp?navAction=jump&navCount=0&categoryId=cat1960016
As an anxious soon-to-be new owner of the McLaren, yes I am a bit disapponted that it was not raved about as much as I might have wished, but I thought the articles were in fact reasonably well written and well balanced.
I have recently owned the Porsche TT, and currently own the SLS, 458, and Scuderia (and of course am anxiously awaiting the McLaren). The points they make about the Porsche and the SLS are absolutely spot on. I was amazed by the Porsche's perfomance, but found it so uninteresting that I got rid of it within 3 months. I traded it for an Audi R8 V10, which was somewaht better, and is, on an objective basis, a great car, but it was a bit too "Lexus-like" (ie. faultless), but aslo lacked drama and personality. I kept it about 9 months, then traded it for an SLS.
As the article suggests, the SLS is not nearly as good a car on a purely objective basis as either the Porsche or the Audi, but it has tons of personality and is hugely more entertaining to drive on a regular basis on the street. (I use it as my daily driver now). (Yes, the transmission is a piece of crap in manual mode - very good in auto mode).
Before I got the 458, the Scuderia was by far my favorite car - raw, connected, fast, and at the time, had the best shifting robotized manual in the business.
The 458 surprised me in every way. Much faster feeling than any of my other cars - by a significant margin - brilliant engine and transmission - a major reset of my expectations. Feels several generations ahead of the Scuderia. Very well rounded. Very satisfying and enjoyable to drive on real roads - enjoyable without having to go flat out. (By contast, I also had a 599 for a while, which although faster in a straight line than all these other cars, was very unexciting, unless you could go really fast (which I can't do without risking going to jail - and since I can't drive my cars from jail, I'd prefer not to go there).
So in reading the EVO article, calmly and in totality, I believe that we should probably not get as negatively excited as many apparently have, and fret about all the conspiracy theories WRT Ferrari. The McLaren sounds like a marvellous achievement, has amazing capabilities, and is a car that I am still looking forward to own, drive on the road, and on the track. There was nothing in any of the articles that suggested to me that their observations WRT the 458 were anything other than legitimate (both the positives and the negatives).
The very close track times simply prove that all these cars are incredibly capable, very very fast, and light years away from even the best supercars of only a few years back.
...and as I have personally discovered, (at great expense in getting rid of several "nearly new" cars), the real day to day enjoyment and thrill one gets from driving one of these on the street, is based a lot more on the character of the car, and not in the minute differences in their acceleration or lap times.
Viva the amazing choice of great cars we have today. I am very glad that McLaren has entered the fray and increased the already great choices. It is the absolutely best time ever to be a "car guy"! Let's enjoy it.
