Driving Impressions
So what is it like to drive?
Well first of all I have been lucky enough to drive 6 different 488's and pretty much they all drive the same, which is good as no quirks or niggles and stuff making differences between the cars.
I have driven a 488 (not mine) on a track at Thruxton as well practising on both the track and skidpan and being able to do multiple launch control starts as well..
Noise- once it comes off choke it is actually quite quiet relatively with a low down rumble and very docile round town and gets noises once the valves open after 3000rpm. Now I have my valves permanently open as you can read about above and I personally prefer it, it just makes it much more of an event, it is now quite loud even at idle! And you get far more pops and burbles when coming off the throttle now. The only downside is you can't hear any turbo whistle now as the Exhaust covers it completel. With the valves standard you can hear the turbos spool up. I can see why they have the valves on the Exhaust if you were doing a lot of motorway driving it may be a bit too loud but for the type of driving I do I prefer it as it is now makes it much more of an event.
Economy- now not the first thing you think about in an F car but if you keep to the speed limit and are light on the throttle and use auto mode it's actually pretty good on juice, don't know the exact figure but I guess on a London to Devon run you can get 25mpg maybe a tad more. Now if you are in manual mode and are having fun, you will be down below 10mpg!! But oh so worth it!!!
Reliability- It has been absolutely perfect, I was a bit nervous as it did not have a traditional dealer PDI as I picked it up from the factory and almost expected some niggles but it's been spot on!
Comfort- the sports seats are surprisingly comfortable and I have done a few long runs the longest was Geneva to Calais in 1 day and it was really good, not as comfy as a big 4x4 of course but not something that was having you think are we there yet!
ICE and sat nav - on the FChat site they were not very complimentary about the standard stereo and many yanks spec the upgrade I think. My view ....taking into account the type of car and how it is used the stereo was much better than I was expecting after reading reviews on FChat, unless the Euro spec cars have a different set up....? Sat Nav- again surprisingly good , I was already to use Waze or google maps driving all over Europe in it, thinking the system would be glitchy and not very accurate....it's actually very good and probably better than the one in my new f Pace.
The Bluetooth works perfectly.
Music plays well from the iPhone
Speed- Honestly this car is to fast both from a standstill and when on the move, its an animal. The engine spools so quickly there is no turbo lag and the torque is amazing it will pull in 5,6,7 from crawling speeds with no issues at all.i don't know the ultimate top speed but let's just say you can see quite easy that it will go way north of 200! The acceleration is brutal and you need to be on those paddles or you will hit the limiter.
Gear box- if there was a manual option yes I would have chosen that but this the next best thing. Changes are instant and the auto mode is handy and I must admit I used that a lot the first day or 2 I had it but now I find I'm driving in manual all of the time now.
Brakes- fly first foray with CCMs , I'm not a racer or expert driver or a track user so I'm not sure I see the hype with them. That said there is one massive benefit in the fact that you get practically zero brake dust and that's good news for keeping the wheels clean. The brakes definitely need warming up to get them stopping as you would expect them to, and I do get a bit of squeaking from them from time to time, no real pattern to it but a lot of users report it, and of the other 488s I have driven most of them have squeake. It seems to be that mid point between warm and really hot that they squeak but I haven't really pinned it down..I will speak to the dealer about it when I see him but it's not bugged me enough to do that yet..
Ride quality- I have tried the bumpy road mode a couple of times but i can't really tell the difference! So it stays in normal mode all the time now. The ride quality is surprisingly good no banging or crashing around , firm but comfortable is how I would describe it. It corners very flat and virtually no body roll.
Handling- I guess I experienced the best of the handling when I was on the track at Thruxton, the steering is quick it corners flat and despite watching the Chris Harris video where he drifts it at will, I can say that it sticks to the road brilliantly Chris Harris is some driver to get it to dance like that. That said you can't be an idiot in this car as it will only tolerate so much before it bites you! I had a couple of occasions where. The back end lost grip in the damp when I was being a bit to brave. I have learnt to respect the car but also have great fun with it. I'm looking forward to some warm dry days to have some real fun with it.
Practicality- Now this is interesting...the cabin inside is massive for a 2 seat sports car plenty of leg and head room and a fair a,punt of storage behind the rear seats for coats and small bags and stuff. The boot is pretty big and plenty big enough for 2 people's holiday luggage for 2 weeks in the right type of bag e.g. Soft sports bag rather than hard shell suitcase.
Another little thing I like is that it has a capless petrol cap system so no cap to loose or dangle down on the paint, first car that I have had with that, lovely little idea.
I think you get the idea that I'm pretty pleased with it!!!!
The most surprising thing for a lot of people is that it is as easy to drive as a 3 series around town (parking aside!) but when you put your foot down change down a couple gears it turns into an absolute beast!
I'm looking forward to taking it back to Europe in the summer!
