Not everyday is filled with the joy of driving a Ferrari or Lamborghini, even for those of us here at Club Sportiva. My BMW was in the shop for a couple days this week for a dent repair at Chilton Auto Body in San Carlos and the onsite rental company (Enterprise) didn't have a Maserati or Lotus for me to use, so I got stuck with a lovely Nissan Sentra.

What is the upside, I ask myself? Well, a reality check, I suppose. It had been at least a few years since I spent time behind the wheel of a $17,000 econo box, so this was a good adjustment. At least, I've convinced myself of that. It was only four thrilling days with the Sentra, but it brought a new appreciation of the cars Club Sportiva is blessed to provide its Members. To say the 140 hp 2.0 liter engine is anemic is an understatement. It floats down the interstate like a brick thrown underhanded. It is darty. It is flimsy. The seats hardly adjust. It doesn't have power locks. Oh, I've become spoiled...but I did learn to drive on a Sentra 20 years ago.

To make matters comical and more disparate, on Thursday, I drove the Ferrari F430 to work for a meeting in Silicon Valley and later that same day drove the Nissan Sentra home. Talk about one extreme to the other. Rags to riches with a $213,000 price delta. Power trip to rotten roller with a 353 hp difference. Champagne to PBR on tap. You get the point.

At least today I get the BMW back from Chilton Auto Body! Chilton is Club Sportiva's authorized body shop for those unfortunate occasions when a wrinkle needs smoothed out.

Labels: Chilton Auto Body, Club Sportiva, exotic car share club, Nissan Sentra, rental car

For everyone who is a Member of Club Sportiva and has ever wished they could reserve a hot sports car online from anywhere in the world, well, this is your lucky week. Our brand new, custom-built, proprietary Member database (yes...we are damn proud of it!) went live on Wednesday morning and the database lit up with activity immediately.

We've already had over 100 Members visit the site in less than 48 hours and Members have made over two dozen online reservations with a couple simple clicks of their mouse. And best of all, no glitches!! How cool is that?


Members, please continue logging in to check it out. For everyone else, join the Club or you'll continue to be on the side lines while everyone else has all the fun. ;)

Labels: Club Sportiva, exotic car share club, member database, member login, online database, reserve online

The news finally broke. As much as Ferrari management had denied it for months, a planned announcement later this week that a new and unique Ferrari is coming was trumped today when photos hit the web a week earlier than anticipated. Leaked photos have become common lately with the internet playing a more active role in disseminating information, and lighting fast too. This post is perfect proof of how quickly the word spreads ahead of printed publications.


The new Ferrari is called the California. It will be unique in several ways. It features a folding hardtop, a seven-speed dual clutch and will be produced in higher numbers that the current F430. It will have a 460 hp 4.3L V8 front layout with a bent towards grand touring tuning instead of the raw, racy edge of the F430. The single lamp taillights indicate Pininfarina's new design direction, like with the 599 GTB; a break in the twin taillights over the past 30 years. This will be an elegant and easy design for people to accept, whereas the stacked exhaust pipes (as with the Lexus IS F) may take longer to be loved.


This new Ferrari will be priced essentially where the F430 is currently, if early indications hold true. That will push the Ferrari F430 up a rung on the Ferrari totem pole. The term "Dino" was thrown around a lot, indicating a "lesser" Ferrari. From the looks of this beauty, this is a real Ferrari and with the price in the $180,000 range, it is no discounted car either!


Anytime a new Ferrari is announced, it is a big deal. It is an even bigger deal when the new Ferrari is an entirely new line. The F430 replacement is certainly coming, but the California isn't an evolution on an existing car, but an entirely new line. A good day indeed in the automotive world!

Should Club Sportiva get one? I think I know the answer...

Labels: 7-speed dual clutch, all new, breaking news, Club Sportiva, exotic car share club, Ferrari 599 GTB, Ferrari California, Ferrari F430, folding hard top, stacked exhaust pipes, V8

Can a Lexus be exciting to drive on a twisty road? Is a sporty Lexus really just an oxymoron? The all new Lexus IS F is getting a lot of press for Lexus and many enthusiasts like me are wondering if the IS F a creative marketing ploy or is it the real deal? So with that in mind, I thought I should get some wheel time and share the experience first hand.

A Member of Club Sportiva took delivery of his IS F about two months ago, which he was told was the first in California when it was delivered. Alain M. allowed me the honors of experiencing his new Lexus IS F for a couple days. I have to give Alain credit for immediately taking his car to Laguna Seca for a Club Sportiva track day when he had just enough miles for its break-in! That is one happy Lexus. It now has about 3,000 miles on it, so Alain is enjoying every mile...

Based on my seat time, in a nut shell, the Lexus IS F is a performance sports sedan with a bent towards luxury. It is hands down the sportiest and most fun Lexus yet, but that's not saying much based on Lexus's traditional position as a faultless and soulless point A to point B automaker (what makes J.D. Powers and Associates happy doesn't always please the car enthusiast).

At 70 mph in eighth gear (yes, 8th) you are loafing at 1,900 rpms with no grunt whatsoever, but certainly helping you get better gas mileage. At 70 mph in third gear, you are at 5,900 rpms with plenty of immediate power to accelerate hard with ease. When getting on the gas hard when the revs are over 4,000 rpms, the engine makes a very non-Japanese sonorous bellow that isn't Lexus-like. It is lively and a bit Italianate in the tune (yes, I am serious) it belts out loudly but you've got to get on it to encourage the exhaust note. It also freely and happily revs all the way to the red line without a hint of protest. As you approach redline, you get an audible warning allowing you time to shift without having to look down at the tach or without hitting the abrupt fuel cut off.

The engine doesn't have as much low end grunt from the line as I would have expected for a healthy 5.0 liter V8 with 416 hp and 371 lb/ft of torque, but it quickly gets more brutal as the revs increase. The words brutal power and Lexus have never been used in the same sentence and this is a certified first time...and a good thing. But know that the power is polished, smooth and predictable, not raw, ragged or peaky. The steering is quick and sharp, but it is certainly filtered through the car's computers before reaching your fingertips gripping the steering wheel giving it a bit of a numb effect.

One of my favorite surprises was how much more the auto gear box is designed for enthusiast driving when set in manual mode than was the original IS300 I've driven. The previous IS in 2002 with 215 hp I'd driven in both automatic and the rare 5-speed manual transmissions. The original automatic set to manual toggle mode was constantly overruled by the authoritarian software program. It was really annoying and not worth shifting because you rarely got it to react, for it was permanently set in "no-fun" mode. Now, in Sport Direct-Shift mode, it is far better and more interesting to use. Kudos to Lexus for allowing the driver to have some control.

One knock I have to point out is the fake vent behind the front tires. Why bother? Make the vent go somewhere, otherwise it is nothing more than a cute little design someone thought up in the studio. It also has a regular steering wheel that I wish were sportier and meatier to match the brawn of the rest of the car. A few cool highlights worth pointing out include a unique trim that looks like silver carbon fiber weave. It also has speedo and tach needles in brilliant blue that really look cool, especially at night. The seats are also deeply bolstered unlike most sedans. Also, the stacked twin exhaust tips look better in person and less forced than in photos, fortunately.

At about $60,000 with a couple options (Navigation, Mark Levinson sound, rear camera, Bluetooth), it is a very worthwhile and significant car. I could see tooling about in the IS F as a daily driver, as Alain gets to do. I am very much a fan of pushing performance to its limit. I'd say the IS F represents Lexus in a way that has some of its executives cowering in fear for what beast they green lighted. I believe all enthusiasts will appreciate their daring.

Thanks Alain for giving me a chance to experience the car and to share with others. Comments welcomed. What other cars should I write up?

Labels: Club Sportiva, exotic car share club, four door sports car, Lexus IS F, Mark Levinson, sport direct-shift, sports sedan, V8

Porsche vs. Porsche, or more aptly, big Porsche vs. little Porsche. Which is better? Which is a better value? Which is a better performer? Which do you prefer? Which would you drive? All good questions.

The comparo is run using one of Club Sportiva's vehicles, the 2006 Porsche Cayman S, in Member-approved yellow. The second is a 2006 Porsche 911 C4S Cabriolet provided by one of us at Club Sportiva who uses it as a daily driver. The Cayman S stickered at $63,000 and the 911 C4S Cabriolet windowed at a whopping $112,000. For starters, the Cayman S takes the lead straight out of the gate based on the price/value equation. At an eye-popping $112,000, we are talking exotic car territory...well, no longer these days, I guess.

Styling? It is tough to call which car is better. This is very subjective. Each car has strong attributes. The Cayman is a newer, fresh design, whereas the 911 has amazingly evolved for over 40 years. The 911 has meaty rear tires that look aggressive and the new headlights recall the ever-popular and timeless 993 911. The Cayman shares the beautiful and curvaceous rear haunches with the Boxster, which harkens back to the 550 Spider. I also like the fact that you can raise the rear spoiler on the Cayman, even when parked, as it looks cool, as though it should still be in motion. I'd say styling between them is a draw, based on very individual preferences (see my 911 dead end design post on April 1st). For me, I'll take the Cayman by a hair.

Exhaust and engine note? Without even driving the cars, I'd assume the prize goes to the sportier 911 and this assumption holds accurate in practice, as well. The 911 has a snortier exhaust note that borders on a raspy growl that just sounds mean at idle and gets better under revs. The Cayman has a good rasp but lacks some of the grunt at idle. Under acceleration, with the mid engine inside the cabin, the engine blends out the exhaust note for the most part. The one disappointing thing on both Porsche's exhaust is that the sound is superior from outside the car, which means the driver gets the least gratification from the ordeal. The engine note is, however predominant, which is a good thing in my book.

Road holding? The Cayman is tremendously well balanced due to the mid engine configuration and the rear drive layout gives the car some edginess that fills the gaps left by missing torque. The 911, in this case being AWD, has an intuitively planted feeling that offers the driver a sense of invincibility, even with the rear engine layout that would otherwise taunt the driver. In a corner, you can continue to gently press the gas and at the turn's apex, hit the gas hard. You couldn't drive that way in a Cayman and certainly couldn't do it in a C2 911. Choosing one over the other is tough. Which is better, the Cayman's agile balance and svelte finesse or the 911's gobs-'o-grip in the twisties? I love both car's features, but would choose the sure-planted AWD of the 911 over the lithe Cayman. Because this was a close one, I am sure I will contradict myself as some point since I am generally a bare bone, raw, agile sports car guy and here I am choosing the heavier 911 C4S for its grip.

Power and torque? This is a no-brainer. The 911 C4S wins hands down, as you would expect and as Porsche engineers carefully planned it. The 911 has a lot of grunt and power that makes it a thrill to drive. The Cayman S, on the other hand, is more a revver that requires you to row the gears a bit to get the grunt needed. This isn't to say the power band isn't easy to find with 295 horses on tap, it just isn't like the 911 with 355 horsepower.

Interior? The Cayman radio blows. And it is worse at night finding the preset buttons, which is stupefying. I would ordinarily say the true enthusiast shouldn't even turn on the stereo, as in any Ferrari or Lamborghini or a Lotus Elise with Stage 2 exhaust, but...since the exhaust is muted from the cabin and the famous Porsche engine note is refined, stereo use is permissible. Porsches are great for ease of ingress and egress, 360 degree visibility, seat comfort and position and generally good ergonomics. As simple as this sounds, Porsche has always done an excellent job of balancing the sporty driving nature and styling with the drive-ability of an everyday car. Both cars share a strong family resemblance and jumping from one into the other is simple. I'd take the uprent 911 interior.

Other features? Both gear boxes are great. They are crisp and direct, if not joystick-like in their action when flicking through the gears. Reliability? We've had zero problems that weren't easily covered by warranty with either car in the past 12-15 months since new. Wow factor? Well, in California, practically everyone has a Porsche, so you see them on every corner; so neither car is a unique sight - which is a great endorsement for living in California.

Final thoughts? Porsche has done an excellent job perfecting each car to excel in its performance category without overlapping with the other. The Cayman S is without doubt the little brother. The Cayman S leaves me yearning for more from the aspects of torque, exhaust note and the planted AWD option. Because of its price, significantly less than the 911, I am willing to forgo those attributes for an otherwise incredibly well balanced sports car. The 911, on the other hand, provides a more full-tilt sports car experience with its performance but comes with a heftier price tag.

Regarding the Cayman, it is hopefully only a matter of time before Porsche comes out with a club racer version that is louder, lighter, even more raw, with a dab of extra juice to motivate the car. That is the Cayman I will order for Club Sportiva. Then again, the Cayman I'm dreaming of here might bump into the 911 and begin to cannibalize its sales - so we may not get to see this uber-Cayman, like I hope.

Porsche has done an excellent job ensuring the Cayman will never be viewed in history as the undesirable dog that the Porsche 924 is remembered or the fading memory of the mid-pack Porsche 944, as it has proven to be over the years. The Cayman has likely, already, cemented its reputation as a true Porsche for the books and the 911 continues to forge ahead with its evolution, now several generations old.

It isn't an easy choice because the two cars are both winners that really aren't competing with one another. Give me the 911, even for the price difference. The Cayman is really just the starter car for the person who isn't ready just yet for the 911. Try them both out back-to-back with a car share club and see what you think! Feedback welcome.

Labels: car comparision, Club Sportiva, exotic car share club, Porsche 911 C4S Cabriolet, Porsche Cayman S, sports car