So I went to a cars and coffee thing last month and there was this brand new McLaren 750S parked next to a Ferrari F40 from the 90s. And like, the McLaren is objectively faster in every measurable way – more power, better aero, faster lap times, all of it. But literally every single person was crowded around the F40 taking pictures while the McLaren just sat there looking angry and complicated.
That kinda sums up my whole feeling about modern supercars honestly. They’re technological marvels that I absolutely respect but also… I don’t really want one? Even if I had the money? Which is weird because 10-year-old me would’ve killed for any of these cars.
The Speed Thing Is Actually Kinda Pointless Now
Okay so the new Bugatti whatever-the-hell does 300mph. Cool I guess? Where exactly are you gonna do that? The autobahn? A closed runway you rented? It’s completely irrelevant to anything resembling actual driving.
My friend has a 720S that does 0-60 in like 2.8 seconds. We took it out once and he floored it on an on-ramp and I genuinely thought I was gonna puke. It was so fast it stopped being fun and just became uncomfortable. Like your brain can’t even process what’s happening.
And that’s the problem right – these cars have so much performance that you can’t even use 10% of it on public roads without immediately going to jail or dying. A Miura from the 60s did maybe 170mph top speed and that was usable and exciting because you could actually explore that performance without needing a racetrack.
Now you’ve got 1000hp hypercars that hit their limiter in second gear. What’s the point? You’re not a better driver because your car can do a 9-second quarter mile. You just spent $3 million on numbers that don’t translate to any real-world experience.
I drove a friend’s GT-R once and it was hilariously fast but also kinda boring? The car just does everything for you. Mash the throttle and the computers sort it out. There’s no skill involved, no connection, no feeling of actually driving. Just violent acceleration managed by 47 different electronic nannies.
They All Look Angry For No Reason
Have you seen the new Lamborghinis? They look like someone asked a 7-year-old to design a spaceship and then gave them unlimited budget and cocaine. Just angles and scoops and wings everywhere. Angry headlights. Aggressive everything.
The Revuelto looks like it wants to fight me in a parking lot. The Huracan Sterrato has so much cladding it looks like it’s wearing armor. Everything’s “track-focused” and “aerodynamically optimized” which apparently means it has to look like a transformer mid-transformation.
Compare that to like, a Countach or a Diablo. Those were wild and crazy too but they were also beautiful. Wedge shapes that actually flowed. Pop-up headlights that gave them personality. You could appreciate them as design objects not just performance machines.
Now everything looks the same too. Every supercar has the same general formula – low nose, huge side intakes, enormous diffuser, giant wing. McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini, they’re all converging on this same angry insect aesthetic. Boring.
The Pagani stuff is the worst offender honestly. Those cars look like someone couldn’t decide which design elements to include so they just included all of them. Chrome everywhere. Exposed carbon fiber. Weird vents. Exhaust pipes sticking out at random angles. It’s too much. Way too much.
Remember When Supercars Were Supposed To Be Beautiful?
The F40 I mentioned earlier? Gorgeous. Simple, purposeful, beautiful. The McLaren F1? Still looks incredible 30 years later. The Miura? Might be the prettiest car ever made and it’s from 1966.
Those cars were designed when style actually mattered as much as performance. Engineers and designers worked together instead of engineers winning every argument with “but the downforce numbers.”
My dad had a poster of a Testarossa in his garage growing up and that car looked exotic and special and cool. Now when I see a modern Ferrari it just looks… angry? Tryhard? Like it’s compensating for something?
The 296 GTB is actually pretty decent looking compared to most modern stuff but even that has the weird angry face and a million vents and scoops. Can’t just be smooth and elegant anymore, gotta have MAXIMUM AGGRESSION or whatever.
The Interiors Are Somehow Worse
Modern supercar interiors look like someone vomited carbon fiber and Alcantara everywhere then installed 47 touchscreens for good measure. Everything’s trying so hard to look “racy” and “technical” that it stops being special.
I sat in a new Lamborghini at an auto show and the interior was just… complicated? Buttons everywhere. Weird shapes. Red stitching on black leather because of course. The start button was shaped like a fighter jet ignition or something. Just tryhard nonsense.
Meanwhile I’ve sat in old 911s and NSXs and they just felt right. Simple, focused, everything where it should be. Not trying to convince you it’s a spaceship, just being a really nice car interior.
The touchscreen thing especially annoys me. You paid $400,000 for this car and they couldn’t give you actual buttons? I gotta poke at a screen to adjust the climate control while doing 150mph? Great idea guys real safe.
Some of the custom coachbuilt stuff is even worse. Saw pictures of a Pagani interior that had like 8 different materials competing for attention. Carbon fiber trim, aluminum bits, leather in 3 colors, wood accents for some reason. Pick a lane dude.
Everything’s A Limited Edition Now
This is more of a side rant but it’s related. Every supercar now is some limited production track-focused special edition. The regular version isn’t even good enough anymore, you need the Competition Package Nürburgring Edition with the lightweight titanium whatever.
And they’re all sold out before they’re even announced to the same 500 rich collectors who’ll never drive them. They just sit in climate-controlled garages appreciating in value while normal car people can’t even see them in person.
Like the Ferrari Daytona SP3. Gorgeous car, actually one of the better looking modern Ferraris. Limited to 599 units, all allocated instantly to existing Ferrari collectors. Nobody’s driving it. They’re all investment pieces.
What’s the point of making cool cars if they just sit in collections? At least in the 80s and 90s rich guys actually drove their Ferraris and crashed them occasionally. Now everything’s too precious and valuable to risk.
The Hybrid Stuff Is Whatever
I’m supposed to be excited that supercars are going hybrid but honestly I just don’t care. The SF90 has like 1000hp from a V8 and three electric motors. Cool. It’s faster than the non-hybrid version. But it’s also heavier and more complicated and sounds worse.
The LaFerrari was the same deal. Stupid fast, technological marvel, $3 million price tag. But does it feel better than a Carrera GT? Probably not. Just faster in a straight line which we’ve already established doesn’t matter.
Electric torque vectoring and active aero and all that stuff is impressive engineering. But it also means there’s 50 computers between you and the road. You’re not driving the car, you’re just giving suggestions and the car decides what to actually do.
My controversial take – the Porsche 918 is the only hybrid supercar that actually mattered because at least it sounded good and looked decent. Everything else is just adding weight and complexity to chase numbers nobody can use.
The Ones That Get It Right
Not everything’s terrible. The new GT3 RS is ugly as hell but at least it’s honest about what it is – a track weapon that happens to be street legal. Not pretending to be a grand tourer or whatever.
The new Ford GT was beautiful and focused and actually interesting. Shame it was also $500k and impossible to buy but at least someone still cares about design.
Bugattis are overpriced but they’re at least trying to be elegant instead of just aggressive. The Chiron’s not my thing but I respect that they went for smooth and sophisticated instead of angry and complicated.
Gordon Murray’s T.50 is probably the best modern supercar but good luck ever seeing one. Manual transmission, naturally aspirated V12, designed for driving not numbers. That’s the right approach but nobody else is doing it.
What I Actually Want
Give me a naturally aspirated engine that sounds incredible. Not 1000hp just like 500-600 that’s usable. Manual transmission or at worst a really good dual-clutch. Design that’s beautiful not just aggressive. Interior that’s focused and simple not trying to be a spaceship.
Basically I want a modern interpretation of the McLaren F1 or Carrera GT. Cars that were special because they were perfectly executed, not because they had the highest numbers in some spreadsheet.
But that doesn’t sell anymore apparently. Everyone wants more power, more downforce, more technology, more everything. Nobody wants less of anything even though less is usually better.
The Lotus philosophy of “simplify and add lightness” is completely dead. Now it’s “complicate and add downforce” which works for lap times but makes boring cars.
The Performance Paradox
Here’s the really stupid part – modern supercars are so fast that you can’t even tell the difference anymore. Is a car that does 0-60 in 2.5 seconds meaningfully different from one that does it in 2.7? Not to human perception it’s not.
Past a certain point it’s all just numbers on a spec sheet. Nobody’s daily driving skills are good enough to extract the difference between 800hp and 900hp. You’re not a race car driver. The car’s capabilities massively exceed yours.
So manufacturers are chasing diminishing returns on performance while sacrificing everything else – design, sound, driving feel, character. All to shave 0.3 seconds off a Nürburgring lap that nobody watching YouTube can even perceive.
It’s honestly kinda sad. These are supposed to be dream cars, objects of desire, things that make you feel something. But most modern supercars just make me feel tired looking at them. Too much everything. Not enough soul.
Maybe I’m Just Old And Cranky
Totally possible I’m just being a boomer about this and kids growing up now think the SF90 is the coolest thing ever. Like how my dad thought 90s supercars were too complicated compared to his Corvette or whatever.
But I don’t think so? Because even young car people I talk to seem more excited about old stuff than new. Everyone wants an NSX or a 911 from the 90s. Nobody’s saving up for a used Huracan because who wants to deal with those maintenance costs and that depreciation?
The magic’s gone is what I’m saying. Supercars used to represent pure aspiration and excitement. Now they represent engineering excess and diminishing returns. Numbers instead of experience. Anger instead of beauty.
Give me a clean E46 M3 and a good road over a 1000hp hybrid hypercar any day. At least I can actually drive the M3 hard without going to jail or dying. And it’s prettier too.
Anyway that’s my rant. Modern supercars are too fast to use and too ugly to look at and too expensive to justify and I’m honestly fine missing out on them. Wake me up when someone makes another Carrera GT or F1 that prioritizes perfection over numbers. I won’t hold my breath.