If I had to buy one with my own money then I'm going to go with neither - based solely on the fact that neither offers a manual transmission.

I know their funky paddle-shift transmissions can shift in milliseconds, have been refined over the years and can produce astronomically short times over the Nürburgring but I don't fancy them, and I don't care for them - and if I have to pay that much money for a car, then I want to be able to specify a nice 6-speed manual transmission in it.

But, if I were to be gifted one, then I would be happy with either.
I would then sell it to buy a Diablo or a Gallardo Balboni.

I am too big a fan of the Prancing Horse to say McLaren... It will be the 458 all the way... (My T-Bhp id itself is scuderiaferrari)...

Although Mclaren have a strong repute in the motorworld community, their road cars are never that great. Even the F1 was purely a track car.

However, i am sure the MP4-12C would be a good car.

Ferrari have always had that glamor and brand to push their cars despite poor cars. Recently however they have just leapfrogged ahead of the competition(includes every other car maker) with their new line of cars purely with the usage of electronics in driver aids.

the difference in performance figures surely helps in marketing products but real difference is felt when you are on the wheel.

My vote to the Ferrari for the looks and performance.

@Naparajito

The 458 Italia is a normal series production car, which is sold to everybody, unlike Ferrari's limited production cars like the Enzo, which are sold by invitation.

So, like Shamik said for the 458 it is a case of "Have Moolah, Get Car".

@R.I.P

I dont think one would call a McLaren F1 as a track car. If you do that what would you call the road-going homologation specials of the F1 like the F1LM or the F1GTR. True, the F1 was not exactly very easy on the road, but which hypercar is easy on the roads.

I disagree with that statement.
If it was not one thing, thats a pure track car.
If anything it had to be modded considerably to make it track worthy.
It was meant for everyday usability as well, and as far as i remember, rowan atkinson used his for regular usage.
I mean, integrated tailored luggage?


PS:trivia -- > look up the #073 f1.best of both worlds!

I vote for the Ferrari !

Between the two contenders, it feels like that car has a soul. ( Don't ask me to explain, how ?)

For me the Mclaren.

It just looks like it's better screwed together to me.

The 458 for me! It looks incredible, sounds incredible and it has THE best badge of all. It's a no brainer.

If the Top Gear video for the MP4-12C is anything like how it was for the 458, it might be close. But deep inside, I'm a little boy who always worshipped anything with a Ferrari badge on it.

British humour is amazing. Italian automobiles are amazing. Mix the two and I lose interest! :P

agreed that the F1 was tweaked further for the track, but that was done basically to improve performance as there are certain limitations for road cars which do not apply on the track. Then again the F1 had no electronic aids to help the driver, and the central seating position is better for a track car. The F1 was made purely as a performance car for the "driver" which most of the big spenders in the world are not . Secondly hypercars can be made easy for the roads by using electronics & software which is exactly what Ferrari have been doing for a while now. The case is same in Formula 1 these days.

So although Mclaren have a strong repute for developing performance machines, they are nowhere close to Ferrari in terms of implementing it on the road cars and more importantly "making it work". You buy such machines not just to show off but also to put a smile on your face every time you floor the pedal or counter steer rather than grabbing hold to your dear life.

I think basically what you want to say is that F1 was scary as hell on the road.

But I dont think comparing it to today's hypercars is very nice. Today's hypercars have the advantage of putting so much computing power in a car that the cars' of the 90s or late 80's didnt have.

If you want to compare how scary and usable the F1 was, you have to look at cars like the Jag XJ220, Ferrari F50, Ferrair F40 and Lamborghini Diablo were.

Of these I will say the most track oriented was the Ferrari F40, which many owners did actually end up racing. The F40 with its wafer thin pain, extra thin body, ready to be race tuned V8 engine, complete lack of carpets or any other creature comforts was much more crazier for a road car than the F1.

The F50 was pretty crazy too, with almost everything derived straight from an F1 car. It had a massively loud engine, F1 derived engine, which had pathetic torque at low rpms. It had scary as hell response with the steering inputs, which had no dampers at all, and this when there was completely no electronic interface between your hands and the wheels.

So though the F1 was even crazier than that, it wasnt that much worse, as it seems when you look at today's cars. Today's supercars are much more usable on the road due to all the electronics, but the electronics were just not there in the 90's.

the heart will scream for the ferrari but the soul will yearn for the mclaren.

Ill go with my soul this time around.

The only thing not going in the ferraris favor is: there are SO many ferraris on the road, but only scanty few mclarens.

cheers,
ac

On the looks front, the Italia is neither graceful nor pure aggression...almost like a confused identity. The Mclaren looks much better all around. But I would park my money on the other Italian marque any day.

The Official McLaren Automotive website - McLaren Automotive.com

458 Italia's videos and photos

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If I had to impress a girl then a Ferrari Italia pulling up in her driveway would probably sweep her off her feet.
If i wanted to occupy the fast lane of the autobahn for the entire duration of my journey on it then a McLaren would be good.By the way,the tail lamp assembly of the McLaren reminds me of the V10 Audi R8.