Ferrari Vs. Lamborghini: Which Is Faster?
Ferrari and Lamborghini are Italy's foremost supercar makers. It seems like the two companies have been trying to one-up each other since the dawn of time. Ferrari was the first company to come along and was officially founded in 1948 when Enzo Ferrari showed off the 166 MM Barchetta at the Turin Auto Show. Lamborghini didn't come along until 1963 when Ferruccio Lamborghini, a man who got his start building tractors, wanted to become an automaker for the sole purpose of beating Ferrari at its own game.
In the proceeding nearly 60 years, whatever Ferrari comes up with, there's bound to be a Lamborghini in the works that will outdo it. And when it looks like Lamborghini is about to clinch victory and declare supercar supremacy, Ferrari produces another car to make Ferruccio's company work just a little harder. It's like Batman and the Joker, one can't exist and innovate without the other. For every Ferrari F40, there's a Lamborghini Countach and for every Murcielago, there's an F50. But it begs the question. Today, in 2023, which competing automaker makes the fastest car?
Lamborghini's best
In 2023, if you wanted to buy the absolute best Lamborghini had to offer, you wouldn't have to look any further than the Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae. The Ultimae is the very last naturally aspirated non-hybrid V12 Lamborghini the brand will produce and the last Aventador model and it's sending it out with a bang. At $507,353, according to Car and Driver, the last Aventador is not at all even attempting to be attainable. That V12 sends 769 horsepower through all four wheels to the tune of a scant 11 miles per gallon, according to Lamborghini.
For the all-important speed metrics, it doesn't take a racing engineer to know that the final Aventador is fast, like really fast. It can launch itself to highway speeds in 2.8 seconds thanks to the tremendous amount of grip it enjoys from its all-wheel drive powertrain. For top speed, the Lambo can reach 355 kilometers per hour (221 miles per hour), per Lamborghini. It may seem that only Bugatti, another one of Lamborghini's Volkswagen Group-owned cousins, has the specs to beat Automobili Lamborghini, but how does Enzo's pride and joy stack up?
The thoroughbred pride of Maranello
Ferrari is interesting in that it kind of splits its lineup into two separate categories. There are Ferraris a mere mortal could buy for more than the price of a large house like the $524,815 Ferrari SF90 Spider, or there are Ferraris that you have to pay the price of a small country to have the privilege of looking at even indirectly. One such car is the Ferrari Daytona SP3, part of the brand's hyper-exclusive Icona series. That car, according to Car and Driver costs $2,226,935. But what does over $2 million worth of Ferrari get you besides being able to brag that your car's price tag has two commas?
Ferrari says the 829 horsepower V12 that powers the Daytona SP3 is the most powerful engine that the marque has ever produced. It can propel the Daytona SP3 to 60 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds. But it's not actually the quickest accelerating Ferrari as the aforementioned SF90 Spider can accomplish the same feat in 2.5 seconds, three-tenths of a second faster than Lamborghini's best. But as far as top speed is concerned, Ferrari says the Daytona SP3 will do "over 211 miles per hour."
The numbers don't lie. Ferrari may have the win when it comes to sheer acceleration, but Lamborgini inches out the victory in top-end speed with the Aventador. Of course, given enough time, Ferrari will likely build a car with a higher top speed and Lamborghini will most certainly build a faster-accelerating car. It's the circle of life.