Raise Your Hand if You Want 3 Pedals!

Wind in your hair....Hand on the stick. I will cancel my order if I can't have a manual.

 

Anybody remember the Ferrari Mondial Valeo? Two pedals with a stick shift. For those who want to row through the gears without a clutch pedal.

Anyway, if Ferrari continues to offer both transmissions, it won't surprise me if the traditional 3 pedal option eventually is priced more than the F1 system strictly because of lower demand. Ferrari wants to make money, and right now there is a lot more demand (easier to sell) for the F1.

I think a few years ago, diMontezemolo said there would always be a traditional transmission available as long as he was there. However, he didn't say it would be available in every model line.

 

3 pedals and a stick please. I really, really do not like the sound when the car shifts with a dual clutch, it sounds way too unnatural. I don't have the biggest beef with flappy paddles though, mainly the gearbox itself. But even then I would like a stick sequential more than a flappy paddle sequential, even if it still went through the computers. I'm one of those people who think flappy padles take away from the driving experience. Some may say the semi-automatic helps in stop and go traffic, but where I live there really is none so it's not much of a problem. The only downside to the regular manual would be it would probably get a little slower to 60.

 

I think as far as Ferrari goes, we may have seen the end of the gated shifter.
Yet Lambos continue to offer stick on their models. Progress and majority of
younger Ferrari owners raised on paddle shifters and playstation seem to have
won out.

 

Seems if manual shift with 3 pedals ever returns as an option it will be on the GT V12s and V8s, not the mid-engined supercars.

 

Thanks for the great post. Couldn't say it better, and totally agree. I really hope they continue making both.

-- Gordie

 

Would it be a 7-speed?

 

+1000


sadly industry "progress" and consumer trends don't agree

 

I often wish my 06 Coupe CC was a stick, until I am pushing it hard.
If they had offered a good looking gated shifter instead of a slushly looking leather covered 6 I probably would have bought that for the typical purist reasons.
But DAMN, the F1 tranny works well.
I think we have to accept the technological advancement.
I want a 365 GT4 or Boxer someday and that will suffice for the NEED.
Love the lines on the 458!
Ray

 

+1

 

Brilliant!!!!

 

Late to the thread..........

As an owner of one of those dinosaur like 430's with a stick, I thought I would mention I had no trouble keeping up with and sometimes passing two pedal 430's at Road America last week. Driving might be more important than the number of pedals. More important to me was when my Friday inistructor commented my heel/toe was nearly flawless. I just beamed. OK, bragging over, I know that in the case of two indentical drivers in identical cars except for the number of pedals, the two pedal car has an advantage, but I ain't racing these things and no one else here is either.

But I accept that I'm a dying breed. Ferrari claimed that a six speed manual would be offerred on the California but I have not heard of one yet and it is nearly a year old. I think the odds of a three pedal 458 being produced is remote. My 430 is now yesterday's news, an anachranism, a curiosity to those who see a stick and wonder where the paddles are. I guess I'll just keep it. I've already gotten my deposit back on a 458.

Dave

 

I would guess that the only opinions that matter to Ferrari are from the original purchasers. If you want the three pedal option to continue, then enough people need to show up to the dealership with checkbooks in hand, to make it worthwhile for Ferrari to continue offering them. So, no matter what system you want, vote with with your wallets.

 

I did and have never regretted it .

 

Some day in the future, after all manual transmissions are gone and replaced by CVTs, someone will think of the idea of shifting manually. It will be advertized that it is great fun to control the clutch with your leg and to actually change the gears by hand. A creative company will offer a modified CVT to simulate the "look and feel" of a manual. People will go crazy over this idea and they will sell millions of them!

 

I love both.. is that so bad? I would be torn. The F1 box is a superior technology in every way, and I love having perfect downshifts and blips, ultra fast shifting with zero chance of miss shift, grinding, etc on the street or track, and one extra gadget to nerd-out on.

With that said, I loved my 6sp 360, as well as my Noble (which is a REAL purists car - no ABS, traction control, AC as an option) for all of the reasons already mentioned and I am 100% empathetic. But you cant say anyone is any less of an enthusiast or purist because they want a 6sp 458. Maybe maybe.. but not necessarily. They provide a great and unique experience in 2 very different ways. Sometimes I want to row and enjoy the snick-snick and practice my heal-toe, other times I want to haul @ss a bit more mindlessly..

6sp should be a no cost option or even at a cost. More profit, satisfy the purists.

$.02

 

Ferrari has a special option package available. It has a a three pedal 4 speed transmission, wooden wheels, bias ply tires, hand crank starter and wind-up windows, all for a mere $50,000

 

Looks like the F1 wins out.
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I have NO INTEREST whatsoever in a "Modern" 3 pedal Ferrari! I drive a 3 pedal 997TT as my DD right now and I LOVE the feel of the stick, clutch, gear ratios, etc......BUT, In my 430 I had an F1 and in my incoming 599 HGTE I have an F1. I LOVE the way Ferrari does the F1 system!!! It's as much fun (or more) than a manual and it's WAY more versatile if you live in a auto infested, traffic, no mans land called Los Angeles.

 

I would like them to offer stick as an option, but i do not think i would order a 458 with one.
I may not want a 458 with manual tranny, but i would definitely want to have a mt Ferrari in the garage.

So, when the time comes and i am in the market for a 458, i would be sure to try to keep the one i have.
If i cant have both, the decision i have to make probably would not be about the gear system of the 458 but weather i can have enough satisfaction from a Ferrari without the click clack or not...
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Nothing is more satisfying then the click-clack of the stick in the gates,the constant improvement in smoothness and speed the more you own/drive the car.
Having said that,IMO,a stick (in a 458 especially) would significantly compromise the unreal performance the new dual clutch provides,hence my order will be with the new tranny.

 

Actually, the ratios for gears 1-5 are identical to the GT3, but the Final Drive ratio is shorter and 6th gear is taller. But I agree with the title of the article

 

True, the shrill three-pedal crowd is overrepresented here.

I wonder if the number of gears is making a manual less feasible. I remember learning to shift on a 4 speed VW, then improved on a 5 speed Fiat X1/9. With 7 gears, I think the possibility for error would be higher than most drivers would tolerate. The gate would start getting pretty wide...

I am also pro-choice on the gearbox question.

That is interesting. I think that for most non-racing cars (like the F430, 458, Porsche GT3, etc.) the milliseconds in shift speed probably don't amount to much. Schumi in an F1 race -- sure. Joe Weekend Track Guy in his F430 or GT3 -- not really.

Also, I know Porsche takes weight savings seriously, so maybe that has something to do with it (?)

 

That was a reason given, but the real reason is that Porsche's race-bred GT1-based motor as used in the GT3 does not mate to their PDK dual clutch box. It only works with their newer/cheaper engine blocks. This is the reason that the facelifted 997 Turbo has forsaken the bulletproof GT1 engine block for the first time this year (so they could add PDK and save TONS of money on production cost of the motor).