Hello... i am thinking of buying a 599gtb at the moment and obviously this is a good place for info. as a little introduction. I am past ferrari owner (355 pozzi/cream), but have left for more german pastures. i have a 993gt2 (silver) a panamera turbo (black) and a bmw530xd DD. will post pics when i get to my other pc. to be honest I am here for help though... this is my dilemma: i am interested in a 599gtb in manual. i am certain that i prefer manual for myself, but I am very concerned about resale value.. it seems as though about 1/3 (in europe at least) are manual. does that seem reasonable? also are there any options that are mandatory? i.e. buying a car without these would render it unsellable? i appreciate the help and apologise for this blatant attempt to get information without having contributed much at all.. the pics are coming.
and here are the pictures I promised... thanks for your help. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I have never driven a gated 599. I currently do own a 599 F1. It has been my understanding that almost 90% of all 599's sold in the USA are sold with the F1 tranny. I have not noticed much difference in the asking price F1 vs. gated. But obviously when it comes time to sell you have a bigger supply of target buyers with the F1. The new replacement for the F430 the 458 will not even offer a gated shifter as an option. In the end, you should buy what you want.
thks.. i think the % might be a little higher in europe, maybe 20%, (i.e. more manuals/gated) but it will be difficult to find buyers. the only selling point would be that its one of the last ferrari made with the famous gate... thank you for the info.. i will have to get a reall good price before i am willing to sit with a manual car i think.
its great thks.. feels like a real gt, which is not what i was expecting. I was very pleasantly surprised. I have only driven around town so i can't give you much more insight yet.
thanks... i like the pdk in the porsche but to be honest it will probably be mainly used in automatic mode. the panamera is more of a day to day car. I know the gear change is amazing, but it will not be put to good use... sadly. On the other hand the 599 would be for fun on the road. while i greatly respect paddle cars I think they make the most sense for track cars where quick shifts are very useful. on the road i don't need to save any time, but simply want to savour each gear. I have no real need to try the f1 gearbox, I have tried a recent 612 and think i can imagine it. i will either find a very cheap manual... or look for something completely different. keeping my fingers crossed for a cheap manual though... I am 100% sure this is the best sounding car on the road... to my ears of course.
I can tell you that 430's in the UK in manual sell at a discount to F1. Couldn't tell you the exact amount but maybe £10k?
Take a look at this--> http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/showDetails.html?id=119820672&__lp=8&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=searchNetGrossPrice&sortOption.sortOrder=ASCENDING&makeModelVariant1.makeId=8600&makeModelVariant1.modelId=37&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&vehicleCategory=Car&segment=Car&siteId=GERMANY&damageUnrepaired=ALSO_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&export=ALSO_EXPORT&customerIdsAsString=&lang=en&pageNumber=1 Can that price be for real?
This is really it.....as others have said the 6 speeds are very rare in the US...many owners feel the engine managment software was designed to integrate to F1 shifting and they are probably right. Ferrari of Houston has a manual 599GTB, Ron Tonkin did also for a time....happy testing..... I'd favor a stick myself, were it me, but technology and time marches on. Tough problem to have!
Heres my opinion. You should know I am someone who loves to drive manual/ stick shift, but I also enjoy a paddle transmission if it is well done. The BMW SMG is not and I hated that. The Ferrari F1 is and I enjoy it. I have driven the 599 with a stick shift and I would strongly advise you to order the F1 with the 599. Short version: the stick shift feels out of place in the car. The one I drove must have had some issues but it was very difficult to engage 2 and 4 and the clutch engage point occurred with the pedal about 80% of the way out which I really did not enjoy. I came away from the experience thinking the stick shift implementation could not have gotten very much attention from the engineering department. I hate to say it because I think Ferrari usually does a wonderful job, but in this case I was just not impressed at all. I think its possible it comes down to personal preferences. In the end I think the 599 is about technology and the F1 is a more fitting choice. The car itself is wonderful- its kind of like having a hyper M or AMG car. Its not too hard to live with daily (indeed some do) and when you want to go easy it can do that just fine, and when its time to get more aggressive the car really will impress you. As for other options, I think it depends on where you are but I would not get the star wheels, and the CCM brakes are now standard. The high fi radio is OK but not amazing. I think your real choice is whether or not to get the HGTE and I think if you want the protection of the optional run flat tires then I dont think you can get the HGTE. Otherwise if I were ordering one today, I'd get the HGTE but opt for the regular interior as I personally like it better.
than you all for the input. i just watched the top gear review.. and in between all the jokes it did seem as though one of the 599's most important characteristic is all the electronic controls, which obviously make more sense in an f1 equipped car. It is also interesting to hear that the manual doesn't seem that well sorted. That is certainly disappointing. I will keep an open mind and continue my search. I will of course post up some pictures should the search ever become successful. thank you for your help.
Top gear is a comedy show. Don't give too much importance to what they say. Read the evo review instead. I think it was very well made. I believe someone here scanned it. I'll see if I can find it.
Ok. Found it. SPEEDCORE, an Australian Fchatter, kindly posted these some time ago. It's a good read. http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_01.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_02.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_03.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_04.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_05.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_06.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_07.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_08.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_09.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_10.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_11.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_12.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_13.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_14.jpg http://www.coresworld.net/evomag/evo93ferrari599_15.jpg ..but at the end of the day you should really drive the car yourself. I'm fairly confident that you would love it. That 599 does everything so well. When you want to cruise calmly it does it happily...and when you want to play it gets the hair on the back of your neck standing. Open the exhaust valves (we had a switch installed to do that) and it sounds FANTASTIC at all RPMs. It really is a glorious car IMO. We drove from Monaco to Stuttgart and back in a week-end (roughly 2500km/1500miles) and the journey didn't even seem tiring because the car makes traveling such a joy! There is no other car I'd rather cross a continent with! She really is a magnificent GT car. But then, when you want to go for a drive in some mountain roads the car feels extremely nimble and composed (at least to me...but I'm far from a pro driver). It almost feels like a big go-kart at times! IMO you'd love the F1 too gearbox too. It really works perfectly on the car. Go drive it and let us know what you think!
ferrarista you are a true gentleman. thank you for finding the article for me. I am certainly not too concerned about getting an f1 box now. The choice will ultimately come down to finding a good car at a great price. I will keep you all informed.
I know someone who has a manual 599, and they haven't been happy with the transmission. In fact, it's for sale (and has been for a long time), I believe because the owner ordered a replacement with F1. And this is a hard-core manual guy. After putting some serious miles (around 5,000) on my F1 612, I can say a short test drive really doesn't tell you much. It's much more pleasant to live with than on a test drive. And if you test drove an older 612, without the Superfast transmission, then you'll really be surprised at how good it is in the 599 or the later 612s.
donv... i drove a 612 a month back that had the new faster f1 box. and it was absolutely perfect... extremely fast and smooth. there is nothing wrong with the ferrari f1 boxes for sure. it's just me there is something wrong with me, i love manual.... however you are now the second person to tell me of the less than perfect 599 manual boxes. i will have to think long and hard whether it really it is time to give up hope of having another ferrari with a manual box. thanks for the input.
