Guys, With the weather finally improving on the east coast, I finally got a chance to take my 612 on my first LONG drive. Drove up to upstate NY from Northern, NJ with the wife and 2 kids. About 260 miles each way. It was simply awesome and I was amazed with the capabilities of the 612 being a completely comfortable long distance cruiser for everyone on board, while continuing to provide the superb level of performance and driving enjoyment that it does for the driver (myself ). A huge difference from the Porsche 911 Turbo I had a couple of years ago which I enjoyed driving long distance but the family absolutely hated it because of the noise level in the cabin, the stiffness of the suspension and the really cramped quarters in the rear seat (even for young kids). I only did one long drive in the Porsche with the family but I suspect this trip last weekend but the first of many in the 612. Do others here drive their Ferrari's here for long distances frequently? Would love to know more about your experiences. 612scag
Drove the Boxer to Toronto for FCA 2008 event. Very good ride, and the car was fun on the track at Mosport, albeit a little heavy. The kids have largely outgrown the Mondial and hate being in the windstream in the back seat. With the top up, the drone of the motor puts everyone except me to sleep. It's rather funny pulling up somewhere in this noisy car filled with sleeping people slouched over at odd angles....
I can imagine! kids slept pretty much all the way on the way upstate and back home. Which was actually quite cool because in my old 911 TT, they would be yelling and cranky about how noisy it is and how they couldn't sleep!
My kids aren't always thrilled about taking a ride in my E-Type (it's not a 2+2, they sit side by side in the front seat). We never go far, but I tell them a story about how, when I was a kid, I would be like a puppy dog waiting to go for a ride in my Dad's Austin-Healey 3000. The Healey had "jump seats", and my Dad would leave the top down and drive me and my 2 brothers around - we LOVED it! Surely unsafe, but there was too much excitement to sleep!
I wish I could relay an ownership experience, but I haven't had the excitement of buying my own Ferrari yet, so it's nice to hear your stories. I've always liked the 612, but never really took alot of in-depth interest in it until recently. I re-read the newest brochure recently (don't laugh), not to mention some other reading material and it's shed a new light on the 612 for me. Also, there's a 2010 OTO 612 in the Ferrari of Central New Jersey showroom and I was looking at it during the recent viewing party and it just really captured a new interest in me. I say this, because it's weird that "612Scag" posted what he did, because I was picturing the 612 being a great, dare I say, family "car." It would without a doubt be my choice for a family Ferrari, carrying both performance and extreme comfort. "612scag," thanks for your story, it's nice to dream for a bit until I purchase my own, GRAZIE!! Ciao. Mark
The longest I have driven in the 456 is around 100 miles each way. It is extremely comfortable to drive long distances. My kids are only 6 and 5, so comfort is not an issue for them. My only concerns in driving long distances are parking and reliability. My car is blue, so it doesn't get the attention a Rosso Corsa would, but I still worry about parking in unfamiliar places. Reliability is a bigger issue. During one 50 mile trip, one of the fuel pump relays failed on me, which was disconcerting. I never worried about this sort of thing with my '85 911, but it was a Bosch relay, so I guess I probably should have.
My first longest drive was in a 355 from LA to San Francisco, and that was last year, when I was 18. And this year I moved from LA to NJ in a budget truck, 1 hell of a drive with mom, I wanted to strangle her because she kept complaining about the rain LOL but hey.. Mothers will be mothers.
Last August my dad and I took a weekend trip from our home in Westchester up to Saratoga Springs (close to 400 miles round trip) in our Maserati Gransport Spyder. Beautiful weather, top down both ways, it was a great ride and the car returned surprisingly high mpgs. It was a mechanically uneventful and trouble free trip. Our usual trips never usually exceed 20 miles so this was pretty special. Its amazing how much better these cars run when you actually drive them.
'98 355 F1 Spider...nothing more than driving from Fort Salonga (NS of LI western Suffolk) to Bayridge Brooklyn to show a friend my car. Car ran well except for the fact that I got stuck in horrible traffic on the BQE (surprise!) on the way home. These cars don't seem to like stop and go traffic very much. But I had the top down the whole way and really enjoyed the ride. Everybody next to me was asking questions about my car. Def felt pretty cool!
