Daily drivers: the future has started

Thanks for sharing, but I reckon the 360 started the daily driver for Ferrari.

See how many 360s are out there with 'high miles'. The 355 had p/steering also, but higher maintenance costs than the 360 they are not used a daily driver as much as the 360 I reckon.

The 360, 430 and now 458 are all VERY capable daily drivers. Some people still use them as weekend toys also.

 

New trend? They had all that... and good looks... with the Mondial.

 

The 250GTE had all those things, in 1961!

 

How could I forget that and the 456 also?

Any Ferrari with p/steering is a much more attractive to use as a daily driver. Especially in city driving/traffic.

I know of people using Testarossas and 308s as daily drivers, so I guess everyone is different.

 

Who knows, maybe in the near future Ferrari might go about creating a 'famliy' supercar without compromising looks and performance that it just deserves?

 

Just to make it worse as it will denegrate shortly : Define 'daily driver'

[be sure also to vote for your Ferrari, and if you own more than one, well, you have a lot of daily choices as well, I'm sure]

 

I know of a few that are daily driven.

 

I can't see how the comfort of the California is any different than that of the Mondial... well okay there might be more room in the Mondi's back seats

...and you're going to have a hard time telling me the California's V8 (with all its electronic gizmos) is more reliable than the 328 platform on which the later Mondials were built.

You want 2 models at the same time? What are you, Hugh Hefner? The 412 was out around the same time, but I dunno about it's reliability...

 

I remember Jim Glickenhaus saying that he used a Testarossa as a daily driver for years through rain or shine until the chassis was compromised by rust and it killed the car. I recall he had something routine done on it at about 115k miles, so he certainly put more miles on it than that.

For my own plans, I'm aiming for a 348 and would seriously consider making it a daily driver. The question is whether I buy something very cheap to store alongside it if I had the Ferrari in bits in the garage, or if I make the Ferrari my only car to rely on. Hmmm...

All the best,
Andrew.

 

As long as they keep making the likes of Challenge Stradale and Scuderia, I'm fine with it.

 

I'll stick with my Ferrari Escape Hybrid for daily driving. Good gas mileage, good in snow and no worries driving and parking in Manhattan.

 

Any Ferrari can be a daily driver, is up to the owners to do so or not, but all are capable and reliable enough. I did so with a 328 and later a Testarossa and were very reliable.

 

It would be sad if Ferrari followed the course Porsche is taking!

The Cayenne and now the Panamera. Taking an exotic and making it into a daily driven family car ruins the mystique of the marque.

 

I use the 308 as a DD except during the hot summer months or when going into a crappy part of the city; were I to go back to work I'd take it daily if the parking situation was satisfactory.

 

Ferrari have focused more on luxury recently, so there's no doubt they're looking at an aging population and figuring out how to make money from it. California, FF, 599, et al are cars that a Mercedes owner would find at least recognizable, while the 458, 328 and others are sports-driving oriented, as you say.

But:

1. Why would an F430 be less reliable than the complicated, gizmo-laden California?

2. A 599 is a heavy grand tourer, leather-lined, power seats, climate control, carries golf clubs, etc. Not a race car by any measure. It's fully a daily driver.

 

I agree. It mostly comes down to the width of the owner's backside, age (flexibility) and tolerance for maintenance.

People daily drove Jaguar XK120s back in the day. No a/c, no power seats/locks/windows, no power steering, sat nav, traction control, ABS, etc. I think it's all relative. Too often today, in 2011, "daily driver" is synonymous with "boring car".

 

Except Enzo never cared if his cars were comfortable, reliable, daily drivers... Poor Enzo

 

IIRC there was a great story in Forza a few years ago about some Count in Italy who used his 250gto as a daily driver, smoking cigars the whole time, and brought his big dog with him wherever he went, I think he put a blanket down on the leather!

Gotta love that guy!