I think I'm done with Ferrari

Delusional....

 

Post 367 Sld... come on, pick it apart. We want to hear it.

Post 367. Tell the 95% of us here we are wrong. We want to hear it.

I'll make it easy for ya. It's on page 19.

We eagerly await your response to my delusional post.

Post 367.

 

It is too P & R, but I also think an issue is wealth concentration in society, too. I am blessed to be very, very comfortable, but I am a piker compared to the guy who can comfortably go but a new Ferrari. Ferrari's volume is still low enough compared to the people who can comfortably buy them that they do not need to change. For a comparison, look how well luxury goods did during 2008-10. Tiffany, Neiman Marcus and so on really did just fine. I just can't accept spending six figures a year to be in a Ferrari. So I don't buy new. But thousands of guys can and will, and that is the target marker.

The "men" in Sld7's parlance. Who knows if that works longer term.

 

Ferarrichat is for all aspects of the marque to be discussed good or bad. And when a long time Ferrari customer with as much involvement with this forum expresses some concerns, I for one take a look at the issues. For a Kool-Aid Kid such as yourself, please don't take what the Mayor says too hard. No one wants to see you rip that Ferrari poster down off you wall.

 

Ok above is my response. But please no more crying....

 

MAYOR
You have some good points love the new corvette you will enjoy it , for much of what you are talking about sounds like a nice 246GTS would solve most of the problems .. and may even appreciate ... every time I drive my dino I feel like I am driving all out and barely breaking the speed limit with around 200hp hard to get into to much trouble but it truly is a driving car no track needed..
friend has a 512 BB not bad either ...
regarding your earlier post on collision repair parts you have a point if you think ferraris are expensive trying having a MINOR collision they charge outrageous prices for the parts simple new bumper repair turned into 5 figures ++.. similar repair on a corvette several years ago about 2K.....

 

I had a 246 Dino GT for many years and I did enjoy it (I can tell you that few people in the passenger seat did). And, to some degree, I think the Alfa 4C is somewhat a modern version of it (although I wish it has a non-turbo V6 and manual box).

My problem with Dino's today is that they have become museum and collector pieces. When I had mine, it was a daily driver, the only car I owned. No one in their right mind would do that today.

Ferrari could make something more like the Dino/308 today when it did battle against the 911. I'm not saying they should have 1980 prices -- but it could philosophically. It just chooses not to do so.

For me, if they brought back 6 cylinder "Dino" branding at somewhere between the 150 to 180K price point, no one would be happier than me.

 

Hmmm... not sure everyone agrees with you here.

Well, you tried.

Maybe you're doing the crying and we're the adults in the room?


"OMG ...Do I run the company" is an interesting comment. Well, in a good company, the company responds to the likes and needs of its consumers, not the other way around.


Do I think I'm better than Luca? I think about 90% of the people on Fchat would say they are.


Hey... why don't you post that CEO's number for the rest of us while you're at it. I'm sure he won't mind! Obviously, you are at a higher level than us mere mortals. Sorry but the "Let them eat cake" thing went out in the 1700's. It would be nice if the rest of us had a person to talk to about issues to without the thought of retaliation.

It's kinda interesting hearing your responses. I wonder if others here agree that lowering insurance costs are not a good idea, having better communication with it's customers is not really something people need to bother themselves with, and having poor working GPS units that cost $3500 plus $3000 for the antenna installation is acceptable.

Or having to buy an overpriced older model just to get on a list for a newer model is a good idea.

I leave it to the other members here to decide if your response is adequate, reasonable, or just fan boy.

We are not crying. We are giving tough love. Consider this an Fchat intervention. It's about time and the fact that's it's reached this length is pretty telling.

 

That was just plain stupid. Have you ever owned a Ferrari? Or for that matter even sat in one? From what you have posted, one would have to assume no on both counts.

 

SLD7
If you don't like a post or thread YOU are the one that should move along. That's what I do. I don't read the thread that don't entertain me. And after over 37,000 post if Bob is not at the right place I think Rob would have banned him a long time ago.
You're probably just another kid that doesn't respect the experienced ones. There is a lot to learn from that man.

 

I really think it's a matter of owing the right Ferrari for you. I've been through practically everything and now I have found a niche of Ferrari that I really love. I sold off the Carrera GT, the Aventador and my older muscle cars and my older and newer 911's. As much as I missed my 997 Turbo, I won't go back to Porsche, it just didn't do it for me. It's only Ferrari now. Also, there is something to be said by having a Ferrari built in the time period from which you were born until you turned 18.

Look in that range and I do believe you will find that magic again. It's like a relationship with a woman, she's never going to be perfect and if you expect perfection you will be disappointed 100% of the time. Ferrari is a company with a distinct personality and a culture much different than anywhere else and it reflects directly in all of their creations. All of the good with the bad. That's what makes it a relationship, don't walk out on it, there is a lot more to love than what lies skin deep. I also think you should have a 12 Cylinder Ferrari. So on that note, I suggest you park a BB next to the new Alfa and you'll be back in business!

 

ok since he's out, who's the next Mayor to take over?

 

He said I THINK, maybe he's not out yet. Wait for the takeover ;-)

 

This thread reminds me of the same issues encountered when dating a model.

Just replace "Ferrari" with "my girlfriend that is a model".

Same benefits as well. :<)

 

Or replace "Ferrari" with "Golf"

How many times have I quit this game...only to be pulled right back in by one 120 yard pin high pitching wedge shot.

 

You could practically buy a golf course a year to be a new ferrari buyer. Municipal course way out of town anyway.

 

Just a fun hijack. At least Ferrari is still making cars for the U.S.

My plan since 2010 was to trade my Elise and Exige in for the new Espirit. Three years later... the Espirit has been canceled, the Exige and Elise discontinued in the U.S. and Lotus' future still up in the air.

So "I think I'm done with Lotus". But not by choice.

May (seriously) pick up a 430 next year. Then I can start complaining about Ferraris.

 

Some good suggestions, but consider this: the more of those suggestions that Ferrari acknowledges and addresses, the more they reign in parts, vehicle, and option prices, and the more they polish their customer experience, the more Ferrari will come to resemble every other luxury marque. In a certain sense, they can't take your advice without losing their identity.

That identity is based on contempt for the customer.... the kind of contempt that attracts the same customers who will pay a dominatrix to dress up in an SS uniform and force them to spend their lunch hour in a rabbit hutch. Contempt is as much a part of the Ferrari mystique as the stallion of Baracca, and it didn't start with Luca di Montezemolo. It goes all the way back to Enzo Ferrari, who was looking for a way to pay for his racing R&D and didn't know how to drill for oil, run a railroad, or sell credit default swaps. It was refined to an art by Luigi Chinetti, who wouldn't piss on a customer that was on fire.

Personally, what broke the spell for me was the letter in Forza a few issues back where it was pointed out that the defective interior materials in the F355 were still being used, unchanged, in all but the very latest Ferraris. Not only can there be no possible explanation for this besides contempt for the customer, but the other inescapable implication is even worse: they don't drive their own cars.

Maybe I'll go back into the rabbit hutch someday, but until then Mistress Luca can save the blindfold for her other clienti. I'm under no illusion that Ferrari will change its ways. It can't. For every Ferrari you and I don't buy, Justin Bieber will buy three.

 

Okay, that was funny.

 

Welcome to FChat

 

^^^^^^^^^^^
Correct.

 

The funniest analogy I have ever seen regarding Ferraris clientele.

 

And all three will indeed be equipped with the $3,533 USD carbon fiber cup holder option.

 

I have read this whole thread and felt sad for The Mayor in a way. Since I was 10 I have lusted after a Ferrari. The first was a 308, then 328 in my teens. At my parents house, my room still has pictures on the wall of a Testarossa, GTO, 328, and F40.

When I finally had the means to buy a sports car of this caliber, I drove as many as I could. I drove the 458, 360, 911 Turbo, Carrera S, Aston Martin Vantage, Audi R8, Nissan GTR, as many as I could. I ended up getting a brand new Carrera S in 2011, and hated it. It was like driving a computer. It would apply the brakes on a hill so that I wouldn't roll back and look like a dipshi*, when in fact, it was so unnatural, it made me look like a dipshi*. My wife drove it and loved it more than I did. It was a manual transmission so I did get some enjoyment from driving but not much.

When I decided to sell it because it just sat in my garage other than weekends, I began looking again at Ferrari. When I had no money, I looked on eBay for 308/328 and always thought that I should do it. I was afraid of the maintenance costs. When I had the means, I got to drive the 458, several 360s, and for some reason I decided to test drive a total POS 86 328 GTS that was down the street from my house. No other car that I had ever driven (458, Gallardo Superleggera included) put a freakin smile on my face like that POS with scratches and doors that did not even line up with the body. I decided at that time that I would finally get the car that I had lusted after since I was 12 years old.

I got lucky because a good one came available exactly when I needed it. In over a year of ownership I have had less issues than the brand new Porsche. I might get another Ferrari but will surely not sell this one. I made the ultimate sin of buying one sight unseen, no PPI, from a stranger. Being on Fcat I felt safe.

All of the newer cars that I have driven have been outstanding in most ways, except passion. I will NEVER own a sports car with an automatic transmission so I have to buy 430 or older. I am 40 years old and the only cars that I want are 365GTB/4 and Dino. If you would have asked me before I could afford them, it would be 458, Aventador, etc, etc.

The way I see it is like this... I see where The Mayor is coming from. A modern Ferrari is like the hot girlfriend that is a total beyotch. Your friends cannot understand why you would ever break up with her but in your mind the negatives outweight the positives of the annoying high maintenance loser. An older, dare I say classic Ferrari, is like the decent looking chick that you hooked up with in college that could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch. When everyone else was looking she wasn't as impressive, but when you were alone with her nothing could compare.

Mayor, get a Daytona, and I challenge you to not change your mind.

 

Don't be sad for me. It's the newest stuff I have a problem with. I still like Ferrari. I think they need to do a better job before I buy another new one.

Guys.... it's a freakin' quarter million bucks on the low end. That's a lot of dough.