Competition is good for all of us. The Mayor is simply pointing out what he doesn't think they got right. I agree with a lot of it personally. It's important to keep Ferrari honest.
Or within shouting distance. Now, back to the 488. I got an invite in Aug to see one. Maybe I will change my mind by then of some of my criticisms. Then again....
Ferrari is still tweaking the sound. At the recent launch in San Francisco, they wouldn't start the car because the exhaust tuning was still under development.
After getting burned on my reservation for a Speciale Spider I had been waiting to see the successor. I am not bothered by the sound but I agree with you regarding the styling. IMO, it is not fluid nor cohesive. The 458 was a more exciting design.
This is what i like about Ferrari, I have the choice between different product lines with different characteristics, each product line has its own special charm. In my case, what do I expect from the most race oriented Ferrari product line, the mid engine product line? You are right, highest driving performance. Beauty? Nice, but not so important. I have it already written before, I LOVE my Scud, although it is not the most beautiful Ferrari, this car is a driving machine and not a fashion model. Sound? I take it with me, but let's be honest, the V8 could never keep up with the V12, it had always been like that. Was the 458 a beauty? I still do not like that ridiculous front with the mustache and these rear lights with a look like Sid from Ice Age. Is it important? No, I admire the 458 for its overall package, it was the worlds best V8 mid engine car till now. 458 sound? C'mon, who has not improved the sound with a sport exhaust system. Yes, I see it also, the GTB is not the nicest and the best sounding Ferrari, but this car is damn fast and sharp, this car reflects a new level of performance capabilities. And when I see all the smiling faces behind the wheel of the 488 GTB I'm totally convinced this car fulfills its destiny! The provision of highest driving performance and dynamics. Btw, the GTB is only the "comfort oriented GT-version" from this product line...
I might suggest that one point is being missed here. This so-called "progress" is not like these companies are discovering "better" engines that stir the soul. Their "progress" is mandated by emissions laws that get stricter and tighter as the years go on. For me personally, what is being called "progress" is more like a forced death march to what excites us about cars.... without consideration that A) These cars add such an incrementally small amount of CO2 or whatever pollution-of-the-day because they are produced in small numbers and are not driven that many miles per year. And B) If you mandate the thrill out of all cars (in all it's glorious senses) then we have to start calling progress as meaningless or even a forced march backwards. Why do I say this? Because increasing the "thrills" of driving at every level has been the very essence of what's been called "progress" for so long now. Of course, if you think driving a Tesla is more thrilling than a NA 4.5 liter engine at 9000 RPM then perhaps you think that progress is a "flattening" of our senses, a denial of what excites us.... and a mandatory denial at that. I don't call that progress. I call that dictating what we can and cannot have in a specialized, low volume uber quality sports car. One last thought... when we say "progress" I'm not talking just about better shocks, better control systems, better aerodynamics and better styling. What we're really talking about here is the enforced neutering of the joy of an engine. And that's not progress. That's loss being called progress. I mean if we want to go all the way with "progress" then let's just all take turns jumping out of planes... we'll go 200 mph before hitting the chutes... pretty thrilling stuff I can tell you from experience... and let's just make all cars the same and call it progress.
What is progress exactly? Many will have a different opinion. Many years ago when we were all speculating on what the 458 might be, someone put up a post. He asked: wouid you rather like the 458 to be faster than the F430 or more emotional? By far the majority said more emotional. Too bad Ferrari never listens to us.
I actually think Ferrari have done a fantastic job on the 488. Just think of the challenges they faced when making the successor to the 458 1. The 458 is almost universally considered the benchmark in this segment despite being 5 years old. Not something that is going to be easy to top 2. Emissions rules - are they logical is irrelevant they have to be complied with 3. Engine needs to be less than 4L to sell competitively in China - probably the fastest growing market. Commercial reality. 4. The existing NA engine was reaching it's "reliable" power/torque limit 5. Kers style systems are probably too expensive for the "cheap" ferrari Despite all of these headwinds, they have needed to produced a faster car. Not only have they done that, they have produced a car that (from reviews) is just as, or more engaging to drive than the benchmark 458, and even faster on track than the lightweight track focused speciale. Yet even more compliant than the original car. The acceleration is now in another league - Ferrari are quoting quicker times across the board than the insane F12. They also appear to have almost eliminated turbo lag - the leap forward here alone looks seriously impressive. I know I am in the minority here, but I also think the car looks better than the 458. So despite all the challenges they have managed to make the car better in almost every way. .. except sound. Does it sound as good as the 458... no, but I think it's very impressive considering the obvious challenges. I may have drunk the kool aid, but I think they may have made the new benchmark.
Just read the Evo article on the 488. They agree with you on the power and performance - particularly on the track. Their conclusion seems to be that it lacks soul and I think the implication is that they prefer the Speciale in this regard. I understand that people benchmark the F cars against Maclaren etc. but to me it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Most of us can't drive these cars close to their limits - so fastest lap times and 0-100 times are something we generally won't experience. I respect Maclaren and Porsche for what they've done but I have zero interest in their cars. Their design and presence just doesn't do it for me and I find them bland. It's not to say that one of them couldn't leave my Aperta in it's rear view mirror but honestly I don't care. As other posters have pointed out, the 488 will be a runaway success and I'm sure all dealers will have significant wait times on their cars. The manufacturers are in the game of improving performance etc. and that's what the market seems to expect.
Not all 458 owners will trade up for 488s, just like every previous V8 model change. So they have to attract new buyers to sell the new model. They have to be competitive with other marques. Porsche and Macca have turbos. So 488s are competitive. Some buyers will have never driven a 458. Looks wise the 488 will appeal to more buyers than the competition. I see no problem with them selling all the 488s they make. A friend offered to let me drive his Italia but warned: after you drive it you will want to buy one. And i did buy one. I suspect the same rule applies to the 488. If you dont drive the 660 hp turbo you can probably resist the urge to buy one. I suspect to trade my 458 spider on a 488 spider would be about $100k. Or I could buy a Boxster GTS or Boxster Spyder or an Audi RS5 and still have my 458 Spider. Or lots of other cars like an Alfa 4C, etc. if money is no object then all bets are off.
I'm hopeful that Ferrari will remain on the cutting edge of driving emotion but fearful that the brand will become one of conformity. Years from now will they lose that notoriety and become just another exotic car? I'm sure the 488 will be "sold out" but will it be sell out? Time will provide the answer. I'm remain optimistic.
I think all this "emotion" talk will fade in a year or two after the 488 is out. I recall the same kind of talk about manual transmissions in the 360 early 430s when the F1 was gaining popularity. Then came the double clutch and manuals are essentially extinct and no one really complains any more. Of course there will always be purists but again those small few could never buy enough cars to keep corporations running. This is how the world works. The analogy with music is similar with vinyl to CD and now even digital music or film photography versus digital.
Anyone old enough will remember when the 308 went fuel injection. It was the end of Ferrari as we knew it, the last straw for many. Ferrari had gone soft, the 308 was no longer a 'driver's' car. And on and on. And now the doubters are hailing a fuel injected car, the Speciale, as the last great Ferrari.
There's a big difference between tranny/shifter changes and hi rev NA vs turbo motors. As far as music goes, vinyl (analog) well sorted still trumps digital big time.
In reply, I just wish to diffferentiate between progress that Ferrari has made on it's own, as opposed to progress forced on Ferrari because small minded people think that a Ferrari is not allowed to be a Ferrari, at all levels. One could say exactly the same thing about "progress" in F1. I drove Formula Atlantic when Senna and Prost were going at it, and I sat there in the stands in Canada and got my socks knocked off as the cars came off any hairpin. The point was that those engines made a sound that you could never get anywhere else... the experience was visceral. And now where are we?? Why are we willing to call this "progress" to silence the songs of engines? Here's another analogy. I owned a record company that was distributed world wide through the 90's. And my "progress" was to demonstrate how I could make CD's sound as "engaging" as vinyl, yet have superior properties. That was progress, technical progress to either maintain or increase the emotional hooks of why we listen to music in the first place. Now imagine if someone decided that digital music had the capacity to be "too loud" and made it mandatory that all CD's or playback systems must only "pollute" the air with music at a set loudness and no more. Imagine !! So yes, I see where Ferrari and others are "doing the best they can" under the circumstances... and maybe they will sell all their cars (we'll see). But to declare that this is truly progress is ludicrous simply because it's not why we have these kinds of cars in the first place. Like I said, you want to simply build 700hp electric cars and be done with it? OK then, buy it, drive it, knock yourself out. Drink all the skim milk in your coffee that you like... but it's a damn shame in my book that you won't enjoy the little bit of cream that can make coffee a true indulgence (if you drink cream of course). Opera might disappear off the face of the earth. Listening to a full orchestra playing live might disappear. Should they? Must they? And what do we lose but passion in the end?
