Ferrari 488 Compared to the McLaren 720s

BINGO! SPOT ON!

McLaren has MANY MANY issues they need to continue to work on.

The MC fanboys will say 570s is different and 720 will also--no they won't. 570 is already tanking.

 

I wouldn't say the 570 is tanking but you are starting to see softening of the prices. Lots of cars lose value but what we will see on 650 in next 6 months will be nothing short of epic. Majority of 720 buyers will be existing 650 owners. Doubtful they will keep both cars. Right now there are about 100 or so 650 for sale on Cars.com. I would expect that number to double by summertime. It's not as if they are going to limit 720 production. They will build as many as they can sell.

570- different pricepoint and market segment so should hold better but not by much.

 

And the blood bath begins. There is a spider with 7k miles listed for 207k ask which means it will likely sell for sub 200k. There is no reason to believe that the same won't happen with 720s. Once spider comes out, coupe will drop. Then 720LT comes out and spiders drop.

I think as much as I like this car, and it think it will be a great car- I'll let someone else trade in their coupe for a spider before I jump on board.

 

The depreciation curve is about to hit the entire market. There is just too much choice out there now. At the $170K+ price point, there is so much car performance available for road cars. I know everyone has their opinions on pedigree and history and brand, but seriously, in terms of sheer performance, it is crazy out there now. 2014 911 TTSs are $140K now. I leased a 570s because it made much more sense than buying a 2012 or so 458. You can lease Huracans for $3K a month now. I don't see this ever expanding luxury sports car market that can keep up with all of the supply.

 

I don't think so...but ok.

Net/net like I've said for months, 650 is tanking sub $200 (already seeing offers from dealers going in the $170's) and more realistically $160's.

The entire market is softening, but McLaren no matter how cool and oo ahhh, is a depreciation king. Terrible depreciation brand to own IMHO (unless you're so rich you really don't care -- which is probably 10%--the other 90% do).

488's are dropping seriously in the past 3 weeks--trust me I've been watching. Seeing $20-$30 drops on asking prices. Oooops.

 

I think the 650 owner will want the new shiny toy cause the shape of 720 makes 650 look seriously outdated. Don't get me wrong, I think 650 is a great car but it looks so aged just a year old compared to its successor.

 

+1


Cars:

2013 Ferrari 458 Spider
2014 Porsche 911 Turbo S Cab

Only 2 that I drive.

 

Ooh snap!

 

Yep; I'm not allowed to say but don't assume nobody has driven or owns a 720 despite the 'pics or it didn't happen comment'. Just because someone can't produce the info you want doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

Don't be so sure about that!

I've was fortunate enough to have a pre-production 720S in my possession from Thursday through yesterday (Sunday). I reset the trip computer when they gave it to me and when they picked it up from my house yesterday it had over 18 hours and 800 more miles on it. I did nearly all of them except a 2-hour 100 mile stint, during rush hour on I95, as part of the 5 hour trip home with the car from where I picked it up at Dulles Airport. During that time I played with the excellent new infotainment system (yes, to the surprise of McLaren owners everywhere, I said excellent infotainment system!) and pepper my friend (McLaren executive) with questions about the car and gave him my feedback from the first 5 hours I had already spent driving it. I had it for 3 hours before his flight arrived. Those Instagram shots/video of it driving around Virginia are me. The car had a little over 10,000 miles when I got it and a little under 11,000 miles when they took it away. It had been driven from California to Baltimore, had the camouflage wrap removed (on Tuesday when the car launched in Geneva) and then I met it on Thursday at Dulles Airport. The three guys handling the car even put the cover on it so they could ceremoniously uncover it for me after handing me the key!

I currently own an FF, and I've previously owned a 458 Italia and 458 Spider. I also own 4 McLarens (P1, MSO HS, 675LT Spider and 570S) but I still love my FF and the Ferrari brand as well.

I drove a 488 Spider about two weeks ago and I really enjoyed it. I found the 488 to be a big step up from my former 458 Spider and really fun to drive. The 720S is a an even bigger step up from the 650S than the 488 is from the 458. Everything about the 720S is new or improved and it genuinely leap frogs the competition as you'd expect it would.

I can't wait to see what Ferrari does in response but it's going to be a while because if they respond too quickly 488 values will tank faster than they would normally.

The reviews are going to be astounding and its going to an extremely high-demand car. I sold my 675LT Coupe for $20,000 more than I paid with 6 months and 2,200 miles on the clock. I think 720S will easily hold it's value in the first few years. I think this is the car that transforms McLaren. There will be more McLaren dealerships opening in more locations and more McLaren customers coming into the fold.

What there won't be is more McLaren 720S cars than there were 650S because McLaren now has two successful standard product lines (570S and 720S) that are roughly US$100,000 apart in price with clear performance and feature differentiation but capacity limited to maybe 3,500 cars for the year total. Plus they're still making a few hundred 570S Sprint and GT4 dedicated tracks cars among those as well and, like Ferrari, they have a clearly defined cadence to work from now - coupe, spider, LT coupe, LT Spider, special edition(s) over a 5-6 year lifecycle for each product line.

McLaren Automotive has only been selling cars for about 6 years old now (first cars launched in mid-2011) but has never had this kind of breathing room or a not-limited-production product this wonderful.

McLaren Orange, while historic, wouldn't be my choice of color for this car, especially not mixing it with the otherwise beautiful carbon fiber hood. This car was missing what I'd consider must-have options (it had manual seats, no HomeLink, and base stereo) but I would have bought it from them in a heartbeat if they'd have let me. It's that wonderful folks, it really is!

 

Mark, thank you for taking the time to post your impressions. Since I am very interested in the 488, I really appreciate your comment about the leap the 488 has over the 458 Spider in your opinion. My 458 was a great car!

 

I really wonder how they will sort out the price question in Europe since until now we had the following situation:
- 650S priced like a 488 (actually the McLaren slightly more expensive)
- 675LT priced significantly more (at least 50% more, which is some money at these levels of price)
Now they release a car that at the same time is supposed to be a huge step forward and at the same time is supposed to be a direct competitor to the 488...
If they price the 720S at a similar level as the 488, it might be an issue for Ferrari but it'll be actually more painful for current 650S and 675LT owners; and if they price it like a 675LT (which would make more sense to me) it will not be a direct competitor to the 488.

 

It's not a problem. It happens all the time, even with Lamborghini and Ferrari. Check out the stickers on the average 670SV and Speciale, and compare them to the Aventador and the 488. Believe it or not, but the out-going "worse" cars were much more expensive.

 

No, I am being dead serious. The 675 sounds a bit too turbocharged (turbo whistle and whoosh) for my liking. The AMG doesn't even compete, it sounds like a Yank V8...

 

Well, the track focused cars are always more expensive than the normal model of the successor car.

 

I agree with your comments. I've had a 12c, P1, 918, 458 Spider and 488 Spider.

I like the 488 Spider much more than the 458 (even though the latter sounds so good).

I havent driven the 720s but I plan on selling my 488 Spider while the getting is good to make room for the 720 and ultimately the Spider version. I continue to keep my F12 my favorite 700 hp hatch back.

From how you described it McLaren nailed it.

 

720 is better sounding than other Mclarens and 488?

 

Thank you for posting all of that.

The 720S is on my list within the next 2-3 years.

 

You're going to love it. The driving experience is fantastic.

 

The mclaren will almost certainly be faster than the 488 in every way. It's a brand new car. The 488 is a modified 458.

However I don't think the mclaren can outrun its ugliness. The design is a bit of a mess. And really both cars are plenty fast so buying one over the other just for numbers is stupid. Now how the cars feel to drive will be the question. I do think mclaren is one upping ferrari in that department these days.

 

There's a lot of things you can say about the 720 but "pretty" isn't the first thing that comes to mind.

 

Thanks Mark for your write up of the 720S. Its a fascinating car and it would seem they nailed their objective. I need to see one in person to know about the styling, but that is purely subjective. I am also encouraged that McLaren will differentiate the 720S spider more than the 12C and 650S coupe/spider. I think that's a good move.

If you could go back 10 years, could anyone imagine we would have so many incredible choices in the market?! Its astounding what these companies are doing now!

 

Very few modern supercars are 'pretty' in my opinion. A 993 turbo is, but the 720 looks like it came from another planet with performance to match. I personally love it and can't wait to receive mine.

 

I completely agree with you. Isn't that a shame?

 

I think all the critics of 720 are hung up on the headlite openings. imo, most important aspect of cars look is its profile and I think they nailed that completely. its like the evolution of the 458 and huyura in profile. cant like 458 profile and hate 720 profile. theyre very close and much more alike to me than 458 and 488. and as far as the headlites go, first people will get used to it just like they did when audi came out with huge grills. and 2nd, just get it in body color and wont even notice it. besides, 458 front looks like a catfish so cant have everything perfect