Ferrari Today - There's Something Missing

Same for me, and I am 48 .

 

It's been downhill since the debut of the 458 for me. I still remember the day that car was shown to the world. I felt like a 10 year old boy again who wanted to hang the poster in his wall. Since then, nothing has wowed me. I feel with the profit/board member driven new model lineup we will get a watered down feel to the brand soon. I hope I'm wrong!

 

That's probably because all of their mid-engine offerings since the 458 share the same basic shape. To the untrained eye, one could probably confuse the 488, F8, and even the SF90. The side profiles especially are all quite similar.. Aside from the lack of side air vents on the 458, they all look like a mash of the same thing. The 458 looked worlds different than the 430.. I don't get that feeling with the recent offerings. All beautiful cars, mind you.. As I love all Ferraris.. But, there hasn't been an earth shattering new design yet. We'll see what they do with little brother, as that's the car replacing and slotting into the mid-engine V8's price and performance level. That's an important car for Ferrari's transition into the future. Hopefully they nail it.

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There may be something missing for you, but for someone else it's all there. In other words it is all up to personal preferences, Ferrari could produce a radical design and you would love it while the next guy laments what happened to tradition.

I belong to several car forums and this comes up with some frequency. Some people love a new design and others loathe it.

I don't think any car manufacturer can ever satisfy all their customers all the time.

 

I think I started to get a bit disillusioned with Ferrari (it's going to be controversial) during their golden era in F1.
Schumacher moved to Ferrari in 1996 and I was very excited. But a few years later when they were winning every race, Ferrari was plastered in every newspaper around the world, they were making more special edition cars (550 Barchetta Pinifarina, etc) and people that had never considered buying a Ferrari started buying them like music rappers, celebrities and sports personalities.

Prior to that Ferrari was an enthusiasts team - my team !!
I supported them but very few others did. Most went for the always competitive McLaren or Williams. After the Schmacher era I kind of felt the secret was out and they went from a sports car company to a global marketing "brand".

By the way, I turn 50 in two months time.

 

I've said this a lot of times but to me, the F430 was a more interesting car than the 458. The 458 is a wonderful car. But, it doesn't have real guages. It has a "smooth as silk" DCT that while technically superior, doesn't feel like real pieces of metal are slamming together back there.

I'm fine with them making the 2 seaters more like GT's. But everyone is making 2 seat GT's today -- Lambo, McLaren, Audi, now even Chevy.

I wish their cars got back some of that analog flavor again, even if it sacrificed speed to do so. And I don't think the "light weight" stripped out versions should be "special".

And I also agree that its racing heritage was a big draw to me. Seeing the racing team beat soundly year after year by Mercedes makes you wonder if they still have what it takes anymore.

People like winners.

 

I think it's a lot of things (I'm 44 and have been a Ferrari nut for about 30 years). Maybe it's something to do with my age, I dunno, but I agree, the mystique isn't what it was...I think part of it is there are so (relatively) many of them around now, and while they're all still beautiful, they've all gotten pretty big (like all cars), which is just time and automotive development marching on I suppose.

Also seems everything now is so...corporate...brand identity paramount, dealerships must have the same look, etc...I guess that's the direction everything has gone, but man I used to love going into Ferrari dealerships 30 years ago, they were all so different, yet had Ferraris on display...today I still have to visit the Ferrari dealer in any new city I go to, but while I quickly peruse the newer cars there I'll take some time looking over any older 90s-or-earlier car that might be on the showroom floor. Maybe everybody falls for the cars of their youth, but I'm only 44, I'm not THAT old, am I? I'll take a few minutes to look at a new 488, 812, etc. and I do like and appreciate them, but I'll look at an old 308/328/355/TR etc I might find on the showroom floor in all it's beautiful, low, smallness from every angle and hope the windows are down so I can catch the scent of the interior.

It's all hard to put into words, but while some of the magic is still there, it's not what it was. I don't know what famous people buy them now or who used to, how they're doing in F1 today (haven't watched a race in forever and hardly care about F1 anymore, the racing got boring to watch years ago IMO); I guess for me, maybe it's because most of the original mystique came from being associated with the great drivers of the past, the great cars of the Enzo era, and the further we get from that era with time, the further we get from the original "mystique" and the more diluted that mystique becomes, even though today empirically the cars are "better than ever" and still wear the prancing horse on the hood.

 

For me it's just lost the charm and the specialness in the quest of larger production numbers, bigger market share, shareholder value and over merchandizing.

When I was a kid, an exotic car was something special and part of that was that they were rarely seen. If you were lucky (I mean really lucky), you would see one in the wild a couple of times/year, and you 'knew' that the owner had to be on some sort of exotic adventure (kid's imagination). If I could con my parents into going past the dealer, there may be 1-2 cars in the showroom. Nothing ever outside. And the dealerships had character. The dealerships now have the corporate look of a McDonalds. And the forecourt is packed with dozens of 'used' Ferraris. That is not special.

Today, they just aren't rare. That alone takes the specialness away. In virtually any larger city, the valet stands are clogged with the latest and greatest 'exotic' Ferrari. The slow lanes are jammed with Ferrari owners that are more interested in their hair style, cell phone call and sipping their cappuccino, than clipping an apex....... as they drive at 5 under the speed limit, blocking Pruis'.

 

I agree with this last post, with that being said Ferrari is as common as Toyota nowadays , not that Toyotas are bad. It seems like Ferrari owners are more in it for the status. I also dislike this " digital age " of all the new F Cars. As Joe Walsh says, " Im an Analog Man " . Its sad to say that today, a 488 GTB would not be a good seller if it only came with a manual box. This is all I need to be reminded that my reasons for loving Ferrari are a far cry from most of their customers today. I have no reason to drive a car with an engine that spools up so fast that a manual box cannot be matched to it. A true driving machine is one that lets you do the driving, not all the fancy electronics. I dont need traction control, electronic power steering, active suspension systems , and whatever else that s keep me insulated from the road , and the driver experience . Look at F1 today, its as boring as the cars they derive from it , If I was loaded, I would buy an F40 and an F50 , you cant even compare these two Ferrari super cars to what they making today. Those days are long gone, and they are not coming back. For those who want to just stomp on an accelerator pedal and pull in a lever , you have a lot of choices ...Thank God Ducati still make motorcycles that thrill and allow you to be the master of your dominion , even with the electronic packages .

 

Is it both owners and non-owners who feel this way ?
Is it just a case of ownership brings familiarity and familiarity brings contempt ?
I can no longer get excited about the dream of owning a Ferrari because i have lived that dream in real life .... no longer a dream.
Perhaps the most exciting period of my ownership were the months of shopping around and the impossible wait for delivery once i had made my choice. It was a long period of "OMG i am going to own and drive a FERRARI !".
After delivery the anticipation and all consuming thoughts of becoming a Ferrari owner are gone and of course the only way to get them back is to get another hit of the drug and go buy the next one, but as with all drugs their potency diminishes with use.

 

I'm 72, have always been into cars. I remember the first time I heard the name Ferrari. I was living in a small town in central Wyoming, playing with a friend at his house; it was probably 1957 or so. He had some toy cars and we were zooming them around the living floor, pretend racing. One of the toy cars was a little diecast sports car that was my favorite, and, when I asked him what kind of car it was he said "Ferrari". Picturing it now, I remember that it was a 250 Testa Rossa. I loved that name, and I loved the look of that little toy car.

Twenty years later (late 1970s), approximately, I was grown, living in Seattle, and happened to be (as I often was, being at that time an Alfa Romeo owner) in Grand Prix Motors near downtown Seattle, just wandering around looking at stuff while my Alfetta sedan was being serviced. In a room just off the showroom was a car under a car cover, and when I lifted the cover I realized I was looking at a genuine Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. I forget now the name of the owner of that dealership (his partner was Ron Tonkin from Portland, OR), but he came over and helped me remove the cover completely and let me look that car over in detail. It was the first time I had ever seen a real 250 TR in person, and it was thrilling. It was beautiful, basic, purposeful, raw, crude in that way handmade sports/racing cars can be, compared to production cars. In short, thrilling. To me, everything about the car was perfect and pure in a way that was not true of cars of other marques.

I feel the same now about Ferrari as does the OP. I recognize and, because I have no choice, accept the forces that have changed Ferrari the company from what it was in the 20th century to what it is now, but, as amazing and compelling as modern Ferrari automobiles may be, something important and precious and unique has been lost, and it's too bad.

 

I completely lost interest inF1 when the exhaust shriek was gone. Formula E is even worse, a total bore. What use is 800plus horsepower on the street, with all its associated software that is necessary to keep us safe from our questionable driving ability. Give me a 246 Dino any day. Not much power, manual everything, where you and only you keep yourself alive. (yes i'm an old fart)

 

For me all modern cars are missing the magic of analog. Everything, and Im talking beyond cars, is too refined these days. I miss the flawed days of analog everything.

Probably because Im an artist and to me God lives in the unintended flaws in everything. I never want to see a 'perfect' painting or sculpture. I want to see thumbprints and chips and scratches and brush strokes. I want to see the human behind it.

 

I think as we age the acuity of our "Bull Shot" meters increase exponentially.

 

Some years ago Ferrari decided that the lesser models (not featuring a V12) could be finally called Ferrari - that's when all began to go out of hands

 

Italia was my last new Ferrari, bought a Lusso but that was for my wife and I have ZERO interest in driving it.
Had a rental 812 in South of France and did not enjoy it either, certainly not as much as I did a 550 about 18 years ago on the same roads.
New Ferraris (or any other new exotics) seem pointless to me, with unaccessible performance on any public roads, too expensive (consumables) and too heavy to use regularly on track.
I personally find only pre-computer controlled Ferraris as interesting, with the enjoyment of constantly trying to master them, properly heel and toe and still at semi normal speeds (at least at not straight to jail speeds).
Some folks just like to own these new hyper quick cars, never even attempting to push them to even 50% of their limits for fear of arrest of depreciation with anything over a 1000 miles making them "high mileage"(certainly would be hard to even find a place to do so) and God bless them, without them no one would be buying these cars.

 

The lack of analog for me too. I'll stick with my gated shifter. Also the newer models look too futuristic and lose their flowing lines.

 

I have a 308 and a 360 right now, and had a 456M previously. Not really thrilled about the pure analog 308, actually. The performance is anemic, and it is a pain at parking lot speeds (Small steering wheel and relatively wide front tires is not a great combination, IMO). But it is beautiful and people react overwhelmingly positive to it, and it makes a great sound while plodding along. The 308 did inspire me to get the 360, however, which I think is the most perfect mid-V8 Ferrari has ever made. It's the prettiest to my eyes, and I like having power assist for the steering and ABS. Even the traction control has helped me a couple of times, and my rebuilt AC is actually ice cold.

I would have kept my 456M forever is it was a manual, but I just got tired of the lack of engagement with the automatic. I think an F1/a 612 will be the perfect GT for me.

Nothing after the 458 really does it for me - the exception being the F12 TDF - and I'm even less interested in hybrids than turbos. I'm 61.

 

I’m not a purist.
I get that modernization will improve some facets of a car and make others worse. That’s the trade off of technology.
I don’t even mind that modern Ferrari’s look the same. So do Lambos. I expect consistency in design. We’ll see how the vette does now that it looks like the offspring of an NSX raping a camaro.

Whats turns me off from the brand is how...calculating and entitled it’s become. Preferred buyer lists comprised mostly of celebrities, social media influencers and Saudi royals. If I make a huge payday someday, I will buy the best car I can, from whichever dealership rolls out the red carpet for me, clearly, that won’t be Ferrari, because money or not, im not worthy.

 

I remember when you said your 458 had soul at 9,000 rpm.

Well that 9,000 RPM on my 458 spider still thrills me...every day (during the snowless months April thru October).

The newer cars just don’t melt my butter. Sorry.

 

They lost their soul and they make too many of them.

The intentional limited editions are off putting. Back in the day a car was rare because few people ordered it. Years later that rarity made it collectable. Since the F50 they have been announcing intentional limited editions. The 288, they said they needed to make 200 for Group B reasons, they ended up making 272 because that's how many were ordered. They made over 1,000 F40's. I had an L-88 Corvette, total production was 216, not because GM limited it, but because that's how many were ordered.

The option prices are silly and almost insulting. I'm all for capitalism and profits but I would rather see them just charge more for the base price than put laughable prices on things like carbon fiber cup holders.

Someone said in another thread that the day they offered a cup holder it was over. I kind of agree. I don't like seeing things like cup holders, Nav systems, front end lifts, bluetooth, Apple whatever. The bulk of the carbon fiber options as I understand it are purely cosmetic, not for weight reduction.

Maybe it was the day they started offering side shields on regular production models as an option? Traditionally those were only for factory team cars. You wouldn't put a special forces insignia on your uniform unless you earned it.

The lack of a manual transmission is disturbing. I blame everyone here who ordered paddles when they came out.

As someone said the cars are more GT than Sports these days. I wish the new Monza (With a proper windshield) or similar was their main production model. Instead they gave us the FF station wagon. Yes, it's a wagon by any other brand.

What's missing is the cars are too forgiving, too comfortable. My Grandmother if she were alive could drive any one of them to the store. Sports cars used to have a certain amount of inhospitality. It took a certain type of person to drive them and put up with the inconveniences. Can't clear the driveway incline? Screw you, make your own wooden ramps and deal with it. 7-year warranties, Pfhh! They lack a certain edge.

Ferrari figured out how to make more money as a brand than a sports car company. That's their prerogative. Porsche was once a sports car company, now they are an SUV company that makes some sports cars on the side.