New 550 car review (and owner) on YouTube

(Note I suspect his comments on the 575 steering/handling come from the steering controller woes in early UK-spec car which Taz has extensively documented)

 

At 90k miles on mine I can say he seems to have gotten it all pretty much right ....

Someone needs to tell him ( I got this from Barry 308 GTB ) just leave the air conditioner on Auto

 

Bill- Affirmative, about the only thing you might have to do is turn the fan to high (temp in Auto still) when you first get in on a hot day. In Auto fan, the system will not select the highest fan speed.

 

Hi Terry, I find by just moving the temp control works perfectly
when it's too cold I move it up a notch to warm down.

 

Terry,

You don't have to do that on the 550. With both the fan speed knob and the air distribution control knob set in the "aut" positions, to get maximum fan speed for AC on a hot day you need simply turn the temperature knob to the lowest temperature setting.

Same thing in the winter; maximum fan speed occurs when you turn the temperature control knob the the warmest setting.

In both cases, the fan will run at its maximum speed until you select any of the intermediate temperature settings. The 550 HVAC unit is great that way.

Barry

 

Of course you’re right Barry much better Explanation than mine forgot to mention both are on auto

 

Nice video and congrats to him (if he's a member), seems he's been lusting after a 550 as long as I have! Subscribed him as looks like he'll do more ownership videos.

 

Barry, Bill- Good to know. Since I rarely change the temperature on the system, I had never noticed that and always just turned the fan to high.

 

With both knobs in "aut," temperature is basically "Set it and forget it." Constant maximum fan in the highest and lowest temperature settings.

This is for the 550 HVAC. Maybe the 575M HVAC operates similarly.

 

JayEmm seemed to suggest his AC wasn’t very cold so i wonder if it has some sort of issue-mine is freezing even with the fan on speed 1

 

I'll second that. Never had any issues with mine lacking cooling capacity, so I think he needs to have his aircon serviced. My only complaint is that sometimes it is difficult to get the temperature just right - I keep having to turn mine up a notch, then down a notch five minutes later, then . . . and so on.

 

Yep-although if i turn the vents to my face down i am quite happy.

 

Nice to see some 550 content, definitely lacking on YouTube as he mentions. Be interesting to see if he dispels the mileage myths given his has over 90k miles in the clock.

Sent from my GM1913 using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

His shirts definitely continue to become more flamboyant on each video.

I generally like his videos.

Robb

 

That was a good review. He's learned much about the car, for example the "very trick variable length intake setup" and the fact that the pedal arrangement is not conducive to safe heel-toe downshifting. I'm happy to hear him say that he'll be buying a Hill Engineering brake pedal spacer. Long before spacers were commercially available, one was fabricated for my 550 which made my car very safe on the track...


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*** David, I still have those rusty old Allen head bolts in there. ***

 

JayEmm has done a great series of reviews of the 550, 599 and F12 this week - he has an obvious passion (and bias) for everything wearing the Cavallino Rampante, but he retains some measure of objectivity while allowing his joy at being behind the wheel of his dream cars. Obviously it helps that his favourite is my favourite......

 

Anybody have a link to the Hill Engineering spacer or know where I can get one? It doesn’t seem to be on their site, at least that I can tell... I’m hoping this doesn’t mean that they’re not available anymore.

Today I drove the 308 (which is by far the best heel-toe set up I’ve ever experienced) and the 550 back to back and it made me realize how lousy the 550’s pedal set up is for heel-toe. This is probably the one fault of what I consider a nearly perfect car.

 

Do Hill Engineering actually make the spacer or just the aluminium brake pedals which allow a home made spacer to be fitted?

 

Right, Ruben. The 550 needs a brake pedal spacer to facilitate heel-toe. Hill Engineering never sold a spacer per se. Mine was fabricated at the shop years ago. It's 1.0cm thick which does the trick. Ask Hill Engineering to fabricate one for you to fit under your pedal. They have the right pattern and contour for the 550. It needn't be perforated (mine isn't) but ask them to drill a couple of holes in it where mine are. You'll need longer Allen head bolts too.

A good local machine shop can do this for you too.

Barry

 

Ian,

You posted as I was typing. They could probably custom make a spacer to a specified thickness. Any good machine shop could do the same.

Barry

 

We had a good thread on this subject several years ago: 550 owners: heel & toe ?

 

Thanks Barry, will look into it!

Ruben

 

Hello all

Yes, I have been a lurker on here for quite some time. Thanks for the kind words, and I am very much enjoying my first Ferrari - and the smiles it creates for myself and others.

I will be doing a lot of content on the car, of course I'll try to balance this out with other videos too however I'm hoping to address the criminal lack of videos on them on YT. It seems like the mid engined cars were always more popular for the YouTube crowd.

My AC certainly works, and in fairness on setting 3 it keeps me perfectly cold - and I do love driving with the window down, which obviously wont help. It is a 24 year old system after all, so I dont expect perfection from it.

My hope is to feature a lot more F Cars on the channel, just a case of finding owners willing to share their cars - but it hasn't been a bad start, with the trio of V12s and yesterday I also shot a 308 (the Influenzo for those who know it).

I'm sure I won't be a silent member on here anymore, as I shall need to ask the hive mind more than a few questions!

James

 

Great videos this week - looking forward to seeing more 550 content.

Cheers,

Ruben