How much of a poseur are you?

I have no idea why people want to judge others negatively or positively just because they like or don't like something'

Why don't we start a "real men don't eat quiche" thread. It makes about as much sense and would be half as insulting as this one.

How much of a girl are you?

"If you drink Perrier instead of Bud, you must be a little fairy princess."

 

My wife will not drive anything but a stick. What kind of poseur is she?

 

Ridiculous.

 

Eighty plus posts on this?

 

She would be a poseuse, and since she is a wife, she can select any number she wishes, tell you, and you will assume it is correct...

 

Except they aren't gimmicks. When did Harris say they were? They let you keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times for better control, and shift more quickly and precisely, so you accelerate faster and use less fuel. How is that gimmicky or poseur-ish?

(Gimmicky would be something like an Alonso edition 599, or synthesized exhaust sounds in a BMW 5 series... )

If you would rather go slower and use more fuel because you enjoy moving a lever around, that's fine -- lots of people buy and drive slower cars. But it could be construed as poseur-ish, because you are calling a lot of attention to it.

Nothing wrong with nostalgia, but let's call it what it is. When I take the 356 out, I'm not out there griping about how fuel injection is for poseuses.

 

Apparently only 15% of 430's sold were three pedal cars. If the market demanded more three pedal cars when factory orders were rolling in we might have a three pedal option today. I find it sad that so many people don't get it? Three pedal cars require more skill and co-ordination and if one finds it hard at first keep practicing. It sure the heck beats driving around in auto mode. I'm hoping for a retro resurgence but are doubtful as the next generation of buyers will probably insist on even more technology and gadgets.

 

she thinks the 458 is overpowered (especially for her).

and she would feel uncomfortable driving the 458 alone as she thinks it draws way too much attention. We have had young men follow the car around. that would make my wife very nervous if driving alone. She is not edgy and not a know it all.

the 1-4 choices appear to be flawed...seriously flawed.

#3 fits me the best. "Fun to drive is my mantra." (Just ordered an S4 with 6 spd stick. that means my wife will drive it. Also it is much more fun to drive than the Audi 7 spd DCT which does not even compare to the the 458 DCT. Please note S4 has a SC V6 with 333 hp. 0-60 officially 4.9 sec but all the reviews say 4.4 sec and the car's ECU can be reprogrammed to 4.17 sec. Plus the car has active sports differential and adaptive damping options.)

 

The counter intuitive thing I have noticed is that all the under 40 car guys I know want sticks. This is typical: Some years ago, I took a 15 year old neighbor on a club tour. One of the members had the 1st 430 in our area. When he looked in and saw the paddles he said "Please tell me they aren't all like this!"

Dave

 

I know a few local guys who wanted to buy new 430s with sticks but the factory would not supply. They ended up with paddle cars.

Dave

 

More than 99% of washing equipment sold in 2013 was automated. I think the move to gadgets is irreversible, unfortunately. Any idiot can do laundry now.
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I've been looking everywhere and still can't find it. Have you checked the FerrariChat Lost & Found Dept.?

 

Dumb analogy. No one ever enjoyed doing laundry. The aim is less time washing and more time enjoying a drive-----with a stick.

Dave

 

the young guys are more impressed when they learn the 458 DCT can shift in 40 milliseconds. So far, nobody has expressed an opinion to me that they would not buy the 458 if they could aford it. Just the opposite.

McLaren has a DCT. Lambo has a SCT with paddles. can we still get an R8 with a stick? higher hp Porsches all have PDK. Looks like the stick will be for supercars made in yesteryear only.

 

Exactly who is going faster with a paddle where. I pretty much never see paddle cars at the track, and there are plenty of newer cars there. In fact the only paddles out of 100 or so cars last time out were 1 458 and 1 GTr.

Most paddle cars are driven on the street, certainly nearly all paddle ferraris are. So its faster at what, because I have pretty much never seen a paddle ferrari being driven full tilt on the street. Actualy once on a club run a 360 and myself broke out from the group. On the road there was nowhere where the 360 driver was faster or quicker than my lowly antique boxer (running modern rubber, which is a technology imporvement without drwbacks). BTW the 360 driver races a 430 challenge so prob has reasonable driving skill.

I bet I had to work harder and think harder than the 360 did, I probably was nearer the limit was far more engaged and had more fun.

So yeah paddles are quicker, but that is buying a car on paper spec. The appeal of paddles on a street car which already has plenty of power is ease of use in normal road conditions. There is a price to pay for this ease of use, by making the experience more bland, but I guess you can use the car more, even if use is just pootling around.

What paddles also do is allow any number of clown nitwits poseurs etc to tool around town in a ferrari, whereas perviously you needed some skill and mechanical aptitude, so the poseur fool quotient of ferrari drivers has risen dramatricaly due to ease of use. Its also driven sales higher and some of us argue led to a less desireable product than otherwise might be possible and quetionable brand image..

BTW on the used market, where people buy usualy for passion and weekend use there isa serious premium for stick 360s 430s and the few 599's.

Lastly if you seriously use your car as designed, in other words track it regularily and dance on the limit, then a car which requires 20k brake jobs and has a transmission which must be replaced with even a hint of somethign going wrong is a car of questionable use.

Hard core durability, which is pretty much what a well maintaned older ferrari has is something quite valued for a track warrior. Hence the popularity of Loti 997 GT3's and vettes at any track event. Nor for that matter are any of the newer ferraris faster than other quality machines GT3 and vettes at a DE event in a normal drivers hands. Lastly if you really want to go fast on track get a radical. All of which brings us full circle to paddles on a street ferrari being a traffic/use convenience which sadly also detracts from fun, but is somethign which allows the poseurs to buy a ferrari, which admittedly is probably 85+% of the customer base.

Of course if you live in parst of Germany, argentina, parts of the middle east and parts of south africa, maybe the paddles realy enhance the car, because there it might be possible to run 10/10ths fairly often.

Me I would love something like a F50 with 288 styling, you know the best of ferrari. If oits slower on paper so be it, its going to be way way more fun to drive than a 458, and frankly even on track hard to beat if you have skilled hands, plus it would be somethig n of value that you woukd want to keep instead of flip for the next latest trinket.

 

You will be able to buy a self driving Ferrari one day so you wont have to bother with all that steering and braking etc. nonsense. Just think how much more productive you will be. You could text or cut your nails etc.

 

You cannot be a poseur if you're having fun. Period! (exclamation) The debate is over.

Dave