What a great write-up, if the wait was not up to 2 years here in Canada/Toronto I would go for it. In the mean time going to have to try a bunch of other stuff. I had an R8GT Spyder and that was one of the most RAW cars I have ever driven in in convertible form! Miss it dearly but at 6'3 it was tight.. I just could never get comfortable in those Audi seats.
Great write up - thanks. I ordered a 488 in 2014 when I took delivery of my Speciale. After a test drive (incredible performance) I decided I narrowly preferred the Speciale's road feel and bumped my order to the 488 "Speciale". The strong sales of the 488 show the market likes it, no doubt about it.
Thanks Mark, I have never driven a speciale, but I am getting to drive a speciale aperta, f12 and a 458 challenge at a Ferrari event on Friday - really looking forward to seeing what they are all like. Have you been given any indication on 488 "speciale" timeline? I just clicked on your profile as I notice you're from Aus. Wow, just wow - your car collection is amazing. You own my dream car, to me the 918 is motoring perfection, in fact despite the vast price difference and the fact it's completely hypothetical, it's the one I would buy over the P1 and La Ferrari. Love to hear your thoughts on it. BTW there is a higly specced 488 that went on the market a few days ago - will be interested to see how long it takes to sell. Link below 2015 Ferrari 488 GTB Auto
Yes, however it was solely on track - really liked it, I think it's a great car and it's sure to be very desirable for years to come. For me though, the 488 is a better car in every way except the sound. If you drive a 488 and concentrate solely on the high end scream you are going to be disappointed. But by just focusing on this, you'll miss out on so much of what it has to offer. It has F12 pace (in fact it's faster), mid-engine balance and nimbleness, amazing stability/traction control system, looks to die for and the most up to date tech of any Ferrari currently made. The sound argument is not binary though. As an example take F1, the old ones revving to almost 20,000rpm sound unbelievable, they would be a 10/10, modern ones sound ordinary by comparison, maybe 4/10. But a 458 is probably an 8/10 and a 488 7/10. However not only do modern F1 cars sound much worse, they are slower - most lap records are from Schumacher's era over 10 years ago. A 488 would demolish a 458 in almost any test. I do understand the sound argument, but cars to me are far more than just sound machines. If they were, I would skip a 458, 488 and go straight for a NA v12 either an F12 or aventador or maybe an LFA budget permitting.
Well, if you compared 458 to 488, then I consider your review is solid. I thought you were comparing 488 with R8.
I have over 1300km on mine and I have no brake noise whatsoever. I have a track day on Friday so I guess I will see what happens - I will keep you posted
Sorry to be slow replying BG23. No real indication from my dealer on the 488 "Speciale" timeline. My only comment is that I've noticed model cycles seem to be shortening. I'm very happy with the 458 Speciale in the meantime and it will probably always be a desirable car as the last of the NA's. That SA 488 on carsales looked like a great spec...
