Dear Mr Marchionne

I would definitely proofread before slapping a postage stamp on this.

 

Marchionne can't hear you.

He's deaf, dumb and blind.

 

Just sayin'...

 

I think I received your response in my email by mistake - probably due to the NSA hackware

He responded quickly, I'll give him that.

 

That's a letter than would have as much impact as all the demands made for Ferrari to return to manual gearboxes - i.e None!

Ferrari have always been about making high priced, exclusive, high end cars for the rich and famous, not affordable sports cars for the many.

Added to that, they currently sell every single car that they produce, so they do not need to enter a new market to look for more sales - Especially not a lower end market with some highly capable competition in it!

 

This is why my next car is the 911 GT3 in manual transmission. It's just for fun. Last year I bought several new sports GT cars and Ferrari had not a single car that interest me (F12 was close). They need to change it up.

 

Yeah, but BMW abandoned all but the pretense of building "ultimate driving machines" over 10 years ago, and their cars got heavier, softer, less well engineered, lower quality. They might fool the poseurs, but real driving enthusiasts know the truth about recent BMWs. I'm very glad to see the market finally acknowledging that BMW didn't just lose the plot, they deliberately abandoned it.

 

A nice try, but the car you so eloquently wrote about is the F355 perhaps closer to 3000 pounds than 3200 pounds.

 

The SF70H is a driver's car. The thing is, you have to put the right compound tires on it, at the right time during the race, *******it!

 

Agreed with most everything though every time I think about this I come to the conclusion that I am completely happy with my F355 and don't need anything newer to replace it.

Even if they made a modern version with almost the exact same spec but lighter with carbon tub I probably still wouldn't want it because of all the other things that come along with cars today.

 

Agree.

Furthermore: you can't reason with a man who willingly, wilfully, with malice of forethought and unlawfully (from an enthusiast's standpoint of course), closed and buried Lancia in a heartbeat, for no (public) good reason other than he can't be bothered.

Kind regards,

Nuno.

 

Isn't a 355 or 360 exactly what you're looking for (save for the manual steering)?

Why not get one of them?

 

I can't speak for Boxerman but speaking as someone who agrees with him 100% I will say that the 360 is the opposite of what I'm looking for.

 

why? relatively small, 6 speed manual, hydraulic steering, not many nannies etc? Sure, it has some electronic interference, but its hardly obtrusive

 

My wife is an editor. Please let me know if you would like a consult.



Mark

 

The 360 is not small to me. Waaay overboosted steering, hyper-sensitive DBW throttle, too heavy (compared to what it should have been considering its aluminum construction), doesn't look like a Ferrari. The 360 was the first V8 car that was actually a GT instead of a sports car. Compare its dimensions and the way it drives to all of the small mid-engine cars that preceded it and there's definitely a line of demarcation between the (already too soft) 355 and the 360.

 

+1 on 355 as perhaps closest to what OP wants. Make it a Challenge version if regular is too soft. Use 348 or early 355 manual steering if non-PS is desired.

 

Sadly the truth is Ferrari does not care about you ... and Sig. Marchionne especially does not care.

 

But look for a new line of Ferrari branded sweaters coming soon to a Ferrari Boutique near you.

 

Like I said, I have never understood Ferrari's production decisions. If you want to maximize profit, I'd build nothing two seat convertibles. I wouldn't take less than $500k for any of 'em.

 

Read between the lines.

I want a car that looks like a Ferrari should: aka wedge 70's throwback or something that looks like a 60's remake
I want a car with manual everything: aka a 70's POS with a stick and minimal air-conditioning
I want a car that engages the driver: aka only 5% of drivers will buy it and own it because its too loud and stiff for anything other than a 15 minute jaunt on the weekends.

Basically they want a car that is a modern version of the crap that they drove in the 70's and 80's... built by Ferrari. Thank god the Factory won't listen to the second hand market. We'd be stuck with a Testarossa or 308 that all the old guys that could afford, wouldn't drive.

928 owners have been on this rant for years. If Porsche did re-offer a v8 coupe with a transaxle, they wouldn't like it because it wouldn't look enough like the 928, too much like a panamera, interior isn't enough like the 928, etc. etc.. And if they did like it.. the average 928 owner couldn't afford to buy it.

 

Read between the lines: Ferrari's current demographic is old rich guys looking for luxo-barges who'd be better off in a Bentley but want to project the image that they're enthusiasts by buying a badge that used to mean something to car guys who don't yet need Viagra.

 

It's always been that way. You forgot the age/2 trophy wife/girlfriend.