Why I don't care about new Ferraris

I think i have been one of the loudest pro manual people. I tried a Mp12 458 and 599 paddle cars and thought they sucked. I still think most paddle cars suck.

Last friday I drove a 488. Styling is a whole other debate. However with the hi hp high Tq turbo motor the paddles or I should say AT really worked. Basicaly this car puts down power like an electric car, there is lots of power everywhere all the time, at that point what would shifting add.
Yes I still love the joy and tune of a NA motor and workign it though the stick to get into the meat of the performance envelope.

New 600+hp turbo cars just make so much power evrywhere that this shifting thing is superfluous. Do we loose something, undoubtably yes, but moderns also add some dimensions absent before.

The new cars are different and have learned(by now) to reward in different ways, the steering is hyperkinetic in way no old car is. Yes you loose feedback but there is a quickness and a directness to the steering even a go kart misses. The ride is buttoned down yet also has compiance. Youre not vulnerable in an acident and therefore far safer in modern traffic with its inattentive cell phone idiots.

The 488 does not reqire the right roads right moments early in the am. Like all moderns its an oportunistic feeder, see a open corner or on ramp go for it and then blend back in. See a small open stretch open it up to 140 it up breifly. Yes thats about all modern roads traffic other drivers and the law allow for. Modern cars work in this enviroemnt and because they are "useable" you can drive them and use them more often, in other words expolit the few avialble conditions more often.. They are just really different to what came before, as a F16 is different to a P51.

Now the 458, its Tq defict in the middle meant you were either screaming or not going, maybe a stick would have been more fun here. But its a fact were in another hipo turbo era, and an AT works just fine. The new cars, well its the difference between a new Yamaha R1 and a vincent black shadow, both really cool, not really the same thing.

I love my BBI, were just about to do a full suspension redo and evrything else that wears, so it'l be good for another 30 years. And driving it home after the 488 on a straightish smooth two laner, workign up and down the rev range and gears workign the speed out of it, listining to the flat 12, truly sublime. But its also an antique. Can we compare a symphony to the rollign stones.

The good part, I realize I dont need a 288 or f40 of 275, the BBi already provides that type of classic experience. yes maybe a 288 is faster or a F40 but none of them have modern relevance in terms of go and their performance diferences are now academic.. If or when I add another ferrari it will be a modern, because if the 488 is any guide, the moderns offer somehting different, an eexperince that is cool in its own way. Yeah as others have said you probably need both and older one and a modern.

The 488 also told me that the ultimate development of what it offers is an electric ferrari. The motor already sounds a bit muted, there is slight turbo lag and probbaly the whole drive experince of the mdoerns offer would be improved further with instant elctric Tq and the excatitude of the power meted out. Thats where its going, immediate responses, immediate speed, immediate steering. Yes we loose feedback and some soul, but we also get some other dimension. These moderns are what they are, they cant be what cars were, but they offer their own thing. To me the 360, 430 458 were neither fish now fowl, but transistion cars towards what we have now and that process will continue untill electrics offer an imediacy the other controls on a modern already posess.

I dont think any of these moderns are truly seminal cars, and once the 7 year warranty is out youre really on a branch being sawed out from under you. They are in that sense, disposable, and will probably be unworkable and unfixable 30 years from now. They will also have been replaced by "better" cars, each generation honing what thye offer, because this modern strain is just starting to hit its stride of all the pieces coming together.

next 488 replacement is rumored to be a Cf tub so maybe below 3000lbs, it will have some more hp too. Its responses will be that much quicker. And thats what moderns offer imediate responses, just like a superbike not so much a living thing, more like wired to your synapses. Soomehtign lost experientialy for sure, but pretty cool in their own way. They are a creature of not only tech, but also modern road conditions.

They look big and bulbous, but thats legislation and safety.

I'm not sellign my boxer, its exerience cant be replaced. I think modern BMWs like most moderns are isolated and insipid with sucky steering. The 4c too hard a ride, not greta handling and the paddles take away from the experience, maybe because the hp is not there. But the turbo 488 and the 570, were pretty cool in their own way.

if i could go back in time and drive aMiura though a almost no traffic no cop grimsell pass, or a Daytonaflat out from Paris to Monaco on no speed limit no traffic highways, then yes no modern can offer the same experience. Unfortunatly those conditions no longer exist.

I still happen to think a BBI, 288 and 355, 308 and even mondial are ideal, because in the modern world we can still find somewhat open mountain roads here and there and unlike the earlrier cars these cars work great there, yet are still classic ferrari.

 

Horse for courses. I love the nostalgia aspect of old cars but mostly the drive is **** compared to new.
My 360 is manual because it was a good spec and decent used car. I'd like it too if it was an F1 but that too has its issues so I am on the fence with which gearbox.
My other weekend car a small Alfa is manual because an auto box would take what little power it had away.
My daily drive CLK is auto and I love that too. It's not as much fun on country roads but for the commute and other daily tasks I love it.

 

I LOVE my 997 for a daily driver. Love it. It's fast, comfortable, handles well and it reliable. Love it.

But there is and always will be in me a sense of longing for a little 912 with cookie cutter wheels that I can start up and just take out. Simple, not too much power, just the right car on that fall afternoon in the country. It's a different experience. Equally valid, but different.

 

You need a Na lotus eilse somewhere.

 

No criticism here, but a purely personal and true story: I used to say EXACTLY the same thing, in almost the exact same words, and was ready to swear and die by it...

... until I bought a 458, test-drove a 488 and rode shotgun in an F12 for the firs time.

Kind regards,

Nuno.

 

You realize, it is possible to love Ferrari's from various eras. Though I don't own a vintage car, I do admire them a great deal. I do have a 1989 328 GTB and I love it. I equally love my 2017 488 GTB. It doesn't have to be "love one and hate the others). I'm sure my 328 seems rather tame and advanced if compared to a 1951 212 Inter. They are all awesome.

 

I love them all, just some more than others. The ones I love most just happen to have manual transmissions.

Still considering an F1/a 612 over a manual because of how nice it is to have auto mode in a touring car though.

 

I read all 58 of the above posts with great interest and decided to weigh in. No doubt as is the case with many folks that frequent this forum, I fancied myself as a pretty darn good driver, on the track as well as the street. Unfortunately, my self-confidence exceeded my skill level OR the capabilities of my car (I'll probably never really know for sure), and I was lucky to have survived a pretty nasty crash. A crash which completely demolished my pride and joy supercar in the process (it was not a Ferrari). The old me wouldn't hesitate to poo-poo electronic nannies, and neither needed nor wanted computer aided intervention of any sort. I believed that my skill level was more than sufficient, thereby rendering such technologies superfluous. Yep, that was me, but not any more.

Given the same set of circumstances that led to my crash, I firmly believe that had I been driving my 458 (and soon to be delivered 488) with the Manittino set in the Sport or Race mode, electronic corrections would have been made and the outcome would have been entirely different. So the bottom line for me is safety and restoration of a reasonable level of confidence (which was degraded considerably). I understand and respect the various points-of-view expressed above and agree with many of them. For me, 725 bhp coupled to a manual transmission in a mid-engine car, sans any form of electronic support proved to be a bad combination.

 

So what do you think about the 550 Maranello which came only with a manual? Still quote modern with safety equipmet like airbags and ASR etc. which I personally would prefer in a 200 mph. car.


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I like the 550 a lot. To me it is a perfect, low key gentleman’s car.

 

Kudos for admitting this!

I was thinking about this as I was driving this weekend. I'd rather be in a crash in a later model car! The most important thing is you made it out ok.

 

Ok I'll bite on this. I like to go to the track too and been doing if for over 12yrs now. I am by no means a professional and never will be. To those here that say that they can turn a faster lap with nannies on and with flappy paddles than anyone with a manual is bunk. Maybe that is needed for you to feel good but not me. At the level we here on the forum go to the track ultimate lap times should not be what any are going for. That should be for the pros. Just getting better at correcting areas where we are weak will yield better times in itself. Racing use to be all about the manuals and there was a romance to it. I will keep my stick as long as I am able to drive and wave anyone by (if needed).

 

Thanks. The crash occurred on an Interstate. By the Grace of God I was the only one injured. The cacophony was something I'll never forget!

 

Great post.

Also my experince is nannies slow you down on track, and inetrvene at inoportune moments, but yes they greatly avoid mishaps.

On street, its hard to get near the limits of modern tires, no need then to turn nanies off, they realy can help with those unexpected events, like a wet patch etc.