Is the engine in the F8 better than the Pista?

I dare say the Pista could have had a few more Hp from factory given the F8 has the GPF and still has the same figures as the Pista with the same engine.

 

This kind of thread got me itchy again. Damn you guys! I decided to accept the private invitation of the F8 test drive. It does look good except the tail. If the sounds is "acceptable", I can consider a spider.

 

If you get the optional Cup 2 tires on the F8 it is only half a second slower than the Pista.

 

I believe that both the Pista and F8 times were set with MPSC2 K2 tyres. I know that is what Di Simone told a rep from my dealer. The CF wheels were not used either. The 488 GTB time was also set with the Speciale spec MPSC2 K1 shoes.

Not sure how important it is. The cars are very different.

 

It is confusing using the same engine on the F8. Would have been easy to give the Pista more power especially with a turbo engine. That way threads like these would never need to exist. The only way it makes sense is if the F8 was not really planned when the Pista was specified which is what many here believe. The hard to swallow part is that both the torque and horsepower are identical albeit a different tune. Should have made more effort in differentiation with the engine. Maybe skip the titanium rods at least.

 

They just shouldn't have made the F8 or as you said they could have turned up the boost on the Pista. But I can imagine Ferrari know what they are doing. They definitely realise as all Pista owners the Pista is a Pista and the F8 even though it has the same engine is a F8.

People love the Pista and if they were lucky have one or have one coming. For the rest its the F8 if you wish. IMO the Pista as the wife says it looks more like a track car. To us the F8 is more like the luxury version. Leather , leather and more leather , no carbon.

I do believe that Ferrari got it right but let down all the 488GTB owners whether its a Pista or F8. Never happened before but WILL HAPPEN AGAIN and especially with the F8

 

I actually really like the Pista but interestingly enough my wife did not. Either way I would not own any modern Ferrari road car without full leather. They are not race cars and the feel and smell are too important to give up to pretend the car is something it is not. Carbon is as you like.

 

Ferrari's new model is always as powerful, if not more, than the special version of the model it replaces. It makes no sense heading backwards performance-wise.

 

Certainly agree. A couple lines of code modified in an ECU could have added horsepower to differentiate the F8 which would be in line with your post and our expectations. They didn't do that nor change any of the special engine components and we don't know why. I would speculate that it could be a combination of the cost to change anything substantial in production and perhaps not to overshadow the much higher priced Pista.

In this price segment numbers do matter. Lap times important as well which is why they dressed the car out the way they did and set the time slower than the Pista. Ordinarily the replacement car would be faster as you say. I think the F8 is not the real replacement for the 488. The LB is the replacement but was late hence the F8 with the same engine as Pista (discounting mods for GPF).

 

The very short reference in the Motor Trend Article is far too vague and breezy to draw any real conclusions about the similarity or differences between the two engines. I've tried to pay attention to the discussions regarding the F8 engine vs. the Pista engine, and I have yet to read anything that gives a definitive analysis and comparison. We certainly know that ECU tuning gives Ferrari a wide array of options regarding engine personality and power delivery. We also know that it is in no way a bad thing for Ferrari to market that F8 as the newest and bestest, including the bump in power. My take away from other articles is that the engines share the same basic architecture, but probably have differing tunes. We won't really know much until the F8 is in general circulation and side-by-side comparisons start to appear, which they most certainly will. My fearless observation is that the more sedate, plush, and heavier F8 appeals to a different buyer than the Pista.

 

I miss old good day when every new NA V8 engine have bigger capacity

 

The Ferrari magazine explains some of the differences - the initial idea (officially claimed) was to just put the Pista engine in the "regular" model, but then the GPF introduction forced some modifications.
It's been said that the F8 has an actual 8000 rpm limiter (unlike the 488 GTB, which stops around 7700 rpm most of the time) but I am not sure what is the behaviour of the Pista in this respect; apart from that I would not be surprised that the engine had been improved, but these improvements are probably very marginal (most of the development work having been done for the Pista).

 

I suspect you are right with the tunes being the main difference. The F8 engine would have required further engineering to accommodate the GPF system which doesn't mean that the engine is further developed in the sense that would allow it more hp least of all make it better than Pista's engine. So any improvement lays in the actual interpretation and context of why further development was required for F8 engine.

I recall my dealer contact saying early in the piece how Pista's engine had produced more than 720 but was dialed back and it probably came down to how much usable power the chassis could actually put to the ground without requiring AWD or, defeating the driving experience they were aiming for.

Pista has so much power as it is (as did 488), most of which was hard to access for any more than a few seconds at a time anyway. This is where other sensations in the way a car actually drives becomes of far more importance to the enthusiastic driver.

From what I'm reading so far with F8 is that the car is incredibly fast and powerful - which for me is not really news - but overall the experience appears to be reportedly somewhat mundane unless the car is being pushed hard enough to force the drivers concentration levels so to keep it on the road or, in a straight line.

Like most new cars once the initial bubble and fizz dies down reality soon returns to just how much pleasure the car can actually offer as a sports car and driving machine at all speeds. This is where I feel Porsche's GT cars really excel as I find I'm not having to be driving them at high concentration levels or super high speeds just to feel super connected, excited or engaged with the car. All the senses deliver and, at all speeds.

As F8 has been put together to replace 488 I would reasonably expect to find it a slightly sharper and less intoxicating driving experience than 488 as the thresholds are higher and the the requirement for concentration would be now found at yet an even higher speed again. And then the sensation of sound has become more refined and removed in many ways.

Sometimes - actually most of the time - it's nice to hear the outside sound of the engine ripping through the forest or the buildings - echoing and bouncing around - it's all part of the nerve tingling experience most enthusiasts expect from this type of animal. But this key element is no longer part of the equation anymore least at a level to where one would sit up and pay attention.

For some the ease of being able to drive a car super fast with so little need for real skill is ideal. It also makes the car more usable in a sense where one could even throw the keys to their granny knowing she would be able to drive it and not get herself into a whole lot of trouble unexpectedly. But is this really what these cars are all about? For me I don't think so.