One of the 4 pieces of art since the 50s in terms of purity of sensations with the F 40, F 50 and F 12 TDF to my taste.
I had a drive of the SF90 this week on track here in Sydney Australia and I have to admit I was not overly impressed. Yes it has power and yes it drives very well but not as good as my Pista. Of course the car they had out was the homologation vehicle for compliance so no AF pack just the base model with no options. Maybe if they brought the AF optioned one out it would feel better. I just think and it is my opinion that it is not a better Ferrari than the Pista to be worth almost 500K more here. At 500K more than a Pista it would have to significantly be better in every way.
The Sydney car had quite a few options. Is the SF90 worth it? Is it an expensive Pista or a cheap LaF? It depends how you look at it. Image Unavailable, Please Login
As a Pista (and a previous CS) owner, the SF90 needs to be different to Pista for me. It’s heavier, I want something different in the driving department as justification for the extra weight. CS is a wonderful car, but not better than Speciale that I replaced it with in any way except volume. Pista v CS feels an almost pointless comparison because the cars are so far apart, like comparing a 991.2 GT3 RS with a 964 RS. Both great, but they are not competitors.
This obsession with weight is beyond me. One of the dullest cars I have driven around a track was sub-tonne Lotus Elise.
I agree. I’ve found focusing on any one metric is usually not what what I am looking for in a street sports car. Its the entirety of the experience that matters. While I doubt I would ever use the pure EV mode on the street, I do appreciate the fact I an pull away for an early morning meetup with friends in virtual silence, not disturb the sleeping family and neighbors. Curious to drive this car. Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat
You might be surprised how often you use EV mode on the street. I thought that I’d never use it in my 918 but quickly found I use both E and H modes quite a lot. H works well in freeway driving and E is especially useful when passing through villages for example. And you are right about silent early morning starts.
I’ve had the car two days and yes i did use e mode a lot. The car does use the edrive and shuts off the ice a lot in H mode. The transition is very smooth into ice power though. They have done a good job.
Interesting, Lotus is the most fun on track I’ve driven... most visceral, feel everything, no HP crutch. When we raced, we would strip out everything in the car to lighten up the car. With every 10 lbs stripped = 1 HP. “Add lightness...” epitomizes the handling experience. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I’m very curious to see how that works and am glad to hear it is a smooth process. The question I keep asking is if under normal highway driving, does it recharge the battery or is the 15 miles all you get with each charge period. In other words, can you only EV through so many villages in a day... Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
It shows the difference in expectations, sir. I found the Lotus slow down the straights, slow in corner turn in (the rack was particularly dim-witted compared to a Ferrari or a Lamborghini), the unassisted brakes where so-so and I had the feeling that the car was just "feeling over substance", if that makes any sense. I used to race in our local club and I felt that our racy MX5 was more fun.
I would agree I mean I used to, in France , drive a 205Gti 1.9 , and drove a R5 Turbo a hew times...way more fun than say my ff. felt like the car was 3 times as fas Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I heard today that a local owner just got the first one in Vegas, although from a SoCal dealer. Hopefully they bring it out to some meets soon!
Two methods. 1. You can “flick a switch” (took a few minutes to figure out how) to charge while driving. It will charge quite fast. 2. Once the 15 is gone it does regenerate from the front on brake/liftoff (and possibly overrun). Once the 15 was gone when I hit the villages I was surprised that I got through them in eD... even a major town the ice hardly ran. With the 15 on the bypass the acceleration up to 70mph(of course) was using both. Then at cruise it just flicked to eD! we have a Volvo XC90 T8 which has identical function (axel swapped fw ice rear elec) but when you put your foot down the ice cuts in with such a surge it can be a bit scary! The sf90 is sooo smooth. The only thing to add is that the roads have been damp/wet and nothing is run in so wet mode it’s been!
Thanks. That makes it more practical... hahaha! Funny to use that word for this type of car. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
Australian track review. https://www.carsales.com.au/editorial/details/ferrari-sf90-stradale-2020-review-australia-127792/
Drove a sf the other day, to me it’s very different than my pista. Def carries more weight but it’s brutal fast and very controlled. It was a non af car so wondering what that’ll drive like
Any comparison to the LaF is misguided. The only similarity is in straight line performance. Everywhere else the LaF towers above the SF90. It is rarer, more beautiful and has aged better than I expected, the V12 is a masterpiece, it feels lighter and more edgy than the SF90, it is built on a carbon chassis and has those beautiful doors. With a modern tyre on it I also have no doubt it would be faster than a SF90 around a track Also in my opinion the interior is more special and it has the best seating position of any Ferrari I have experienced. Is a used LaF worth 4 times what the SF90 costs new? In my mind the answer is yes. If it can shake off the “battery problem” reputation, it will be worth even more. The SF90 is an amazing achievement, wonderful to drive (in my humble opinion) but it is also a series production car, not a Ferrari icon Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat
Its always difficult to compare cars from different segments. Thus you have to look at the SF90 more like a car that sits in between the true hypercars and those which we now call supercars- the F8, etc. I think there the article has said it so well: Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat
I am a big Ferrari fan but will likely never own one due to the brand perception my wife has of them and the less than Honda/Toyota/Nissan quality. When I saw this thread pop up I was so excited to see the real world experiences other folks have had with the SF90. Instead, mostly a bunch of its not this and I don't like it because content. As I am an owner of a 2017 NSX, I have seen this story before. To me the SF90 is what happens when you take a NSX approach and dial everything up to 11. I don't get how anyone here can say the SF 90 isn't a hyper car. What is the point in saying you like your Pista better on the track. Isn't the Pista more of a track car than a street car (albeit and excellent street car) where the SF 90 was created more for the street? The article from Australia was wonderful, and the icing was they had an no shields SF 90 and I had never seen one without the poseur tax shields. Anyway, congratulations to the folks who own or have had a chance to run one of these monsters, and looking forward to reading more about their experiences with them and less about how great a pretty much bankrupt company like Lotus' cars are.
I owned an NSX. I’m not sure what you mean by everything dialed up to 11? The NSX was held back imho. Needed 100 more hp from the electric motors.
The SF90 has a higher power V8 vs the NSX V6, more power in the electric motors, a bigger hybrid battery, the plug in feature, lower weight, a nose lift, real customization. And you can get an open top SF90. I picked up Lexus LC 500 convertible to scratch that itch. I was shocked that Honda put as much power as they did in the NSX as their car folks are a conservative bunch. Even another 100 HP would put it short of what folks can get from the other brands. The car just won’t sell in the originally targeted volumes. Still great fun and easy to live with for us folks who like/own them.