https://www.evo.co.uk/ferrari/550/maranello
It states at the bottom that the article is lifted from Enzo issue 2 so that makes it 4 (? can't remember offhand and don't have my copy to hand) years old. Edit: Enzo Issue 2 was Autumn 2018
In the latest issue (13) of Enzo they drive 550 vs 599 and publish a buying guide of the 575M Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
^^ That comparison article is from the launch of the 599 in 2006. It was a great story. I remember the conclusion was that the 599 monstered the 550 over the passes, but they would still take a 550 over a 599.
I wonder if that comparison would still hold? Both cars are now the old stagers, and undoubtedly time and progress has blunted the perception of the 599 as the crazy fast monster that it once seemed. We can look back on them both with a certain sense of charm.
I would still take the 550 over the 599: Most 599s are semi-auto - manual versions are rare and v. expensive. 550 is elegant, 599 looks like Mr. Blobby. 550 has quite enough performance for me (showing my age!), so I don't need what the 599 has over the 550.
I sold my 599 in 2013 but from what I remember it's still impressively fast - maybe not monster fast (the F12 and 812 are obviously faster) but 620 hp with a lot of torque and the front engine layout make it far less benign than a 458 for instance. I believe the 599 could still be used as a really fast car today, while the 550 has moved to a classic status which makes its outdated performance irrelevant.
Having both in Garage is the best, so you have not to decide which is better. And both with 6-1 headers is the perfection. Daniel Image Unavailable, Please Login
Now, having the 6-1 headers in both cars, it's very very hard to say. When I had the 6-1 only installed in the 550, the 550 was my favorite very clearly. But now ? I believe I still would hold the 550, but the 599 with the 6-1 is gorgeous. Good to know that I haven't the problem to decide. Daniel
If I could keep just one it would be the 550. It is my favorite of the 5 I have (550/599/612/360 Spider/488 Spider). It does have Tubi exhaust and just sounds wonderful...whereas the 599 is stock. I just love how everything is so analog and of course the gated shifter. It really is great. The 599 is great too but the simple nature and wonderful sound and feel of the 550 appeals to me more.
4. I have driven a 599HGTC for a couple of hundred kms, and it was the only modern Ferrari I've driven that I did not like. Fantastic engine, but the drive was removed from the road and you sit way too high. Hugely capable, distinctly uninvolving. I think its looks have aged well, I like it more now than I did before. But no candle to a 550's styling.
Removed from the road is such a good descriptor. I remember driving across the UK early one Sunday morning in the giallo fly 599 HGTE owned by the Ferrari press office. No traffic, perfect weather. The car looked great, a few months old, should have been a heart stopping and memorable drive. I kept thinking, this car looks the business but to drive, it’s just, well, removed from the road. No emotion. Clinical. I think Ferrari have only really addressed that with the 812, which is not just monumentally fast, also highly involving.
I found the F12 still to be quite remote, while being hugely fast and picking up speed with amazing rapidity from low revs. Something we in the media were warned about with the press cars (just to be wary of our licenses). The 812 is more like a smoothed-down TdF, alive and dramatic. manufacturers are aware of criticism of the move to faster but less involving cars over the last decade, and are responding to it in some cases. Porsche have done the same with the 992. I would say the 812 is more involving and exciting even at normal speeds than my 575, regardless of it being manual FHP. That was not the case for the F12 and very much not for the 599 with or without HGTE (which made no difference to driver engagement).
