550 vs 575

One thing I'd also throw out there is.....O.P:. have you ever driven a 308. I have probably 2,500 miles in an '84 QV under my belt and that was not even kinda fast but the feel and smell and sound and delicious "analogness" was just devine.

The 550 and 575 are both wicked fast so some of the deciding factor (even if you were to ultimately do an F1-6MT swap) is do you appreciate the 550's quaintness of an analog style dash and actual throttle cable or do you more value the tech upgrade the 575 represents, drive by wire, TPMS for tire pressure, yada yada......I would say I wish the 550 had that big center tach like the 575 or even better a yellow S.A. tach like Terry has.....that's the cats pajamas.

 

I just meant the leap in performance in the last few year. New M3/4 is 500hp, Golf GTI is over 300hp etc. This coupled with the DSG gearboxes has taken "regular" cars into 90's exotics territory for performance. Exotics now have moved to hyper speed levels of performance. For 1996 when the 550 was new though... I bought a VR6 Corrado back in the day with a whopping 180hp 0-60 in 7sec and that was considered a fast car... the 550 with 480hp was a space ship.

 

I agree with you. The bew cars have been much faster. But do you really need to drive like that? New atealaa are really fast too, but it is uncomfortable with those G-forces especially for people who are passengers. I still like that Corrado VR6!

 

Wait until all the electric hot rods hit the streets. I think the new Hummer with 3 motors has over 1000 lb-ft of torque.

 

Or a Rimac. 1900 horsepower. You read that right. It’s a serious company. Porsche has just bought a big stake

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry-news-environment/rimac-opens-rd-centre-uk

 

Which is funny given that drivers roads are disappearing daily due to traffic and increased law enforcement. Thats why I love the maranello ticks off all the boxes I need in my fun car