Talk me out of ordering an SF90 Spider

Rosso Magma.

 

Buddy, if you’re doing this, you have to go for it on the spec. Rosso Magma is a good choice. Rosso Fuoco would be great too. Carbon buckets are a must. I personally prefer the Diamond cut wheels to carbon but to each their own. AF package.

 

Buddy - keep in mind that if you go AF package, you lose the front lift option and bumpy road mode. Not sure if those matter to you or not, but I think it’s important for you to know that. I went without the AF package for those reasons.

 

Your comment bring forth the ever so interesting question of whether or not X car has "soul". My standpoint has always been pretty scientific and simple. A car, no matter how exotic, capable and hand crafted, is an inanimate object, it does not have a soul. When we get behind the wheel, we are the ones who get emotional and give the car its soul. If a car feels soulless, it is in my opinion because the driver fails to connect with it. This is not right or wrong, good or bad, it just is. We don't connect with everybody we meet, simply because we are different. This is why the thoughts and praise, or subjective criticism can never be seen as gospel. What Chris Harris think has zero bearing on our opinion. He failed to connect with the first SF90 he drove, and? He is the one who gives the car its soul when he drives it, so did he let the car down? Was it difficult for him to connect because he had spent almost a year talking about how much he did not like the concept? One could argue that, because it feels that way. To underline this, we just have to look at his thoughts on the McLaren P1 and Porsche 918. The praise was endless, and at no point did he talk about a "rabbit hole" of power vs. weight, or the disconnect of using digitalisation. The 918 and SF90 are in many ways quite similar, but if anything, the SF90 is definitely the more engaging car to drive. This takes us back to the question of soulless. It is a matter of whether we as individuals are able to give a car "soul", because soul for a car is simply an extension of our physical and emotional connection with the car.

Here's an interesting analogy that might put it into perspective. For me the Enzo has zero soul. I don't like the way it sounds, I hate the looks, I don't think it drives all that well and overall I feel absolutely nothing when I stand in front of it. For me, that car has no soul.

I don't care whether someone is a race car driver, journalist, builder, engineer etc. They cannot define soul from the perspective of everybody. They can define their own connection and opinion, but that's it. Some have the skill to convey very tactile and objective data which tell us something about a cars abilities to perform various tasks, but that's it.

Chris Harris often does something I actually like. He often underlines that his opinions and tastes are very personal. He does also sometimes get caught up in his own hyperbole, and start to "preach". The SF90 is one such incident. Want the opposite? Look at his review of the 991 GT3RS. That is one of the single best break-downs of a car I have ever seen. The form of it may not be to everyone's taste, but it is incredibly balanced. That review is what happens when you let your guard down, and don't go into the task with a ton of preconceived negativity.

You and your friend are different people. Maybe he is turned on by different things, or maybe he is generally disconnected and needs the guidance of others such as Monkey Harris to point him in the right direction. Nothing wrong with that, it is just how it is.

What matters is how the car feels to you. If I don't like my car, it is out so fast it will make your head spin. Anything we have an emotional attachment to, will be subjectively judged and measured.

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Same

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Once again you do all my typing for me! Spot on. The negativity on this car is absolutely absurd, from people who have never driven a AF car let alone seen one. Someone wrote above, unlikely the looks will grow on you, absolute nonsense, this is a grower and when you get it you can’t get away from it, it’s another Ferrari Win. The fact that it will be a low volume car now there is going to be a lot of regret here, but will these people admit, I doubt it. Also the sound is a grower as well and perfect for today’s world. Chapeau Ferrari.

 

Yeah I’m not interested in the AF package. I won’t track it and prefer a more compliant ride and definitely want the front lift.

 

Not doing AF.

 

Nailed it.

 

Just for reference here and the disclaimer that I have not driven an AF car, but I personally find the SF90 Stradale non AF to be stiffer than the Pista.

 

Just submitted my deposit for the spider as well. It's a wait. lol

 

The AF car is also much stiffer than Pista but in a different way. The multimatic dampers feel very different to the magnetorheological ones, it’s hard to explain. They’re more solid feeling but the way they absorb the road is a bit different. I think perhaps you’re getting more control for the level of firmness you’re forced to accept. Maybe someone who knows the engineering can articulate it better?

 

Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve (DSSV) is a chassis suspension technology that delivers high levels of suspension damping performance.
DSSV dampers replaces the shims of a conventional damper with a spool valve – which is a spring-loaded cylindrical sleeve – resulting in better consistency damper to damper, more precise control of the force-velocity curve, and repeatability from impact to impact, negating the possibility of the orifice changing with time and use. What’s more, using two spool valves per damper completely decouples the compression and rebound curves, enabling them to be tuned independently.

In performance cars and racing applications, this empowers the driver to bang on a car at a track and have full confidence that the suspension will react exactly how the engineers intended it to every time, lap after lap.

Supplied by Canadian supplier MultiMatic, the technology has been used in race cars and a high-end Aston Martin. However, MultiMatic recently discovered a new manufacturing process that lowers the cost and time required to machine the special spool valves. Interestingly enough, this improvement in manufacturing came from a firm that laser-cuts medical devices.

DSSV dampers rely on a stack of spring-loaded cylindrical sleeves to regulate oil flow via a series of shaped ports (orifices), whose shape defines the characteristic force-velocity curve of the damper. The dampers use precision spool valve technology to deliver the highest level of damper predictability, accuracy and repeatability. These performance characteristics help the damper deliver the ultimate in wheel and vehicle control.

DSSV delivers superior suspension performance by:

• Enabling the generation of any required force-velocity characteristic
• Reducing flutter and overshoot which results in superior transient response
• Delivering minimized fade at increasing frequencies
• Operating in a turbulent oil flow regime, thus assuring thermal insensitivity

Spool valves are analytically determinate and DSSV damping characteristics are mathematically predictable using Specfinder software, enabling engineers to test and tune them specifically to a particular vehicle application.

 

All SF 90 worshipers are future customers of a full electric Ferrari.
In the end, these are different visions of the brand and the customers to whom the "new Ferrari brand" will fill the attention, it is indeed you.
Because to sell what will happen, it is necessary to forget the past. It s a perilous marketing exercise but it can work for a while ...

 

I totally disagree, I as a customer will never forget the Ferrari of the past. The story of Enzo Ferrari and his passion for racing. The past masterpieces like the Daytona, GTO, F40, etc…. I have enjoyed owning a 355, 458 spider and currently an F8. The SF90 is the future of the brand and it is an incredible car. I will see what a full electric Ferrari brings at the time it comes. I may be a customer or I may not, but I will never forget the Ferrari of the past either way.

 

We own a Taycan Turbo S. The best way to view an electric car IMO is that it should earn its keep. Don’t automatically think that it’s the future and that is why it deserves consideration, instead they have to do some things that gas cars can’t. If they achieve that they are worthy of consideration. For example the Taycan never requires a visit to the fuel station (a valuable boon for my wife who drives it). It is the performance saloon with the best blend of style, comfort, cruising ability, then outrageous performance and great handling changing its character in an instant, we have ever owned. I can’t think of a petrol car that has such a breadth of ability (Lusso came close but Taycan is far ahead of it in comfort and GT driving).

The only reason to consider a Ferrari EV is if it does some valuable things a Ferrari gas car cannot. And it can never fully replace the Ferrari gas car because sound, vibration, feel of a gas car will remain desirable. But if Ferrari build an EV that brings something new and exciting to the party then yeah, I would add one to the garage. Our long term petrol cars stay though.

 

How long are they estimating?

 

In the email, my dealer said “don’t laugh. 2024.” Not sure if delivered in 2024, or that will be the model year. I never really considered this car, but it really is pretty impressive. I have yet to see it in person, so when I go in and look at one this week I will try to get more info from him.

 

Exactly. And I will keep buying past cars as well. Electric does nothing for me at the moment, but who knows what Ferrari will offer to satisfy the senses. It better smell really damn good!

 

The good news is that Ferrari should have their software and electrical issues worked out by the 2024 model year. August 2023 is not that far from now as long as you have a car to drive in the meanwhile.

 

2024, good grief.

 

Well, I put my deposit down on April 2, 2021 and still don’t have a committed build slot. I buy through a smaller dealer w/o a high allocation, but hopefully will have a commitment “soon.” Looks like the 488 spider will see at least one more summer.

 

Our dealer is shutting down the order book November for they are sold out for the entire coupe and spider run of the SF90.