Houston, we have a problem...

This is why I bought an Ariel Atom 3 (non-supercharged). It feels like I’m speeding all the time, but I’m not 50 mph feels like 100 mph. No more speeding tickets, so everyone is happy. I can’t drive normal speeds in my 599, it always wants to go faster.

 

That was the traditional role of Alfa and Lotus but wouldn't dream of what they are making now.

 

I avoided Porsche for a long time, feeling that they were fabulously well-built sportscars, and didn't have the repair and breakdown costs of Ferrari or other sexier choices. They just seemed too perfect, too sterile (not Tesla sterile, but not heart-pounding cool). A few years ago, though, I was without a convertible, so I did a short-term lease on a base Boxster, and really enjoyed the experience. Not the fastest car, but fast enough. PDK instead of manual, but still sporty in the drive and responsiveness. I like it so much I was going to buy it at lease end.

When I went to the dealer to discuss terms for the buyout, the agent told me they had something back in prep I might like, so we set a time for me to come in and drive a 718 Spyder that had been sitting in the Porsche Experience up in LA for the past year. A few media types had driven it, but it was pristine. I wish it was noisier, and get irritated from time to time by the manual soft-top, but the car is all around great. 414hp from a 911 engine bored to 4.0 liters, six speed manual, GT3 brakes and suspension, GT4 aero, and speedster humps just for show. I imagine the GT guys sat around one day drinking beer & pitched ideas for the coolest car they could build on that platform, and voila! the Spyder.

Not the fastest, not the loudest, but the last NA manual transmission real road racer they'll build. People know it's a Porsche, but can't figure out which one. 0-60 is 4.3 with the manual, 3.7 seconds with a PDK, although that's not the point of the car. With Cup 2's, it sticks to the road in an almost eerie way when you hit a curve or corner. It also has a listed top speed of around 192mph, although I'll never see that. I can say that it drives like a dream at 125, though...

 

After spending a significant amount of money, do you want the peckerhead in the Honda Civic with the fart can exhaust to show you up between traffic lights??
Even Panzer isn't going to let junior think he can beat my over priced ego trip. That would kill any and all rational thought away as to why l paid this ridiculous sum of money for a car a 17 year old can smoke between the lights.

I may be old....but junior and the Civic are not going to be anywhere but in the rearview mirror.

My ego will not allow this under any circumstances!

 

The new slammed civic is any teenager in a Tesla, and it’s a losing battle 0-60. There are not many cars, and almost no stick shift cars that can compete. I can only think of 6spd 997.2 turbo, 997 gt2 or zr1.

That’s fine with me, I just want enough oomph that I can break the tires loose a bit on a rolling start launch, just for the sensation.

 

I would not want a Lotus (at all), or an Alfa instead of a Ferrari. Nope. Ferrari should make a small displacement 12 with all the sound and experience, great handling, but not 700+ hp.

 

Ahhhh...the fun of motorcycles. Friend had a Kawasaki 500 Mach 3 two stroke. What a screamer! Ate Harley's for lunch. Then he moved on to a Honda 750 with Yoshimura goodies. Thing was scary. Nothing in the area could touch it.
Those were the days my friend....

 

I get it but Ferrari has placed itself in a market place position that prevents that. They want all the money on every sale and they are getting that with people in line Twenty years ago people predicted that business plan would not survive but they are doing better than ever with production line at a faster pace than ever in the companies history. In their history the closest they have come to what you want was the 288 GTO. Best street car they ever made in my opinion but they chose to make less than 400 of them. Legislation is forcing them to change but that will involve batteries and for me that just screws the pooch but I have every confidence they will sell every single one loaded down with overpriced "professionalization features". The answer is easy, we are not the client they are looking for.

 

I sadly have never sat in, much less driven, a 288 GTO. Was it really that good? Better than the F40?

To think about it, the F40 may be spiritually closer to what I am thinking about in a way, due to its simplicity. If the F40 had been created as a regular series production model, for how many years would sales have been strong? How many could they have sold? What would a used one be worth today? As I understood it, profits per F40 were quite good, as it was a simple car to manufacture with comparatively few parts. That is what Ferrari should do (but please, with a small displacement, NA 12 cylinder this time). It would have to have airbags, ABS, a/c, etc., but leave out the sophisticated entertainment electronics and a lot of the weight. It also does not need to go 300+ km/h.

I am always impressed that Porsche sells GT3s at around a 50% mark up from a base model 911 and offers it with a manual transmission.

You may be right about us not being the client they are looking for, but were they to build it, I might become a client for something other than their parts department.

 

I don’t feel the urge for modern horsepower. I love my 308 in an “I’d rather drive a slow car fast than fast car slow” kind of way. Having said that, I keep up just fine with the modern machinery on group drives because they just can't safely go flat out on public roads and we're all about equal in the corners.

Speed is a subjective experience. I have terrified passengers in my "slow" 308 by abruptly turning right at a green light and accelerating. They think we are going 100 mph when we haven't yet reached the speed limit. It is the effect of a tiny car with seats 9 inches off the ground.

Yeah, I get stop light challenges occasionally, but I feel a smugness about driving a 40 year old car that fools the uninformed. It looks like sex on wheels. I have experienced the opposite too where a loud aggressive driver rips up to a red light, realizes there is a Ferrari at the light, and drives away like a kittycat when the light changes.

 

My concern personally isn't controlling a car that I know I won't take to the limit on the road:

my concern is the 18 year old dude driving his parents Cullinan or Range rover beyond the limits of the nannies and crashing into me. Modern Ferrari's might be bigger and more bloated, but when that SUV crashes into me, I'd like some engineering for that.

 

Please excuse the newbie question, but what do numbers like 7/10s mean?

 

Driving in traffic in my 308 can terrify me. I almost exclusively use the car on quiet roads. However, the risk remains.

 

Yes thank you very much!

 

Totally agree. It's all Greek to me.

That said, the simple reality is, the extreme performance capabilities of the modern supercars, for the vast majority of owners, is simply bragging rights and conversation topics. Most enjoy them for fun drives, or even in more utilitarian ways. They are appreciated for their beauty, sound, glamor and yes, a small degree of higher performance. The notion of most owners testing their limits is, thankfully, not going to happen.

 

288 was not an expensive car. Phil Hill said it was the car 308 should have always been. 328 should have never have reached production. 288 should have been production car with either 328 engine or 288 engine. Light, nimble and responsive, light on the controls and comfortable.. I have always admired them for being able to bring F40 to market considering smog and safety laws but would never have one. To me it is just not pleasant to drive. 288 IS.

 

I guess the problem with a regular production version of a 288 is that it would have outshone the Testarossa. The same reason that a production Boxter / Cayman / 718 can never outperform a 911. But if you put a small displacement engine in a new model, it would never outrun an 812 (but it might take some sales away).

I read that new car models launched in the EU post 2023 will have mandatory speed governors installed. Maybe a smaller, slower Ferrari is unfortunately in the future.

 

I've driven light underpowered cars with manual transmissions my whole life and mashing the throttle hoping to to erk performance that wasn't there was not only boring but downright frustrating. My V12 has 731hp and think it could use just a little more as I've said years ago. Slow cars are always slow. But I try not to go fast in street cars. Spent a good while racing motorcycles and don't feel a need to do stupid things on the street.

 

I could not agree with you more. We are probably close to the same age and the older I get the more age appropriate fear I have of these great cars.

I’m scared to put the pedal down on my F40 because don’t want to get wheel spin at 70mph.

The Daytona and Boxer I drive are now more enjoyable.

I really like the looks of the F8. I want one bad. Have not driven one but have driven a 458 which was enough for me.

Like the old adage wish I had the money for these cars when my reflexes were better and thought I was bulletproof.

Thanks for the post.

Drew


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I do not agree. I have a TR and have extensive 288 experience. I would have both for the same reason I have a TR and a 328. Very different cars. 288 was not faster than TR. In straight line about neck and neck. 288 more nimble for sure but go 500 miles in it? Not really. Put bags in TR (no place for them in 288) and go.

 

different strokes for different folks. I know some people that feel the 458 is too tame. If it scares you, you are NOT a wuss. No right answer for everyone.

 

Enlightening thread.

I got into cars after a chance encounter with the gracious owner of a brand new '04 360 Modena when I was 16. It was like a spaceship, the most exotic and incredible thing I had ever seen. After that day I registered on this site, and the marque has never fully left my life. It's easy when you live a normal, blue-collar lifestyle in a military career followed by one in the trades to sort of think what's the point in these automotive aspirations? Most guys in my line of work are into much cheaper, easier to maintain cars they can modify and go fast in. That is my generation. I have just always appreciated something a little different. When I look at new Ferrari's and their 800+ hp and half a million dollar tags, they are incredible, but I do not lust over them in any way like I do imagining a clean grigio titanio 360 Modena sitting in my garage one day in the next few years.

It's great to hear what I always suspected in that the older, slower cars are oftentimes much more fun to drive around. I can't wait.