Do Maranellos Deliver a "true Ferrari experience?"

My dream car is a Diablo Roadster. My buddy has ona and alot of other old Lambo models too. We had a spin in the Diablo Roadster last autumn. What an experience. But then again, it is not the car you can drive alot. It is too extreme. But of course, it makes every drive a real occation. So my 550 is much more user friendly and probably more robust too. This is one thing which is important to me! When I drive my 550 about 10.000 kms. a year in average, he drives a combined 1000 kms. With the alambos and the rest in his Tesla X. This is where I feel the 456/550575M are a very good compromize. We went from Oslo to Prague with his orange Diablo 6,0 and I got to drive it quite a bit. Quite different. I had it to 290 kph. in Germany before we were stopped at a Rasthof together with 144 other fast cars. The Diablo was exciting, but not neccesarily alot faster. The 550 flies when you get going and the speed restricted cars topping out at 250 kph. are out of your way. But I feel that the Diablo 6,0 had more direct power delivery at low rpms. It also idles at 1.800 rpms. for quite some time after you start it up.... And it is loud so attracts alot more attention. I want to remove the programmed "softness" in my 550 to get proper throttle response. The Diablo was instant!
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Will agree....but that 812 GTS sure looks like a fun time

 

Nice, what year is the Countach? I guess you know the pain of part acquisition.

 

You have good taste, I've enjoyed 9 years (to the day) of ownership. Even though we had a guy here who daily drove a Roadster and had upwards of 80k miles on it, I do like to save it for perfect weather days where you can really feel the magic. Eventually, I had to buy a beater weekend car......LOL, Ford GT.

 

I improved this on mine by relubricating the long throttle cable in its guide and tightening the other one to the limit.

 

Ok. But did you know that the Motronic has a built in function to make the throttle response less agressive? It is possible to remove it, so the throttle response is instant. I want that. This is not just for cars with electric throttle bodies if I remember correctly.

 

I propose the OP be banned for even suggesting driving a Maranello is not a true Ferrari experience.

 

Depends on what someone perceives as a true Ferrari experience, it's very personal. The only one that I've driven that hits the spot is a Scuderia.

 

Ban him, ban him, ban him


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FWIW, my experience tuning with standalone ECUs tells me that throttle response (TR), as far as the software is concerned, is mainly about the shape of the ignition timing map in low load areas, which are "explored" typically when blipping the throttle when changing the gears down. In my opinion this is where we also want a sharp TR, not only during in-gear driving. I am not familiar with the Motronic 5.2 but I can well imagine that a function such as the one you mention exists - it's a German design, so why make things simple when software programming gives the opportunity to make things impossibly complicated ;-)
Before digging into the programming there are mechanical aspects that can improve TR - I precisely adjusted the cables as I mentioned above, but my 550 came without cats and I had the flywheel lightened when I replaced the clutch. These help to improve TR as well. One feature that I believe may harm TR the most on our cars however is the non-linear opening of the throttle bodies (TB). They are quite large and I guess the factory designed them for very low opening on the first ~20% of accelerator travel to avoid the engine being too responsive and jerky for average drivers, especially when driving at low speeds, around town. I have been looking at a way to modify the TBs so that they use a constant radius single cam such as on other more simple units, but they are a twin axis design (with this fragile plastic elbow that sometimes break as it gets older) and do not seem easy to modify from what I can tell... @Cribbj what do you think? I believe this would sell well as an MSW product...
Improving response on our cars might help some people who do not see them as a true Ferrari experience see the light for good. The potential is there and just needs to be unlocked, as has been shown by others on here over the years.

 

Dang, I bet you would swing that ban hammer like Thor if you got the chance.

I probably have one more shot at the brass ring before I retire, and would like to try some newer Ferraris (F12, 812, 488, F8) to see if these deliver the true Ferrari experience.

 

Very interesting. I have been thinking about the same before. My 1991 Maserati had a two stage opening of the throttle. Good for fine tuning the throttle when cruising. However, the later model Ghibli had a different design of the actuation of the butterflies and that was more direct and had a better response. It could be done to the 550s too! We have an expert here. Waiting for his opinions

 

I believe my neighbor still has his 2017 V12 Vantage S roadster 7-spd for sale if you're interested. RNM'd on BaT end of December.

 

You have redeemed yourself. Go forth and prosper.

 

@Auraraptor I'd be curious in details of your 512TR brake upgrade, here or on that forum. Did you also upgrade your 575 brakes? I presume the 456 is too recent to have done anything there yet.

 

@Auraraptor .. on the 512TR, I forgot I'd already noted this thread:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/brembo-gt-kit-for-512tr.653804/

So I guess you ended up doing that? Front & rear? No change to master cylinder?

 

Thanks...but two Astons are enough. And honestly, I would prefer a DBS manual over the Vantage. I just like a bigger car..

 

If you offered him a 550, he'd bite your arm off to put it in his garage. I've owned a fair share of Ferraris and regret that I didn't appreciate the Maranello years ago and at least from my perspective I figured out why: They absolutely do not look the same in photos as they do in the flesh. The rear quarters are wide and flat on top like the Testarossa. The camera angles rarely show this muscular stance.

 

I agree! Maranellos look better in person. The cockpit is very inviting to. You get in and are instantly comfortable.

 

DBS manual just went for $180K on BaT...

 

This is fact. I also think 599s are less photogenic than their real-life aesthetic, but Maranellos in particular are absolute game-changers in person vs pictures.

 

I never considered them primarily because of the side profile photo never really "did it for me." It's an optical illusion based on how light hits the rear quarter, the depth doesn't show in 2D.

 

Indeed I feel the 456 doesn't photograph for crap... but in person the lines are just so perfect and endlessly balanced. Longer, wider, smoother than any picture ever seems to capture.

 

I would love a 599gto as a driver. What a car! I do not like the 599 looks. Single tail light....no. flying buttress....no. hood...no....not a statement like a 550 that's for sure.