Why does "everyone" prefer the 458 over the 488?

No F8 experience for me. Only had 458’s including Speciale and then 488 S and a Pista. I hear the F8 is even quieter than 488, hence the hard pass.

 

dustman posted correctly

GT2 > 488
GT3 > 458

Fact is the N/A needs to see high revs. The Turbo doesnt. Ignoring straight line speed which the 488 is faster which car will would you enjoy the most ?

I can say 2nd gear in the 458 at redline you would be in jail.

Then there are the other subjective elements , the style the sound etc. You could also argue that nether are manual.

I have the same dilemma now as I want a new daily and cannot decide Cayman 2.5 Turbo or Cayman 4.0 N/A.

 

2016 Spyder. One year only and manual!

 

I'm sure this post won't be popular but it's my honest opinion. I had a 458 for 8 years. No regrets but it was time to part with it. I went to the 488 and have zero regrets. It's a better car in every way. Sound? I don't know what the complaints are about. The sound inside the cockpit is absolutely intoxicating. It is actually louder in the cockpit than it was in the 458. I just had a remote valve controller installed from Forza Componenti yesterday and that makes all the difference in the world.
Looks wise, I like it much better. It's more aggressive looking from the side for sure. I never really liked the nose of the 458 and the 488 nose hits on all notes. 458 rear I was never crazy about either with the mesh grills next to the tail lights. On the 488 they look perfect and follow the body line instead of sticking up a bit as they do on the 458. Don't get me wrong, the 458 is an absolute gorgeous design and the sound is second to none, but if you are thinking about moving to a 488, take one for a test drive

 

Such a personal decision. After deciding against an F1 F430 Spider I drove a nice 488 Spider and then opted for a 458 Spider. There are no wrong answers.

 

Drove both. Picked the 458. I always wanted a 458. I guess nostalgia is a powerful drug. I found my unicorn Grigio Ferro with Cuoio interior Spider with nearly every option (carbon buckets) and quite a few extras.

That being said... I think a lot of people rag on the 488 but I think bang for buck performance wise its a great choice.

I came from a Turbo S...so getting a 488 even though it would have been the same price or maybe less than my 458 spider didn't make much sense. The 458 evoked more emotion in me and it's a car I plan on keeping for good.

My daily driver is a G80 M3 with downpipes/midpipe/custom ethanol flex fuel tune. It will wax my 458 and a 488 everyday of the week in very brutal fashion as well. Over 750 whp + AWD. Speed and torque aren't my deciding factor in choosing my cars. My Turbo S was also insanely fast (tune/downpipes/kline exhaust)... my GT3RS still evoked more emotion than it.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head. "Fast" isn't a good enough reason to get any Ferrari. If "fast" was the only reason then Dinos, 308, 328, 355 should be ten thousand dollar cars.

It's beauty, emotion, feel, sound, and a bunch of other esoteric variables that you can't quantify.

 

I think the 458 was great in its day, many still find it the best. But the performance is just too ordinary, the 488 actually thrills during acceleration, cornering, and braking, the 458 just falls short. One may need a lot of esoteric variables to offset less thrilling.

Plus in my eye, the weird 458 styling parts have not aged well.

The 458 will always be one of the most important cars for Ferrari, but time marches on.

Just my opinion.

 

Chris Harris seems to really like the 488

 

He chose to buy a 458 Spider though

 

Any car that is set up the way you want, a car that is spec’d to Your taste is something that you can love and thoroughly enjoy at any level of performance.
My 355 I can drive it at around the speed limit (many mods done to car -exhaust-intakes-brakes-suspension ) nice Matts and perfect condition inside and I can have a ball. Appreciate the interior etc... My 488 is also set up the way I like, I can drive at “around” the speed limit , in a lower gear , and have a nice time ditto as above. 550 the same as well as the others. I do pick my spots to “get down” and enjoy safely and accordingly in the early morning hours. Exhaust set up is critical to low speed enjoyment however.

The porsche is a different story but I look at that car as my runabout thrasher.

 

He walked that back many years later.

 

The expression of astonishment on his face says it all, “every car before this car is simply inferior….” ;-)

 

It's the same thing that we're talking about though, of "feel" vs "what's 'good' or 'best'"

The newest machine will almost always be "better" or "best" in all objective ways.

That novelty loses it's luster once it's a generation or two out.

The 328 was better than the 308 and the 348 better than the 328 and 360 better than the 355, etc. etc.

After several generations though, no one cares about the performance deficit of the 355 against the 360 or the 348 against the 355. Each model has their own distinctive character and some characteristics are more desirable than others.

Why is the 355 more desirable than the 360 ?

There's no doubt the 488 is quantifiably better but if that's the metric by which we use, 355/360 valuation gap is equally unexplainable.

 

Chris Harris is just one man, with one opinion, which is not any more, or any less, important than the rest of ours.

 

... because 458 supporters (maybe they need to compensate for supporting a car with lower performance ? ) are more vocal...
However, the truth is that 488 are typically selling for more (not by much, but consistently with the small price gap at the introduction of the 488) than 458s... but truth has been a depreciated value for some times now.

 

Your argument is that the NEWER car is selling for slightly more in specific scenarios....? I don't have a dog in this race I'm actually in the market for both cars and enjoying this discussion but I don't think you should be the one accusing anyone of compensating haha

 

I do not accuse anyone, just noting the fact that the non-prefered cars are selling for more (which, for me, is a contradiction, not matter whether newer, a different color or whatever). I do not need to compensate, I am just amazed (and amazement occasions are rare, so I enjoy it )