Ferrari 849 Testarossa Styling

Yes, four times out of five when Ferrari releases a new Manzoni car it's like getting catfished.

 

This. When the F50 came out, I thought it was so fugly...until I saw one and realized how dead wrong I was!

 

I like it. It has some SP3 + Testarossa. Besides ever since the 458 the mid engine cars have been pretty much the same with just slight iterations. Good to see some creativity. I might put an order in for one but need to do some research first. SF90 was good on paper but has been a flop. I didnt like the interior all electronic and no buttons.

 

Mondial 8

 

Nothing wrong with that! Just not the case for me. I love cars obsessively, but not all cars. I've never gotten any enjoyment out of anything but sports cars or the occasional sports sedan/wagon. My loss.

If you don't count my wife's sedans, I've yet to own a car with more than two doors. And my Lusso is the only car I've owned with more than two seats. I had to compromise and get a more practical daily when our third kid was born.

SUVs are necessarily a compromise versus the experience I'm looking for. But, that's just me.

 

That is fantastic! Kids certainly change everything! We even had a minivan for a few years. By necessity we have had pickups and suburbans for most of our married life - that’s country living. Fun to be able to have sports cars again. Tried for an FF/Lusso, but my bride did not love them. The Puro will let us drive a V12 and haul the pups (our new kids).

 

Awesome, enjoy! That V12...nothing better.

 

Regarding rear-engine Ferraris that don't retain value and whose aesthetics are quite divisive, we can look at the most recent example, the SF90, which is having great difficulty selling second hand. Do you know how many SF90 are for sale in Europe (excluding the UK and Switzerland)? According to Autoscout 24, there are 220 Stradales and 190 Spiders, totaling 410 cars. If we add to these approximately 50 more of both types in the UK (Pistonheads) and at least 25 more in Switzerland, we're talking about 485 cars for sale, which is a staggering number considering the estimated total number of cars that have been produced. The huge imbalance between the number of SF90s for sale and the number of potential buyers is evident and that has made the number of cars offered for sale below €400,000 to increase month by month.

 

It was auto, the opposite of a manual, I am sure you knew what I meant.

 

I have a 458 Spider and Portofino M. I wanted a V12 convertible Ferrari, but the styling just hasn't worked for me. I was interested in the 849 Testarossa, but . . . the styling just doesn't work for me. I sent a picture to my car obsessed niece (we have done drives in five car clubs in the last three weeks). She was not impressed: "i think we need to bring back the guillotine."

Rob

 

Bought Speciale 406msrp paid 370k - year one was 10 - 20% below msrp - 2500 miles later - 850k
Bought 16M 355msrp paid 250k - 10k miles later - 735k
SF90 Spider 770 msrp - was offered 900k new - today high interest rates and new tech hybrid have damaged the value, just like 488 Pista at the onset - today it's doing quite well.
Way too early to judge the SF90 and it is still in production - some VIP's received an XX - Coupe is 8-900k over and Spider 1.5m over msrp.
Track version rear engine been 3x the road version. certainly will bring back the SF90 just like the others.
There is a trend - history is worth more than an opinion. Tariffs in the US raise every car 8% - that will pull up existing cars as will price increases.
849 purchase - wouldn't be surprised if dealers require an SF90 purchase, whatever the SF90 inventory is a new model is 2-3 year wait - what are people going to buy in the meantime? My guess is buying a SF90 today will be free to drive.

 

And you’d be right that the “refresh” will not and never become one of the most successful. Never try to reinvent a classic. Back to the future part 2 wasn’t anywhere like the original. This is another lost attempt to sell and with little creativity borrowing from all prior interests and is thoughtless and overly easy. Not a fully new design. Not groundbreaking and really for me pathetic. Yes harsh words but we are not dealing with Kia or Hyundai. This is supposed to be the premier auto brand and an Italian icon. So sad to me and would have wished to upgrade mine but they are wanting the new audience of young hype based kids.

 

It would have been really tough to design an uglier car if they had tried. I will pass on this one.

 

When I look at the designs of the latest, most high-performance Ferraris, such as the F80, the SF90, and now the 849, whose aerodynamics dominate the entire line, I'm increasingly convinced that this is where Flavio Manzoni's greatest Achilles' heel as a car designer lies. It is in the past that we find the best examples of sports cars whose lines and beauty still leave us speechless and are indisputably timeless, even though their aerodynamics were optimized to the limits of their times. Interestingly, two of these cars, which are among the most beautiful of all time, are the 250 GTO and the Jaguar E-type. Neither was designed by an artist and car designer like Flavio Manzoni, but by an automotive engineer in the case of the GTO, Giotto Bizarrini, and an aircraft engineer, Malcolm Sayer. Although Bizarrini and Sayer were not artists or car designers, this did not prevent them from creating in these two master pieces a perfect fusion between the limits of aerodynamics and automotive art. This is precisely what Manzoni has been trying to do for a long time at Ferrari, but without much success, and that's why this continues being his Achilles' heel. This limitation that Manzoni shows, which is quite evident in his latest supercars, seems to be disguised by him taking refuge in futuristic and aerospace designs and languages. Since 2019, the only models designed by F.M. that have truly managed to rival the best of the Pininfarina era are, IMO, the Iconas, with special emphasis on the SP3, in which aerodynamics taken to the extreme wasn't an absolute imperative. With the Iconas it is clear that Manzoni kept his talent within his capabilities and the cars talk for themselves.

The only thing I regret is that Ferrari, by not wanting to see this reality, is becoming less appealing model after model.

 

Interesting observation. Clearly subjective, as you say. But I think the Roma, F8 and 296 (all post-2019, I believe) are quite beautiful also. And I don't think any fit the "aerodynamics to the extreme" category.

Then again, the 12C doesn't fit that bill either.

I'm also not fond of the aerospace and futuristic references (I'd add the ornamental black trim to your list). Again, subjective. Though I think these are the elements that make the designs so divisive.

And, perhaps paradoxically, I think futuristic designs rarely age well.

 

hard to do worse...

 

You and I agree on many things, the F8 and the 12C are not two of them.

 

Technically it was an automated manual, but I know what you mean.

 

i agree. I did not like the front end of the f8. The back is great

 

My.02 Ferrari has pumped up prices - eliminating flippers but in reality taking the meat off the bones that people counted on. The (money) meat on the bone has shrunk but it's also brought up the value of older Ferrari's - something no one wants to talk about, who is commenting about this new design.

Every Ferrari buyer has to decide their budget and what they can live with losing / making and where they want to be with the brand, their store and their place in line, There is no possible way to make a formed opinion until you see it in the flesh / design to your spec, drive one.

This is priced less than SF90 - no offense but there is not one person who wouldn't want this car - if you didn't you wouldn't be posting here