Ten years with a 488

Time flies - today, I've had my 488 for ten years (registration on Sep. 30th, 2015).
I was not thinking I would keep it for so long, since previously I regularly "upgraded" my Ferrari's to get the best I could afford.
But all in all, the 488 has been very good with me, and so far, each time I considered replacing it, I was not eventually convinced. First came the Pista, for which I placed a deposit, but (I always consider my cars as driving experiences, not as show-off objects nor investments) for me the price difference was not justified; next came the F8, with a more sensible pricing, but again the (real) improvements over the 488 were not worth the price for me. Then the 296 was the first to propose a tremendous jump in performance - but the complexity of the hybrid system (considering I may also keep the next car for a long time, after all) and the questions about reliability had me backing off again.
Each time, not buying the newer Ferrari gave me the opportunity to spend money differently, but these are other stories.
Anyway, my 488 has now 24,878 km (15,458 miles), and the experience has been rather good so far.
All began in 2014, when I considered replacing my 599 - the obvious choice was an F12, because when trying the 458, I was really disappointed by its lack of torque (compared to a mighty V12) but was amazed by the DCT - so that the F12, the V12 with a DCT, was the natural evolution.
But prices on used F12 were not really compelling at that time, and it appeared that the successor of the 458 would be turbocharged - which would certainly address the torque issue (I'm no real purist, so the result is what counts to me), and this opportunity to buy a Ferrari brand new for the first (and maybe the last ) time was hard to resist.
The process was very nice from the start, since I was invited to attend the customer preview in Maranello on Feb. 18th, 2015, where I met a (still) enthusiastic and hopeful Sebastian Vettel (who had just joined the Scuderia).
Then there was the Geneva show, and the configuration process with the dealer - and finally an early delivery.
Since then the car has made some travels (one highlight being the 70th anniversary rally, from Reims to Maranello) and several track days (Magny-Cours, Le Castellet, Dijon, Spa, ...).
It has been globally reliable; a few issues have been addressed during the warranty, but the main cost so far has been to replace the brakes after only 15,000 km (I elected to go with Surface Transforms rotors with Pagid pads, and that's a big improvement over the OEM Brembo set up).
The most disturbing experience has been during an early track day (after the break in period), when the car stubbornly refused to stop the engine for a few hours, no matter what (allegedly it was an issue with the steering wheel ECU)... I also had the headliner drop after having left the car parked under a hot sun; it was corrected under warranty and I got a new windscreen for free, since the original one was damaged in the headliner replacement process.
As far as driving is concerned, the performance on the road is largely sufficient, and on the track (with the new brakes) it is still far from ridiculous - although on the straight lines, it cannot compete with significantly more powerful recent cars.

 

So just a few professional pictures (credit Spyk photo)
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