From Car Magazine March 2004 "Biggest Disappointment" "Ferrari's charismatic boss, Luca Di Montezemolo, unveiled the 612 Scaglietti with his typical from the heart extemporisation, all rounded vowels and waving arms, fueled by latin passion. A speech from within, rather than a script, is always a welcome change at Detroit, where polished insincerity from glib talking, silver-maned, florida tanned car executives is the norm. But even much loved Luca failed to excite the faithful. The Scaglietti got a muted response. This is also unusual at the the Detroit show, where any newly unvieled junk usually gets a yee-haw, high five, standing ovation from the fawning, generally uncritical, mostly clueless American auto press. Even rival car bosses were dissapointed by the Scaglietti. Every car designer at heart, is a Ferrari fan. Most seemed crest-fallen that Ferrari(again) (i btw didnt stick the (again) in the there) had unveiled a visually disjointed car. The Scaglietti not only looked dull, the car on the stand was badly made, orange peel paint, uneven side scallops, rippled surfacing"
I think we already have read that Allan, and most of us agree that the 612 did not set the world on fire. Saying that I say my first one in the flesh at the Melbourne Motorshow and it is somehow better proportioned than pictures make out. In the end it is NOT a good example of automotive styling. I must say though that the Lamborghini Gallardo disappointed me in the flesh, as it just does not have that supercar look about it ... especially beside the awesome Murci (now there is a very good example of automotive art). On the plus side the Motor magazine rates the Gallardo as a fantastic driving car ... so well done Lambo. Personally I think Ferrari should leave the 2+2's to Maserati ... the world does not need the 612. Pete EDIT: The 612 in 5 years time will be a good source of mechanicals for special makers ... the rest can be happily binned
The 612 is an abomination in pictures, and an abomination in person. And, like the article said, the workmanship on the show car was terrible. I have no idea how any auto company (let alone Ferrari) could have displayed such a poorly crafted example. Very sad to see. If this is any indication of what we can expect from Ferrari in the near future, we're going to see other auto companies stealing some significant marketshare in the exotic car niche.
One thing I don't understand, why you are always negative about F-cars?? This is FERRARICHAT.COM, you should post your thread at your own LAMBOCHAT.com
I kinda like it and have seen it in the flesh a few times. Not $250K worth of like but I certainly don't hate it like some "other" people. Oh well, Montezemolo has a new job as the new head of Confindustria, Italys employers association which represents the interests of 113,000 Italian companies employing around 4.2 million workers. The new position is expected to require Montezemolo to reduce his commitments to the Ferrari Maserati Group. The success of the 612 is not exactly his top priority now.
I can't think of any 4 seater "sports car" that really looked worth a damn. Can anyone? Some look ok but none really grab the attention.
I would not pay MSRP for this car but I think it is still a beautiful car, would not mind waiting a couple years and get it when it depreciated as a daily driver
I agree, saw it in the flesh for the first time last week and think it is a great car with many of the traditional features I love from the older Fcars. Most people condemning the car have never seen it in the flesh and most Fcars photo badly FWIW (bar the great F40 ) The 612 has a great prescence and is still an awesome car with performance few people will ever reach (if any) Ferrari have been making their cars user-friendly of late and this leads to conservatism whereas if they had taken the Lambo route and made them outlandishly wild there would have been huge complaints that you can't live with them and they are too hard to get in and out of. What Ferrari have done is give you a car that is a supercar with easy access and livable traits, your wife/gf can get in/out without turning into a pornstar (good and bad ) and is reliable and able to use as a daily driver if you want to whereas Lambos, Zondas, etc have sills that are so wide you need to be an olympic long jumper to get out in one clean movement. The Fcars are still up there with supercar driving but are made accessible by commonsense design
I really like the 612 but I would have to consider the Maser Quattroporte if I were looking to buy a car of this type.
I still think the 456 is a better looking car (the GT, not the M). Hopefully a ton of 456GT owners have to have the 612 (which I think is nasty looking) and drive the price of used 456s further south...
It reminds me of an evolved 365 GT 2+2. This one will not have as rapid embrace as say, the 360, but it will catch on. I can't remember the issue number, but Cavallino reviewed the 348(cover with red 348 on a dirt road in Italy).... the letters in the following issues caused a stir with Ferrari purists. "How can Ferrari do this!","Ferrari has sunk to an all time low!", "That non-functioning grille" on and on, the 348 was bashed without remorse. Here we are today, bashing the 612.
There is no way AllanLambo can be said to be always negative about Fcars. He is certainly positive about other brands and that is no bad thing. He is also negative about Fcars he doesn't like and he's negative about people who appear to bow down in front of every Ferrari because of the horse on the front. I doubt whether there is a single person on this site who likes every single Ferrari ever made so that no other marque would get a look in.
The 612 has a face only a mother could love...Or a blind biased Schumacher underoo wearing F-chatter that is.
I like it,seems to me that it is always the same.When something has changed there is negitive comments I am sure these same things were said when every new Ferrari model was introduced,point of fact some people are still saying it about the 360. Dave McGuire
The 456 is a boring looking car, but not necessarily ugly. The 612 is not boring, but it is UGLY. I have seen the car in the flesh, at the unveiling in Italy. Those two cars did not look bad from a quality standpoint but, it was very obvious from the cool reception by the very international crowd that this one may set records for rapid depreciation. There was also a display outside of the historical Ferrari 2+2 models. They are all dissapointing if you ask me, with the very worst being the 412.
the 456 look very good in person..very stubtle but stylish lines...the 612 i will reserve jujdment until i see it in person....it seems the lambo lovers only like cars that look like spaceships and boy racers...just like my 5 year nephew...perhaps a case of arrested development??????
I had the opportunity to check out the 612 at close range at the Dallas Auto Show. It's certainly better looking in person than it is in the pictures. That's not to say it looks good in person, but the 'smile' of the front end is not as apparent. This car will not look good in bright colors. It's definitely suited for silvers, blues, blacks, etc. It's a lot bigger than you might expect. It'll take a while, but the look will catch on. I expect the next 575 replacement to have a very similar front end on it.
i don't like it today....but that doesn't mean that i won't be trying to buy one sometime in the next 10 years. ferraris often have a latent lust effect; at first they don't please the masses and then they grow on people and are copied by other designers and then they start looking great to people. we'll see. it doesn't hurt that it probably functions perfectly.
I love how they insult the american auto press as clueless. Whats up with that? That means all americans must be dumb and dont know a good car when they see one??