Photos and observations on my "new" car

Well, after 18 years of Ferrari ownership and 3 years of lustful waiting, I now own a 599! I'm the proud second owner of the low-mileage example shown in these photos.

A few observations after three months of ownership:

Things I knew I'd love: the obvious (locomotive-like power, no-fade ceramic brakes, beautiful lines), LED steering wheel, Daytonas, Cuoio interior with lots of charcoal accents (including upper dash, sides of steering wheel, A-pillars, carpets, Daytona accents, stitching); the sound of the exhaust with the butterflies open above 4000 RPM; the 100 ms shifts, especially in Race mode

Things I didn't know I'd love, but do love anyway: Grigio Titanio paint (If I'd speced a new car I would have gone for Nero Daytona, but the Titanio is both gorgeous and practical -- very stealthy), the stereo (why do people hate it? It sounds great to me and the active noise cancellation really works); the pentagram wheels (I'd have bet you a thousand bucks that I'd have the Challenge wheels, but to me these really suit this car -- and the ride on the road is substantially improved vs. the car with Challenge wheels I drove without sacrificing much if anything on the track); the yellow calipers and yellow tach (again, not what I would have speced, but really cool looking)

Most useless feature on any car ever made: the display on the screen after you start the car up (with the exhaust butterflies open) that reads "engine on" -- good for deaf Ferrari owners, I suppose...

Items I could do without: Leather seat backs (who looks back there, anyway?); poseur shields (at this point I guess I should just give up on this, as I'm apparently the only one left who doesn't like them)

Items missing on the car that I will need to add: electrochromic mirror (you got leather seat backs, but didn't spend the extra 300 bucks for a feature that's been on every normal production car since the '80's?); navigation software (yeah, I know -- but I've gotten addicted on my 612 and M-B, and need to have it)

One item that I won't be able to get and that will sort of drive me nuts: factory rear sensors (yes, I understand that the first owner didn't like the round sensors on the rear bumper, but I'm now paranoid every time I back up -- and the retrofit is apparently prohibitively expensive); not to mention the fact that my wife's new Audi wagon has a rear camera that steers her into parking spots.

That said, until the end of 2007 I drove a 512TR that had neither ABS nor power steering! Can't complain too much about small things, especially given the (very very attractive) price point relative to a new car.

Bottom line is that the car exceeds my very high expectations, on road and track. It's a big boy car for grown-ups -- 12 cylinders or walk, baby!

Last picture below is courtesy of Steve Souza of the FCA Pacific Region, from the recent track day at Laguna -- thanks, Steve!
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Thanks, Kenny -- I appreciate the good wishes. The torque is unreal!

 

Cool idea, Onno -- I will seriously consider it. Agree with your view (no pun intended) on the 330!

 

Rather than continuing to post one-by-one responses (and seeing a bunch of messages from me in a row) please forgive me for this group response to the kind comments so far.

The idea of a TomTom or Garmin makes a lot of sense -- especially as it can easily be removed should I ever want to show the car (I know that I shouldn't live my life visualizing a concours judge scowling at me 8 years from now, but I do like to keep my cars correct, for better or worse).

Great comments on the shields! I really do suppose that I should just give in at this point -- my dealer has taken to calling them "resale shields," so I suspect that they are here to stay. No ink or piercings on me, either...and I love the comment on being able to get out of the car and look in case I forget what I'm driving.

Ball-polished Challenge wheels would be pretty sweet -- although at this point I think I'll stand pat for a while, especially as the devil's wheels seem to provide a good ride on the public roads and the track performance (even on the Sport setting, which I used exclusively at Laguna) is outstanding.

I"m glad that someone else who saw the car several times liked it as well -- it is fairly low key (first owner is apparently in his 70s) but I was really drawn to it and it was in perfect condition (I crawled around underneath, among other things) and Ferrari-certified (will save me a few bucks by avoiding the pre-inspection for POWER next year). Seems to me the best of the GT and sports cars -- if the forces of evil hadn't eaten 40 percent of my retirement fund, I might have kept the 612 and gone for a Scud, but this was not to be -- and I'm really delighted with the 599!

Thanks again to all -- please be assured that I am driving it often and with vigor!

 

Thanks, G.B. -- all of the interior accents, including the Daytona inserts, are in Charcoal (slightly better photo here). The steering wheel is particularly trick, with cuoio at the bottom, charcoal on the sides and in the center, and CF across the top.

Hard to get the color/white balance right taking a picture inside of the garage (cuoio isn't really that orange) but you get the idea. Thanks for asking!
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Thanks, gentlemen -- and I'm pleased to read that there's a "sister" 612 out there. Looking forward to seeing more photos (static and action) of others' cars!

On that overhead shot: all I have to do now is to Photoshop out the storm drainage grate...