Interesting with the shiny black roof. Never seen it in shiny black, it looks like piano varnish. Very nice !!!! Was this an option or is it painted from a paintshop ? I saw some 599 rosso corsa/black roofs, but all with matte black roofs. Is this rosso corsa or scuderia, it seem very bright. Also nice interior with the black stripes at the beige Daytonas. You are right, the rims are NO GO !!! Daniel
Well. No longer pursuing, it's off the market! I'll be the new owner next Friday. I'm going down there with my 430 to do the transaction. Very happy with the deal. I've owned three Ferraris now and still no very little about them. Haven't even driven it but spent a couple of hrs going over everything. It'll have a fresh biannual and just finished the PPI. Only problem seen was tire wear and one inflating bolster didn't work. I've already purchased challenge type wheels and am waiting on tires til the end of September when Michelin catches up on back orders. Seems to be much more civilized than the 430. Will post pics when the paperwork done and it's mine. Thanks for the advice. Feel I made a really good deal. The black paint was a factory option and I kind of like it. Supposedly $6K but not substantiated. Has all tools and covers but no luggage. That's it for now
Norwood's does all my work and will do the Biannual fluid/filter changes. Ferrari of DFW did the PPI. They do excellent work to but I've worked with James, Michael and Ryan for years and highly trust them plus they're reasonable too. Some of the options it has are Daytona seats, CCB's (I thought these were standard on 599), shields, GTO style black top, and ugly wheels. It also said it has a Tubi exhaust but not substantiated anywhere that I can see. We are putting on the GTO style grill, Challenge wheels & Michelins and Passport Max 2. It's wired for a V1 but since I've switched over, I'll never look back. That should do it for awhile as this car seems like it rides on its own merits and doesn't need much modifying to make it a world class car. I know it'll depreciate but who cares. I always buy high and sell low--that's my style!
Well, I've completed the deal and now a proud owner of a beautiful 599. It's back in the garage and will be sitting there for awhile awaiting some minor mods like the Challenge style wheels and GTO grill. Not much else to do. Will post some good pics when I get back from a much needed vacation. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I've only driven it for about 20 miles and that was through rush hour DFW traffic but I got a slight feel for the differences between it and the 430. Acceleration seems about the same with sound much different which may be caused by the Tubi exhaust. I've ordered an original exhaust on eBay and will see which one I like more. The Tubi is really '"bassy" if that's a word. I really don't like my engines loud and can't stand any "drone" so the Tubi may be out. I hope I could sell it on eBay . I think it would be really hard to get that Formula 1 sound out of this engine. Car is MUCH more luxurious. 430 was very "raw" where you slung it around in every corner, listened/felt the engine strapped to your back and watched heads turn & selfies from all directions. Everywhere I look inside, things were stepped up a notch. I tried to think up an analogy compared to Porsche-- the 430 is Ferrari's Boxter/Cayman and the 599 is a 911 or Panamera, if that makes any sense. It's amazing the difference in the fit and finish between the two although mine is a year newer than my 430. This car seemed to go down the road relatively unnoticed whereas I was constantly assaulted by coffee-canned Hondas and rabble in the 430 as people tried to get photos and give me a thumbs up. In this car, you just drive by and people glance over for a second doing a double take as if they were saying, "was that a Ferrari that just drove by"? The longer nose out front feels what I would imagine a Corvette would feel like although I've never owned one. The ride is much more refined. No squeaks, rattles, or plastic on plastic shakes like a Corvette does (at least the earlier models). Seems like it has a lot more room too. I'm 6'4" and 230lbs and this car fits me very well. Ingress and egress is a lot easier than the 430 with the A to B pillar distance greater for my lanky legs. The engine, although the star of the show, is hidden under a sea of plastic whereas the 430 shows it off in a glass showcase. That is a little disappointing but don't know how that could've been different. I'm up at 4 am writing this because I'm so excited about this car! I've been blessed with many cars over the years including an R8 Spyder, Porsche Turbo, Ferrari 456 & 430, several 6 series including an M. I just kept hopping from car to car but nothing really popped my cork like this one does. It has understated power, luxurious cabin, great looks and rarity to truly make it a head turner. It's truly a "smile car" that you take out on nice days and just drive to forget the world for a little while. As this thread is a 430->599 thread, I'll try to put out some more ideas on the differences as they pop into my head later and post some photos too.
Fore mentioned: I'm only ribbing you - I hope you've gotten all of that out of your system. I think you covered all the insults to Ferrai imaginable. 1) cutting out the sound 2) comparing to a porsche 3) mentioning corvette Congrats and have a safe trip!
Update. Upgrades like wheels, tires, radar detector and GTO grill will be added the end of this week. We did look through the book where they took pictures of the entire build and the black roof was merely an aftermarket respray. It wasn't present at the factory. Just thought I'd let you know that since I mentioned above Ferrari did the painting before it left the factory. We don't plan on trying to make a GTO copy, just like the roof, grill and wheels. Just really like the look of them. Will get pics when it's finished and I get home with it. John
Congratulations on getting the 599. I am interested in your experience with the seating position/ comfort of the racing seats. I am 6'-1" 215lbs. Long legs. I found that the seat back did not accommodate my torso. It seemed I was sitting on top of the seat back and not in it. I wear a 48 size blazer. I only sat in the car twice at the dealer and was disappointed. Your experience would be very valuable for me to see if I should still pursue a 599. The 430 I sat in, the seats fit me better.
Don't ask me about seats. I'm very weirdly proportioned being 6'4" but I only wear a 34" inseam so I have the exact opposite. Very short legs and very long torso. It fit me a lot better that the 430 did.
Just because you had no accidents with belts doesnt mean they are good. They only need to fail once to make your life extremely miserable and scheduled maintenance is not enough to be safe. Unfortunately most people have to learn it the hard way, like i did.
I suppose if you've had a failure like this, I can see where you'd be extremely prejudiced against belts. I'm terribly sorry for you're problems. I don't think it's fair though to say that most people learn this way. Failures like this are in the extreme, extreme minority.
Appears to me through all of this reading that the suspension is the main weak link in the 599. Will be an expensive fix but not impossible. We had a bad weak link in the 430, possible imagined or not, which was the exhaust headers. Tie rods go out on the 599 and your steering gets sloppy. Exhaust headers go bad on the 430 and you buy a new engine. To me, a much easier to swallow pill. The exhaust system was a "must replace" item on the 430 and must be considered when buying one.
If you have a F430, and do have the original headers, what I did which worked was compelled my local dealer to scope the headers and look for any signs of deterioration which they did find. At which point they replace them with the mk2 headers. Which supposedly were better than who knows. Given that emissions equipment as an eight year warranty, some F430 owners may still be able to benefit from this. I agree though that if you don't have the replacement oem headers, you need to get rid of the stock headers and just deal with the CEL's as best you can. Unlike the crap 360 headers that would lose cat material, the F430 headers can actually shed weld material. Very very rare, but catastrophic if ingested. The only other thing you can do to mitigate is to purchase some spring loaded exhaust clamps from Capristo. Apparently the vast majority of the damage to the headers is due mainly to the fact that the f430 exhaust is secured with clamps that do not give with the torque.
Suspension isn't too terribly expensive. Can find shocks on Ebay for $750 all day long. Same with ball joints. About $300; not a horribly complex fix, but best to have someone watching over you who knows what they are doing. Ball joints and shocks are a lot like brakes. Different on different cars, but same principals - so if you can get a mechanic for technical advice you should be able to do it yourself!
Finally got a pic from my son who's doing some mods to my new, to me, car. First, the Passport Max 2 hard wired,, then a GTO grill and now the wheels. I'm really starting to like this car a lot. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks a bunch. I agree with somebody who mentioned that CF mirrors might be needed. May consider wrapping them first to see how it looks since it's a ton cheaper and temporary.
