458 Intro

Hey there …

A couple of peeps might know me from other forums. For those who don’t let me assure you that my reputation is impeccable, which is to say I am known for my handsome comments and complete lack of snarkiness. What I lack in humor I more than make up in lazy repetition.

After an unhealthy run of 991 911 cars (https://rennlist.com/forums/991-gt3-gt3rs-and-911r/1130062-991-musings-and-meanderings.html), several Corvettes, AMGs, M cars, and some other stuff, I have finally decided to get my first ever Ferrari, which as I have mentioned a couple of times in other threads is a 4k mile used 2015 458 Spider. Pretty simple spec which is my thing, would rather have the daytonas but whatever, the rest of it is pretty sweet to my eyes. Lift, afs, cf everywhere, stitchity bits, and stuff.

Haven’t had time to take pics, so here’s some from the listing from my friends at Merit Partners where I bought the car and whom I highly recommend.

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Tbh it’s been a while since I have been exited about a car.

Why this over any other Ferrari old and new?

Well, to start I thought that a mid engine one would be the place to begin this new journey, and those damn tanning salons don’t have lamps for my dome so the open top will balance me out.

I kid?

Actually I’m done with ‘fast’ non NA sports cars. For the last six months I have been staring at my GT2RS in the garage and have had little desire to drive it over my M5C dd. There used to be a time that the performance gap between an ordinary car and a supercar was huge, these days sub 3sec sedans are a norm, and all the extra performance of the 2RS over a car like the M5C cannot be extracted on public roads. And I decided a while ago that driving a street car at 160mph on track with a seatbelt a helmet and crossed fingers is not a viable long term strategy, so only fully caged cars on track for me from now on.

All this is to say that I just don’t care any more between the hundreds of the seconds between 2 and 3 secs 0-60. I can get that out of my daily anyway and in a couple of years Toyota will be able to slap four electric motors on a Camry and it will be a sub three second car. Tesla showed the way and and the C8 is waiving this flag for everyone to see. So everyone can have their faster electric, turbocharged, supercharged, hybrid cars, I’m going back in time with my driving experiences whilst this stuff is still available. That’s why 458, that’s why I’m doing a 73 RSR 3.8 backdate, and that’s my thing. Not judging anyone else’s thing, but I want the pure NA V8 experience with a decent tranny, and the sweet spot for me (at least as a starting point) is post scud/pre 488.

I almost bought a Speciale instead but honestly I just don’t want the mile anxiety and don’t care about being a smidgen faster … I just want to open the top, and drive this spider on country roads through the afternoon sun strobing through the trees singing at high rpm in a state of automotive trance.

- soul

 

Thanks Phil,

Yup my plan for now is to indeed unplug the lines to the valves and to drop the car as much as I can on the factory suspension. That's as far as I've gotten mod wise.

 

I didn't realize this was an issue.

If it's really so I will get the Forza thingie.
But I thought the only point of that is that I can keep the valves always open and be able to choose if I want to close them. In which case it wouldn't solve the loss of torque issue.

Thanks

 

Hard to say if this is really so or if it just appears that way from anecdotal accounts on forums, and I can’t speak for other 911 owners but if we’re true I would imagine it’s for two main reasons:

1. NA engine which 911 GT car owners probably value more than any other subset of enthusiasts.
2. Price, as mid gen 458 coupes are now about on par with late model GT cars.

I think there’s a little 911 fatigue as well with a lot of people and a lot of my dealer friends feeling the market echo this sentiment, and when those owners look for an alternative, Ferrari and the 458 in particular is a natural default for the above stated reasons.

All that said, one could also read RL and note a bunch of ferrari owners going in the 911 direction and believe that there is a trend there, so again we just don’t know if either is correct.

I think the 458 has a lot of appeal for sport car enthusiasts in general who are coming to terms with the reality that ring times and the difference between 2.6 and 2.9 0-60 don’t mean as much as the overall public road driving experience.

 

Like car, buy car, research laters.

Nah I did do basic research on these cars, at least enough to know that they are generally reliable. As far as the brake issue as I understand it it is extremely rare. My take on that is that if this was the case with my specific car it would have already manifested, and there's nothing in its service history to indicate such a thing. As importantly, the guys who own the place I purchased it from are friends, and they know this car well, there's no way they would sell me a car that they know is problematic, much less if it is dangerous. That's really as much peace of mind as I can get on that front, in my estimation a safer bet than say if the car were new with unmanifested potential issues.

 

So I just took my first half hour drive, and I have to say that I've decided that I don't need to touch the exhaust at all.

With the top down and in race mode it's absolutely perfect to me as far as pitch and loudness.

Something must be wrong with me.

 

So I put half the miles on her day one than I put on the 2RS in six months.

Grin per mile ratio is off the charts.

Got her deep detailed today so all the previous owner and company dna is removed.

Was going to put a gentle 20% tint on her but for the first time in a long time I think I'm going to bypass tint. I just don't see myself driving the car much with top/windows up. Plus has grey wheels and chrome badging/tail pipes, so not stormtrooper ready anyway.

 

So it's been an interesting experience adjusting from the Porsche world to the Ferrari world.

In a way it brings me back to my youth when I was willing to put up with some nonsense for the sake of great sex.

I mean the car has moods that I have to account for. I need to give her enough 'space' to get her feelings sorted out between turning the key and pressing the start button, otherwise she'll throw a tantrum (aka CEL) ... nothing's wrong mind you, she just doesn't want to be rushed.

So far as I can tell the car doesn't have a park mode separate from the ebrake, yet it has a pit speed button within closer reach than any other thing I actually need. I did eventually figure out that PS didn't mean Parking Serge, which in retrospect would have been both flattering and super useful.

It's not often that a car manages to both thrill you and make you laugh, this one somehow manages it ... 19 years ago I married my wife for less.

And I haven't even gotten to the windshield wiper button yet.