488 GTO ?

Do you purposefully misspell every 3rd word and skip punctuation, or have you simply had too much Scotch? I was pulling your leg with my last response...

I opened this thread because I own a 488GTB and am excited about the prospect of a 488 VS. I think I ended up in a Twilight Zone episode.

 

Yep despite it being really an upgraded audi/german car, the performante is really interesting. Love the Hurucan looks too. Even went to the factory last summer.
is it a semibal car though, one you would want to keep forever, and what would you do with it.? Its still paddles on the road, and as you say not really viable for serious track use. I do need to try one though, sometimes one drive is compelling. Its def on the must see list.

Meanwhile I have one lotus for small backroads, another I am pouring fortunes into for track, a BB for having a raw Italian car plus an e46 m3 because I wanted to try german and its great for 1hr trips(also needed engine mapping to attain its inner potential) and some various others for street duty, plus a few bikes and boats. Yeah fewer to cover a number of bases would simplify life, but then I always bond with the car and dont sell, so whatever the next is needs to add to the experience.

So what will light the fire and cover bases the ones above don't. Well I tried a GT40 rep, Sa build quality, substandard componats, kit car development, coupled with 2400lbs and 575 hp couldnt hack it on track, it was great when it worked for 10 mins though.. A modern incarnation of the F40. Been looking at Jim Gs new car. Possibly a 570s. We'll see. For a road car a 288 seems ideal, so somehting modern that has the beauty and works like that, the 458 had the looks but thats where it ended for me.

So far on track the only thing the exige V6 lacks is some top end grunt compared to say a 458 challenge, it can also be better still with some suspension development and of course driver development.
As is no one was moving fastser through the esses at the glen. I am swapping to some Ohlins TTX's and loosing more weight. In year there will be some gearing changes 4 and 5 need to be shorter, and it seems with some rods and a different supercharger 500 horsies is easy for a 2400lbs wet car.. So for track thats my path. Not economic, no resale, but fun and it allows me to grow into the car and visa versa. It all about improvements, for my driving. Other than with computer assist I dont see being faster in a "faster" car, or having more fun.

So then back to whats a great viceral road car. Well the elise ticks lots of boxes, except as others have said its got a really crude/rough motor, and while it drives superlatively its all really crude and limiting for anything other than a short hop. I mean the BBi is my road limo in comparison.

I do have a new in box from the factory 512m motor, the one with titanium conrods etc. Was thinking of putting that in the boxer, and doing a ferrari "singer" but lately not. If I could find a good boxer shell might use this motor to make a 512 competizione.

So its back to when will ferrai will make a modern incarnation of the 288 and one you can actualy buy. Maybe never sayeth the people here. Which is fine, its fun to tinker with different cars and options.

Still one has that itch to get some more cars. Drives my wife nuts.

If for no other reason than some clarity(in my mind) on this debate, going to try the 488 tomorrow.

All fun stuff, keep driving folks.

 

Sold the Gt 40, got a exige V6 cup.

people keep telling me I dont understand the modern ferraris or have not driven them enough to understand, so I'll try and see, so far the 458 was a dissapointment(on road), and the 599 I actualy thought was terrible(on road and track). But have not driven a F12 which some say is excellent, or a 458 or a FF. Probably the most interesting one in my mind to try is the FF, because its somehtign to really use on the road, not trying to pretend its something its not, and its something origional.

Probably I just dont do the whole modern excess power, heavyish computer driven somehwat isolated car thing, even though its "faster". I also like really smart difficult tight bodied redheads others like sweet voluptuos blondes, etc, each to his own. It would be nice to have a choice from ferrari, a modern car with attrributes from the back catalogue.

 

Everytime a thread starting from 488VS departs on other far considerations, it's not a LE or hypercar, but here many people think Ferrari will just make another speciale with a little more aero, a little less weight and nothing else. Maybe we should be more careful with this model. It's the first time in a long period that Ferrari presents a VS model at Geneva, the King of autosaloon, they have chosen Geneva for it, not Frankfurt or Paris. It will make many people currently disregarding it rethink their ideas and want to be owner of this masterpiece.

 

Hope so.

 

Just type fast and wife resents Fchat, sorry.

Due to diet have not had a drink in 4 weeks.

 

Is there any real news about the new 488 car ?

Is presentation confirmed to be in Geneva 2018 ?

 

No information yet (as far as I'm aware), nor official confirmation for Geneva 2018 unveiling - however Geneva 2018 seems to be commonly accepted (including by dealers), so I would assume it's very likely.

 

Only if confirmed I may go there again

 

I thought it might be later in 2018, but agree with LVP488 that Geneva now looks the strong favourite.

It may well be worth a trip!

 

The new 488VS, GTO, whatever you want to call it, will be shown in Geneva.

 

and i will be there in Geneva. sitting in it. doing brummbrumm noises.

steping out and in again. thinking about possible specs and colors.

curious about the paint/stripe theme.

 

Quick version of 488 drive, it was good.

will give detail tomorrow.

 

would be great - if we get pops like that on upshifts.
...
nothing beats the sequential, differencial and driveshafts howl/whistle.

 

Great video of a track car. The 488 road car will be nothing like this as you know.

 

Well, expect gt3/challenge inspired aero For this, even withiut rear wing

 

Agreed. Booked my flights today. Can’t wait.


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Best reveal since F12 TDF, can't wait for this and the 812 VS!!!

 

Sounds like a compulsory trip!

Haven't been to the Geneva show before - do you know which will be the best day to go on?

 

Drive the TDF and then tell us Ferrari doesn't make visceral cars?

 

TDF unobtanium. the one person i know who has one, and a :Laf and a 599 Gto runs a viper on track.

 

Take my word for it, I have a Ferrari GT 3 as a track/race car and still find the TDF visceral.

 

Oh heres the 488 report. Its the firss paddle car I have driven thats really fun, also most of the time no need to use the paddles.
What makes the car fun is different to what makes an older car fun. Sheer immediacy of the steerign (while loosing "feel") adds a new dimesion to driving.
I could describe the 488 steering as hyper, its keeps you concentrating, but its also really accurate. The 458 steering was similar but there it felt really overboosted, and the ride was more abrubt, its like they finaly resolved the forces in the 488.. In general the 488 just seems a better resolved car, the ride has a degree of suspension absorbtion making it not abrubt yet the car still feels very buttoned down., Its as though ferrari got the ride handlign equation near spot on. The brakes also had an ability to modulate and a sharpeness the 458 and 599 simply lacked, in fact those two cars felt to have wooden brakes.

The turbo motor, yes there is definatley lag, but the big Tq hit adds a demsion the 458 lacked. In the 458 the car felt either on, or off, the pice in the middle was missing. Ie you were either balls out or trundling. The turbo motor means you can drive quick but not manic, its a big big difference om road.

All the gizmos, the Gps etc, those are things already dated and will be supremly dated 10 years from now. They kinda just dont need to be on this car.

Now the paddle and transmision. From start the computer releases the parking break as you add power though the pedal and you seamlessly pull off. In a sense this car mimicks an electric car in the way the power is transnmited to the road with big TQ and seamless gears. In fact electric propulsion feels like the next step, yes we'll loose noise, but its the logical conclusion to power to wheels concept that began with the paddle boxi, by the time its electric well have immediate power to match the immediate steering.

The view out is great, on of the few car where sitting behind the wheel feels every bit ad good as looking at the car from the outside.. To drive the car feels compact, it handles great, the power is there across a broad range, such is the power and immediacy of controlls its really somehting different and I'm not sure a stick would do anything here other than sully a seamless experience.

Like many moderns its an opportunistic feeder, you drive along at any speed in comfort and then can take a quick stab at a suddenly empty corner of empty straight.

A big plus, its modern safe, there are simply so many idiots not paying attetion this makes a big difference. I liked it, not sure what I would do with one, but I is a great car, possibly not a seminal one but certainly a fun drive and a very sorted machine.

Now the BBI which I drove on the same day, for contrast. Its an antique. More in common with ferrais of the 60s than a 488. You feel vulneralble on modern roads, every isiot not looking is a danger not only to the car but also you inside. The car/machine requires concentration even at at normal speeds, 30 can feel challenging and then you can hyoper focus and really trun up the wick. None of it is seamless, everythign requires thoight, which is engaing but also cretaes certain limitations.. You can attain huge speeds in a BBI on road, but you really dont want to push it hard on roads and bends you dont know. There is no fizzy cushion, and adding or reducing power near the limit is possibly fatal. So you have to comit to bends, and preferably know them before comiting deep. It requires the right and just right ammount of control input, power and seering to extract the maximum, and the maximum is quite a bit, but once youre fully into that corned of the performance envelope adjustments are not advised.

Compared to the 488, well the BBi motor between sound and response, its somehting really special.

In the end both these cars create an ersatz race car experience on the road. The 488 is michael schumacher F1 paddles etc. The BBI Steve Mqueen Lemans. Two very different things.

My take away, I dont need another vintage ferrai, that base is well covered with the BBi in terms of sights sounds experience. Might a 288 or F40 be more fun, maybe but not a fundementaly different experience and the extra amplitude not that much. The new car (488) can put on speed handle brake steer to such a degree and so acessably, that the older cars are fun for the experience, A different older car its just not that big a step up once you have experinced the sheer force of the 488 motor and immediacy of response from the other controlls..

Yes the 488 because its so reactive was fun a slower speeds, not as much fun as the BBi, different fun, and certainly but more useable fun. The BBI only likes cold days and certain roads, therein its sublime and you feel rewarded for meting the challenge and extracting verything, you have been engrossed in the drive. But these drivign opportunities (roads/traffic/times/weather) are limited. With a 488, between its functionality, ac etc well you just have lots more driving opportunities for the thrills it offers..

In the 21sr cetury its hard to find roads where you can string together 20 mins to 1hr of serious running at or near full chat, which is where older cars are great, running on pace. In traffic, in traffic lights, on highway traffic older cars are a pain. Today there is much traffic too many cops etc. With the 488 you dont need to run on pace, you can go quick or slow a sconditiosn eprmit, when the road opens for 20 secs you can grab that moment and then blend back in, its a creature of the 21sr cetury and works well in modern conditions.

It feels like it would be fun on track too.


Would I buy one over a NA Gt3. I like going to the track, and I dont think a Gt3 would be a lesser experience at all. So yes money no issue a 488 is a really good car. I dont know its a car to keep for a lifetime, but its really good, and fun in its own 21st century way.

I do think that when ferrai makes their next car out of Cf, looses a few hudred lbs and reduces lag to porche levels, that may well then be a seminal car. Certainly in this categoiry the 488 is a modern benchmark. It also feels all of a piece while being modern and luxury.

Its not a car one feels compelled to sell othrs to buy and keep. But its a really really good car.

The Mp12 I drove was nowhere close, and the 570 was one peg below. For one thing the Mclarens motors dont have the same smoothness, are more laggy and sound like a blare. They just were not as resolved. Prbably the 675 is different and the 720 different again. But I dont see the Malcren motor matching the ferrari one.

Ferrari has new 488's in stock for sale, or you can order one, compettion seesm to have imporved the buying experience, at least for regular cars.. Ridiculously for a branding/experience company you cant to European delivery.
As a rad car to put lots of miles on, it seems without peer.

The looks, well its not a looker like the 458. As with the 456 and 550 its better in whites and greys, the bright colors/reds seem to accentuate those uncomplimentary side slashes. To drive though, its a leap just as the 355 was a leap on the 348.

 

I' m sure it is, but it is not and was not attainable. I also loved looking at all the little winglets and wero bits on the tdf, the thought that went into it was amazing, you can follow where the air moves with your eyes. yet it also made it kinda plasticky. IMo the TDF is what they should make as a regular car and the regular F12 should have been the lux Gt version.

 

Just avoid the weekend. It’s a nightmare. I’m going on 15th.


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