Ferrari sued for lack of speed

I would think that before this guy made such a fuss he probably documented his speed with a GPS rather than depending on his speedometer.

 

On another note ... how old is the car? Break-in takes a while, and could make the difference between 282 and 300.

 

very true.

 

Wow... they really did rate it high.

Seems like "195" hp would be about right, with you getting 164 at the tires.

 

I was thinking that too - those are like Subaru numbers, but they lose a lot with the AWD drivetrain. Mazda doesn't seem to have an excuse!

 

Ford had a problem with the advertised HP of the Mustang G.T. a few years back. They had to retrofit new exhaust for the cars.

I wonder what the owners manual says for the CS? I thought those cars were good to 186mph. 175mph is really pretty sad.

I was disappointed to find a U.S. F40 is only good to 194mph due to a final drive gear change from Euro to U.S. But with a taller tire, I think the 200mph number is still doable. I'll let you know next month

Rick

 

Next month is only 4 days away. Are you OK with that statement?

 

I also heard the guy was 325 lbs. Could this be a factor?

 

The product will perform correctly if the conditions are right. The CS can hit 180mph if it wants to, but Ferrari never said how. Ferrari could've tested it on different road temperatures, different tire temperatures, different tire pressures, different fuel load, different driver weight, different outside temperature, different air pressure, different humidity, could've tested it on a downhill slope or dropped it off a cliff. I think you see where I'm going with this. You can give me any product and I will find a way to not make it work as advertised.

 

If I were Ferrari, I'd take his car, chip it or whatever you have to do until it will hit whatever top speed he wants and give it back to him. If it's really that issue and not just some free money, he should go for it. I bet he wouldn't, though. He just wants to use the court system to transfer wealth from Ferrari to himself.

 

99 Cobra. Got new intake and exhaust. I don't think it was anywhere near off as much as those Mazda's.

 

The 612 Scaglietti is advertized as top speed 200mph - will you believe it just because Ferrari says so?

As soon as mine got broken in, we got on the Autobahn and sure enough I managed to get 200mph on the counter. I can't tell you how p*ssed off I would have been if it had maxed out below 200mph!

I understand this German guy all the way. He's just making his point heard. I think a lawsuit is a bit over-the-top, but that's just his way of crying for attention...

 

Maybe....He waited 18 months for his CS which had the big buzz and all the press when he bought it.

Now the 430 has the spot-light and all the buzz! He might just want the new toy on the block, and be to cheap to take a hit selling his car and or be worried about getting back in line for another 18 months? Trying to get leverage towards a new 430?

 

i think he should get his money back

 

I agree with the guy. If the car is advertised as capable of 180mph, it should go 180mph. It should go 180mph under normal conditions, not just with a tail wind on a downhill road, with an anorexic driver and a light fuel load when the moon is full. The 360CS should be able to go 180mph. I'm surprised that it can't.

You put down a deposit, wait a year and a half, and pay through the nose for an exotic sports car, it should perform as advertised. I would have thought that Ferrari learned its lesson over-hyping its cars' performance. I lost track of the number of car tests in the 1980s where the testers couldn't get the F-car to go anywhere near as fast as advertised (worst one was a 512BB, where it wouldn't even go past 140mph, and then it broke.)

I too would be pissed. If Ferrari wouldn't take the car back, I too would take them to court over it for false advertising.

 

Was he driving into a REALLY hard headwind? How may top speed runs did he attempt?

 

Does this mean if my 308QV won't hit 60 in 6.8 I can sue too? (R&T Aug 1983)

 

Hold it. That means I'd have to sue R&T...

 

Heck with it, I'll just sue everybody over it.

 

Well, we can add one more name to the list of people who will not be sold another new Ferrari...

 

His lawsuit is 100% justifiable. People need to do this more often, to keep ALL manufacturers honest, not just Ferrari. From what I can see, he'll win this suit, or Ferrari will settle with him out of court.

 

thats not even a viable comparison.

a zero to 60 time is largely dependent on the drivers skill. Top speed has little to do with that. I could make a car hit its top speed, but i wouldn't likely be able to get it to accelerate as fast as advertised.


As far as this case goes. I'm 100% in support of him. I would do the same. He is not trying to make money off of Ferrari. He wants HIS money back because the product didnt meet the advertised specifications.
That is a totaly justifiable reason to sue. The way it sounds, he tried to settle with Ferrari, and they weren't having it, so instead of getting screwed, he went to the courts. I say, go for it, and good luck!

 

considering that the average ferrari test driver weighs in the vincinity of 180-200 yes very much so! They were not factoring the other 100 lbs!

 

Joerg is my new champion of the voiceless! Sometimes, it takes a lawsuit to bring attention to some issues, and I can only hope that JW tried other ways to fix his ride. Too bad for him and Ferrari.

 

I don't know what German jurisprudence is based on, but in the US, it would come down to whether the deficiency in speed was a material part of the sales contract - would he have bought it knowing it only did 175 and not 186+? Apparently he thinks that was a dealbreaker.

Ferrari would say it was just estimated top speed and amounts to "puffing," i.e. sales BS, and not a guarantee of performance.

I think if this were a different company - say, Lamborghini, and they said the Murci did 205 when it could only do 190 - people around here would have more hissing against the manufacturer...