That kind of rawness also does not really work on the road, not least because the performance is so epic that to get a flow you are close to insanity speed. You can make a track car drive on road, but its a lot of chore more than entertains, or maybe It just needs to be on colorado, the Gt40 not a great short track or close quarters car..Mkaes my boxer feel like a limo on road. Horses for courses. By the same token all the Noble/rossion I have seen dont go well on track. Too much turbo boost whack to be controllable ie putting the power down off an apex, and debatable durability. As a street car epicaly fast. As much as we love the mroe raw car experience, it takes the right roads and traffic conditions to enjoy them. This limits the bandwidth of potential clients. Its why i think the 997 Gt3 and maybe cayman GT4 are so brilliant, they do all well.
I don't know of one vehicle in the military that's has a manual. All the motor trash stuff is all autos.
You don't have to pay for it. A new 488 (if you can get one now) is north of $300K. Used 360s are about a third of that and vastly overpowered for use on public roads. (360 CS is F1 only and more expensive, but plenty of Modenas/Spiders with old school manuals.) If you don't need that level of performance, a decent driver 328 isn't much more than a good 360.
This morning in autoblog, spot the differences with a modern. " Driving the F355 is transcendent, which is bad for memory. The secret is the balance – at every speed it's perfect. It is easily fast enough to thrill without being shocking. The electronically adjustable dampers sift out road harshness, not road feel, and they discipline body roll, not eliminate it, imparting graceful, natural feedback at all levels of grip. This isn't the sensory blackout of computer-controlled poise, these are the sensory reflexes of your own human body, enabled by a quick mind and great mechanical engineering."
LOL.. 54 360's on fleabay. 3 are CS, 9 are manual. A TON! For 328's you have 21 to choose from. Twice as many 328's to choose from than manual 360's.
360 Modena - 2,600 cars sold with three-pedal manuals; 6,100 with F1. That's a staggeringly rare (?) 42 percent of them. 360 Spider - 2,100 cars sold with thee-pedal manual; 5,400 with F1 360 CS - 1,200 cars sold, all F1 That's 4,700 manual 360s, which isn't the far off the entire 328 production run of ~7,300. Anyone who wants to buy a manual 360 and save $200K off the price of a new Ferrari will be able to do so for many years. The panic over there being no more modern Ferraris with gated shifters is way overblown.
Maybe not "rare" as in we argue about the frame numbers but scarcity is easy to see. To turn your nose to that fact repeatedly is odd.
The coupes are the only cars I care about. Maybe 1/3 of these made their way to the US so yeah...pretty darn scarce. To me the panic should be over the shift in the freedom to enjoy the mechanical contraptions. Everyone is double parked with the meter running and two people on hold with an active facetime call , in the middle of a text, dodging the traffic cams and unmarked overseers, while the GPS satellites update your current location. Good God people enjoy your recreational time behind the wheel, for myself and many others there is only one best choice. ;-)
I'm not arguing your basic premise, but at least get the math right. Assuming your figures are correct, 2600 out of 8700 is 29.88%, not 42%. The overall rate is 27%, probably less in the US. Dave
I am one of those people who actually see it both ways. I can see why Ferrari only builds the fastest cars possible. And, the new autoboxes do that without question. If it were not true race cars would switch back to manuals TOMORROW. And the current technology does not really allow "a quick swap" from one to the other. The cars today are really built around one system and not the other. But they are a big, profitable company. There is a small and loyal group to the brand who wants them. There should be some way to accommodate them -- but they don't because they don't care. Maybe.... just maybe... they would use the Dino platform to get around the issue because few would care that the Dino be "the fastest". Just being "fast" is good enough. If the new Dino 7 speed manual was as fast in a straight line as the Corvette C7 7 speed, no one would complain. But what I would not like is making the DCT 458 slower to make 5% of those who want manuals happy. If the DCT car for 95% of the buyers had to be compromised in weight or some design changes that make it slower than it's competition in that class, I'd be against it.
Cold, grey night in London. Had to pick my kid up from my mothers house, five miles away. Mercedes wagon parked right here, key in my hand. Looked at the sky: it's dry. Got the 430 spider (manual) key instead. Down to garage, out, across town, pick up child and open roof to fit musical instrument. Drive back. One bit of open road, one clankclankclank at 4500 rpm three quarter throttle second to third, felt perfect, and that's the moment I'll remember all weekend in the rain when I'm working or chugging around in the family car. Evidently it's not something that buyers of new Ferraris care for. No reflection on them; new Ferraris are amazing cars. But...I'll take a manual.
If F1 are manuals in essence, shouldnt we bemoan their passing- DCT is nice but it is sort of soul-less in the utmost. We all speak from personal experience. My 430 MT is divine but not blindingly fast. My Maserati GT S with the 599 F1 is fantastic - nothing like a 612/599, less toque and therefore the transmission is without the thump in the back on shifting My 12 California is plenty quick and fast- but the DCT seems to dull the moment of transition. Will the F1 be the one we miss in ten years? Pardon my tangent- found this and thought it would be well placed here- The official word is two?? this is a later Cali- the Sport seats were not available until 2012 or so I am told and the rumor mill said the manuals were all early cars. I prefer the fancy arch in the DCT cali but I would love a manual Cali. This one looks like it belongs more so than the 612. In any event, the picture shows it seems like it fits the car. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The f1 box in the 430 scuderia is the only paddle transmission that I have truely enjoyed, even after trying many of the newer DCT systems from Porsche, Ferrari, etc. Everything else either shifts too slow, too choppy or too smooth.
I think the argument for dct would make a -little- more sense if this was true. Crank windows, manual seats, no nav/stereo/aircon/power everything....oh wait, this is a street car where compromises are made to absolute performance to overall enjoyment. No need to stop at the transmission.
Please break this down by US cars and then well.. how many are available to buy right now??? 9 on ebay!
Cali is pretty much an anathema to the whole premise. As I said earlier the transmission choice is but one symptom.
Except to traveling that speed for being so fast isnt really a road proposition, making the new ones moot as street entertainment. Sure if youa re gojg above 9/10th they aare a unique challenge that drains the brain, but thats on track, for the few laps before a street car wilts.
Or euros like a paddle because they grew up on stick crapboxes where 1000ccs couldnt get out of their own shadow and an auto was a premium product that came with a powerful engine. In the USA a big cadillac had an autobox but something sporty by definition did not. Same reason you cant sell an upscale motorcycle in China, to the chinese a motorcycle is one step up from a bycicle and for those who cant afford a car. the have yet to get to the road drivign art that modern motorcycle represents. However in the west mtorcycles have long ceased to be a economic transport necessity we buy and love ducatis and even harleys not for transport but for their riding entertainment. We dont see these bikes as a poverty choice rather a recreational road choice. In fact some people spend more than a car on a real bicycle. Euros are still stuck on paddles and cant fathom a premium stick, the chinese dont get a motorcycle as a premium product for weekend enetrtainmet. Its different cultural values, or we in the usa are long are past the concept of a manual being a poor mans choice and see it as a premium entertainment choice, just like a ducati. To use you aircraft anology correctly, a citaionjet is vastly superior to a spitfire, but when it comes to recreational flying I would way rather be in a spitfire. If I have to get somewhere, a pilot flying me in a citation is more optimal. If I have to drive through traffic to a golf club or cappuchino bar a 458 is far more optimal than a 355 stick. If its sunday backroad blast which one will be more entertainign and engaging at 7/10ths or ;ets say realiticaly atainable road speeds. The moderns seem to pay too huge atactile price for the last nths of performance and "useability" or efficiency In fact any amg Mercwagon is going to be as fast on road than 99% of people can sanely go in a speciale. Hard to rememeber when last I saw a 458 on track, and I have never seen a speciale there, so what exactly is the point and use of these moderns performance envelope? And what is the price in terms of tactile enjoyment that is paid for the last few nths of paper laptimes. A great modern would cover all the bases, instead of comfort/useability and theoretical laptimes.
That's part of the sell. In the same way that 98% of G-wagons and Range Rovers never leave pavement, it's that they could. The 90 lb. blond with the Starbucks coffee nestled in the cup holder COULD fjord a mountain stream in the car if she had to in order to pickup the dry cleaning. On the same sell the 458 driver could beat the driver in the Camaro the next lane over. Never mind he doesn't know what that button on the left there even does or will more likely end up wrapped around a tree because he has driven faster than 80 in a straight line.. He COULD if he wanted. That's the selling point.