Predict the first no-stick model year.

I don't want to think about it!

 

Nooooooooooo!

 

2012.

But it will be like BMW today with their ///M cars: the US market will demand it and it will be added back as a US only option.

 

What a travesty! Was the enzo F1-tranny only?

 

As far as I know it was, it will be a sad day when a ferrari comes only f1. Can you put the f1 into full automatic mode? (I know, thats blasphemy too)

 

i doubt it will ever happen.... there are too many people who like three pedal cars.

-Thomas

 

I Must Agree !!!
There are Numerous Old School Manny Tranny Consumers, like myself.
Nothing like Rowing through the Gears !

 

The real question might be how many people would pay extra for a manual transmission when better performance is available from the F1/SMG/DSG cars.

I would, for a weekend car, but I can see mainstream marques going the F1 route with an automatic mode available. I'd guess Ferrari, Porsche and probably BMW would offer manual gearboxes for decades just because of the motorsport tradition.

But I think the fuel combustion engine has maybe a couple of decades left. Once that's replaced with hydrogen/fuel cells or whatever comes next, the entire engine-gearbox equation may change entirely. Sad thought. Shifting a Ferrari the traditional way is an experience that cannot be replaced.

 

But we're gettin' older, and the "politically correct" generations will soon be "driving" the market.

In a generation or so, there may be no "good" cars at all.

Only a bunch of old geezers in the rest homes, saying, "remember when ..." to young whippersnappers who just don't get it.

Why yes, I am a curmudgeon.

 

I agree the main market is here in the states and Ferrari knows that...

 

...because of all the throwbacks insisting on buying a manual transmission, despite better technology being available.

 

Most teens first driving experience will be with a game. As soon as most of the gear-heads out there have no idea how to shift a manual then the manufacturers will stop making them since there will be too low a demand. It is already happening. Try getting a new 430 or Maserati with a stick. Ferrari is just not making very many. It is true that performance is better with an F1 but it just isn't the same. I have much more fun driving my 355 or even my sons Mini than I do in my cambiocorsa. The shifts are much faster with the cambio but its like driving a video game.

 

When Ferrari has an infinitely variable ratio automatic, there will be a car with this feature exclusively. I don't know how advanced devlopment is on these systems, but it WILL smoke any manual/F1, at least on paper. When it does it on the street, you'll see it.

Ferrari is not caught up in nostalga like many of the owners are. If it takes a few 10ths off the 0-60, they'll use it.

Ken

 

According to the European press, Ferrari is "desparetly" working on a DSG transmission, just like the Bugatti Veyron. The F1 trans on the new 599 GTB shifts quicker than the Enzo's, and the 2005 F1 car.

Thanks to F1 technology.

 

I'm a die hard 3 pedal guy, but I can see the writing on the wall. I think the 430 may be the last model offered with a stick. BTW, Europeans choose sticks more than Americans do, especially those old traditional Englishman and women. Does anyone know if the 599 will have a stick option?

Dave

 

A few years after the current president of Ferrari Spa retires. He has stated that as long as he is at the helm traditional manuals will be availible.


I just wonder if they will be the joy that the old gearboxes were or will they be like shifting gears in a jar of peanut butter.

 

i hope never, stick is more reliable!

 

This is what I fear the most, people like my older brother who drive a silver Accord, and anyone who says a car is for getting from point A to point B, and that the least amount of fuel should be spared in the trip...

And it is true, the video game experience plays a big part in new drivers' understanding of a car, they are thrown this digital on/off experience, it carries over to throttle too, I can't tell you how many people I know who SMASH it to the floor at the apex regardless of the attitude of their car...

and mannys will stay around just until you can reverse up a hill with the F1 But that really scares me, so I will let my dream cars stand still with the F50 and the 355 and pretend the newer stuff doesn't exist

 

The replacement of the replacement of the F430.

 

the 599 doesnt shift faster than the 2005 racer, no chance.

 

The F1 transmission may offer superior acceleration in a performance-driving situation, but there would still appear to be issues with it's performance on the street. The March '06 issue of Sports Car International has an article on the 602 hp Pagani Zonda, in which Horacio Pagani states 'Such systems (F1 paddle shift) are.....faster on the track, but hard on the clutch, especially in start-stop driving'. I have seen at least one comment to this on Ferrarichat, I believe by 'Kram' in reference to his 360. It could be another 2-3 generations of control electronics to sufficiently refine the paddle-shift systems to address this. Also, there still appears to be reliability concerns and subsequent expensive repairs from other Ferrarichat postings.

1Turbo is right - there is nothing like rowing through the gears! It is part of the experience with being 'at one with the machine', stroking and carressing the car down the road with mechanical sympathy rather than booting it, pulling the paddles and hanging on. I was watching the 360 Challenge practice at the Montreal Grand Prix a few years ago, and I couldn't believe how many drivers were hitting the rev limiter for 1-2 seconds before upshifting coming out of the chicane. Allowing the power to cut out at redline for this long on each shift cannot create the fastest lap times.

As an example of the physical co-ordination required for gearshifting (and the subsequent satisfaction in executing it well), does anyone remember the video from the mid-80s 'Drive To Win'? I saw this being played at a car show where the Jim Russell Driving School at Mont Tremblant had a display. The final sequence is a complete behind-the-wheel view from the instructor's car as he starts at the back of the grid in a 15 lap student's race and passes everyone by the end. The race was run on the short track where there are two sharp 90 degree corners after Turn 4 to loop around 180 degrees and head back towards the Bridge Turn and Namerow. I commented to the guy manning the display that there seemed to be a lot of 'Snick Snick' noises from the transmission going into this turn even for a dog-clutched Hewland gearbox, especially for an instructor. He replied that it wasn't too bad considering the instructor was positioning the car on the road into the braking zone at 100 mph with his left hand steering, his left foot braking, while he blipped the throttle with his right foot to syncronize the engine speed for the next gear down as he moved the shift lever with his right hand - talk about multi-tasking! Satisfying to watch and even more so to execute....

Gary

 

I think the next model after the 599 will be only F1 for V-12s. Most 430s are F1, so I think the next V-8 model with be only F1.

What is really sad is that only 15% of the USA knows how to drive manual.

 

haha, that sounds about right.

 

I think it will be 2036. In about thirty years, when the eye in the sky has limited speeds and acceleration in hopes of preserving available fuels, shifting will become almost pointless.

BT