Ferrari Can't Stop Making Ugly Cars
Typical Jalopnik clickbait. Write a subjective article about a car brand everyone wants to own. Yeah stick to articles about flipping craigslist cars... much more accurate and interesting "journalism". Jalopnik is funny that way. Demuro writes an "article" about why nobody ever should buy a 355 because its the worst car yaddity yaddity.. then comments in this one how he thinks the 348 and 355 are the best looking cars from Maranello.
I'll reserve judgement on the 488 till I see it n the flesh, so far from pics it does look like the sides are a hash job on a458.The 458 to me was a return to what I would call truly beautiful ferraris. Other than that between the 308 and 458 only the 456 stands out imo. 355 always looked plain to me, esp from the front although rear quite appealing. I agree with the article about the F50 pretty much everyone does, but then the f40 while being brutal is also hardley a classic looker. But then ferrari has some misses int he 60s, although most were great. Perhaps legilation requirements, being useable and trying to be all things to multiple cultures has a significant negative stylign effect
With the 80's styling its all the same between the Mondial and the 348 and Testarossa. The 355 attempted to add some curves to the outside of the otherwise boxy structure... but the round driving lights in the front just killed it. Completely aesthetically misplaced, like wearing a camoflaged vest with a tuxedo. I know.. there are those that say "hey I'd wear that!".. thus the buyer. The 360 is the first of the car to apply negative lift with aerodynamics, thus the "feminine" shape that fits with the later models, esp the greenhouse and quarter panel windows. I think the 488 is beautiful! The only thing I'm on the fence about are the blacked out rear taillights.
Using such arguments as "wheel gaps" in a design critique kinda instantly discredits the whole piece to my eyes.
No mention of the FF, one of the most interesting Ferraris ever both in terms of looks and engineering. Fail. I mean, look at it! Ferrari FF
Why is it a fail? Have Ferrari not sold any? (There seems to be one or two in this section: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/ff-f12/ ) Did they have to cease production of it immediately in 2011? Did it get an absolute slating in every article ever written about it? Does it not fulfil the criteria that was set out for it? Or is it a "fail" in your expert opinion purely because you personally don't like it?
FF has sold really poorly. But I for one think its the more interesting ferrari. At least its oriogional, whreas the F12 compared to a C7 vette looks bloated and slightly incoherant..
There is a FF here painted battle ship grey, every time I see it I thinks it's a Masarati. It's not ugly, but it's not Ferrari emotion evoking either.
Every amateur journalist feels qualified to critique automotive design. It's pointless to compare '60s design to '10s design because everything from the performance envelope (including airflow management), safety regs, and manufacturing techniques has changed.
Author fails to point out the incredible strangling government regulations that put a "box" around a designers ideas. Bumper heights, headlight and taillight heights and sizes, minimum driver visibility requirements, sun visor design requirements, location of controls, mirror surface area requirements, etc. I could go on forever. You could never build a "new" 250 SWB in today's regulatory environment. We're actually quite lucky they look as good as they do!
Ah! - Okay, I can see how that makes sense. The problem is, the article quoted is titled "Ferrari Can't Stop Making Ugly cars", and based on what the author has written about more "standard" looking Ferrari's over the ages, I'd say it's probably best that the FF wasn't mentioned as, even for more conservative Ferrari fans, the FF splits opinions. I really like the FF but would be the first to say that whilst it's a car with incredible presence on the road, and a distinctively different, stand out design, it's not a "pretty" design (I would never say it's ugly though!). It seems with modern Ferrari's that there is a conflict of two design concepts that are incredibly hard to link together perfectly: Aesthetically pleasing design and aero-efficient design. Ferrari have decided that making use of their F1 experience and making cars that make the maximum use of the aero is more important than making cars that ultimately look pretty because that's what makes their cars such high performers. This is why modern Ferrari's have all manner of vents, flaps, and profiled edges, not because they look good but because they make the best use of the air to generate down-force and help the car cut through the air. I'm sure if Ferrari were prepared to make performance sacrifices then they could easily make the prettiest cars in the World, but then they'd be criticised for making cars that put style over substance. As it stands, Ferrari make some of the most incredible cars on the planet performance-wise and are selling everything they are producing, with full order books, so they must be doing something right! If their design/business concept wasn't working then I'm sure they would start to sacrifice outright performance to make the "pretty" cars that some seem to think that they should make regardless.
