RE: PH Carpool: Ferrari 550 Barchetta

[Turbo B]

Never really understood the 'Top Gear mentality' of poor design and reliability on anything Italian = character! Even as a second or third car it sounds pretty unusable. Doesn't even seem to have the looks to compensate unlike some other supercars. Interesting piece though, and respect the guys passion for his Ferrari - but certainly not how I'd be spending nearly £180,000!!!!!

[Wills2]

Fantastic car and one for the dream collection, I've driven a 550M and the engine is something else.

[AdeV]

Bluebottle said:

...i also wanted a masser Quatroporte but it has even worse electrical reliabilty than something with a Lucas label on it.

Could the Quattroporte's electrics by be Lucas' Italian cousin, Lucassi, by any chance?

[anonymous-user]

All this talk of him having little or no depreciation over 11 years is absurd.

Yes, he probably stands to lose only a few k, but he hasn't used it and has therefore had to suffer the depreciation on something else whilst not using his Ferrari. I would think that one of these with normal miles on it for 11 years would be worth dick all or have sent the last 5 years on the scrap heap.

[pagani1]

What a great Pistonheader and thanks for persevering with the beast for the well written article. Poor of Ferrari not to engineer a decent roof and a supply of windscreens if the supports are so weak, still Murcielago was just as bad, roof-wise. The Aventador seems to be the best solution, followed by McLaren and 458. The hump on the 911's is vile. Yet the Carrera GT is beautiful as is Zonda Roadster.
Can't wait to see the Huyara without the roof at Geneva (rumoured).

[gophaster]

Great write up! I agree with below.

MartiniBianco said:

part from the windscreen thing, there doesn't seem to be much hassle to me.
(About the roof : there is no roof. It's a barchetta godammit, it's supposed to be driven top down only. They give you a thing just in case it rains overnight and you cannot park it underground but that's not really meant to be used )

Edited by MartiniBianco on Monday 25th February 19:24

[BlackPrince]

Is Adam a PHer or not? If your bike ownership history is as tasty as your car history please do share Adam. Please dont tell me you have an F4 CC or I'll have to fly to the UK and rob you

I love the 550, and would love a Barchetta. Most supercar owners, even many on PH only take such a car out on sunny Sundays anyway so Im not so sure the lack of proper roof would matter to them. Clearly Adam has toured in his so I can understand the frustration but kudos for putting it up with it. Not sure I would take it touring but sounds like you had a cracking time so more power to you mate

[SFV]

A very enjoyable article.

Harry Metcalfe seemed to love his, not sure if he still owns it? He did a couple of nice videos about it, one a walk around tour of the car, when he was driving the Mille Miglia tribute a couple of years back. I think they appeared on Evo youtube channel.

[heretheygo]

Have to say that the only reason ferrari get away with a screen design that cracks the windscreen so readily is because of the blind fanboy love that exists.
£180k? And shoddy design?
Love is blind...

[will_]

gizard said:

I know someone who bought a used one a while back (over five years ago I think) for about 85k I think (it has only done about 2000 miles and now is worth rather alot more - he did a great investment move there! I think there were only less that 70 RHD ones....

Only 42 RHD cars IIRC.

Certainly holding their value.

It looks no less usable that a Caterham - not sure what all the moaning is about!

[SFV]

Harry Metcalfe gives a short walk around video of his 550 Barchetta -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6cFVeAu2S0

And the same car on the Mille Miglia -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpYIncMEMyA

[Limpet]

annodomini2 said:

The problem is development costs, yes from our perspective, you're spending 18x what you would spend on a shopping hatch.

But from the manufacturers perspective, it's the development cost.

They'll typically sell 2M shopping hatches over a 4year life span, spending a few hundred million on development.

Ferrari sold 3083 550's (according to Wikipedia)

The volumes aren't there to justify the investment.

Very good point, and I wouldn't expect a Ferrari to necessarily have the reliability and inherent robustness of a Toyota Corolla. However, the kind of issues being highlighted here should have been picked up by even a rudimentary durability testing programme.

It just strikes me that being a Ferrari, it is all excusable for no other reason than because it's a Ferrari. McLaren's issues with the MP4-12C after launch were jumped on by the press, but Ferrari have always made cars with far worse flaws inherent in the design, but whose failings are dismissed by owners and enthusiasts as "character". It's a double standard. I'm sure if I owned one I would be equally as forgiving, mind.

[MartiniBianco]

gophaster said:

Great write up! I agree with below.

MartiniBianco said:

part from the windscreen thing, there doesn't seem to be much hassle to me.
(About the roof : there is no roof. It's a barchetta godammit, it's supposed to be driven top down only. They give you a thing just in case it rains overnight and you cannot park it underground but that's not really meant to be used )

I'll add something about the windscreen thing:
There are no pillars really. So when you're holding on the windscreen, you're holding on the windscreen, not a steel frame. Hence the fragility of the thing.

Limpet said:

I wouldn't expect a Ferrari to necessarily have the reliability and inherent robustness of a Toyota Corolla. However, the kind of issues being highlighted here should have been picked up by even a rudimentary durability testing programme.

Alright. Can you list the kind of issues being highlighted here?

[adamk550]

Some interesting comments on my car and ownership experience so I thought I'd jump in with some more answers:

Yes I am a PHer, don't post much but read a lot

I am not a banker or a politician - just a humble IT guy who got lucky in the 90's

While I've always loved fast cars, fast bikes have become more my thing in recent years

Don't take my comments as too negative, the Barchetta IS a brilliant car. The 550 mechanics are pretty bomb proof, only minor niggles (my defender has been far worse for reliability!). I was being as open and honest as possible with what its like to own a supercar, and a damn impractical one at that. The lack of roof is the best and worst thing: when the weather is good who wouldn't want to hear the V12 singing? But I live in the UK and as we all know, the weather here is "variable" so you have live with the fact that you will probably get wet at some point when out in the car.

As was pointed out, Ferrari created the Barchetta in a very short space of time so there was little R&D for the factory supplied roof and its clearly a rush job/after thought. Get a decent one like I had and its no worse than an Elise.

The windscreen issues are a problem. If you lower yourself into the car putting all your weight on the top of the screen then it puts stress into the glass. There is some flex in the structure. Do this enough and the glass cracks. First time around Autoglass had a screen in stock, second time around no one in the UK did.

I think I've rambled enough. Anything else you want to know, just ask.

[masermartin]

AdeV said:

Bluebottle said:

...i also wanted a masser Quatroporte but it has even worse electrical reliabilty than something with a Lucas label on it.

Could the Quattroporte's electrics by be Lucas' Italian cousin, Lucassi, by any chance?

Some say that the wiring loom is made from spaghetti, and that if you even approach it with a soldering iron, you'll wake up next to a horse's head. All we know is, etc. etc.

[SpeckledJim]

WCZ said:

£2,500 + VAT + Fitting

that's the standout piece of text from that article!

Given that:

• The car is worth a LOT of money
• The owners HAVE a lot of money
• The design of the car is predisposed to breaking them
• The car is very rare and special
• The costs involved in setting-up for production are high, and
• The car HAS to have an intact one to be legal

I'm actually very surprised that the windscreen isn't a LOT more expensive than that.

[Limpet]

MartiniBianco said:

Alright. Can you list the kind of issues being highlighted here?

What was listed by the OP.

- The Ferrari roof....flies off at 70 mph and crashes into the boot causing damage
- Coolant leaks from the V
- Failing alarm sirens
- The wipers WILL hit the bonnet no matter how much adjustment you give them
- You can crack the windscreen by lowering yourself into the car holding onto the top of the screen surround.

OK, the coolant leak and the alarm siren might be something that didn't affect the test fleet, but a roof that doesn't work at speed, wipers hitting the bonnet and cracking windscreens are a bit fundamental.

Edited by Limpet on Tuesday 26th February 14:43

[MartiniBianco]

The roof does not have to work at speed, you're not supposed to drive the car with it.
Same goes for the Viper RT/10 or the Murcielago roadster for instance.

And you shouldn't hold yourself on the windscreen to get in the car, it's a piece of glass, not a handle.


That said, the wipers hitting the bonnet are annoying and Ferrari should be ashamed of that.
But then again, you are not supposed to use the car when it's raining anyway...

[JREwing]

It's a wonderful car, but complaining about the costs? Do you expect charity from us?

[JREwing]

bulldong said:

All this talk of him having little or no depreciation over 11 years is absurd.

Yes, he probably stands to lose only a few k, but he hasn't used it and has therefore had to suffer the depreciation on something else whilst not using his Ferrari. I would think that one of these with normal miles on it for 11 years would be worth dick all or have sent the last 5 years on the scrap heap.

Also, if it's worth £150,000 (for instance, I don't know the value), then with inflation it's an enormous drop. Admittedly, as a proportion of purchase value it's not bad, but that is the nature of Ferrari usually.