RE: Ferrari 488 GTB: Review

[drivingaddict]

Speed_Demon said:

Olivera said:

It's pretty well known that unless you spec a 458/488 with at least say 20k worth of options, then Ferrari simply won't build the car.

Unbelievable.

For UK customers or any customer??

[TheLordJohn]

I see the retards have won and naturally aspirated is slowly but surely being replaced by normally aspirated.

[smilo996]

Well one first anyway. Dan does not mention a 911 in one of his reviews. Much better for it.

Would prefer the looks and purity of the 458 but if they were going to put blowers on then it sounds like they have about the best job they could have.

When you can buy a 458 Speciale with run in milage for the same money as a 488, why would you.......

[kambites]

J4CKO said:

230 kilos saved by some carbon fripperies ? surely the aim with that lot is more cosmetic than any huge weight saving ?

230kilos saved by some carbon fripperies and the removal of a driver and all fluids. Most of the competition weigh wet with 75 kg of driver/luggage on board.

I agree the weight doesn't appear to be a problem, I was just mildly surprised that a 488 weighs the same as an M4.

Edited by kambites on Monday 25th July 07:46

[kambites]

TheLordJohn said:

I see the retards have won and naturally aspirated is slowly but surely being replaced by normally aspirated.

Slightly ironic considering that it's becoming less and less "normal".

[RamboLambo]

Vocht said:

Great write up Dan .

This car has got fantastic write ups across the board and when you consider it's just the 'normal' 488, but has 675LT levels of performance, I can't wait to see what Maranello produce when the bring out the 'Speciale' version.

488 is comparable with the 2 year old McLaren 650S and would not even get close to a 675LT which absolutely spanked the 458 Speciale.
By the time the lightweight 488 comes out McLaren will have the P14 650S replacement and move the game on once again.
Given the product change cycles each brand plays catch up every 2 years to surpass the out going model with the opposing new model so its impossible to get an absolute like for like comparison.
McLaren has the weight and rigidity advantage of the carbon tub which in spider form makes a massive difference.
Ferrari has lost the differential of a normally aspirated engine and sound so IMHO they really need to up their game if they want to at least stay on a par with McLaren in the future.

Ferrari is a great brand but you do pay through the nose for the prancing horse badge. At the moment McLaren is still breaking into the market and therefore are priced more competitively. This strategy has seen the brand grow enormously in just 5 years.
Early McLarens will become collectable long term due to their low production volumes ( 1 for every 5 Ferrari's )

[Vocht]

smilo996 said:

When you can buy a 458 Speciale with run in milage for the same money as a 488, why would you.......

Show me where you can buy a RHD Speciale for £184k and I'll buy one!

RamboLambo said:

488 is comparable with the 2 year old McLaren 650S and would not even get close to a 675LT which absolutely spanked the 458 Speciale.
By the time the lightweight 488 comes out McLaren will have the P14 650S replacement and move the game on once again.
Given the product change cycles each brand plays catch up every 2 years to surpass the out going model with the opposing new model so its impossible to get an absolute like for like comparison.
McLaren has the weight and rigidity advantage of the carbon tub which in spider form makes a massive difference.
Ferrari has lost the differential of a normally aspirated engine and sound so IMHO they really need to up their game if they want to at least stay on a par with McLaren in the future.

Very true in regards to the spider performance and McLarens carbon tub but in regards to the 488GTB coupe, it has nearly the exact same performance stats as the LT coupe. I'd love to see a proper road and track head to head between them as I'm confident the 488 would surprise many as to how close the gap really would be. There isn't even a second in it between laptimes around Hockenheim Short (no Nurburgring times available?). Given that and the larger torque figures of the 488, on the road it could possibly be the faster car.

At £80k less than a 675LT this 488 really is a lot of car for the money!

[krismccloy]

Great article Dan!

Ferrari really do make some of my favorite cars and this is no expectation in the year 2016. Shame I will probably never own one, or anything like a 430 CS .

[TheLordJohn]

kambites said:

Slightly ironic considering that it's becoming less and less "normal".

I see what you did there! Lol.

[Rustifish]

Phenomenal car but why so are so many modern performance cars so wide and heavy?

Great for the boulevard but for having fun on UK B roads?

I'd sacrifice a significant part of the power for a version which was 3/4 of the width and weight.

[shalmaneser]

PHMatt said:

Effjay said:

The titanium exhaust at £1,440 seems reasonable to me, then you get carbon dash inserts at £3,840? How much would these really cost to mass produce? £100?

Nothing at Ferrari is mass produced.

I hope you're being tongue in cheek; those carbon bits will certainly be made using volume production tooling!

[Mintbird]

RamboLambo said:

Vocht said:

Great write up Dan .

This car has got fantastic write ups across the board and when you consider it's just the 'normal' 488, but has 675LT levels of performance, I can't wait to see what Maranello produce when the bring out the 'Speciale' version.

488 is comparable with the 2 year old McLaren 650S and would not even get close to a 675LT which absolutely spanked the 458 Speciale.
By the time the lightweight 488 comes out McLaren will have the P14 650S replacement and move the game on once again.
Given the product change cycles each brand plays catch up every 2 years to surpass the out going model with the opposing new model so its impossible to get an absolute like for like comparison.
McLaren has the weight and rigidity advantage of the carbon tub which in spider form makes a massive difference.
Ferrari has lost the differential of a normally aspirated engine and sound so IMHO they really need to up their game if they want to at least stay on a par with McLaren in the future.

Ferrari is a great brand but you do pay through the nose for the prancing horse badge. At the moment McLaren is still breaking into the market and therefore are priced more competitively. This strategy has seen the brand grow enormously in just 5 years.
Early McLarens will become collectable long term due to their low production volumes ( 1 for every 5 Ferrari's )

Lets see, the Ferrari has a better name, more reliable, better design, better engines, sounds better, and I doubt a 675LT is any faster than a 488GTB.

A Ferrari is just special, maclarens dont do it for me Im afraid, the interior is bad, the exterior is bad, the engine is gruffy and the reliability well - I dont want to drive 300 miles every other week to get "niggles sorted"!

[daveco]

Mintbird said:

RamboLambo said:

Vocht said:

Great write up Dan .

This car has got fantastic write ups across the board and when you consider it's just the 'normal' 488, but has 675LT levels of performance, I can't wait to see what Maranello produce when the bring out the 'Speciale' version.

488 is comparable with the 2 year old McLaren 650S and would not even get close to a 675LT which absolutely spanked the 458 Speciale.
By the time the lightweight 488 comes out McLaren will have the P14 650S replacement and move the game on once again.
Given the product change cycles each brand plays catch up every 2 years to surpass the out going model with the opposing new model so its impossible to get an absolute like for like comparison.
McLaren has the weight and rigidity advantage of the carbon tub which in spider form makes a massive difference.
Ferrari has lost the differential of a normally aspirated engine and sound so IMHO they really need to up their game if they want to at least stay on a par with McLaren in the future.

Ferrari is a great brand but you do pay through the nose for the prancing horse badge. At the moment McLaren is still breaking into the market and therefore are priced more competitively. This strategy has seen the brand grow enormously in just 5 years.
Early McLarens will become collectable long term due to their low production volumes ( 1 for every 5 Ferrari's )

Lets see, the Ferrari has a better name, more reliable, better design, better engines, sounds better, and I doubt a 675LT is any faster than a 488GTB.

A Ferrari is just special, maclarens dont do it for me Im afraid, the interior is bad, the exterior is bad, the engine is gruffy and the reliability well - I dont want to drive 300 miles every other week to get "niggles sorted"!

The only area that really lets the McLaren range down is the exterior imo, i.e. a lack of product differentiation amongst their plethora of variants.

[havoc]

Ex Boy Racer said:

RamboLambo said:

nice car but £54k in options ?!
You really do pay through the nose for the prancing horse badge

So much extra for unnecessary carbon bits! I mean, why would you?

Agreed. £43k of carbon frippery is just nonsense...almost makes £1k for the wing badges seem sensible...almost!

(Actually quite surprised by the reasonable pricing of Ti exhaust and contrast-stitch)

[Durzel]

havoc said:

Agreed. £43k of carbon frippery is just nonsense...almost makes £1k for the wing badges seem sensible...almost!

(Actually quite surprised by the reasonable pricing of Ti exhaust and contrast-stitch)

Titanium exhaust is just the tips

Stitching isn't bad as you say, but I think it was James May who pointed out that they have to stitch it anyway so they're just changing the reel. Same for the calipers really.

I don't suppose there's a whole lot of point dwelling on the options prices though, the market will sustain them.

[WCZ]

J4CKO said:

230 kilos saved by some carbon fripperies ? surely the aim with that lot is more cosmetic than any huge weight saving ?

the weight saving from the carbon is: 0kg

also the £20k spec thing only applied to 458 speciales

[Fezzaman]

Snoggledog said:

Driving a Ferrari through Marlow. You really picked the wrong town to be noticed, but there are some great roads in the area.

Haha, I chuckled when I read that too, Dan really needs to try harder. 10 years ago I remember a Pagani Zonda of some form or other attempting to negotiate the width restrictors from the rowing club side. The driver didn't succeed. But boy did it sound good heading back toward Bisham.

[BBS-LM]

Sounds terrible.

[jayemm89]

That fly-by sounded pretty uninspiring, I can't imagine they were "holding back" or they wouldn't have kept shifting up.

This is a fly-by: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qSK1i5NSFk

[isaldiri]

kambites said:

I had no idea these things were so heavy. If it's 1370kg wet with all the carbon the standard car has got to be about 1600kg EU?

It's quoted at 1370kg dry with all carbon/lightweight options. The standard customer car will be nearer 1600 than 1500kg fully fuelled i believe, just as the 458 was as some customers cars were weighed coming in at that weight.

a 675lt coupe, real world customer car will probably weigh about 1390-1400kg fully fuelled and that's a car with a lot of cf panels, a cf tub and various weight saving measures applied. Not light but outside of the exige v6 very little really is going to weigh under 1300kg.

Edited by isaldiri on Monday 25th July 21:46