RE: Ferrari 488 GTB: Review

[kambites]

isaldiri said:

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.

Oops that was a typo. I meant dry.

[jayemm89]

Kinda shows what an amazing job Lotus did on the new Evora 400 - 1395kg wet (no driver) - the same weight as Ferrari quote for the Speciale, with "lightweight options"... and Lotus have the heavy Toyota lump to deal with

[kambites]

I doubt the Ferrari engine is significantly lighter than the Toyota one, especially if you include the gearboxes.

[jayemm89]

kambites said:

I doubt the Ferrari engine is significantly lighter than the Toyota one, especially if you include the gearboxes.

Maybe, but Ferrari have the luxury of basically designing the thing from the ground-up to suit their needs. I think it's very misleading to send a car out with £50k of options and a spec sheet that is only valid WITH those options, then claim it's a £180k car that's being tested

[RamboLambo]

jayemm89 said:

Maybe, but Ferrari have the luxury of basically designing the thing from the ground-up to suit their needs. I think it's very misleading to send a car out with £50k of options and a spec sheet that is only valid WITH those options, then claim it's a £180k car that's being tested

Ferrari misleading ???? They are famous for it

You don't know half of it re their "doctored" press cars. Some are like chalk and cheese to customers cars off the production line

[Burnham]

Fezzaman said:

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.

Its bad enough going through those things in a RangeRover with normal sized sidewalls...Id go the long way round in anything bigger!

[k-ink]

Rustifish said:

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.

A modern Dino?

[k-ink]

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.

Anyone faced with this sort of nonsense could always support the home team, McLaren.

[numtumfutunch]

RamboLambo said:

Ferrari misleading ???? They are famous for it

You don't know half of it re their "doctored" press cars. Some are like chalk and cheese to customers cars off the production line

Id be interested in hearing a bit more of this please

[p1stonhead]

numtumfutunch said:

RamboLambo said:

Ferrari misleading ???? They are famous for it

You don't know half of it re their "doctored" press cars. Some are like chalk and cheese to customers cars off the production line

Id be interested in hearing a bit more of this please

I believe this got Mr. Harris banned from Ferraris for a few years;

http://jalopnik.com/5760248/how-ferrari-spins

[numtumfutunch]

p1stonhead said:

I believe this got Mr. Harris banned from Ferraris for a few years;

http://jalopnik.com/5760248/how-ferrari-spins

Wow!

It reminds me of a motorcycle leathers test in the 90's by Ride magazine who happily proclaimed a 'cheap' set of leathers as better quality than the expensive tailored ones used by the Police - until they smelled a rat and compared the same set bought off the shelf with the one supplied by the manufacturer

[Vocht]

I'm sure it's not only Ferrari that do this to be fair. Pagani Huayra customer cars are known to have less performance than lead to believe by the press cars.

[jamespink]

Sam All said:

Bencolem said:

£864 for black painted brake calipers?

Sounds expensive, but good they offer the option - Porsche do not, and disapprove if you get this done after market.

Say "Nero" and it doesn't sound so dear...

[jayemm89]

p1stonhead said:

I believe this got Mr. Harris banned from Ferraris for a few years;

http://jalopnik.com/5760248/how-ferrari-spins

I recall this. To be fair most manufacturers seem to be doing it to some extent. Hot Hatches being supplied with "Corsa" tyres, as they know magazines will put one around a track.

I expect it won't be long until someone specs their car with the "fast tyres" and then promptly bins it on a winter morning, more than likely happens already. I'm surprised the daily mail hasn't done a story about it "ban these hooligan tyres" etc..

[jamespink]

shalmaneser said:

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!

I do not know how intricate the dash panel is but it would appear to have a lot more markup in it than a Ti exhaust at almost a third of the price. I don't see why people are so dumb-struck about carbon. Its a simple, low material cost process (take a Ribble all carbon race cycle frame and fork, £350 delivered). How can a dash panel (exactly the same shape as the plastic panel they already have a mold for) cost Ferrari more than £100??

[havoc]

Rustifish said:

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.

Two things spring to mind:-
- crash performance / packaging - doors are now a lot wider to accomodate crumple zones, and 'global' manufacturers have to accomodate "American" sized occupants in their cars.
- lap times, specifically at a certain road in Germany. Wider car = wider track = more grip, everything else equal.

[jayemm89]

jamespink said:

I do not know how intricate the dash panel is but it would appear to have a lot more markup in it than a Ti exhaust at almost a third of the price. I don't see why people are so dumb-struck about carbon. Its a simple, low material cost process (take a Ribble all carbon race cycle frame and fork, £350 delivered). How can a dash panel (exactly the same shape as the plastic panel they already have a mold for) cost Ferrari more than £100??

I suppose they go for the mantra of charging people what they can afford to get away with.

I always find it quite entertaining that Porsche will charge more for a fancy headlight than they do their dynamic chassis mounts, that sort of thing.

I start to lose my patience when people like Ferrari charge extortionate amounts for things that cost them literally nothing (eg. different coloured stitching or calipers)

[Calza]

Mastodon2 said:

It sounds so flat and lifeless. You'd have thought a Ferrari was supposed to have a bit of verve about it.

Agreed.

[HuggyBearFezzy]

Amazing car! Felt so quick when accelerating and really pushed me back into the seat. I thought it sounded brilliant both in and out. It is first Ferrari I've ridden in and yes from the outside its not a howling N/A V8 however from the inside the noises associated with forced induction aren't removed so you get to enjoy that. Also helps to have a great driver showing off the what the car can do

[73RS]

PHMatt said:

Nothing at Ferrari is mass produced.

Nothing? T-shirts, hats, and all the rest of the branded tat.