New 550 car review (and owner) on YouTube

Great to see you here James - I am becoming a bit of a fan, you make me a little nostalgic for old, old TG (v much intended as a compliment!)

 

I very much enjoyed this video and have now watched your other Ferrari films which were equally entertaining, so I hope there will be more in future, maybe of some the older classics, too?

I think you must get your shirts form the same place as Dr. Sasha Levy in Holby City!!

 

Funny you mention this I'm getting the old Top Gear vibe from James's presentation style.

 

Thanks all - yes old school car reviews is the thing I have always aimed for. Functional camerawork, nice cars, some information and a bit of fun.

 

I would love to see some videos comparing the 550 to the 2 cars that used it as a benchmark. The original V12 Vanquish and Mercedes SLR McLaren (yes the 550 was the benchmark car for the majority of the product development before they caught wind of what the Carrera GT had in store). Vanquish vs 550 is a classic match up and I’d love to hear more beyond that the standard paddle vs gated com.

 

You're in luck, 550 vs Vanquish is already scheduled to be filmed in about a month's time.

To my knowledge nobody has actually made a video on it, they're all 575 vs Vanquish (which is probably a fairer comparison)

 

James,

Congratulations on acquiring your first Ferrari. You made a wise choice, it's a beautiful Maranello! Drive it in good health.

Barry

 

James, you mentioned elsewhere you took a look at the Justin Banks high mile 550. Exactly how much of a steaming pile is it? Do you think it can be rescued (within reason financially) or has it effectively become a parts car?

 

Welcome James

 

Welcome James-particularly enjoyed the V12 Vantage video as i keep thinking of getting one to join my 550!

 

Yes, I did look at the Justin Banks car. I didn't get to the stage of looking through the paperwork, or driving it. The car is certainly far from scrap, but the man is entirely unrealistic about the condition, the pricing and the pictures he was using to sell the car were pretty much lies.

The front splitter was cracked, all four alloys kerbed, all four rear lights cracked, driver side check strap gone, dash badly shrunken, seat badly worn, etc etc...

 

Congrats on your new acquisition James. Ive been watching your videos for about a year, nice to see you growing your channel... cant be easy. Enjoyed the Mclaren customer service series, was quite informative. It will be great to see more 550 content on YT for sure as its so under represented. I bought my 550 in November without driving it, put it in storage for winter and wasn't THAT into it, but after starting to drive it in the spring fell in love with it. Its not as brutal as my Murci Roadster but the way it blends the V12 poke with an easy to use yet classy package makes it a winner. Also it is one of those rare cars that feel nice even when youre not pushing it to the limit. The F430 I had always begged to go faster, but the 550 is at home just cruising or carving a back road, It truly is a great car worth some attention.

 

No, certainly not easy at all - but the rewards are finally coming through and the 550 has been an object of desire for so long - it still feels surreal.

I agree with you entirely, the 550 is one of those rare cars which is very competent when being hustled, but equally as happy at driving along at 4/10ths

 

And...JayEmms's latest just went up on YT. Enjoyed the Doug Demuro send up. Well done, sir! Along with EddieX's recent review it's been like a veritable explosion of 550 video content of late. Love it!

 

Another nice video, but the shirt was a bit of a disappointment this time.

 

On the subject of Maranello videos, I just came across this rather amusing, if somewhat unrealistic, car chase featuring a Maranello, albeit one with a split personality - you will see what I mean if you watch it:

 

The reason no rear fog lights is nobody would turn them off here and there is not much more annoying than that bright red light in your eyes when you come up behind someone.

The real reason is the US does not have prevalent, nationwide fog like they do in the UK and most of Europe, especially those countries barely above sea level like the UK and Low Countries. Rear fog lights where I lived in New Mexico (house at 5419 ft/1652 m, humidity as low as 1%) would have been useless 99.999 percent of the time.

 

Reason for the discrepancies in Dougs video was that he reviewed the rare 550 Maranella