Just drove the F8 spider

Like a Bentley?

 

Hmmmmm. I read reviews like this from experienced members, and it makes me wonder how much I’d regret selling my 458 Spider to trade up to a “more perfect” specimen. I’ve grown accustomed to most of its flaws (except the incoming phone call volume, LOL), and it’s still a great car to drive.

 

A very nice review.

One thing that comes to mind is my first track experience with the 488. As you say in the end, drama is not the adjective. I remember thinking how nice and comfy it was, but also thinking about whether or not it would track well. I was so surprised that it did so well, and all the drama was there. I realized that none of the drama had been lost, but rather another layer and ability had been added. The F8 and 488 does have some GT attributes, but boy do they fade fast once you start pushing. More alive and wild than the 458 as everything happens so fast.

You are right about the steering feel. It has little to do with the tyres, but everything to do with the fact that Ferrari added some weight to it. This was done as early as with the Speciale. Like with the overly sensitive throttle of the 458, Ferrari backed the sensitivity off on both steering, throttle and the jerky gear shifts. It's a bit of the same with the F12 vs. 812. Both have fast racks, but as with the 458, it seemed like Ferrari realized that the F12 steering was too light and thus added some weight back into the 812. Same with the throttle. The F12 throttle sensitivity is not as bad as the 458, but still too much, so this was backed off on the 812 too.

All these changes may make the F8 feel less dramatic initially, but it makes for a better driving car from a performance standpoint.

It is of course very personal, but the extreme sensitivity of the 458 was never something I considered dramatic. The adjectives I find fits, are artificial and disconnected.

Did you get a chance to push the car in CT-OFF?

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Stop please LOL

 

Honest good review thank you.. I drove the coupe and really liked it I actually found the sound inside the cabin to be very nice, almost wow nice! I like the new wheel and tech, it makes for a more daily type of super car. I guess this brings me back to my point that the new turbo V8s are less Sunday drives only and more like nice day drives, even to the office (if I can hide) cars. They are great in the city and just cruising around then when you have room you can push it a bit or take a nice corner. Conversely the 458/Speciale are to me more weekend driving cars.. or going somewhere where you can drive a bit - not the best cars to be just cruising around in at low speeds, hope I made a bit of sense. The F8 spider is a great package and I know a few people that have ordered them and the spider has a solid wait here in Canada.

 

Nice review, refreshing from the drama of only speed matters peeps.

I had a 488 spider for a while and it was so much more rigid than the 458 spiders. Imagine the F8 is even a little better. good GT car for sure.

 

Thanks for the review.

Sounds very much like a RWD Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet.

 

where is he?

 

do you want me to ping him?

 

it does look good though. Ferrari obviously is shifting its target audience and widening the net to capture more people. Most people don't like raw cars. Roma, F8 will be able to bring in new customers. Ferrari must have calculated the net gain of customer base. They think they will gain more by going this route. However, I think they overestimated the earning power of these new customer base. This younger generation of customer who is 35+ years old will have a lot of competing priorities, house, spouse, kids college. Those older folks like us whose kids already graduated from colleges, have multiple houses (wives!?) and numerous Ferraris were attracted to Ferrari for its allures, which obviously are being diluted further by the fact that the company is public and that everyone with the means can simply purchase one. And Ferrari's calculations allowed them to tolerate the loss of us, the older folks.

 

This is such a good point you make. The newer cars present an expanded portfolio of offerings, the issue of course being that a lot of users don't get to experience the full range due to various limitations and judge the newer cars poorly vs the 458.

 

Ah dude! Isn't that something male dogs do to each other?

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Yep no argument from me on that one. I've laid it out and i'm not changing my story. If the rest think different then knock yourselves out.

 

Not to start something, but on my test drive of the F8 which was a long one, the salesman was preaching this to me the whole time that the F8 can be driven every day all day as it is a much more comfortable car and much easier car than the 458/488. He said this car is so easy to live with as the 458 is more of an event to drive and can be driven only on weekends or short trips. So all that talk about Bentley, the salesman certainly did not say the word Bentley, but he certainly described the F8 to me with a lot of Bentley characteristics.

 

Yup. It is what it is. Even a seasoned salesman will struggle selling it as a sports car. It hasn't got an ounce of mongrel dog in it unless you pin the throttle to the floor - which you can barely do for a second or more on a public rd. Aaanyway. Did I hear someone say Bentley?

 

The F8 daily point is a great one. I wouldn’t want to drive the 458 every day. At low speeds the throttle is jerky. The DCT is jerky. It doesn’t make the most pleasant noises at cruising speed. The phone integration is laughable. Etc. I’m 10000% convinced the F8 would be a day superior daily and also faster. But when the road opens up, and the windows crack down nothing beats stepping on the 458 in second gear and hear the revs scream to 9k in 2/3/4. The acceleration isn’t mega, I own faster cars, but the sensation of that screaming engine, the vibration, the total package is special.

 

I think that's about the score of it but the only problem with it as a daily is you can't park the bloody thing anywhere or leave it out of sight for any length of time in fear of coming back and finding some a - hole has bumped into it. So to trundle around town in 600k car which draws nothing but attention when you cant get clear of the daily grind kinda defeats the purpose of even taking it out of the garage. These are meant to be special fun cars and while it can be used as a shopping hack doesn't mean it is likely to ever get used for that purpose for obvious reasons. Fun isn't just being looked at surely....or maybe it is for some? These cars were made to be driven hard and fast!!

 

To fully appreciate the true nature of the F8 is the necessity of exploiting its stellar driving capabilities. The harder you push it, the greater the appreciation of its compelling and engaging driving dynamics. Race mode, CT and ESC disabled, will elevate the senses and get the heart pounding. The immense objective achievement wrought by the F8 will translate to subjective excitement depending upon how it is driven.

 

ya, this is a good point. It makes the M5 a great daily. It blends in. I never worry about the car. Especially in today’s environment with the younger generation so volatile you park your F8 somewhere and protest materializes out of nowhere and your car gets destroyed. Sounds hyperbolic. It’s not. I went to the gym two weeks ago, nothing as I walked in, and I came out there was a full blown protest marching around with BLM signs screaming for God knows what. I would have been very uncomfortable if my Ferrari were parked near that.

 

eh, I mean, F8 is beautiful, but it’s no great achievement. It’s a 488 Evo. I can buy the SF90 as a great achievement.

 

Think those cancel culture thugs will be happy to throw a mailbox through your M5 window and jump all over it.

I'm more convinced everyday, during this time of civil unrest, that my Raptor is best DD. Let them try and get in front of it...

 

The same could be said for any sports car though. Jump into a 600lt or Porsche GT car and the F8 becomes a snooze fest in the types of driving conditions you speak of.

So it's in this context I question F8 as becoming somewhat lost in a forest of luxury cars that are probably more usable and easier to fit into the street parking arrangements which exist these days. Sadly not everyone will appreciate the beauty of a parked F8 in a lonely street or communal street parking affair. So the whole talk of being a brilliant DD as being some kind of fall back position doesn't translate into reality. This is the dilemma one becomes faced with.