458 Speciale daily car?

I daily drove the first 800 miles in mine. No problem at all.

 

I'm keeping my aperta in NZ for a couple of years to do driving holidays. In the first week I did 1,500km. That was highway, hilly and winding roads, town driving and everything in between. I thought it might be a bit taxing to drive in all those conditions but it was fantastic. Next holiday will be a month of driving the North and South Islands.

Will use it as a daily driver once I'm finished with driving it in NZ - it's made to be driven and you won't have any problems as a daily driver.

 

Just make sure you have the right tires for daily driving, in case of heavy rain. Snow is another story all together!

 

No problem at all. Done 3500kms in mine now and only just noticed in traffic the other day there really is no slip, you're either in 1st gear or you're not when crawling in traffic. I'd love to daily drive mine but it's more special on those 3 weekly drives for my personal taste. If drivability is the only thing stopping you, don't let it! So unique compared to the 488. Every drive is an event!

 

The car is easy to drive in sport mode. Can be rather smooth. Have it in Race or higher and the throttle response is insane if you are on a bumpy road, where the bumps will push your foot ever so slightly to give gas or gas off and you feel it in this car. But sports mode takes that part away. Also the dumper setting for bumpy roads makes all the difference.

Steering is simple and very smooth with no effort at all.

Going over 120km/h talking is a drama. Not worth holding a conversation.

Road noise is over rated. You hear the stones when going over stones... but how oftten do you drive over stones. Basic city driving is find.

The exhaust is not so loud... My 348 is far louder

With the parking sensors and camera its dead easy to park.

Bluetooth phone integration is best I have seen in any car. Funny.... but that is one of the most impressive things that hit me. I was surprised as a track weapon it shows your messages on display, change spotify music so easy and all with a single pairing. Soon it connects again is directly from last time.

Key to open front truck makes shopping easy. Before with the scuderia you had to put the bags in front of the car, walk and open the doors, pull the latch then walk back to the front of the car.

What else would you like to know?

 

I have 6K miles on my Speciale after 6 months of ownership. I have an exhaust valve switch that stays open at all times and carpets that are never in the car.

It is my daily driver, I take it to the grocery store, Home Depot, Costco, the bank and everywhere else I might be going. The only place I don't take it is to the airport when I travel.. If I a safe place to keep it at the airport, I'll take it there too.

It is very LOUD and can be annoying if you are trying to join a conference call while driving but you can close the valves and drive extras slow (below 3K RPM) with the windows closed and get by.

I only drive the car in CT-OFF (as everyone in a Ferrari should) and ECS-Off on the track. The shifts are hard but you can put it in Race and that softens up the shifts considerably.

I absolutely love my Speciale and love driving it every day.. in my mind it's the perfect daily driver.

 

Easy DD, but noisy. And in any precip the car is sideways due to the tires vs my Italia.

 

As dustman and Groutguy have noted you can't drive it in precipitation. The michelin cup 2 tires are not designed for wet conditions. I had to pull over during a sudden thunderstorm recently because the car started going sideways.

 

Heh, Cup2's are actually quite OK to drive when wet but of course you have to behave and avoid harder accelarations and braking. Just be smooth on the gas and everything is fine. But with semi-slicks like Pirelli Trofeo's it's another story. I was once caught in rain with those tires and it was quite scary.

As for DD a Speciale, it depends where you live and where you go. For me it is definitely not a DD car as the traffic here is unbearable. Plus as others said it's a noisy car. Also not very comfortable if you are in stop/go traffic and when cruising even at normal speeds it's hard to have conversation with someone next to you or if you are talking on the phone.

So it's not DD car for me and I only take it out when I try to have some fun, go to somewhere where I can really drive it or go to the track.

 

Very personal answer here. I absolutely love my Speciale as a DD but totally respect MuratC in his assessment. Completely depends on your situation.

 

No problems with my Aperta in the rain - grips well. Make sure the tires are warm before I push it though.

 

I was pondering something similar yesterday. Took the FF for a 250 mile drive on motorways for business not pleasure. The FF is great for that, as you would expect. Could have also taken my Outback which would have been better in some ways with the Eyesight system.

After a while, I could really have been in any car. It was a (nice) seat, a leather steering wheel and the same boring view. At about 5 times the cost per mile. So, I'm left wondering if I daily drove a Ferrari, any Ferrari, would the 'specialness' eventually be lost? Obviously a Ferrari attracts much more attention but I can live without that, even though I do enjoy people's positive reaction to the car and the thought that it might have brightened up their day a bit.

As for the Speciale, it CAN be daily driven, no question. But for me, I don't want to use that car on too many mundane journeys because it just so special when the occasion calls, I'd rather savour it for that. Can fully understand those who want to spend every waking minute behind the wheel though.

Always found the wet grip ok with the MPSC2. Have to be mindful and I would put it in sport to soften up the suspension for added traction but otherwise fine.