Do Maranellos Deliver a "true Ferrari experience?"

Yeah as a 2 550 owner I agree when comparing a F12 to 550 it's no comparison.

I there when the 550 launched. When I saw my 1st red tan 550 it was as red hot as the 812 is today. Can you compare a 1998 cell phone to a iPhone 14?

 

In 1998 the v8 was 355. In 1998 550 was v12. Both represented the ferrari experience of the time quite well.

 

I’ve had a 246GTS, 365GT4/BB and a 365GTC/4 prior to a 575M. All different with a different “Ferrari” experience. Best description I heard for a Maranello was “A muscle car in a Brioni suit” and that’s what I love about it and is the “Ferrari experience” for me

 

Well it's nonsense, isn't it? What is the "Ferrari Experience"? It is many things. Ferrari make different models to do different things. A 550 is a GT car. It isn't for getting in and going for a 15 minute drive like say, an F40 (although you can do that and enjoy it). It is for driving a few hundred miles across countries where you want speed and comfort. But if you want the "Ferrari Experience" from a 550 you don't even need to go anywhere. Just sit in it. Glance at the gear lever in the open gate, at the prancing horse on the steering wheel and then at the voluptuous curve of the bonnet in front of you...

 

I'm a Porsche guy (10+ in my garage). No other car makes me feel as good as driving a click and clack Ferrari especially one with 12 cylinders. Those flappy paddle Ferraris are great only if you are racing on track or for money. On the regular streets they are boring as hell. Had a 612 OTO and let it go for that reason. Still have my 550 Barchetta and not planning to ever sell it.

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Well, I drove both the 355 and 550 on Fiorano. I loved the 550 at the time. It was and still is an enduring and great memory. I punted my 246 around (unrestricted) as well, which was pretty epic.


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Not sure what the Ferrari experience is or "should" be but Ferrari intended to build the most refined GT road cars back in the 1950s & 1960s and they all featured a front engine V12 with a manual gearbox. The 550 was always meant to echo those cars and has never pretended to be a sports car, and all for the better IMO. At the risk of using an old stereotype, the 550 is the girl you see yourself marrying and sharing the full journey of life with whilst the paddled-shifted gimmick-ish hookers that followed may be worth just a few nights of temporary good fun but not a serious long term proposal. IMO at least. I love the F12 and would love to have the chance to drive one every now and then but I do not really see myself owning one over the long term.

 

Do you really give a rats ass what they think?

Why?

 

+1

 

Exactly. What qualifies them to comment really? Just more YouTube influenza dreck.

 

Of course it gives a true Ferrari experience, its a Ferrari. Is it the same experience as a LaFerrari or a 458 or a 355 or a 400i, or a Daytona or a 250? No, they are all different, but they are all Ferrari's. I hate it when folks try to prove their own superiority by saying others aren't 'True' Ferrari's.

Now Dino's... lets not go there

 

It's a ridiculous statement, maybe just saying it to stir things up and be controversial for the sake of it. Ferrari road cars were founded on the idea of V12 GT cars, which the 550 was specifically built to continue that legacy. How do you go from that to saying the 550 is not a true Ferrari experience?

 

I have a friend who is a sommelier. He has a saying about wine. "If you love it and I hate it we are both right". People need to worry less about the opinion of others.

 

One could argue the new stuff is not the true experience... but at the end of the day it's 100% subjective and impossible to declare what something is or isn't.

 

What a great quote! And the context is spot on!

 

That’s great!

In our social media-driven culture, everyone attaches too much value to opinions, both their own AND those of others. Who cares?

I would venture to guess some worry because of the potential impact on values when online personalities weigh in, but I doubt they’re going to do much to diminish the value of the Maranello - it’s pretty well-established at this point.

 

For some people, Ferrari is about showing off and making as much noise as possible.
The maranello is something else - an understated classic V12.

Btw, I had a Lexus as company car for a few years and really hated it (I preferred the BMW I had at other times by far) - a Lexus is nothing like a maranello, one needs a serious lack of understanding to miss that.

 

My 575M with 6-1 headers and Trev’s tune definitely delivers a Lexus experience and it’s $600k more affordable!

If I listened to journalists I’d have a garage full of N/A 911s and M3s

 

Man that car must sound insane


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That's an awesome photo!

 

I liking it to "art experts" who are basically nothing else but contrarians, and write it in such a way that they're supposedly intellectually superior (i.e. a 10 million dollar painting of a banana that a 7 year old can do, everyone knows it's stupid but said art expert tells you how wrong you are because...reasons).

 

I've got a manual 2010 C2S, on occasion they can be right

 

Opinions and thousands of "best 10 of..." could be seen an opportunity to exchange points of view, don't they?

I grown dreaming about TdF, SWB, Lusso, 330, 275 and Daytona, and first time I sat in a 550 all those ingredients, which were the essence of the Ferrari experience I dreamed about, were there. And after years of ownership I'm still in love with it.

Many modern (...and not so modern) Ferrari I drove delivered great Ferrari experiences, some are faster, some other one are nimbler, but unless someone would like to swap his Daytona, I'm not going to part with my beloved lazy 550 of old.