Surprise! Ferrari Might Not Have Built Its Last Stick-Shift Sports Car The exclusive exotic carmaker hasn't built a manual-transmission vehicle in over a decade, but never say never. Ferrari might consider bringing back the manual transmission, says the company’s chief product development officer Gianmaria Fulgenzi. “It's something that could be in the future, depending on the product,” Fulgenzi told MotorTrend in Italy last week. https://www.motortrend.com/news/ferrari-manual-transmission-sports-car-plans-possibilities/
... The hoops to jump through to get on the list to have a shot at being on the list to be considered for the list of who might even be allowed on the list to possibly overpay for the mega-multi-computer-handicapped car itself..... I'm not even remotely interested.
Reminds me of Mr. India adding a stick shift to a Ferrari 599: https://youtube.com/watch?v=brewa-dSebs
Seems like the best option for "ordinary" people would be a gated option for the next front engine V-8.
My guess is the same as some of you guys on here, in that any new gated Ferrari would be very expensive and exclusive. Im not sure with todays society that it would even sell enough to make it worth a regular production run .
Correct. People always want what they can't have. No big deal when it's readily available. Agreed. I don't see F reviving any MT units, for that reason and many others.
With you 100%. If someone wants a manual transmission, the value is in authenticity, buy a mint '90s drive-by-cable Ferrari. Why buy a super expensive modern drive-by-wire version? And if it's a tribute to a certain late '80s model it makes more sense but personally I'll always stick with the real thing. The market is becoming awash with variants of variants.
To me its a gimmick. If they said they were offering manuals from now on in every model (well, not the SUV) and it ws cheaper than the comparable F1 version, I could see getting excited. Turn the clock back to 2007. But I don't see it that way. I see it as a way to get a few more collector cars sold.
Just spent a weekend driving a Lotus Emira manual absolutely the most fun driving I’ve had for years, Surly Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa can offer something similar, I know but were all allowed to dream.
I think Ferrari should only offer the manual on the worst selling product. Just offer it on the Roma. Lets see how many enthusiast really want a manual. Does the manual magically make a car a drivers car? I think it would be funny.
Some reliable sources told me Ferrari tested manual transmission for next icona sp4 with inspiration of F40.
The irony. The “pedestrian” Tifosi want manual for the engagement and driving enjoyment. Instead, Ferrari will wrap this with some mythical marketing package and offer to VIPs to try to re-engage them with something “new” at $4M per and attempt to tie the brand’s waning identity to the historic pedigree; the cars will simply be a concours flex where owners impress the 17 year old car-parazzi as they shuffle off transporters and onto lawns for the concours. Fortunately, we have the miracle of tremendous gated Ferraris that have already been built during their golden ages.
Put it into the most exclusive special series and charge through the roof for it. Ferrari doesn't give a rats about the secondary market or the type of owner pining for what amounts to a recreation of a 355. "Entirely ANALOG!" I say put a stick into a 900 HP SP series car and then let the nannies do all the driving that the occupant can't handle. Basically the only thing the driver does is select the gear and turn the steering wheel. The nannies do all. the. rest. IMHO the ideal owner pays someone to drive it onto the Villa D'Este lawn, stands around with a prosecco in hand and gets pics taken with the car, and then another hired driver drives it onto the transporter and eventually into the jet back to the states or asia.
I converted my 599 to manual and love it, but my thoughts are that a stick with a newer model with 800 plus HP may not be the best choice.
Personally, i really couldnt care about manuals in anything, and i also dont understand the hype about manual cars, but then again im a european and for us up untill hybrids became the main powertrain to be sold, almost everything was a manual, a automatic was on luxury cars or was a luxury option to choose. Whereas in the USA its always been the other way around (where it seems most of the manual hype comes from), i already made the joke as a kid that a manual was/is the best anti theft device to have in the USA, and i still keep saying that. Besides that, a manual is slower than the F1 gearboxes, let alone the super fast gearboxes of today, and also when im going for it on a nice stretch with turns and what not, i prefer both hands on the wheel instead of letting it go with my right hand everytime, and traffic jams (which are more regular than space on the road here) with a heavy manual is a hell in my book.... Also i dont see the profability in a manual production car (so not an icona, those barely get driven anyways so....), i dont think its financially feasible as i think most will just go for automatics, in EU moreso, as alot of countries their taxes are based on CO2 (holland especially) and the manuals tend to emit more CO2 than automatics do...
Just compare the prices of the automatic VS manual transmissions on cars that had the option of either transmission type.
Agree -- as much as I love manual, the slower shifting becomes significantly performance limiting in megapower cars that rev through each gear almost instantly. Not that you need to extract every bit of performance out of mega horsepower cars, but the inefficiency of manual would just feel out of place. Even in regular driving, manual shifting 8-speed transmissions might not be ideal. Lotus has it right to offer manual on this type of car with this level of power, and the Emira is drop-dead gorgeous in my opinion. Ferrari should do something similar and offer a modern Dino that is truly small, light, smaller displacement engine, naturally aspirated, and available in manual. That car would fill a massive hole in their lineup to have a light fun sports car -- and that is exactly where the manual transmission belongs.
Take the battery out of the 296 and shoehorn a NA V-8 plus six speed manual, limited numbers and it well sell for more money than a SF90