Retro design and a naturally aspirated V12 deliver tremendous appeal, but it’ll cost ya.
See full article...
See full article...
Driven: The Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider is open-top grand touring Bliss
- Thread starter JournalBot
- Start date
I guess I'd trade my S2000 for this. Maybe.
Could live without the manual in a car this powerful that's meant to be a GT rather than a sports car, but all the screens, the settings, the menus, the stupid touch interfaces. Get rid of that crap. It's undignified, inelegant. When I fantasize about that Riviera or Pacific Highway road trip, I don't want to be distracted with drive modes and touchscreens.
Could live without the manual in a car this powerful that's meant to be a GT rather than a sports car, but all the screens, the settings, the menus, the stupid touch interfaces. Get rid of that crap. It's undignified, inelegant. When I fantasize about that Riviera or Pacific Highway road trip, I don't want to be distracted with drive modes and touchscreens.
Upvote
62
(63
/
-1)
It's nothing to do with how easy it is. The reason capacitive touch surfaces are more abundant than buttons in vehicles now-a-days comes down toBradley Iger said:
Upvote
28
(36
/
-8)
Assuming Ferrari would sell you one - they do a background check on all prospective purchasers to ensure that you fit their ideals of who a Ferrari owner should be.
Upvote
33
(34
/
-1)
I always thought that the background check consisted of "will the cheque clear" ?
I mean, I'm never driving / getting close to one of these in any circumstance short of a massive lottery prize (that i won't win because I understand basic statistics and don't buy tickets ) but damn if that car wouldn't look absolutely amazing somewhere OTHER than a Canadian roadway in the middle of winter
Upvote
22
(23
/
-1)
By any reasonable standard, Ferrari should excite me, but they just don't - the fact that you basically have to get an invite to buy one (not that I ever could or would, invited or otherwise) and their total absence from most places that celebrities and influencers don't live just leave me a little cold. Like, I see Porsches and Aston Martins all the time. Ferraris? Might as well be cryptids.
Upvote
-2
(10
/
-12)
One does not simply walk into a Ferrari dealer and buy one. No, one must convince the dealer to sell you one. The Enzo is the first example that comes to mind, old though it might be:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_Enzo#Production_and_development
“The company sent invitations to existing customers, specifically, those who had previously bought the F40 and F50.”
Whether this applies to this model, I do not know. But, yes, there have been models that you couldn’t buy by merely writing a check.
Upvote
30
(30
/
0)
ICE and V12 and $500k+ and the HMI isn't even any good? Gross. Luxury for luxury's sake while ignoring the fact you're willfully destroying the planet as icing on the cake is ostentatious and self interested gluttony and should be shamed out of style, IMO.
You may as well run around wearing gold chains with a diamond tipped cane or just make clothing out of $100 bills. I'm sure that kind of thing appeals to some people.. but to most people with a sense of decency it's just.. eww. If you have to throw your wealth around like that to feel good about yourself, there's something very wrong with you.
You may as well run around wearing gold chains with a diamond tipped cane or just make clothing out of $100 bills. I'm sure that kind of thing appeals to some people.. but to most people with a sense of decency it's just.. eww. If you have to throw your wealth around like that to feel good about yourself, there's something very wrong with you.
Upvote
-16
(30
/
-46)
There's always gotta be one. Every performance car thread. Your legion of Camries clogging Interstates pollute several orders of magnitude more than all the Ferraris in the world put together.
Upvote
-14
(30
/
-44)
Very beautiful car. Aftermarket exhausts can take care of the "noise" problem. Ferrari should always have a NA V12 offering. They're low volume and can compensate with hybrid and/or fully electric models elsewhere in their line-up.
Pity I'll likely never afford or get to drive one.
Pity I'll likely never afford or get to drive one.
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
I'm not as much of a Jay Leno fan as I used to be when it comes to cars. I still love his line about buying a Ferrari though.
Buying a Ferrari is like a rich guy going to a dominatrix. 'She beat the hell out of me. It was great!'
Upvote
45
(45
/
0)
Yea, that may be .. but the point is the statement getting something like makes: this is how you should act. It sets the image that success should lead to excess at the cost of everyone else, screw them. It's little wonder people love to hate people like that.
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
I happen to have enough to even possibly get one should I try, and know several people with more than enough means to get one without thinking (except their PA/Family Offices would call someone who knows the guy who gets the thing done, of course)... and I know most of them would look aghast at the thought. Blowing a lot of money on a fancy toy is one thing if you have it. But those who spend money on these things that scream "I waste because I can, to everyone else's detriment" are truly something I struggle to comprehend.
The ostentatious rich who buy these things bring scorn upon themselves and I will have very little pity for them when people treat them poorly. Those who act without thought or concern for others deserve little respect. Buying one of these marks you with a "very high likelihood of being a d-bag" score.
Last edited:
Upvote
-5
(19
/
-24)
Ferrari is famous for claiming the model year to be sold out, then calling the customer a few days later to tell them that — as if by divine intervention — a single copy has been made available in their system and you’re the lucky buyer being offered one.I always thought that the background check consisted of "will the cheque clear" ?
I mean, I'm never driving / getting close to one of these in any circumstance short of a massive lottery prize (that i won't win because I understand basic statistics and don't buy tickets ) but damn if that car wouldn't look absolutely amazing somewhere OTHER than a Canadian roadway in the middle of winter
There is not one house for rent in all of Tuscany.
Upvote
30
(30
/
0)
That's how it works for their limited edition models (the Enzo, F50 & F40 being among them). Ferrari must be convinced of your loyalty based on your purchase history with them so you can qualify for an invite (or you must be pretty special to them).
Upvote
13
(13
/
0)
"The liberal use of capacitive surfaces on the steering wheel and the instrument panel...
For half a megabuck, I want switches and buttons!
For half a megabuck, I want switches and buttons!
Upvote
20
(21
/
-1)
"Retro design and a naturally aspirated V12 deliver tremendous appeal, but it’ll cost ya."
Pretty sure this is a given, considering the name Ferrari is attached.
Pretty sure this is a given, considering the name Ferrari is attached.
Upvote
3
(4
/
-1)
And if you don't get allocation you pay multiples over what the MSRP is.
Oh god the markup on a SP3. Saw one the other day at brunch.
Upvote
0
(1
/
-1)
Counterpoint, wouldn't we rather have the rich spend money on things and services than have it invested in the S&P to continuously grow their wealth?
I feel like prudent financial management and family offices is perpetuating dynastic wealth and working against losing wealth over 3 generations .
Upvote
5
(11
/
-6)
Why do that when you could sell your S2000 to a nice person like me?
Upvote
11
(12
/
-1)
This comes up often enough that I can just quote myself from last June:
Like, you're not wrong. I'm a billionaire-hater and I'm not a climate denier. Just don't be an asshole about it, particularly to people who are just reading about it because they're interested in the topic and like reading others' impressions of driving a car they never will. So I'm not sure why the entire conversation about this article needs to be all about us vigorously agreeing about how shitty billionaires are.
Last edited:
Upvote
52
(53
/
-1)
This is, by the by, what I think Alfa Romeo should be doing: build cars with Ferrari-ish styling and cool exhaust notes and the steering wheel switch and the because-racecar interior, but at normal person prices and form factors. A good part of the fun of driving one of these things, particularly if you're a normal person on regular roads and can't wind it out, is the extremely Italian aesthetics and feel and sense of occasion. Maybe you can't afford a half-mil Ferrari, but it seems like a missed opportunity for other Italian brands not to try to sell a little taster sample of it, at least.
Upvote
32
(33
/
-1)
That's just a long-winded way of saying people should do whatever they want, basically, and just live with the cognitive dissonance.
Advocating that we do better isn't self-righteousness, or need not even be termed righteousness rather just right.
Forty years ago:
-"You're a moron to be dumping mercury into that stream out behind your factory."
-"Enough of the self-righteousness, you eat steak too."
It's not black and white: do 100% correct or do nothing. It's that the more you do, and advocate that it be done, the better.
Upvote
-18
(3
/
-21)
Even by that standard, it really doesn't matter. Most 12cilindris will sit in climate-controlled storage 361 days of the year, being periodically buffed by someone who makes more than I do. Cars like this aren't driven, except by a tiny minority of owners. They're investment vehicles, in both senses of that word. It makes more sense to think of them as something like an original Caravaggio or the crown jewels of France or a Patek Philippe Grandmaster than as a car.
Upvote
19
(21
/
-2)
Go back, and read for comprehension this time - because the point is more a request for a little grace and to not get preached at because you need a dopamine hit. I'm not the target audience for the ranting in the first place.
It's your attitude that's self-righteous. You can be right, and also an asshole about it.
Are you under the impression that being a prick to me because I enjoyed a review of a car is "doing something" or "advocating" for anything? Because no, finger-shaking is not praxis.
Upvote
25
(31
/
-6)
if you are worried how much your Ferrari is going to cost you you really shouldn’t be buying a Ferrari.
Upvote
6
(9
/
-3)
Ferrari, by intention, does not build even a fraction of the cars they could reasonably sell at MSRP, so not only does this increase perceived value for their new cars, but also their used cars, which benefits their dealers. So one of the ways that Ferrari (actually their dealers) discern who should be allowed to buy a new Ferrari is whether they have previously owned an older Ferrari, brought it to the dealer for its regular maintenance, and is willing to trade it back to the dealer in excellent condition so the dealer can sell it at a premium to someone who wants to prove their worth to buy a new Ferrari in the future.
Upvote
16
(16
/
0)
I've always been a firm proponent of the wealthy buying as many yachts as they can't afford. Nothing depreciates value like a yacht while creating lots of good paying jobs for both skilled and unskilled labor. They're literally voluntary wealth taxes.
Upvote
27
(29
/
-2)
Shout out to Newcomb's Ranch (the dilapidated sign peeks through the bg in one of your shots), long does it languish. Many rumors of sale over the last decade but.. there it lies yet. We didn't come for the food, certainly, or the drinks, no, but we sure do miss the camaraderie.
In its heyday:
In its heyday:
Upvote
3
(5
/
-2)
Yes and no. For "regular" Ferraris which will depreciate after you buy them, yes.
For limited edition collector's cars, no.
And for obvious reasons - they don't want you to make a quick buck by reselling it immediately.
Upvote
7
(7
/
0)
Never before has a Ferrari had me daydreaming about finding a YOLO banker and heading down to the local dealer. But then there's the maintenance...
Upvote
0
(2
/
-2)