I'll take two please.

Unbelievably badass.

(Please, no hick comments claiming you would rather have a Z06 or a Viper).

@Noya

Why does the truth hurt? About the only thing this thing has on the Z06 is about 250 pounds and 3-4x the price(at least). Same power but it takes more RPM to get it due to the smaller engine and thus, likely has less torque.

The difference between the two cars on the track likely wouldn't be that different for lap times. Yes the Ferrari would be faster.

A car is worthless to me if I can't afford it. And a lot more people can afford a Z06 and eventually I'll be able to. I'll likely never be able to afford a Ferrari nor would I buy one if I could. The few hundred thousand dollars more in price nets very little performance gain. You're mostly paying for status, nothing more.

I would say that the car has more than status over the Corvette. I would say that it probably has a much finer interior, and much sharper driving dynamics. I'm sure it's a fantastic experience, and for those and many other reasons, it is a fantastic dream car, and for a few, one of their surreal fleet. As a "goal", I would say the Corvette is much more realistic for a much greater number of people. Performance and style for price, the Corvette has my vote, and for my own reasons, it's the car I hope to obtain someday. That doesn't mean I don't long for the Ferrari, too. And for saying one is "better" than the other... you have to define the context before you can argue it.

Anyway, yeah this is nice! In a pure fantasy setting, I'll take two as well!

@ David

Man, if you can't see why a Ferrari is worth its price, and put a Vette or a Viper at the same league, then you don't have the brains or whatever else it takes to make the kind of money a Ferrari costs.

You are not just paying for the performance, as you will more than likely spend so little time using it to its fullest performance anyway, be it a Viper, Vette or a Ferrari - you pay for exclusivity, you pay to have something that says something about you - a Ferrari says a lot about somebody - now is that shallow? Only to the eyes of people like yourself.

No, exclusive people who own a Ferrari can be shallow, just like a beettle owner can be shallow - we all are to some extent, or we would all have electric cars - now i can't afford a Ferrari as well, not would i sell everything i have and live inside one - but i would certainly let my personality show if i could afford one, and if i had a Vette or a Viper and a Ferrari passed by, i wouldn't dare to insult its driver by trying to race him, even if my car outperformed it.

After all, it is about reputation, Ferrari owners have to prove nothing, they already are winners.

The Vette and Viper are animais, muscle cars, not a italian suit - i would like to own both, one Ferrari to wear and a Vette or a Viper to go nuts on the road.

@ David

Man, if you can't see why a Ferrari is worth its price, and put a Vette or a Viper at the same league, then you don't have the brains or whatever else it takes to make the kind of money a Ferrari costs.

You are not just paying for the performance, as you will more than likely spend so little time using it to its fullest performance anyway, be it a Viper, Vette or a Ferrari - you pay for exclusivity, you pay to have something that says something about you - a Ferrari says a lot about somebody - now is that shallow? Only to the eyes of people like yourself.

No, exclusive people who own a Ferrari can be shallow, just like a beettle owner can be shallow - we all are to some extent, or we would all have electric cars - now i can't afford a Ferrari as well, not would i sell everything i have and live inside one - but i would certainly let my personality show if i could afford one, and if i had a Vette or a Viper and a Ferrari passed by, i wouldn't dare to insult its driver by trying to race him, even if my car outperformed it.

After all, it is about reputation, Ferrari owners have to prove nothing, they already are winners.

The Vette and Viper are animais, muscle cars, not a italian suit - i would like to own both, one Ferrari to wear and a Vette or a Viper to go nuts on the road.

@BrazilDude and David:

As a Ferrari owner and therefore enthusiest I could not have posted a better response. Trying to place the Ferrari and Corvette or Viper in the same class is something that should not be done. Sure performance differences are little, but it is not all about speed. I can't think of the last time I was in the city and had to test my top performance. Practical use of the car is more of a style and status symbol, not pure horsepower. Keep the muscle cars against the muscle cars and the exotics against exotics. Thats why there is such a thing. Sure Corvettes are nice and my son enjoys his Orange Z06, but its still a muscle car. And no I don't have an Enzo or anything, but my 360 gets the job done!

@BrazilDude and David:

As a Ferrari owner and therefore enthusiest I could not have posted a better response. Trying to place the Ferrari and Corvette or Viper in the same class is something that should not be done. Sure performance differences are little, but it is not all about speed. I can't think of the last time I was in the city and had to test my top performance. Practical use of the car is more of a style and status symbol, not pure horsepower. Keep the muscle cars against the muscle cars and the exotics against exotics. Thats why there is such a thing. Sure Corvettes are nice and my son enjoys his Orange Z06, but its still a muscle car. And no I don't have an Enzo or anything, but my 360 gets the job done!

I just had a perfect example of the difference between a Ferrari and a 1000 bhp modded to the bone Viper or Z06 - you are at the beach lifting 240 pounds on the bench, screaming and inviting everybody for a benchpress contest - now imagine yourself in the same beach with, cut your six pack showing and rock hard muscles - you do not need to lift one finger so that everybody around knows what you are and get averybody's attention - you could lift that much if you wanted to, but what is the point? You can do it at the gym, at the beach you don't need to prove anything, you just stand there.

The roar of a Ferrari is like a lion roar - elefant's are stronger, but it takes more to be the king.

Now it was just a joke, but it is certainly true to some extent. I do not have a fancy car but i do have a fancy motorcycle, which is almost unnafordable for 90% of the people in my country, and when somebody with a smaller bike wants to race i just smile and let him go - it is a Hayabusa, it has its reputation and if i want to i can make anybody eat dust - but i don't need to.

And btw, congrats on your Modena - it has to to be one of the best looking Ferrari's ever.

@ Black360Modena, BrazilDude and David

Cars like 430 Scuderia are nice to look at, talk about, argue, admire and hate, but to actually own one? Besides having that exclusive stallion badging on a limited car, why? You want luxury? Get a Bentley, those are by no means slow. Want something fast for the track day? Z06 Vette is a choice of speed freaks. Got more cash? Wait for the Blue Devil/SS/Supercharged 650+HP V8 Vette. Let me guess, still not a supercar but just a measly muscle car, which means it's cheap which means snobs want nothing to do with this thing associated with rednecks, right?

430 Scuderia is not a practical car. It has been lightened so it is quicker, which also make it rawer, noisier. It has also nothing more than an automatic transmission. I know it's a devilishly fast F1 tranny shifting hundreds of times faster than any human, but it is an automatic nevertheless. Automatic. Scuderia is nice, I'll admit that, nothing more...

Viper and Vette do belong into supercar territory and it is all about the performance. Just because somebody spends 3-4x more on a slower car because they are or they think they are connoisseurs doesn't mean they're right. Can anyone remind me what brand is dominating American Le Mans series? Whaaat? It isn't Ferrari?

Me, I'm a little more practical one car forever kind of guy. A bit on the heavy side but E92 M3 handles like a dream, the 8400 RPM V8 is pure madness, it has a computer inside (I love that stuff) and to some extent it is a sleeper car. Sort of. And it even doesn't have an automatic as an option (yet, I guess). And it's more refined and practical than American muscle, even though it's slower.

Ok so I just dissed Ferrari and suggested a 3-series BMW as an alternative, go ahead have at me....

I'm not the owner of any Ferrari yet, but I occasionally drive a 430 in a Greek track. My personal best is 1:29.866 at Serres circuit with the F430 with stock setup and tyres which happens to be a record on the track. With a Vette neither me nor anyone has managed under 1:34 at the specific track and the Viper would be probably be even slower. I estimate the Scuderia will lap here at 1:27s. So. even at tracks the car is 2 classes above any Z06 or Viper. Even a Mitsubishi EVO VIII does 1:33. People like David complaining about the Ferrari having less torque than a Z06 or a Viper definitely have never driven a Ferrari and have no idea of the gearing of a Ferrari vs a Viper for example. I agree that it has less torque but this doesn't show on road. Much more important when driving fast is the linearity, revviness and response of an engine and in this aspect you are comparing 2003 engine technology to 1970 AMERICAN technology (if a thing as "american technology" actually exists...).

Driving at public roads, the difference of the cars shows even more. The car is completely predictable and you can feel exactly the loads impossed on every tyre patch, while its ride quality is unbelievable (for this kind of car at least). Even if it is not made for drifters (and I'm glad it isn't), you can drift at public roads all day long using as little width of the road as possible, just because of the way this car yaws. You can actually rotate it using the accelerator with unbelievable precision even on wet roads.

I believe the F430 is worth much more than it costs.
The same applies to Scuderia with the addition that the new gearbox and the weight reduction is really priceless, if you know what I mean.

The difference between this ferrari and a Z06 is this: I don't see 100 ferrari's during my daily commute.

Yup. It's a Ferrari. Whoop de do.

My posts must be "too rational" because they never get approved.

Well guys, you have interesting perspective, those who can't afford Ferrari will say: it's not environment friendly, it's not practical and many more. But ferrari it's all about fun, status, performance. You only compare car's performace, but wait a minute, I can make even beetle 800bhp, and much much cheaper then viper or z06, so it's a better car ??
Your logic now says: yes, but you don't want to look silly so you'll say no :). Enjoyment, fun, sound, prestige it's a ferrari, yes you spend 3x times more, but you get what you paid for. Use your logic, if everybody would hate Viper, none of us(almost nobody ) would buy viper, because those digits just wouldn't care. In one way or another we do care what other people will say, so that's why ferrari has wow factor and viper, vette well good.
And you can act very brave and push to the limits your car and then get killed or kill.
btw I love bmw, but to compare them, it's just wrong!

One more Vette comment. Try treating your Vette like it was a Ferrari for a few months and then come back and tell me what all has gone wrong with your Vette.

@BrazilDude

Lions fear elephants! How does that work in your analogy?

You guys are still comparing the Ferrari to others in therms of car attributes - Ferrari owners do not buy them for their driving attributes, come on...

I don't know about the rest, here is what i feel when i see one:

1st thought - man, look at that amazingly beautiful car
2nd thought - this engine roar makes my blood boil (for the rest of the day i am revving harder no matter what i am driving)
3rd thought - that lucky motherfucker inside will be me someday...
4th thought - i can only grasp how much women would be all over it, i will have to organize a line...
5th thought - it could take him with my bike, but i would feel ridiculous having to live with myself for showing my envy like that...

Now when i see any other car (even porsches)

1st thought - man, that car is fast - it can either be pretty or not, but sure is fast
2nd thought - if i had that kind of money, i would get a Ferrari, not that one, it makes no sense
3rd thought - that lucky motherfucker inside is dumb, he could have afforded a Ferrari
4th thought - he must get laid a lot, but if he had a Ferrari, it would multiply by two fold
5th thought - if i had a Ferrari, the Porsche owner would make a turn the first chance he had and head elsewhere...

If it was 100% electric I would be interested.

Since this is an american board, i would guess a lot of people will disagree, jokes aside, and still use logical arguments and favor the lower price of american cars at similar performance class.

We are all car lovers and i just happened to show the Ferrari fanboism that i have, it just happens - it is a class of its own.

Props to everybody and if i had a Vette or a Viper it would kick ass the same way... but i am pretty sure that logical car attributes arguments aside, all of you dream with a Ferrari as well, we were born hearing about it, seeing it seldom and loving it for what it represents.

BTW, lions do fear elephants, they are bigger, stronger - just like a king would logically fear his best warrior, if you were to compare them at combat skills - though, a king has more going than just that, hence his position.

Cheers!

Cheers!

Ferrari is the reason I like V-8's--the only reason.

Wow, what a gorgeous car...

@ David.

As an automotive engineer.... I will just like to say that in every aspect of technology, physics and manufacturing quality... Ferrari > Corvette.

Corvette is a nice performance car for its price. But a Ferrari, although IS STILL making atleast 300% profit per car sold, is much better in every aspect that counts in automotive performance and quality.

I used to care about classiness and image and status and all that garbage... until I discovered that every time all that stuff got thrown out the window when the light turned yellow and you had to stop next to that person.

Now all I care is that when you go to show me up at the light, be it a Ferrari or an Eclipse, you will end up behind me no matter how hard you put your foot through the floorboards in frustration and beat your steering wheel on the way home.

That said, I love Ferraris. Fast or slow, who cares, it's a rolling sculpture. Ferraris have never been the fastest cars out there, I don't know why anyone even puts it on that pedestal in the first place.

And the person who said drive a Corvette the way you drive a Ferrari and see what goes wrong, sorry to tell you, the Corvette would last much longer. Ferraris are notorious for constant maintenance. With precision engineering comes more sensitivity to foreign debris, the elements, wear and tear, etc. Precision built race cars don't last long on a prepped track, what makes you think a street legal race car is going to last and be reliable on public streets?

Would you want to take a precision tuned target pistol with zero slop into the desert to trust your life to or some loose sloppy clunky thing that can still fire with dirt in the chamber?

Drive a Ferrari around the streets of Tucson as a daily driver and it would fall apart in a week with all the pot holes, cracks, bumps, etc. Driving a Ferrari on most city streets even borderlines as abuse IMO.

To all those that think a vette or a Z06 is as fast.
Lol. maybe in a straight line say to 60mph but thats it.
See everyone who doesn't live in the US has narrow windy roads all over their country.
Ferrari are second only to Lotus in their suspension designs so Ferraris actually handle well and can take corners at high speed and stay on the road.
Handling and corners are something no american car companies seem to understand about at all, probably because the US just has wide straight freeways full of cracks and pot-holes everywhere, so big engines with soft suspension (read: no handling at all) is what americans want.

The worst example of recent american car construction is the big chunk of I-beam Ford still chose as their rear transaxle even in the new Mustang Shelby 500 because Ford don't want to pass on the cost of using a proper independent rear suspension (or the extra 90HP to actually make it really 500HP but thats another story). Everyone else hasn't made cars with suspension that basic since the 50's, and so mustangs still 'don't do 'corners but nobody in the US notices.

Uhm thats because people in the US drive Dodge Intrepids, Toyota Camrys and and Pontiacs. They have back seats, can be driven in any weather, are affordable, comfortable, etc.

I guess in Europe absolutely everyone drives Ferraris and McLaren F1s to take the kids to school and go to work.

These cars are not practical, they are not comfortable or enjoyable to drive, and they are outright scary rattle traps on poorly maintained public roads. It's obvious who here has ever driven or owned a high performance car of any kind.

I laugh that some of you people think that the average Dodge Caravan or Ford Mustang should handle and drive like a Ferrari... because that was totally Nissan's goal when they produced the Sentra and you know Pontiac was gunning for the McLaren F1 when they made the Grand Am.

That tells me how many of you don't even have your permits, ride your bicycle to school, and beat off to car magazines and racing movies and video games thinking you know about cars. The typical 16 year old who has never driven a car or has only driven his moms minivan, but has posters of Lambos and Ferraris all over the bedroom and argues on the internet about cars they will never see, thinking they should be the basis for every car ever made. Grow up and learn to drive first.

All I see here is a battle between the haves and the have nots.

Okay the have nots are comparing a Vette or Viper to the haves Ferrari, maybe you have nots need to understand this car isn't for you. You are more than welcome to drive or bus down to your local domestic dealership and purchase, I mean finance, your Vette/Viper...

Otherwise, the main reason us haves purchase these toys are for pure show. We work damn hard for our toys

just for the record in addition to my previous comments, if i had the cash i'd totally get the Scuderia, it is a race car, in its purest form. and that red stitching gets me hot...

I like the comment I read about Ferrari's in an article one. "Ferrari's are about as durable as potato chips".

It was an article talking about vehicle reliability saying that you will spend more time at the shop than on the road. Obviously not everyone you buy would be like that, but I guess overall they are pretty bad.

I have not personally owned one so obviously have no experience other than what I read. I guess though that people buying Ferrari's buy them for the social status mostly so I doubt they really care how reliable the car is.

Andrew,

Not everyone feels the same way you do. Just because I can afford to buy one of these cars doesn't mean I am going to. Does that make me a have not? Of course not, it's just my opinion that I would rather invest my money than spend that much of it one something like a Ferrari. To each his own. I am just not the same type of person you are.

interesting, the higher the price, the longer the posts....

Isnt it a battle between the 'have nots' and the 'never haves'?

I'm really dissapointed by the lack of knowlege around Ferraris by most of the people that have responded here.

Andrew: No Ferraris are NOT all about pure show or just as a status indicator. Ferraris are definately a driver's car. I'm guessing you haven't ever actually driven one just by that statement.

And let me explode the other ridiculous myth about Ferraris for people like Wes:
Ferraris are VERY durable. At least if my 308 GTS is anything to go by. Built in 1979, and hammered hard for most of its currently 70k miles so far without a glitch. In the last 3 years the only times its been in the shop has been for new oil, plugs and brakes.

And guess what.. my friend paid more for replacement brake discs for his Audi from the local Audi dealer than my Ferrari ones cost from the Ferrari dealer, and his were weedy little things in comparison.

They are close reaching S2000's 120hp/liter but not there yet...

what an awesome looking ferrari. about bloody time

good to see they finally sorted out the front end. im still not a massive fan of the rear light, though

@Jack & @BrazilDude

It should be a lion fears elephants. Lions don't fear a elephant. In fact Lions sometime kill a elephant. But elephants don't kill a lion.

Niz,

I don't think the reliability article I read was about Ferrari's that were made in the 70's, 80's or even the 90's. I think it was talking about the current lineup. Regardless, I was simply posting what I read in a reliability article, I didn't claim that comment as my own personal opinion, I just thought it was funny. I thought I made it clear that I didn't have any experience with Ferrari's.

The Euro/America hate has got to stop! It's ridiculous to say the least. This is a global market we're in last I checked. American big3, Japanese, Korean, European, and hell even South Africa and Australia are in the mix manufacturing cars and selling them globally.

Trust me when I say this those that own a Ferrari have a second car, the deliciously deafening Scuderia would drive you to your wits’ end.

To compare Covette's, Viper's and Ferrari's alike are stupid. Ferrari's are not everyday cars, and are built almost exclusively for track use as practicality is concern. Viper's and Corvette's on the other hand can be driven as a commuting car with the added benefit of track performance. Price tag not withstanding, all cars are status symbols to a degree. Yes the Ferrari most definitely has the wow factor going for it by most onlookers, but it takes a racing breed to couple with a Ferrari to make the relationship work(money notwithstanding). I like the new Zo6's but not in all colors, black is the only color that makes it stand out from the other Zo's for me. But if someone presented me with a choice between a Zo6 and a Viper, I would choose the Viper because for me it presents itself with a bigger wow factor then the Corvette. I owned a '95 Mustang(steel beam and all) that I put money into and let me tell you it didn't matter to me how it looked once I got behind the wheel and cranked that engine up listening to the guttural sound of that engine and once I stepped on the gas, as far as I was concerned I was driving a Ferrari :)