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Agreed. I’m not a Ferrari hater, in fact I like the brand, but the Roma looks way too much like an F-Type or Aston Martin. At least when you see an 308/355/360/430/458/458 you know it’s a Ferrari. The Roma doesn’t do it for me. My money is safe.
Agreed. I’m not a Ferrari hater, in fact I like the brand, but the Roma looks way too much like an F-Type or Aston Martin. At least when you see an 308/355/360/430/458/458 you know it’s a Ferrari. The Roma doesn’t do it for me. My money is safe.
It's the way it drives - not the way it looks. If you want to boulevard it and get admiring glances, there are showier cars. When you actually get behind the wheel you think "How did they do this?, the balance, the power, the suspension, the handling,..." Your money won't be safe if you get behind the wheel and take one out. Suggest you NOT try one as it may take the shine off the Porsche in your garage!
Me? I'm already sold. Seven years no charge maintenance on all new Ferraris means really just the cost of the car itself, which is substantial. $ 223K base price before you put the first option on it. If you think Porsche options are crazy expensive, wait until you see what Ferrari charges. The only reason I haven't ordered mine yet is that the price is about $ 50K past my comfort level, but I'm slowly talking myself into it. Ferrari of Washington gets two of their own Romas in for demos first of the month, I need another test drive.
I still like it. I feel it has some of the inspiration of the older GTO cars from Ferrari. I’m not a Ferrari guy but I would not throw this out of my garage.
My friend Jim went today to drive the Roma (997 GTS) and his wife Holly (997 S). His comments on it:
“So the Roma is pretty special. It drives fabulously, the ride/handling balance is pretty incredible, and it's FAST. Where the Portofino feels turbocharged and has darty steering, the Roma has a very linear power curve and more intuitive steering. I couldn't unduce turbo lag, it just responded with thrust. Not rubber band, turbo thrust, but just a straight shove.
What really surprised me, though, was the ride was firm without being crashy. Damping was very good. You could feel the bumps some but it didn't translate into harshness.
Holly was really wowed by it. We both drove it in Race mode with manual shifting. That's likely why the car was so responsive. It feels light on it's feet and is a couple hundred pounds lighter than the Portofino. It's not a Portofino with a roof.
The Roma brings Ferrari interiors bang up to date with current tech. Screens and touch screens for everything. Of course the leather and finishing is impeccable.
A couple minor niggles:
Window switches are ergonomically backwards.
The speedo was permanently stuck on km/hr. Nobody could change it. I found the setting in the menus but it wouldn't take.
Ferrari is positioning the car as a sports car, not so much a GT. Like a stepping stone from Porsche.”
I was told that all of the tour cars are European models and to restrict international resales you cannot toggle between mph and KMH ( don’t know if it’s true but my driving monitor was the great Pierre Klenubing, so I choose to believe him).
To me the car feels more driver connected than any other modern car I’ve driven. Looking forward to how it behaves on the track, mine will be here in about a month.
Was thinking just this^
Jag dealers could park their used F-types outside the F dealers to take their FS pics with a Roma in the background and see if resale improves?
Hey... I also see a C7 in this, but it doesn't mean this isn't one of my absolute dream cars.
I also love the F-Type, as a Jag. But I feel like Ferrari could have gone in a more unique direction with the Roma. True, I have not seen it in person. But the overall dimensions and styling cues to me are very F-Type. Automakers do this all the time, as we all know. But I feel like Ferrari should be breaking the mold, not reusing it.
Sounds like a fun day in a Ferrari. Sounds like it drives nice. Nice interior but the exterior looks like an offspring of a Jag that mated with a Lexus.
A lot of the same comments about like vs not like on any new Porsche generation until one see it in person and drives it. I think it is a beautiful car and from looking at old GTO F cars I can see where it came from and possibly where the Jag came from.