amaist

At least GM or Nissan is pretending to give you a good deal. Lots of car for reasonable money. Turns out its not as much car as promised but in the end the deal is still reasonable.

Ferrari promises you the chariot of the gods for a godly amount of cash. Turns out it's merely a great car but still priced like a defense procurement contract.

MJSpeed

How would you or anybody else know that this isn't the case? How many have been able to replicate any of Walter's times?

Everybody does it, it's a matter of "to what degree?" And IF what Chris Harris writes is true (I have no reason to believe it's not), then it doesn't surprise me. This is the same Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher type mentality that's been their modus operandi for quite some time now within the F1 Team.

multi21

Is that you A. Wayne?

Your boy Alonso benefitted from that MO. See my avatar for explaination....

stout

Agreed, and it is a good point!

stout

They may pop up in something some day, but I have to balance the 4-5 failures I've seen against hundreds of mechanically faultless PCNA/PAG test cars over 15 years/hundreds of thousands of road/track miles. Given the hard lives these cars live, I am deeply impressed by that ratio. In some cases, we've reported the failures (987S RMS overnight failure, because it was clearly a PAG issue and indicative of widely experienced problems at the time) and sometimes we haven't (a broken wheel spoke "hidden" on a black wheel due to an unreported incident, alarming but not Porsche's fault).

I've never seen funny business on Porsche press events when it comes to the cars. I have, however, seen evidence of no trick parts in use, such as serious brake fade at the seriously fast Road America in Panameras with the standard pads and four occupants. Then I think about how the cars have been delivered for regular loans: I've never seen any indication that they are overly prepared, and never so much as a hint about how something should come out. The biggest standout was the Carrera GT delivery: the car arrived on an Intercity Lines truck with 3 keys, the luggage, the extra seat pads, the battery maintainer, etc. At first I couldn't figure out why, then I realized it wasn't a press car. Two weeks after our 1100-mile/no handlers/no expectations GT/GT2/GT3 comparison test, 0234 was on the stand at the SF Auto Show.

When I started, the late Bob Carlson (head of PCNA PR then) said to me: "Write whatever you want — just be sure you can back it up with fact." I've never forgotten that, or the lessons in professionalism or integrity implied. Bob put the cars in extreme situations and seemed to have utter faith in them, and had a big impact on those he worked with. So, as with any industry — doctors, bankers, contractors, lawyers, mechanics, etc. — there are good apples and the rest. It sounds like I've been very, very blessed to work with the PR department I have. It's entering a new era right now, and may do so again when the merger is complete. In that regard, and with implications far larger than just Porsche or just Ferrari, Harris' rant was great to see. It's a reminder that the internet truly is something to be thankful for when it comes to information.

pete

p.s. Sorry for the book!

cgomez

Wrong. I've driven everything and modern day Ferraris ARE THE CHARIOT of THE GODS. Even Harris accepts that and concedes that his frustration is that Ferrari doesn't need to this because their cars are so truly good.

FFaust

Love it.

kaamacat

Isn't that basically what Porsche did with the GT3RS last year on the ring.......their poor Chariot Of The Gods would have broken down.

911rox

We'll probably never know for certain but considering Porsche hand out so many cars all over the world and their quoted times are matched or bettered by pro drivers, it would suggest the cars are pretty standard. Even tests I've seen using private GT2s or those borrowed straight from a random dealer and run at the NBR were within 5sec of quoted times

cgomez

Ferrrari has decided to come clean and retrofit customer cars:

carcommander

Having owned Porsches for many years, currently a GT3RS and Ferraris for many years,
currently a F430, both companies produce great cars and charge too much. The GT3 was within 30k of the Ferrari. Buy the ones you like all this is BS bench racing. A 168k porsche is not a value. It is fun if you can do it and want to just like the Ferrari.

stout

Haven't spent any time in the latest, but the 575 (and I hear 550 is even better) blew me away. F50, not so much...

pete

multi21

Now that's funny!!!

I'm going to ping a friend of mine that is affiliated with a certain marque that has a roundel on the hood and ask him if he ever thought or even suspected that car maker made cars that were more special than others....

tmario

I enjoyed CH's article and agree that Ferrari should not feel the need to control the message as much as they do. I really feel that it's corporate paranoia but Ferrari must feel it necessary to maintain their brand image.

While I am no test driver, I do DE's enough and have done them in both my Ferraris (a Challenge Stradale and even a 575 at an awesome Tremblant Porsche event run by a Rennlist member) and my Porsches (much more experience with those over the years (currently a 997 GT3RS). The CS and the GT3RS are on paper very comparable (weight and power) and I got the chance to run them at Lime Rock on consecutive events with similar weather and the same tires (corsas). While I have much more experience in a 911, I was shocked to find my times were the same -1:04 for the judges out there .

So I guess in my experience, there was no extraordinary hype, just two great cars. FWIW, if I am going on a track day, the GT3 is the tool of choice. With the Ferrari I felt like I was beating it up, whereas the Porsche it was no sweat.

I agree that the shenanigans should be beneath Ferrari. A long time ago, I am sure Enzo would have said he didn't care about the public's cars, he only cared about the racing. That's how they became the brand that they are. Hopefully they don't continue mixing up true quality for image. Also, I hope Porsche doesn't go down the same road in their quest to become ever bigger.

My 0.02

aussie jimmy

when we see a porsche-world in qatar, then we'll all be on the hunt for a new gf