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Chris Harris - I think Ferrari are going to be upset!

3

328isport

New member
Guys!

probably not the best thing to post in a Ferrari forum but i think this article is definately worth a read!!

http://ca.jalopnik.com/5760248/

Only posted this afternoon... is bound to cause a stir thats for sure!! will be interesting to see how long it stays up for. I don't think the story itself is anything new, EVO magazine have certainly hinted at similar in the past, however never quite this blunt!
 
328isport said:
Guys!

probably not the best thing to post in a Ferrari forum but i think this article is definately worth a read!!

http://ca.jalopnik.com/5760248/

Only posted this afternoon... is bound to cause a stir thats for sure!! will be interesting to see how long it stays up for. I don't think the story itself is anything new, EVO magazine have certainly hinted at similar in the past, however never quite this blunt!
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Blimey:shocked:

Does anyone know why Mr. Harris sold his 512TR which he purported to be so delighted with?
 
I absolutely agree with the sentiment of his article but its certainly not going to win him any friends in Maranello. In fact I wouldn't want to even travel into Italy without fear of a full cavity stop and search by customs after that outburst. :shocked:

The sad thing is I am sure it is all true aswell, control feaking gone MAD!

... Talking about conspiracy theories too, I am 100% confident that on fchat when people where discussing how fug ugly the new Ferrari FF hatchback (!) was, myself included I saw many very 'new' posters (less than 100 posts) on fchat that just happened to be resolutely defending it and gorgeous it was. Seemed _very_ odd too me. Something just didn't add up and after reading that post from Chris I'm beginning to fear the marketing dept.s may have even infiltrated some of the forums too. :thumbsdow Not cool.
 
But do you believe that ANY car review by a journalist is untainted by how well/badly/ they have been treated by the manufacturer - what deal they got on a car they bought. Whatever Chris writes I doubt Ferrari are particularly worse than any of the other real players (and I don't count Jaguar - who he quoted - as a a main player in that particular market segment). These guys are just journalists after all - and how much weight do we give the average journalist.
 
Aurora Borealis said:
Blimey:shocked:

Does anyone know why Mr. Harris sold his 512TR which he purported to be so delighted with?
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When I spoke to him about it he said the one he had was far too nice an example for him to really use. He is fairly anti washing his cars and likes to put mileage on them. He loved it but wanted something more usable so bought the 575 although I am assuming he did quite nicely financially out of it too.
 
Performance figures

The guy does a lot of moaning about Ferrari road test cars being "not what the customer will get" You don't hear many actual Ferrari owners complaining that their cars are not as fast as they thought though do you? Or do you?
 
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he is a nobody whio is trying to make a name for himself and this is his new way forward to try and get a reaction christ i should know i do it all the time on chat sites :laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
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Hmm, well... Had a Gallardo, took it on a dyno and instead of the promised 520hp, it was running 489. After mapping it it got to 530 and felt vastly faster, more like what it should have been. Presumably that's what they do with the press cars too, though frankly why they can't deliver customer cars to the correct spec I don't know!
 
I can't say this surprises me at all. There are far too many people at Ferrari with far too little to do - and I certainly don't mean the ones actually developing the cars.

But equally, no manufacturer actually says to a journalist "here, take any car you like off the production line for your road test".

By and large, Ferrari make great cars but some of their business practices are dubious to say the least. Won't make me sell up though. In any case, most such car tests are nonsense anyway because they bear no relation to the usage actual owners ever put them through.

Jonathan
 
steve f said:
he is a nobody whio is trying to make a name for himself and this is his new way forward to try and get a reaction christ i should know i do it all the time on chat sites :laugh::laugh::laugh:
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Correct........................on both counts :grin:
 
Who cares.....

Funny enough he seemed to have a LOT of fun driving Ferraris in test in the past few months: GTO, 458 and others.....
 
zebraman said:
The guy does a lot of moaning about Ferrari road test cars being "not what the customer will get" You don't hear many actual Ferrari owners complaining that their cars are not as fast as they thought though do you? Or do you?
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Perhaps because they never got to drive the press cars?

If you had a test drive and placed and order to subsequently find out your new car was noticeably slower or wasnt as sharp as the car you tested would you be happy?
 
I dont mind doing Harris' job if Ferrari want to lend me a car for a review. What he does for a living would be a priviledge to most, not something worthy of whining about. It shows him in a dim light rather than Ferrari, in my opinion.

And so what if Ferrari tweak their press cars .. no different to what goes on in many other industries - even down to the pictures of a Burger at the drive thru - they NEVER look like what they should do according to the pics. That's life - deal with it, its called marketing.
 
Ferrari

Do you think that "customer cars" are really that bad, or can be? I'll bet that Ferrari consider it's acceptable if the engine delivers within +/- 10% of the stated output.

How the car is broken/run in also has an effect of course. There's an argument that a car or bike engine driven hard from new will perform better, but not last as long. This is a discussion that goes on and on in motorcycle forums.

I'm also willing to bet that most production engines can be improved 10% by blueprinting/optimising the ECU settings for the engine although maybe for the price paid Ferrari should do this to all their cars. Not that most people who buy them are going to notice that extra 10% !
 
Completely agree with Chris. Ferrari are way OTT on this and anything that is associated with their brand. Its getting to a point where it is as if you buy a lease to have a ferrari rather than actually owning it.
 
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