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I'll take the red one today Jeeves...
My favourite cars in descending order are:
1. Koenigsegg CCX-R
2. Aston Martin DBS
3. Audi R8 V10
4. Audi RS5 (announced this week)
5. Nissan GT-R
Or at least, they were until about three months ago when I first capped eyes on what Ferrari had been up to lately.
But before I get onto that, I pose you a challenge: if somebody said you could have any Ferrari of your choice, for life, purely for the purposes of driving it and being seen driving it, and without the prospect of "selling it to buy a couple of Audi R8s", which one would it be?
That is a very difficult choice, but my choice has just made the top spot of my favourite cars...
I fell in love with the Ferrari brand (but never the F1 team....) when I first saw the F355 Berlinetta. I was knee-high to a grass-hopper and probably had my first semi rigid experience to that car...
I wasn't too fussed by the F40 (although everybody who's had the chance to drive one says that's their favourite Ferrari car by far) but I adored the F50...
That is stunning. No doubt about it.
Then Ferrari lost it, I can't stand the F360, it's awful. It's too rounded, too feminine, there's no bullishness to the design and it's all very safe. Even with a Hamann bodykit on it. Also, dare I say it, it looks a bit.... well.... fat?
Not a fan. The F430 corrected some of the F360 wrongs. It's more lithe, has much nicer looking front wing air intakes, and teh overall styling is much neater, a bit more masculine...
But it's still not perfect is it.
There have been some variations on those themes, the F360 Challenge Stradale was a 360 on Slim Fast with some go-faster bits, but it was still the F360 so no thankyou. The F430 Scuderia was fantastic, but too hard for everyday use.
There were also some low-volume cars that sprung forth from the Ferrari stable in Modena....
The Enzo (of course) - not a fan in pink, actually, not really a fan at all, it's trying far far too hard, there's too much effort going on:
There was a blink-and-you've-missed-it car built for a very rich Middle Eastern businessman, a totally one-off called the P4/5 which I really quite like the look of...
But then they sold out to the Yanks. Somebody, somewhere, thought they would derail the reputation of Ferrari by asking for a 'soft, fluffy, everyday Ferrari'. Well I'm sorry but that's just not cricket and Ferrari aren't Twinings (Jesus, how more English could that sentence be?). Asking Ferrari for an 'everyday tea' is just pathetic. You'd not ask James Cameron for an everyday Avatar, or Gordon Brown for an everyday tax hike because those things require time to develop and prepare. Each one should be it's own free-standing event. Just like getting into your own Ferrari.
But the Italians relented, and their bastard love child slipped from their Wizard's sleeve to a frosty reception...
Urggggh.
Ferrari had to do something to make up for the California. It knew it had to make amends...
And by God, it did.
Their latest release is a mix of absolute beauty, engineering perfection, and total lack of compromise. This is a Ferrari for car people. Not for Californian Marketing executives who can't see their dashboard because they have a pizza perched between their ample stomach and the top of the steering wheel.
My top favourite car is now.....
The Ferrari F458 Italia....
Can you blame me? :0)
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