Ferrari vs. Porsche

[Ferrer]

Ferrari and Porsche. The eternal debate.

For me it has to be the 911. I'm not interested in any other Porsche, altough that doesn't mean I wouldn't have them. And that doesn't mean I don't like some Ferraris either.

But if you think about it, it's not really a natural comparison. Ferrari should be against Maserati or Aston Martin and Porsche against Lotus (or Alpine if it existed today). At the start they were two different companys. Ferrari was the aristocrat and Porsche was the underdog. In fact Ferrari already had experience with the very fast and successful prewar Alfa Romeos, while Porsche had to do with much humbler underpinnings. And yet slowly, Porsche started to crawl up with faster and faster cars, while Ferrari went slowly down.

As a company Porsche entered adulthood with 917 and their first win at Le Mans in 1970. Incindentally from the 70's and until the 90's Ferrari seemed to have lost the plot a bit. They weren't as successful in racing as they had been and they cars had gotten too big and were a bit ungainly. Having just said that, maybe we're entering another Ferrari dark period? But well I guess we'll discuss that another day.

The fact of the matter remains that since Porsche beat Ferrari at Le Mans and the 911 Turbo became the first road going Porsche to have Ferrari-rivalling performance those two car makers have been compared countless times. And as I said for me it has to be the 911 as a whole.

Since I was a kid I liked the 911. It was simple and subtle and usable. But most of all it retained a degree of achievable dream that enhances its appeal. Also it was german which meant that it was well built and yet it was rear engined, arguably a fundamnetal flaw but it also made an incomformist. And that's so un-german. And of all the 911 variants made over the last 45 years the original Carrera RS 2.7 is the finest of them all. But since it's quite expensive these days I'll happily settle for a 993 Carrera. Some Ferraris may have outperformed the 911 in some aspect but hardly any (or even arguably any at all) has beaten it yet at its all round performance.

There have been many other Porsches made over the years and some have been pretty brilliant (the current mid engined cars or the 928 spring to my mind), but I frankly can't be bothered about them. That's not to say I would mind having one of those, I wouldn't, but if I were to buy a Porsche what I'd really want is a 911.

As for Ferrari, well I've always liked italian cars (which I'm guessing, it's not really a surpirse). Italian cars, from the cheapest Fiat to the most expensive Pagani are always so full of passion and soul. As with any other man made object cars reflect the country they are made in. And as such Italy, being a bit caothic and not very good objectively is such a nice place to be in. And this shows clearly in italian cars.

Ferrari has made several masterpieces, from the Colombo V12 engine to the astonishing elegance, presence and charisma of the 456GT. And as such cars like the 275GTB or the F355 are a dream for any car enthusiast, and rightly so. However unlike Porsche, Ferrari has never been very constant (possibly because it had no long lasting model) so while they've made some great cars there's also the 400i or the Testarossa next to them, which in my opinion are, let's say, less fortunate.

Today, however cars seem to be perfect. They are very fast and very technologically advanced and the racing team seems to be winning everything (or at least it used to). This however has created a problem for Ferrari. Aware of their success, Ferraris have become arrogant and selfish up to the point, that you are almost embarrassed to be in one. They also seem to have put science and maths before passion and soul. And that's so un-italian.

Old Ferraris may have been worse, they may have boked down every hundred yard and they may not have been as well built as Mercedes-Benzes. But when you saw one you knew that it was just right. Yes the electrics were temperamental and the dashobard had more lights on than a christmas tree. But they were making automobiles. Some of the finest automobiles ever made. Now they are just making giant 200.000€ posters. They may be perfect, but the magic is somewhat gone. And that's just wrong.