Test drive Ferrari 550 Maranello 1996 - 2002 compartment

Bathing the red horse

Even if you stand next to this car naked, like a boy in the picture of Petrov-Vodkin, no one will pay attention to it because this Ferrari 550 Maranello machine.
This car is a pink, or rather bright scarlet dream of almost any person who at least once in his life was behind the wheel. Although world cinema, cultivating the images of a young playboy, burning his father’s condition, or an al-Advocate bastard that launders cocaine money, necessarily plants not too pretty heroes on Ferrari. And only one thing is true here: this is no longer a car, but a symbol of belonging to a particular class. Or a lifestyle and a state of mind.
FINGERPRINTS. The owner ordered this car right at the factory in 1997. Exactly a year after the premiere show Ferrari 550 Maranello to the public. Then the model was at the top of popularity, replacing Testarossa/512 in the lineup. And today the 550th can safely be considered the flagship of the company-the body from Pininfarina is performed in the classic style of the 70s: Sportsupup Berlinetta.
But back to Moden - it was more difficult to place an order than to get in a Russian bank chukotka’s loan for the development of agriculture, the company closely monitor the reputation of the company and for who they sell their cars. With absolutely calm persons from the Russian Patriot Ferrari, the factory managers demanded several certificates: that we are not convicted in the country whose passport was presented; that he did not sit in prison; That the business that is engaged is not criminal and so on. In general, Pavel Borodin and Vladimir Gusinsky Ferrari, according to these rules, does not shine at the factory ... The order took place only when the Italian partner of the Russian - a large and respected company - wrote a letter of recommendation with a full application of his own details.
By the way, in a car salon, for example in Germany, Ferrari can be bought immediately without undergoing a humiliating personality identification procedure. Paid - and went. But the real expert and connoisseur of Ferrari will prefer the factory order - only then will he have the opportunity to speculate in detail the completion of his future car. And enjoy the expectation of the holiday - the car will be assembled at least six months.
The first time it always hurts. A person who has first ended up inside Ferrari can comprehend a great disappointment, bordering on insanity. The fact is that the company has its own idea of \u200b\u200bhow the supercar should look inside. The interior of Ferrari 550 Maranello is like Lenin in a fairy tale of Soviet times: modesty, modesty and again modesty. No wood of valuable species, a minimum of metal parts in the decoration. With polished metal, only those parts are indicated that really suffer from excessive friction - the gearbox and pedaling handle. At the same time, however, the entire salon is covered with black skin of the finest dressing, but you do not immediately notice this. In front of the driver-a tachometer, a speedometer and a few round scales that signal the fuel level, the temperature of the oil, the coolant, etc. The classic panel of the climate control system and the original circuit breakers above it are neatly inscribed in the more than modest interior interior .
But how stylishly the luggage regiment is behind the seats! A medium -sized suitcase climbs on it, certainly from the super -expensive Louis Vitton company, and is fixed with a pair of black belts with large metal buckles. For some reason, I thought that in such a car a suitcase should be used exclusively as a wallet.
Under the degree. I am a sober person: I will never have such a car. Firstly, not affordable. Secondly, the control of Ferrari delivered a deep disappointment-an extremely strict adhesion and a peculiar, again a very strict move of the checkpoint handle. In order to squeeze the clutch, you have to make as much effort as enough for a whole car station. In conditions of dense urban movement (not only in Moscow, but also in the same Italy), 550 Maranello management turns from pleasure into visiting the gym.
In order to completely disconnect from reality and enjoy the power over such a machine, it must be driven at least along the high -speed Mediterranean highway N232. And it's not what landscapes flicker outside the window. Although in this, too - against the background of our citywide garbage garbage, Ferrari looks, to put it mildly, strange. But Ferrari does not like cold asphalt! Or, if you want, cold tires. And Moscow is not Le Mans to you, where tires are heated before the start for better adhesion to the highway. On the cold slopes, the Ferrari 550 passes along the asphalt like a grinding machine: cigarette butts, crushed packs of cigarettes and other backs of modern civilization fly out with a whistle. Despite the magnificent reverse effort on the steering wheel, the car also behaves quite capriciously in the turns. And what else can be expected from him - before putting Ferrari 550 Maranello, serious tests on the Formula 1. The engine was developed and brought to mind also in accordance with the requirements of racing in the Gran Tourism category: it uses electronic control of variable injection Fuel, hydraulic valves and variable reverse release system. The initial torque is such that, with the improper distribution of the force on the adhesion and gas pedals, Ferrari shamefully stalls at the start. Although management is a profit.
Capital investment. This car should be treated as a work of art. Maranello is akin to the Chinese vase of the Qin dynasty or the original Pablo Picasso - to show friends and admire at the time of mental disorders and life doubts. And what is the sound of the engine at idle! It is just right to write down on a disk and enjoy it at home for long winter evenings. After all, all the same, at this time of the year, Ferrari will have to be left in the garage. And, alas, freeze money spent on summer pleasures and image. But, you see, the image is also capital.
     
Text Nikolay Kachurin, photo Sergey Sherestnikov
The car was provided for the Test company Rubklak, (095) 444-1001

 

Source: "Autopilot"