"Poorly"? That's a bit harsh to describe these beautiful hand-built masterpieces isn't it? To be honest I was never impressed with the built quality of my 996TT before or my current CLS63...two brands you indicated that produce well built cars. But I'm very impressed with the finish/built quality of both my first F430 and now the Scuderia. Oh and the overall driving experience?...completely blows away both the Porsche and MB combined together!

Of course this is only my personal opinion.

 

Ya...thats why they have such great reliability, like the E-Class

 

Mercedes makes some of the biggest POS's on the market. I much rather have a Ferrari, I can live with some paint defects and some noises. I want the r&d and the race heritage.

 

I think the problem here is that Ferrari enthusiasts put on these red tinted glasses and Ferrari can do no wrong in their eyes. Look, I'm a Ferrari fan myself but realistically I accept the inferior build quality as part of the charm of the car, but it is important not to confuse this with "hand crafted quality". The fact is that there are machine built (Porsche's & Mercedes) and low volume hand built (Rolls Royce's) cars out there that have far superior finish and build quality to a Ferrari.

 

As a detailer, I find the build quality of the 430 very good considering what ferrari has done. If you guys ever watch Ultimate Factories: Ferrari, you'll see the innovations that go into making a 430 and 599. The technology is in the engine, body, suspension, even the scuderia plate on the fender. What I mean is, there's a lot of stuff going on that on the surface you cannot see.

The paint on the 430 is the newest ceramic technology found on luxury cars like rolls royce and mayback. It's painted by robots, not by a skilled painter. Yes, it has some orange peel, and the bumper colors don't match, but considering it's a production car, that's pretty respectable. The leather workmanship in the interior is hand-done to YOUR specifications if you'd like. I'm not sure there are many companies out there that can build a super car, make it luxurious enough you can take your wife out to dinner in style, and put it into a dependable and sexy package. That's my hummble opinion.

 

But again, you mention Mercedes as having good build quality? Modern Mercedes' are horrid. The E-Class is a total POS when it comes to electronics and overall reliabilty. I have two freinds with new Benz's, both have had many, many issues. Furthermore, I don't see how a factory tour would show you how the build quality is. If that's the case the Ferrari factory is top notch with how clean and green it is....

 

Let's not forget that Mercedes makes more E-Classes in 3 days of production than Ferrari does cars (all models) in an entire year. Moreover, Mercedes are subject to much more mileage and general abuse than your average Ferrari. As such, statistically the odds of seeing problems with the Mercedes are exponentially higher than that in the Ferrari.

As for the factory tour showing me this, at Mercedes I didn't see a whole pile of cars in semi states of dis-assembly after they were "completed" having any number of problems corrected before leaving the plant.

As far as race heritage goes, Ferrari has an extensive racing heritage but lets not forget that Mercedes Benz also has an illustrious racing history dating back to the pre-war heros (Rudolf Carraciola & Richard Seaman just to name a couple) all the way to powering the 2008 F1 World Champion. In addition, Porsche has perhaps the most diverse and successful background of any manufacturer in all of racing, having won at just about everything.

Again... my opinion

 

Actually so far in this thread you're the only one with biased views and relentlessly bashing a particular make of car.

We're all enthusiasts here and of course we all agree Porsche and MB also make great cars and so do other exotic/high-performance brands. At this level it is quite insulting to see someone throwing around such immature comments attacking certain company.

 

Hey now! No one is attacking. I'm merely defending my initial 'opinion'. I think Ferrari's and Lamborghini's are fantastic... read the entire thread. In fact, I have a Ferrari in my garage and a Porsche on my driveway, so I'm not bashing any brand. As far as being immature, I have to disagree... I feel my comments have been based on a level of certainty and first hand experience. The original poster questioned Ferrari's build quality and I merely commented on it and compared it to some other random brands. No more, no less.

Yikes... guys... gotta take it easy. Everyone is entitled to an opinion... even me

 

How exactly were fripsgirl's comments immature??? I can't find anything "immature" about them. Those are her opinions...plain and simple.

 

Exactly, so the fact they have such huge problems is even worse IMO.

 

I know people who have been on the same tour, at no point do they tell you that "those cars need to have some issues fixed before they leave the factory". So that seems like pure specuation to me. The Ferrari factory is very open, they don't try to hide things like say Mercedes would.

 

We can dispute all we want but when you look at reality, anyone can buy a Mercedes, not everyone that can buy a Mercedes though can afford a Ferrari.

I grew up with both Mercedes and Ferraris. Dad has owned both in my life time. He still has his Ferrari, which is fine for how old it is and has has only need minor tune up work which is expected. I think hes on Mercedes 4 or 5 by now. The Benzes always break, its amazing how poorly built they are.

 

I don't get it. I have an Aston Vantage convertible (2009), Audi R8 (2009) and F430 F1 spider (2006). I do not see any quality difference between the three. No bad paint, rattles or problems with any of the three. I'd be very hard pressed to say the F-car is inferior in any way, shape or form.
Anyone who comments on ride, driving or build quality on any car, of any make, needs to own one and drive it for a while before pontificating on any quality points.
I have the same problem with automotive writers who spend 30 minutes, or even a day in a car and seem to believe they know everything nuance there is about that vehicle.

 

Forgot to add....
I recently got out of an '07 997 C4 convt and an '08 Cayenne Turbo, plus earlier '07 SL65 and '06 Ford GT. None of these were anywhere near the overall quality of the F430, or the Aston or R8. They also also squeaked and rattled far more!
You pays your money and you takes your chances!