I can't believe no one has addressed this. Here is what it comes down to:

If you are buying a car because you want something reasonably quick and fun and good looking, but the C63.

If you are buying a car because you want a panty-dropping ***** magnet, then buy the ferrari!

Simple.

Unfortunately...that's what most every overweight, unattractive, sleazy F-car owner believes. It has nothing to do with being an enthusiast or the heritage of the brand... but how much *** it gets him.
Sad, but true.

my brother sold his sl-65 w/heavy mods to pick up a 2010 Lambo LP 560-4. Talk about an insane car - the 65 pulled just as hard straight line but with all wheel drive the Lambo just walks about anything in the curves. I was out with him a couple weeks back - he lives in So Cal - and a porsche, a 63 and believe it or not a bunch of wrx types and some crotch rockets all tried to hand in the canyon (little Tujunga I believe it was). It was sick how fast he dropped them - even the crotch rockets pull out of the way when he comes up behind they just can't outgrip the all wheel drive - it's insane. Have been with him and all kinds of cars try, but nothing has beat it yet. Crazy fast. Tires go fast though, going onto his 3rd set as he approaches 12,500 miles - and about $3,000 each time to change em out. This has nothing to do with the original thread, but we did mention Italian cars right...haha - Cheers!

Man, I really didn't expect this much great feedback. The Ferrari is always going to be a dream car of mine but I guess the thing with dream is, they always seem better when your asleep, then you wake up and think, what the hell was I thinking??? I think I would be much happier with the C63 and with a few mods, str8 line performance is mind blowing. Not to mention the warranty, safety, comfort and interior quality... Pretty simple when your mind isnt clouded by that dam Ferrari's striking beauty, clouds the mind.

Get Both:
Daily drive the Benz.
Weekend toy F-Car.

The F-car is the ultimate weekend toy......

And really who besides tom sellic can handle all the azzz the F-car delivers 7 days a week (JK).

Also - if you get the c63, don't get a car with the perf pkg.... we have an 09 with pp, and it's hard on the body as a daily driver. Very stiff suspension.

As every1 else has already stated- with the ferrari you will get shafted nicely when it comes to servicing or worse- if you have problems with the car. I have a california and it is pretty expensive on running costs.

On the other hand, if you are up to bear the costs, theres nothing like that ferrari sound and accelerating through the gears shifting with the paddle shifts. I've never driven the 550 which you intend to get but my experience with ferrari has been great.

They are fun weekend cars and I would not advise using it daily... In comparison, my C feels faster, probably is faster, i've never had (knock on wood) any problems with it in the last 2 years and that brutal acceleration is just so, so, so addictive + you have 2 seats in the back, a boot and a car with extreme bang for buck. Get the beast

good call!

Screw both; get a Lambo! Ha!

I see that you are moving to the Manhattan Beach; even Ferraris don't impress the ladies here. Way too much money in this town. And if you get a Ferrari, you must live up to the Ferrari owner image - bottle service at the lounge, comping all your buddies for dinner, Crystal champagne for the ladies, etc. You can no longer pull into a Subway for a $5 foot long. Save your maintenance coin and get the C63. Plus, six-pack abs go much farther than a fancy car in the south bay....

Well... ahem. What does the rest of your budget look like for your move to Manhattan Beach? Observe and evaluate your surroundings first, then decide how you will master them...... in the meantime you may learn alot about yourself and which car will get you where you want to go... if it's a car that's going to do it.

when i get older and have the resources for an expensive car, i'd buy an 06' lamborghini gallardo E-gear, now those things are awesome weekend, if not every other day cars! my friend here in the bay area (he's like thirty something though) has had every exotic, besides ferrari's including just about every high end porsche to come out including two gt3's and currently his gt3rs, his superlegerra that he sold, he's had three cayenne's, a carrera gt for about a year that is loud as hell (vid on youtube) he said the porsche's were the best on maintenance but the gallardo wasn't far behind. i'm missing alot on this list.

2008-9 P30 has the suspension, but the new P31 from 2010 and on only has the regular suspension so it's fine.

Sheep

Sorry for the OT, but what you describe is typical for Beverly Hills and Hollywood...the south bay has very little of that type of atmosphere IMO. As a matter of fact, I don't know any clubs in MB that have bottle service ( I go there quite a bit). Our 6 man team almost won last summer
MB is very laid back and not flashy at all...gotta go to Newport for that

You know this town way too well ..... not to mention all the coin he needs to spend on a pad to go with the Ferrari lifestyle.

Fred... and Bentley GT

True MB is somewhat laid back, I was thinking more when he'll venture out to Sky Bar and valets the 550 Maranello. Although this is coming from a man that has a 35 foot Cigarette offshore race boat. Now the ladies DO like those! Ditch the C63 and Ferrari idea; bus pass and speed boat! And the ladies to like volleyball playahs....

Ferrari 575M

that's a great lookin 575 - a true classic.

Exterior wise, yes a very stunning car.
But as soon as you get inside, it's fugly at best...

Exactly. The Ferrari is like this ...



... the Benz is the one you keep.

C63 hands down

I've never really understood why people go online to ask total strangers what car they should buy.

Neighbor of ours was showing off his Maserati. Picked up a used older one for a steal with NO warranty. In between one of the 1000 times I was told it had a Ferrari engine, I asked him, "Any idea how much it is to service a Ferrari engine"

"Ohhhhh, it can't be that baaaaddddd"

He sold it 6 months later.

As far as Ferraris go, apparently the 550/575 is pretty good for service. For instance, cambelt changes are not engine out procedures, as with the mid engined V8 Ferraris. And it gets decently long mileage between fill ups - but that's because it has a very large fuel tank, befitting of its GT status. Not that I have any personal experience, just what I've read in evo magazine. Although, that said, there is apparently some shop in the UK that can do a cambelt change on a 355 without taking the engine out.

My dentist friend had a 456GTA in the midst of all his Mercedes fleet (basically always has Mercs, like five at a time, mostly S Classes) and he barely drove the 456. He was always complaining about how unreliable it was. That said, the thunder from the V12 was amazing. He sold it after only about a year. At the time, he had both Formula One bases covered - when Ferrari or McLaren-Mercedes regularly battled each other for the World Championship, he was on the winning team!

I still have the car cover for the 456, he just gave them to me along with a bunch of other car covers.

For the record, a 355 with manual trans, one of the last 100 or so built with the Fiorano package, or a late 575M with the F1 semi-auto trans, are two of my favourite Ferraris and high on the 'when I win the lottery' list of to-buy items. But thinking more realistically, a C63 makes much more sense than any Ferrari. Maintenance costs are going to be substantial for any Ferrari. The C63 is daily driveable in the sense that the maintenance costs are palatable. Ferraris are meant to be exclusive in a way that AMGs are not, exclusive and cool as AMGs are. Total 550/575 production I believe is a bit shy of 10,000 if I remember right. The cost of ownership and maintenance reflects that exclusivity.

WOW that is one red interior. Love both cars......

Yeah, MB seems to be much more laid back than bottle service, witch sounds more like the sad a$$ dallas/smu people I have always grown up with that use their parents socal credit to buy the bottles and their parents old BMWs to get there. Lame. I would much rather own the C63 and live in the many places I have already priced at sub 500k, so I can still have the every day $5 subway sub! Funny thing is, there really is a subway up the street from beaches, one of my favorite happy hour locations.