In late January 2008, I stopped by the Ferrari Maserati dealer in Redwood City, California, a few miles from Club Sportiva's Clubhouse to talk to the service team about our 2006 Ferrari F430 coupe that keeps losing rivets that hold the rear challenge grill in place. It was getting annoying - how hard is it to keep the challenge grill from rattling? They had no answer, by the way. Then, I stopped in to say hello to Charlie Miles, the sales manager from whom Club Sportiva purchased the F430 last year to see what he had in inventory. I wasn't in heavy search mode that day, but he showed me a couple great Ferrari and Maserati models that were both new and pre-owned.

One vehicle in particular stood out in my mind, a 2007 Maserati Quattroporte in pozzi blue (a custom ordered Ferrari color) over cuoio (saddle brown) leather with 1,900 miles. The car's color combination really seemed exceptional when compared to the standard and over wrought silver over black or black over black that lack elegance and sophistication. Cars, like Maserati, Aston Martin and Bentley, look best in unique color combinations that accentuate the unique handmade nature of the car's special heritage and thus, should be specified by the owner who hand selects the bespoke interior layout.

This particular car was essentially brand new and came with the DuoSelect transmission that could allow Members to shift their way through the gears. Since Club Sportiva sold its Bentley sedan in mid 2007, the Club was without a true four door, five seat sedan that can haul friends and family in luxury. In a recent Member survey, we were told it was time for another four door sedan. The Quattroporte was clearly on the short list.

The next day, I called Charlie back and offered to trade a fully loaded 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLK350 with only 13,000 miles that the Club had just voted to retire after a year of service. He was able to strike a very good deal for Club Sportiva and we consummated the trade. I immediately proceeded to drive the Mercedes-Benz to the Ferrari Maserati dealer to trade keys, owner's manuals and cars!

The Maserati Quattroporte Executive GT is stunning and should be, considering the original window sticker was over $131,000. The rear seats are power while the front seats have adaptive bolsters, massagers, cooling and heating built in for driver and passenger pleasure. The fit and finish could be a bit tighter, but I think a few of the issues on the glove box and rear passenger door can be resolved by the dealer on our next service visit. It is a heavy car, even with the sport mode turned on, but it is set up well for a large, long, luxury sedan. The DuoSelect transmission is the weak link on the car, of course that was changed in the second half of 2007 with a traditional automatic transmission. Because our Member have repeatedly said they enjoy shifting gears, we opted for an early 2007 model with DuoSelect giving drivers more control over the transmission.

With 400 horsepower on tap, you will need to use all of them to motivate the big sedan, but if you use the paddle shift levers and let the rpms rev to 5,000, you reap the benefits of both the power and the sporty Italian engine and exhaust. Under the 5,000 rpm range, the car is a bit sluggish, but then again, when you are hauling a party of five to dinner and the opera, no one wants tossed around in the back seat anyway...

The car is just being pressed into service for a nine month tour of duty. I firmly believe it will be a grand hit to all to have the pleasure of driving it. Take your turn behind the wood and leather steering wheel and give me your personal feedback!

Labels: Buying Experience, Cambiocorsa, Club Sportiva, DuoSelect, exotic car share club, F1 paddle shift transmission, Maserati Quattroporte Executive GT

This is a new debate that is quietly raging. I say raging because most car enthusiasts say they strongly prefer to row their own gears yet exotic car sales show just the opposite. Paddle shifted transmission sales are approaching 100% for Ferrari and Lamborghini. A lot of the special Ferrari models are only offered in F1, like the 430 Scuderia, 360 Challenge Stradale and Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera. Isn't it an oddity that enthusiasts vocally say they love their manual transmissions yet Ferrari and Lamborghini sales are nearly 95% F1 transmissions?

Then, who is buying all these exotic cars with F1 transmissions if the car enthusiasts declare they want manual transmissions? And why should a manufacturer bother offering a manual transmission on a limited run of, say, 750 cars if the manual transmission take rate is only 5%? Do they really want to deal with the manufacturing complexity to sell a paltry 37 cars with a manual when they can simplify their process dramatically by standardizing the F1 transmission and at the same time charging a hefty premium for it?

And there in lies the answer to our conundrum. The missing link, I believe, is that the manufacturers prefer to sell F1 transmissions and thus encourage the dealers, who are highly persuasive individuals and, by the way, highly incentivized to sell $10,000 paddle shift transmissions. This means the true preference of the car enthusiast is being ignored and rolled over. The marketing folks then point to the sales results that no one wants a low tech manual transmission to validate their decision to further popularize and institutionalize the F1 transmission.

At Club Sportiva, I interface with hundreds of Members and thousands of car enthusiasts on an annual basis. In my conversations, I rarely hear enthusiasts glowing about the F1 transmissions in a manner that explains the preponderance of its sales figures. Sure, the F1 system is cool and it grows on you as you use it and it downs shifts in a heavenly fashion every time you pull the down shift paddle as the throttle blips to match the revs, but is it naturally selling at a 95% take rate at a significant price premium? Or is this a case of influence through the power of suggestion at the dealer level?


I think the dealers are over-hyping the F1 transmissions by focusing their clients on the ease of shifting if they will drive occasionally or only plan to drive a few times a year on a track. The dealers are also focusing on the resale value of the car if the client doesn't want to be selling a car with a plebeian manual transmission when everyone else wants an F1. And they focus on the prestigious tie in with F1 racing heritage, where the F1 transmission is obviously derived. This is all fine and good, but F1 paddle shifters are being pushed on enthusiasts and if it continues, the standard manual transmission will literally quickly disappear.

Keep in mind that already in the U.S., traditional automatic transmissions dominate mass market cars at roughly 90% of all cars produced. Now, we are witnessing the remaining small number of manual transmissions sold are rapidly migrating the way of a semi-automatic shifting method. Manufacturers can't justify the manufacturing and logistics complexity if take rates are too low. The manual transmission may very likely go the way of the dinosaur within the next few years.

Is this really happening? Could the manual transmission be going silently extinct before our very eyes? Are the dealers really using persuasion to talk exotic car owners into higher cost, high tech F1 shifters? Will there be a revival of manual transmissions?

I vote to keep buying manual transmissions before it is too late! What is your input?

Labels: Challenge Stradale, Club Sportiva, e.gear, exotic car share club, F1 paddle shift transmission, Ferrari 430 Scuderia, Ferrari F430, Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, manual transmission, Stick shift