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We need to talk about the Ferrari Luce - plus £30k Porsche Cayman alternatives and car features you can’t live without

The Gassing Station

We need to talk about the Ferrari Luce - plus £30k Porsche Cayman alternatives and car features you can’t live without

153 annotations

Sam and the hosts kick off with a classifieds hunt for a Porsche Boxster S, then pivot into Porsche reliability/IMS worries and why they’d avoid track-style suspension changes. Ferrari Luce takes over: it’s framed as a ground-up EV with four motors, 1050 hp, 800V charging, and a 122 kWh battery. They debate whether the Luce truly feels “Ferrari,” compare its silhouette and wipers, and argue about brand identity, value, and driving feel. The second half turns to “can’t live without” comfort features and £30k Cayman alternatives.

0:00 --:--

00:05

Porsche Boxster

Car

Porsche Boxster

A Porsche Boxster is a two-seat sports car from Porsche. It’s popular because it drives really well and feels “connected” to the road.

01:12

Term

center console

A center console is the main control-and-storage area between the driver and passenger—typically housing the gear selector (or shifter), cupholders, switches, and sometimes infotainment controls. In this segment, the host is already judging the car’s interior layout by looking at that area.

01:43

Toyota Camry

Car

Toyota Camry

A Toyota Camry is a regular family-style car, usually a sedan, meant for everyday driving. People talk about it a lot because it’s comfortable and generally dependable. The podcast mention sounds like someone’s personal experience with their own Camry.

01:51

Term

coil overs

Coilovers are suspension parts that let you change how high the car sits and how firm it feels. People upgrade them when they want the car to handle more tightly.

01:55

Term

IMS-related concerns

IMS is a part inside some Porsche engines. Some versions can have a bearing problem that, if it fails, can lead to expensive engine damage—so people worry about it when buying or modifying those cars.

02:28

Car

Porsche 987

Porsche 987 is the Boxster/Cayman generation from that era. The speaker is saying some versions of it had more problems than others, so you should be cautious about which one you buy.

02:34

Term

ball scoring

“Ball scoring” is a kind of wear damage where parts get scratched or grooved. The speaker is saying the new car doesn’t have that same problem.

03:16

Term

electric car

An electric car runs on electricity stored in a battery. Instead of a gasoline engine, it uses an electric motor, which is why it’s a different kind of car to own and maintain.

03:20

Ferrari Luce

Car

Ferrari Luce

The Ferrari Luce is Ferrari’s new electric car. The hosts are saying it’s a big moment because it’s Ferrari moving into EVs, and the news caught a lot of people by surprise.

04:25

Term

four electric motors

Some electric cars use more than one motor. With four motors, the car can control power to the wheels very precisely, which helps it grip the road and feel responsive.

04:32

BMW M3

Car

BMW M3

The BMW M3 is a sporty BMW that’s made to drive fast and handle well. The podcast is talking about how electric power can be arranged and delivered to the wheels. That’s why the M3 comes up as a performance reference point.

04:38

Term

power each wheel

If the car can send power to each wheel individually, it can adjust grip much better. That usually helps the car accelerate and turn more confidently.

04:49

Term

800 volt architecture

“800 volt” is how the car’s electrical system is set up. Higher voltage helps the battery accept electricity faster, so charging can be quicker.

04:49

Term

350 kilowatt charging

This is the charging speed the car can handle at a fast charger. More kilowatts usually means you can add energy faster, but the exact time still depends on conditions.

05:01

Term

122 kilowatt hours

“122 kilowatt hours” is the battery capacity, meaning how much electrical energy the EV can store. Larger capacity usually supports longer range, but weight, efficiency, and driving style also strongly affect real-world mileage.

Welcome back to The Gassing Station, the podcast that goes sifting through the piss and heads forums

like my co-host Sam Sheehan has been sifting through the classifieds for a Porsche Boxster.

And you found one, right?

Yeah, it didn't take me as long as I thought as well.

I saw a really broke one.

I guess there's a lot of them.

Yeah, I saw a really broke, privately sold one, not from pH.

That was knackered cheap, but knackered, and I thought this is going to take time, money,

brain power, patience.

I can't be bothered with that anymore.

So I found one that's actually in a really good state.

It's a Boxster S. It's a 2001 car, but it's a Y-Redge.

But it's got a private Redge on it, and it comes with a private Redge.

Is it a good private Redge or is it like a Stuart 45?

It's S28POW, which I think stands for prisoner of war, I don't know.

That's what I'm going to call it.

POW block from Super Mario.

Yeah, that's a good one.

Yeah, there's a Lethal Bizzle song for anyone who listened to that,

called POW as well from a long time ago.

But anyway, I don't know what that is.

Yeah, it was a song.

Anyway, it's lovely.

It's silver, black interior, but it's a bit boring because it's just silver, black interior.

So I'm looking already at a center console that's got body painted silver on it,

so it takes a bit of the black out of it.

You're probably thinking, that sounds garish.

They did it from factory.

This car doesn't have it.

So I'm going to do a few optional upgrades that would have been offered by Porsche.

Are you a proper Porsche owner if you haven't done some OEM modifications to your car?

Yeah, because you remember our best mate,

Andreas Preuninger, who I'm desperate to get onto the podcast.

That's basically what he did to his Camry.

Yeah, he did.

So if he can do it, that basically means that it's fair game, right?

Yeah, exactly.

I'm not going to...

My intentions aren't to stick coil overs or anything to turn it into a track car or anything

like that because there is some IMS-related concerns.

Not that this car has it.

This car's oil looks clean and everything, and it's 73,000 miles,

which doesn't necessarily mean it will or won't be a bad car.

But I'm not going to drive it hard.

It's just going to be a nice...

It'll be a daily, but in this job we have press cars, so it won't be used all the time.

It's true.

It's true.

But I mean, the Boxster S of that generation, 986.1,

I think they were the more reliable of them anyway.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Porsche owners.

I think the 987, I think it was the S or one of them, the bigger engine car,

had more, was more susceptible to issues, and then they had ball scoring and stuff,

which this doesn't really have.

So yeah, I think touch word, it'll be safe.

I could be reporting back in a few episodes time going,

oh my God, I have no money left because I'm trying to do an engine replacement,

but I don't think so.

It should be all good.

That's a good excuse to keep...

Stay tuned into the gas station forecast.

Will I be financially ruined?

Speaking of people spending lots of money on things,

we have a massive, huge topic to discuss this week.

We are a little bit late to the party, but annoyingly,

we didn't really know about it beforehand, and it turns out most of the car media didn't know

that Ferrari just dropped its new electric car.

The luce, you have, I guess the benefit of us coming to this a week later,

this was announced the night before our last podcast came out,

which is very Andy Ferrari, thank you.

But I guess the good thing about coming to this a week later is that

we've had some time to digest it, you've had some time to digest it,

and we can come about this, hopefully more in a mature perspective,

but very much from the pH approach.

Do not worry, this is not going to be a, as a lot of people have been putting under

certain videos, we're not doing the job of the PR, basically.

Oh, certainly not.

I mean, I've had to let the anger subside.

Yes, there's been, well, at the time of recording this,

where the story's been up for a few days, there is currently,

while I wrote down 1056 comments, as soon as I wrote that down, another two went up.

So I mean, it is just going on and on and on.

So a quick overview of the car, it is, it has 1050 horsepower from four electric motors.

Those are evolutions of the electric motor in the F80.

Are they, they power each wheel, don't they?

They do, yeah, yeah.

That's quite interesting.

So that is a thing, 062 in 2.5 seconds, which is obviously very fast, very electric car,

194 miles an hour top speed, 800 volt architecture, which means you can benefit from 350 kilowatt

charging or 22 kilowatts at home.

The battery, 122 kilowatt hours, which means a range of around about 330 miles.

That's not massive.

That's not massive.

No, the car is massive, however, to fit that battery in.

Weight, 2.2 tons.

To be fair, that's, it could have been a lot more for the way it could have been a heck of a lot more.

122 kilowatt hours would have made me think 2.67 tons, you know, something like that.

It's a lot lighter than an M5.

Yeah, true.

Yeah.

So it's, it's a, it is a big old beast, but could have been much, much chunkier.

Got active suspension, obviously, to keep all of that weight in check.

Designed by Love, actually.

Oh, no, it's been designed by Love, actually.

Designed by Love from, which is the agency run by Johnny I.

Former design director at Apple.

The reason why all of your Apple products look as good as they do.

And a chap called Mark Neusen, who has also designed some incredible things.

And I think he's got something like the record for the most expensive chair sold at auction.

Something like that.

He knows how to design a good chair.

Nice.

Well, they've now, well, they were approached by Ferrari to lend their ideas in designing this

electric car.

I thought, I wonder what you were about to say there.

I thought you were going to go, it's really very strong.

I'm trying to be, be as balanced and as good journalist as I can be.

So the facts are, I think even for our ego is saying, we know this is a controversial car.

We know that this was going to be a divisive thing.

They explored the idea of doing a supercar.

But they realized it was a dead end.

Just wasn't really going to work.

So they wanted to do something different.

Why?

I don't get that, because that's a first question.

Why?

Why?

There's literally a denser from like China, you know, BYD's premium brand,

which is a supercar electric car.

So it's kind of like, it's a, why doesn't it work?

The thing is, is that there are electric supercars out there.

There's obviously the Yang Wang that we've bought on the Polarcast, the wet Wang.

We've bought that up before.

I'll say in defense of that is I've seen a Yang Wang and I've seen a Yang Wang doing its thing.

And I must say it did not get me interested in the slightest.

It just looks a little bit generic.

This, I don't think does look generic.

So the best way to describe it, if for somehow you haven't seen the new Luce,

it's kind of, it's very much an EV in the sense that the cabin's quite far forward.

There clearly isn't an engine up front or in the middle or whatever.

The wipers.

I would say the wipers.

They've come off of an MPV.

It's quite something of where, yeah.

So you know how in a Le Mans car, the kind of a wiper sticks up right in the middle.

Which is cool.

Which is very cool.

On the Luce, there are two of them and they're at either end of the windscreen.

So they kind of wipe kind of down and then back up.

They remind me, there have definitely been MPVs that have used that.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, there's been a lot of people that have tried to superimpose the front of a multiplier

into it.

Should give you an idea.

I would say the silhouette, and I'm not saying this in the mean way, Ferrari,

is probably similar to that of a Polestar 4.

Yeah.

Does that ring true to you?

Does that make sense?

Yeah, I see that definitely.

And because the 4 is the one with the no rear window, isn't it?

That's right.

So it's sort of coupé-ish.

It's sort of not SUV but high-riding-ish.

It looks bigger in photos than I think it, or it looks taller in photos than potentially it does in person.

It's got a lower center of gravity, I saw, than the Ferrari SUV, the Per Sangui.

I'm going to say it right.

Yeah, yeah, there's some kind of chassis bits that will get into it, but

where to start Sam?

Where to start with this?

Oh my goodness.

Okay, just tell me your initial impression first.

When you first saw it, what was your initial impression?

I actually was shocked and horrified because it didn't look.

I actually thought it was a rendering, a joke rendering, because I was out on the loop on this

and I was on press trips and stuff.

My brain was thinking about other cars and I was doing my classic Instagram scroll,

probably stood in an airport queue and basically was like, what is that?

And then I thought, well, it's probably a rendering.

Some teenagers built, you know, is making AI renderings of cars.

Initially, I thought that has to be a BYD or, I mean, you put forward like,

if it had an Apple badge on it, or if it had like, I was thinking if it was a BYD,

I think it's quite an interesting design.

I quite like that it's different.

No slight on BYD, but I feel like that is a huge insult.

Yeah.

If you said, oh, if it's a BYD, it's fine.

I mean, just in terms of Ferrari.

Because it looks like a tech product, doesn't it?

It doesn't look like a super car or a Ferrari.

It looks like a tech product and a product.

And that's why I can imagine it being quite a well-designed car from one of the big Chinese

manufacturers and it's different to what they're producing.

Like I mentioned the Denso and stuff and a lot of these cars that are coming

out, some of them are really good looking, but they're not massively original.

And this does look different.

They're not offensive.

They're just forgettable.

Yeah.

I think that's it.

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