[hesaputz]

Seconds to Zeke. Both great companies, with great histories, the most consistent innovators in bringing racing developments to street cars.

Biggest difference is in Motorsports focus over the long term. Without getting into too much detail, Ferrari has primarily concentrated on F1 over the last 45 years, though prototypes and GT were important up through '71 and in other brief spurts. Porsche had one brief foray into F1 around '61, and it nearly bankrupted them. The company then set their course to race prototypes plus GT's, and to provide racing customers with competitive cars at reasonable prices. Over the last 40 or 50 years, there have been a lot more Pcars out there racing and filling fields in a multitude of series, and thus a lot more victories and development. A perfect example are the Rolex races these days; GT is 25 GT3RS cars, 2 360 Modenas, 3 M3's, and a Maserati MC12. It's a lot like the old days in IMSA; the sanctioning body will have to slow the Porsches down in order to 'encourage' competition.

In summary, Ferrari may well have more victories at the most prestigious levels like F1, but in rallying, GT, and prototype racing, plus club and series racing, Pcars rule.

On the street car side, Porsche makes series production vehicles, develops and refines them long term. Even unsuccesful cars like the 914 have a long lifespan compared to Ferrari's flavor of the year. The 924 lasted 11 years, the 928 15, and by the time they were finished, Porsche had these cars extremely reliable and refined. A good indicator of what they strive for is that at the end of the 356's life, warranty costs were about $7.50 per car.
Ferrari tried longer production and development runs with the 308, BB, and TR series in the 80's, but found this philosophy didn't work as well for them, the cars would begin to look dated next to fresher, sexier Italian competition. Starting with a fresh piece of paper every 3 years or so has lots of advantages, and Ferraris tend these days to incorporate the latest in design and materials technology, some even from F1, real candy for the auto freak. Reliability and servicabilty? well, it usually takes longer than a year or two to find all the gremlins in any design, but if you 're concerned over niggling things like this, you probably can't afford one anyway.