365GTC4 driving impressions

I wanted to write this as a straight driving impressions without mentioning comparisions to my Daytona, but as the Daytona is by far the best point of reference it's just not possible. Curiously I have never seen a comparison test between a 456 and a 550 nor a 612 and a 599, yet every article, blog or forum wants to compare the Daytona and the C4.
On getting behind the wheel the first impression is that you are sitting a lot higher in the C4 than in the Daytona. The second impression is that the dash looks a lot newer design. The surrounds of the dials are made of plastic and the dials look a lot more modern. It's worth remembering that the C4 was the first Ferrari designed after Fiat took over control of the road cars and the dash does look cheaper than the stunning Daytona dash. Anyone familiar with Ferrari dash's will realise that the same dash design was carried forward to the 365GT4 and 400.
The C4 has a conventionally mounted gearbox (as opposed to the Daytona's transaxle arrangement. This results in a large transmission tunnel and the gear level mounted a lot higher and closer to the steering wheel (almost touring car style).
I should mention at this point one modification to Dad's GTC4 is the seats. The original seats are rather lacking in support. Dad has wrapped the originals up in bubble wrap and replaced them with a set from a rather more modern 348. The 348 seats grip you well but are rather hard for my liking. Also the C4 is left hand drive. I don't usually have a problem with LHD (the eclectic mix of cars I have owned includes a Fiat Barchetta for running around London a few years ago) but the C4 is relatively wide (wider than the Daytona) and the driving position is quite outboard of the centerline so it takes some getting used to, Visibility is good although like the Daytona there is no sight of the four corners from the drivers seat.
Once onto more open roads the car is much more in its element. The immediate impression is that it is a much more civilised car than the Daytona, The wet sump engine is quieter than the dry sump version in the Daytona, and the ride is softer. The steering feels lighter too (even though my Daytona has had power steering fitted from a Ferrari 400 and the system is very similar to that of a C4). It also has the vagueness about the straight ahead common to a lot of Italian cars. Performance is what you would expect with 330bhp although being an old italian car it decided to drop onto 11 cylinders for some of the drive (later traced to a fouled plug).
The gearbox has the a conventional H pattern and is a much easier to use item than the sometimes cantakerous item in the Daytona. The clutch is lighter too and the throttle pedal doesn't require quite as much effort to keep it nailed.
The C4 rides well, like the Daytona the big 70 section tyres probably help in this respect, The C4 also benefits from self levelling rear suspension (these are expensive items and a lot of C4's have had them removed).
One weak point is the brakes. The pedal feels long and not terribly confidence inspiring. I'm not sure if this is a issue with this particular C4 as most comments on the Ferrari forums regard the C4 as having better brakes than the Daytona, but certainly not the case on this one.
On the subject of the Forums most will say that the C4 is a Daytona for half the money. For me I'm not sure that is the case, it's a very nice car but doesn't give that buzz the Daytona does. The C4 is the easier car to drive but as a result is for me less appealing. The challenge of driving the Daytona is what makes it special and so satisfying when you get it right, the C4 is perhaps a little to easy which makes you start to think about it's weaker points compared to more modern machinery. It is almost as if the C4 was a Ferrari built for Jackie Onassis to drive from Paris to Monaco while the Daytona was built for Jacky Ickx to drive from Maranello to the Nurburgring.