cfjan

http://www.evo.co.uk/features/featur...60_spider.html

aussie jimmy

suprising outcome.

Pearlcoupeg35

Great read. Thanks for posting. I would be shocked if a nice 6 speed 360 Spider WASNT the replacement for my Spyder in a year or so (did i just say that on Rennlist?!)

Turbo Jonny

Interesting Evo test ( my fav car mag )

So , anybody sold their boxster for a 360 ?

terbiumactivated

I thought long and hard about it. Here are some of the reasons I didn't go 360. First and foremost, age and service availability and cost were huge factors, it's hard enough finding a competent Porsche wrench that won't give you a colonoscopy along with your oil change. I knew I wanted to keep my car a long time and the Ferrari is already pretty old, ten more years and it's too old, will need every piece of rubber on it replaced, shock, ball joints, all of it. If the car needs engine work, it might be the only manufacturer that makes you gulp harder than Zuffenhousen. If you are crazy enough to do DIY, just the special tools will hurt, leave lone the repair journey. I doubt there are many youtubes of, I built my own 360 motor.

It didn't escape me that they described the ride as what sounds "Fiat-ish" in terms of shake and shimmy. Speaking of which, I have looked at many Ferrari cars and the fit and finish is sometimes less than one would expect. I've also seen evidence they are still using lousy steel as some of the older cars were rusting, nobody is going to tell me the 328's I was looking at were in road salt! If a 71 Fiat can stay perforation free by staying out of the salt, my Ferrari certainly should!!

The clutch in the Ferrari auto transmission must be changed (every 15K?) and IMO, PDK is newer and superior. To a lesser degree, I hate the headlights, although cool initially, time has made them look horribly old, huge and ill thought out, the 430 has cool lights, the 360 lights look like a HS shop project. Lastly, I find the spyder already gets more attention than I wish it did, I can't imagine how ridiculous that would be in a 360, I have strangers taking my photo as it is.

Turbo Jonny

Thats a pretty conclusive list. I have driven them on track experience days and
Enjoyed them but i know my car is only as good as my local servicing backup so
Never owned one. I borrowed my friends 328 once and the door handle broke
Off in my hand , idiots tried to race me .. I was glad to get it back to him.

mgerber

Had a 360 for a year. The trade is simple. People go nuts for the Ferrari. You get attention everywhere. The sound (mine had a Tubi) was intoxicating. Nothing on earth like it when you put your foot into the loud pedal. I sold it after a year for all the reasons cited: build quality, stuff breaking, fear of repair bills ($15K for the part for the F1 trans hydraulic actuator assembly? WTF - it is the same part as the Fiat Selespeed actuator), shipping the car 400 miles to the nearest dealer for maintenance, etc. , etc., etc.. You need to have unlimited funds and a dealer close by, and be able to tolerate excessive and mostly unwanted attention. Back to P-cars only for now.

Polarporsche

I'd have a hard time selling my Boxster Spyder for a 360, the 360 is not the better car IMHO.

zirrah

Ferrari fit and finish has never impressed me. Everyone ive sat in has been iffy. Looks great at First glance but not so much when you look closer

Tacet-Conundrum

If you thought fixing a Porsche for Odd Bits & Bobs was expensive; just you wait for the Ferrari Build.

That's why I wouldn't buy anything BUT NEW on Ferrari if I could justify the price. And I've been trying to Justify the Price for a new V12, either one, more likely the FF so I can have more than one person in the car at a time have a HOOT!

medtech

Never been caught by the Ferrari fever, thankfully...

Noah Fect

I've owned two Ferraris. Might own more in the future, might not, I dunno.

But there's no way in hell I would trade my 981S Boxster for a 360 Spider. It would not be an upgrade in any respect. If forced to do so, I'd turn around and sell the 360, then buy another 981S.

This would be a tougher call if I owned a 987, just as the 981 question would be harder to answer if a 430 was being offered as a trade.

terbiumactivated

It wouldn't be a tougher call if your 987 still had a bit more factory grunt than the 981S

John@Fabspeed

Apples to Oranges. Each car does some things better than the counterpart and each car does something worse.

From my experience Both in our Shop owned 987.2 Spyder and our Shop owned 360 Spider 6 Speed I think for me that there is no comparison.

The Spyder is a PDK which is absolutely fantastic, but the car is just SO DARN GOOD! It's almost TOO good, for me it takes away some of the excitement of the journey. Surely on a race track it would be easier to drive quicker and probably more competent, as well it should be for the difference in age.

The 360 for me checks off so many boxes that the Spyder just cant even come close to. The seating position is the most noticeable, you really feel like you are sitting on the ground after having gotten out of almost any other car. Of course there is the gated shifter and the looks of the interior, which on our car is grade A top notch. Taking the 360 out feels like an EVENT regardless of your destination, you know you will be in for a good ride. The sounds and the buttery smooth gear shifts ultimately lead way to performance that is far superior to what many people give credit for. The 360 is significantly quicker in almost all situations on the road than the Spyder, which is what should be assumed when looking at the numbers. The motor is an absolute work of art like nothing I have experienced, 5K RPM in the 360 is like cruising at 3K RPM in any normal road car, it just revs with such ease like there is no friction present.

Lastly, for me the 360 offers a more ultimate all round package in what I look for in a weekend car. The Boxster Spyder is just so damn good that I find myself missing some of that drama. The shifts are so precise and on point every time, no matter what at the pull of a paddle.

As for Porsches the Spyder ranks among one of my favorite looking and driving of all time. However if I had to chose between the two, it would be the 360 every time without looking back.

Of course this is my opinion on the two from my personal experiences, yours may be different!

orthojoe

+5 hp doesn't really count as more factory grunt. For all intents and purposes... boxsterS, spyder, caymanS, cayman R, 981S...they all make the same power. It's just porsche playing marketing games