Buy the car that suits your purpose. Before I ordered my C2S in '97, I checked the Ferrari maintenance costs according to Forza magazine. About 2.5x per mile the cost of the 993. Knowing the long trips I was planning, I know now I made the right choice.

 

If 360 is on the radar, may I ask why not a 997 TT. New with a warranty and from what everyone says its a BLAST.

 

Vette or 993? ... vette or 993? ... vette or 993? Let's see.... Lose the vette keep the 993!!

Jack

 

According to my wife, ********. However I'd rather be an ******* than a weenie, especially a pretentious one. ******** have a lot more fun!

 

Ferrari. Ever wonder what it really means?


Frighteningly
Expensive
Repairs
Required
At
Regular
Intervals

 

is that even a debate? my first 2 cars were GM: never again.

 

I love 993s and Porsches but if I could afford a ferarri, especially if it were a third or fourth car, I would do it. That being said, I would agree with the others and ditch the z06 and the mercedes!

 

I don't see the point of having two cars(F360 and C2S) that are pretty easy to drive insanely fast. I'd rather have one being a scary car that takes a lot of skill to drive at its full potential(Z06) and another one(F360) being far more forgiving, equally entertaining yet roughly on par with Z06's performance.

Don't get me wrong I love my 993 but even a C2S is no match for Z06.

 

Thats a good one, never heard that one

PORSCHE -- Plenty of receipts, sorry cant have everything

I have always like the 355, and have looked at a few. Its the maintenance cost that scares me away, despite me being able to work on anything myself. Its all nuts and bolts, right?

 

Oh yeah, I've always loved the old 355 spiders! I remember when they were "only" $117k or so sticker.

 

I had a Ferrari for 4 years, one of the most reliable cars I have ever owned. I use to hear all these stories from people who never had one. Regular oil changes just like every other car, there's nothing that goes out of tune or requires constant money dumped.
I say the Vett, even though it's a nice car, it's not in the same league as the rest of your collection.
Get rid of the plastic and get the 360, You'll be very impressed with the difference in quality.
Chris

 

Jeremy Clarkson says "***** Drive Porsches" I wouldn't disagree with him, that guys hilarious... British people invented comedy... The viper and vette are cool but look at the interiors, GARBAGE... It's like a 996 but worse...

 

My boss has an F430 and a 993TT among other cars. I just sold my 05 Maserati GrandSport that I replaced with a 95 Cab as my toy, although it's really more of a daily driver. My boss is considering selling the F430 for much the same reasons I got rid of my Maserati:

Attracts too much of the wrong attention...every rice rocket and American beater will be wanting to race you and everybody stares. At first you'll think it's like hangin' out with a rock star but after a while it feels like you're in a fish bowl and it's hard to enjoy the car when other drivers are trying to prove something to themselves by driving aggressively around you. However much of this you experience with your Porsche and Corvette is exponentially amplified with an Italian.

These cars are high maintenance and much more expensive to keep. In the year that I owned my Maserati, the car was at the shop half a dozen times. My boss' F430 has been at the shop about the same number of times. We often joke about hiring a lot boy to shuttle cars back and forth to the shop. The clutch was in need of replacement on my Maserati after 4k mi (F1 tranny) and luckily it was replaced under warranty (issues since new) but otherwise it would've cost me $6k. If I recall correctly, the F430 clutch is about $10k and lasts about 15k mi, which is cheaper and has longer life than that on the 360. I belive the 360 also uses belts as opposed to chains and therefore major services are more expensive/frequent on the 360.

There is no doubt that Italians make amazing performance machines and I got lots of joy from my Maserati. However, I have way more fun driving my 272HP 993 cab than my 400HP Maserati (not that HP equates to performance) and my boss has also often commented on the higher fun factor from his TT versus his F430. He drives his TT more often than his Ferrari and whereas he's considering selling his F430, he'll never sell the TT.

Everyone has their own needs and only you know what yours are. I only suggest that you do your homework before you take the plunge. Alternatively, take the plunge, play with it for a while and get rid of whatever it is that you enjoy the least, if you need to. Personally, I'm currently in search of a TT.

 

That's not the normal 430 experience, I assure you. I'm active in the Ferrari community in the Bay Area, and know a number of 430 owners, and they are all trouble-free, as is mine.

My 360 was completely reliable, and does not require more frequent service than the 430. It does have belts instead of chains, and a dealer charges approx $1500 for the belt change, every three years (engine does not have to come out).

Don't let imaginary maintenance issues keep you from owning this wonderful car. After a lifetime of Porsche ownership I bought a 360 in 2004 and was stunned at the intensity of the driving experience, and the 360 and 430 are Porsche-like in their reliability and build quality, if not better.

Gary

 

As an owner of all three cars (F355 Spider, '04Z06, '95 993) my opinion is that they offer 3 very different experiences and have unique features in their own right.

The vette is a very easy car to drive with great performance and an appealing (to me) shape. The F-car is a more visceral and energetic ride with a sense of history (if you're into that sort of thing) but has a fair bit of expense associated with PROPER maint. This means that I am happy to make things right before they go wrong thus lessening the pain in future services! I am new to the 993 fold (but have had a '75 911S) and find the P-car to be fun, responsive stable car with an eternal shape and a plethora of automotive significance as the last of the air cooled Porsches.

All of that said I have my eye out for a solid example of an F-40 and am looking into the CS as an option for a frequent driver simply because I enjoy the raw race feel of a car without sound insulation added to the fact that I’ve been drawn to the marquee since I was about 5 years old thanks to my grandmother of all people! So I say keep them all.