Quadcammer

aside from a nice engine noise, it was a total snoozer to drive.

The new grand sport however is one sexy vehicle.

67FJ45

I had a lot of seat time in an '02 Cambiocorsa convertible a few years back. I think that was the first year for that model. Burgundy exterior, tan interior. Gorgeous car and a real babe magnet (even for me, and that's saying a lot).

It was impeccably maintained but had all sorts of issues. Here are just a few examples. After 2,000 miles, the top needed manual help to seat properly because it wouldn't stay aligned. The transmission wouldn't shift from 1st to 2nd unless I lifted off the gas (it didn't matter whether I used automatic mode or paddle shift mode). When it was low on fuel, instead of just giving a low fuel light and a little ding, the car siren would go off intermittently until I pulled into a gas station and filled it up. And it was a gas hog, 10-12 mpg (I get better than 21 mpg in the city with my X51 996). The comments about reliability in the earlier years are consistent with my experience.

Driving experience was totally different than a 996 or 997 (Maserati = tourer; Carrera = track car). It drove like a speedboat, kind of floaty, but with excellent high speed stability. And the Ferrari engine had an awesome sound. My 996 is much faster and more nimble, though.

Hope this helps.

desmo21

Not a daily driver........

htny

I have a good buddy who had one, skyhook and cambiocorsa. It was fine, didn't blow up.

He is a plastic surgeon, a very, very popular one in Florida. He wouldn't have cared if it caught fire, probably would have put out the blaze with wads of cash.

I know another guy who had one in Texas. I believe he has some sort of mechanical breakdown coverage which was actually underwritten by Lloyds (presumably of London). I also seem to remember that at one point he was driving their loaner vauxhall or whatever they stuck him with for 4 months.

That having been said, I say pros:
- sounds really exotic with a $9K Tubi on it
- depending on where you live it might be rare
- you can tell everyone about the whole ferrari engine thing when they shout "Nice! Jaguar?"

Cons
- sounds pretty mundane with the stock exhaust
- I don't want a car with an italian active suspension to fix
- I have seen what the bill for a broken ferrari F1 trans accumulator or pump looks like. Not a fan.
- and the trans is jerky at anything south of 7/10ths
- doesn't look too hot (convertible is a little better), which kinda defeats the purpose of paying for exotic italian maintenance and repair

In brief, She's an ugly chick who still manages to be high maintenance

If you buy one, manual trans + no skyhook is the best advice I could give you. And buy the convertible, trust me it is a chick magnet.

I thought about buying one a couple of years ago and am very glad I talked myself out of it.