Climarepair.com

Having 3 close friends who have owned a F430, and having seen all 3 of them have their car pulled by the tow truck during a weekend drive, does not seem like "nonsense" to me.

One of my friends got tired of this, so he sold his car to a guy who lived 400 milles away. He didn't want to have any problems with the buyer, so took the car to the official service for a full inspection before giving the keys to the new buyer. Guess what? Exactly, the buyer didn't make it to his place... Had to call the tow truck after 200 milles.

Yes, I know not all of them fails that much, but out of 3 of 3 seems enough to me.

CarAholic

Were these cars actually driven or garage queens for the majority of their life? I don't mean any disrespect by this by the way. From my experience And everything I have heard the majority of the cars with problems are the ones that are not driven regularly or not maintained. Mine is out every single weekend and serviced every year.

Climarepair.com

I don't know the exact details of the other two (except the owners have several cars and keep them well maintained), but the one my friend sold had 40,000 milles in the odometer so yes, it was regularly driven on weekends. He also told me he had bills well over $19,000 of maintenance from the previous 5 years of ownership, and bills over $13,000 of repairs from the previous 2 years. Makes nonsense to me, I have a 997 Turbo with over 60,000 milles and never had to pay a dime for a repair. Only oil, filters, and normal maintenance. Nothing over $2,000 a year (plus the 997TT is faster )

Regards

David993S

Your anecdotal statement may be true but it certainly isn't typical. In fact it's completely atypical - amazing you have three close friends who have all had the same unfortunate experience with a 430. I don't know how many Ferraris you've owned, but I've owned quite a few over the past 30 years, and currently have 9 or 10 friends/acquaintances through FCA who own 430's. I've never heard of that kind of frequency of problems. The 430 is an incredibly reliable and trouble free car. For that matter, my 50,000+ mile 360 has been as reliable and as trouble free than many of the 911's I've owned. I've spent only slightly more to maintain my 360 than I've spent to maintain my 993 over nearly the same length of time and miles. There's no question Porsches are mostly bullet-proof, but I could give you some atypical examples of problems I've had with some of my past 911's too. But I wouldn't form an inaccurate opinion based on it.
I'm thankful I can own and enjoy both Marques. Enjoy your 997 Turbo in good health.
Cheers.

CarAholic

Sorry to hear about your friends car, from my experiences he is not the norm. As far as repair bills go the majority of dealers will extremely overcharge for parts and work. A lot of owners have enough money to where they won't push back or find another dealer. For example I've been seeing paid repair bills for valve cover gaskets from 500-3,000 for the exact same job.

ScottArizona

sin911

Guys, even though I have not driven the normal F430, the Scuderia feels faster than a 997.2 GT3 for sure! I rented one in Las Vegas (one of those companies that let you run on a small track) and it amazed me! It's significantly more raw and livelier than a GT3. You can definitely feel a power difference as well. Unfortunately my experience was not long enough to truly understand the cars potential but it felt faster than a GT3 on the small track for sure.

WantA997

Was literally about to comment the same thing.

David993S

The way ScottArizona wrote the intro I thought the comparison was going to show the GT3 to be faster.........but clearly the Scuderia was a little faster. The interesting thing to remember is that a regular 430 has 490hp while the Scud has just a tick over 500hp (but the Scud has other performance enhancements).

thxbuff2001

thxbuff2001

To fix a ferrari is expensive compared to a porsche. If you have to worry about it, then dont buy it. You will not enjoy it and if it does brake down, you will blame yourself.

Is there any car with no horror stories? If you look at the web, I realize, rich people just wants to complain all the time.

I just dont listen to web reviews.

steve porter

tstafford

As one who's owned several Ferraris and each generation of GT3 (996, 997 and 991), IMHO: it's not a reasonable comparison. Porsche ownership and Ferrari ownership are two completely different things.

Porsche - bullet proof, easy to operate, german through and through and easily able to handle a track event here and there
Ferrari - sense of occasion, weird things like the alarm system, requires a hail mary prayer before each turn of the ignition (although it always starts, mostly), etc. (And has an intoxicating interior smell that is impossible to describe)

If you want a car to drive regularly and are the least bit impatient or worrisome by nature, do not buy the Ferrari.

The Ferrari is like the old adage about boats - the best day is the day you buy it and the next best day is the day you sell it. But like Brandon said above - every car guy should own a Ferrari at least one time.

bobodrink

That was just 1 race and don't know what the car has been done to it. The 991.1 GT3 is actually more comparable to the 458 as you can search online for real world races. There are many races of the 991 RS beating 458S as well.

Everyone will have different opinions, but Scud and GT3 both feel similar speeds in terms of in gear acceleration for me, the difference here could be I modded my car, but I think everyone feel the Scud is faster is all due to the transmission(F1 vs manual). Engine for engine, I think Ferrari overates and Porsche underrates resulting in similar power. I drove the Scud and 16M before I even driven the 997GT3, and when I first test drove the GT3, once I past 4k RPM and the valves open, god the first thing that came to mind is the explosiveness and power delivery, reminded me of the Scud, same type of Motorsport style. End of the day Scud may have a bit of an edge, even lap time results at the Nurburgring, only within 1 second difference, but it should be compared to a 997RS. Comparing to a base F430 though, I think GT3 is a clear winner here.

TuonoR

The cars are similar enough performance wise but are very different in how they drive / feel / sound. Which seems to be your question if you find a 991 turbo boring but a 997.2 tt fun.

The 430 steers light -- feedback feels limited coming from a p-car but once you get used to the touch its quite clearly there. Tracks corners like the mid-engine sports car that it is. Total confidence. But you don’t have the weighted feeling of digging into a turn you get with a p-car. Nor the harsh / busy feel of a GT3. Understeers a bit on turn-in. Exhaust note at high revs is intoxicatingly F1 (not as good as a 355 but not that far off). Tunnel runs in the 430 > tunnel runs in any Porsche. The texture and scent of the leather is on a different level. And the bespoke design of the cockpit, the connection to legacy elements like daytona seats (if spec’d) and the manettino is emotional. Exotic.

The 997 GT3 steers heavy and you feel every movement in the road through it. The "wriggles" are magic and, for me, it beats the 430 in this regard. The GT3 suspension throws you around busily whether over poorly paved roads or a fast corner. This can be annoying in town. On proper roads, you realize that is just personality and there is a method to the madness. But it can still be annoying. The clutch is hairy chested (no F1 option here)--narrow release point, very heavy pedal. Not something you will want to drive in traffic with any frequency. OTOH once you're used to all the idiosyncracies it’s more confidence inspiring in twisties than the 430. Versus the bespoke flair of the 430, the GT3 offers the unrefined appeal of a race car (smoke on start, lumpiness and odd sounds of the mezger, mechanical shifter clickiness, whine of tranny gears at higher revs).

In terms of living with them, the 430 will cost more over time but it is far more reliable than some will suggest. It was the first low maintenance Ferrari. No doubt annuals cost more than the 997 but that is mostly the Ferrari tax. If you’re unlucky…like your power steering pump goes…you may end up with a $5k bill. And yes the headers are a known weak point. Mine happened to be fine. And to be fair, its not like GT3’s or Porsche's in general don’t have their fair share of idiosyncracies (coolant pipes, lsds, finger followers on the 991.1, ims on the non-GT cars, etc).