Nordschleife

fantasma

Move to the Archipelago

and go yachting!

R+C

Sun Ra

If a strad and RS and a G all cost the same, I absolutely would take the strad or 360CS as you erroneously call it [offcially "Challenge Stradale", w/o the "360]. It is a great daily driver the f1 makes city life much easier, the amazingly compliant suspension eats up bumps in corners. And for me, it's the most beautiful, and has much more storage, interior space, and much smoother gear shifts in traffic and easier to park than G.

leslie

Excellent analogy! My degree of sickness is a function of how high a fever the wife will let me run!

But seriously, my reservation about the 360CS is that I might actually not want to drive it everyday because it is just so collectable and it would be a shame to rack up miles.

I have 3 young kids (oldest is 6) and thus like you have precious little time to go for breakfast drives or trackdays (prob max of 3-4 times a year). And I absolutely hate the idea of having a fantastic car sitting at home collecting dust on a daily basis. Thus I drive my car to work daily. Although there is almost no opportunity to drive the car to even 20% of it's ability, the time spent with the car gives me much satisfaction. The fact that I look forward to the daily commute to and from work is probably evidence of how I treasure the ownership of these fabulous cars. I used to have a 993RS which I loved to bits because even parallel parking the thing was an experience! It had so much feedback and involvement. I then swapped it for a 996 GT3 Mk 1 which was a huge mistake because in contrast, the GT3 was not involving at all at anything less than 8 tenths and given the fact that those occassions to stretch it's legs only happened a few times a year, I quickly sold it and moved on. I am a bit worried that the 997 GT3RS might fall into the same category as the 996 GT3 but at the same time, I feel that I might not have the ***** to drive the 360CS daily. (anyone want a high mileage daily driver 360CS?)

Maybe I should just keep the G. Really easy to live with on a daily basis (except for the fact that 04 cars cannot be retrofitted with a front lifter....), when you put your foot down the v10 makes a glorious and almost uncivilised racket and when you park it and walk away, you always end up turning back to admire it's looks....

leslie

Folks, just saw Watt's post and pic. Please Ignore all the drivel written in my last post....

Watt,

I am now sooooooooo screwed!

Will be swapping cars with the CS (thanks for the correction!) owner tomorrow to see whether I can live with it.

Sooooooooooooooo screwed........

Nordschleife

I think that with the 360, Ferrari ushered in a sea change. Its much bertter built than its predecessors, the 430 is similarly tight.

I don't know about elsewhere, but in Britain we are seeing high milage 360s and 430s used on a daily basis. Germans mostly keep them for high days and holidays. Germans like to own lots of cars, the Brits own fewer cars, because of space. However lots of Brits have lots of money, if they only have one car, well it better be good.

R+C

leslie

Is it also fair to say that the CS is built to be abused since it is a track day special? And thus lilkely to be more reliable than a regular 360?

Nordschleife

if you walk into a dealing room, check the guys underwear, the ones in nomex drive the CS - we are talking about seriously sick people here (grin).
The manufacturer knows this, its preparing the invoice for your first service right now.

R+C

tdf360

I doubt it, they are both equally reliable, both on Porsche level.

Gary

leslie

Just picked up the CS for a swap for a day.

First impressions (on wet slick roads after a massive downpour): Much much more nimble on her feet, razor sharp steering with immediate turn in. Engine dominates the whole experience even while tiptoeing around in the wet and keeping things below 4.5k rpm. Trade off: Nowhere near the grip of the Gallardo. The difference the age of the 2 designs shows through as well. A little like comparing my 993RS vs a 996 turbo I guess...

Suspect a regular 430 would feel closer to the G but retaining much of the steering feel of the CS.

Do I like it?

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Screwed.........

Mind you, havent even heard the engine with the baffles opened up yet!

leslie

Guess the difference is that the Porsche dealership here gets a 7/10 rating in my books whereas the Lambo and Ferrari dealerships get 9/10 and 4/10 ratings. Ferrari dealership here operates on the basis that the cars sell themselves (they most certainly do!). Has always been the biggest obstacle for owning a Ferrari for me personally. And that is why an equally reliable CS vs a 7RS would still be more of a pain in terms of dealing with the local dealer.

And before anyone asks, our market is so small that there is only 1 dealer for each marque. There are a couple of independent porsche operations here but certainly no alternatives for Lambo or Ferrari.

Sun Ra

you haven't even driven a strad yet, then. Race mode, warm engine drill it to redline, run it thru some bumpy corners. if you like something better, you're likely a fan of fake ****

RQ_GT3

I realize most of you here are way more serious than I am... but I recently drove my '06 Silver G intending to trade it for a Silver 430 - after a (somewhat short) test drive I decided to keep my G. Loved the 430 but there is something so much more brutal about a Lambo that just did it for me, for some reason I felt I had to be careful with the Ferrari but the Lambo was more for fun, there to be pushed.

Anyway, even the G became too much of an event to drive on a regular basis so I got rid of it. And suprisingly I am getting the same kick I would get out of that V10 above 4k as I now get in the GT3 above 6k or so, except that I am more comfortable pushing the GT3 than the Lambo (but that could just be familiarity).

But the G is a fun, fun car, no mistake about it.

Oh well, no real point to this post other than to share some experiences.

SixSpeed

I've owned all of these cars and I'm going exclusively to Porsches (unless I can get my hands on a Scuderia some time). The Italians are truly like high-maintenance girlfriends; they are gorgeous to look at and fun to go out with, but terrible to live with on a daily basis. They are more finicky, cost more to keep up and have snottier dealers than Porsches do. The Porsche may not get its photo taken at intersections, but it'll get you to the track, whip the Ferrari drivers (not necessarily cars) tip-toeing their way around the track in their too-expensive-to-beat-mobiles, and then get you home again at night just as nicely as it got you there in the morning. When you are between sessions at the track, you don't worry about a Porsche. Wash it when you get home and you're ready to go again when the next track day rolls around. Nothing else like it.

leslie

That is the problem isnt it? In the same sentence that you say you are going exclusively with Porsches, you also say that you will break that rule if you can get your hands on a Scud. If I were in the position to afford a new Scud and I could bump someone off the soldout allocation queue, I would do exactly the same!

I remember a 355 owner once drawing a parallel to having a sex starved, cokehead supermodel as a girlfriend. When she was out of rehab, it was just mindblowing sex. However, she spent 90% of her time in rehab!! But all was forgiven and more when it was 10% time....

I am in mortal fear of getting a GT3RS brand new and growing tired of it because I dont/cannot stretch it's legs driving daily. (i.e. at anything less than 8/10ths the car would be like a regular 997. Not a bad thing but then why not just get a regular 997....) That would be a monumental waste of money. On the other hand, having a CS to use, just the daily work commute would bring a huge grin to my face (Cant believe how LOUD it is still....) BUT I would have to deal with flaky A/C and the famed Italian temprement (Much better than the older cars but still not anywhere as well built as the P cars) and very very poor dealer service.

At the end of the day, I know (and so does the poor wife!) where this is all heading...

The Prancing Horse is looming large....

tdf360

FWIW...after many years of Porsche ownership, I've had a better experience with Ferrari dealers than Porsche, my 360 and F430 have been bulletproof under all circumstances, and I'm not likely to go back to Porsche.

Gary