NJ-GT

No, you're ancient and obsolete (refuse to sequential shifting).

- Seats (Sabelt): $4k
- Exhaust (Headers, sport cats, mufflers): $9k
- Wheels: $4k
- Engine ECU Tune: $3k
- HGTE F1 Transmission ECU swap: $2k
- Suspension (springs and revalved shocks): $3k
- Battery: $1.5k
- MPSS Tires: $2k
- Access to NJ-GT wholesale Fiat parts account: priceless

Less than $20k on mods (without the exhaust) , which is what most Aero Beetles sink in mods anyway. The exhaust is the key to produce amazing sound, and gain 60 Hp. At 680Hp, and less weight that a 599 GTO, the car would outrun the 599 GTO in every performance measure.

At $160k there are still priced a little high, but they will come down to low $100k quite soon, as they sold too many, the F12 is coming, and V12 modern Fiats depreciate real bad. It should take 2-3 years for them to become affordable.

I prefer a babied 07 599 GTB than a tracked/abused 4.0RS. Drive a 599 GTB HGTE and fall in Love.

aussie jimmy

.......that's AMORE

TRAKCAR

Blind love.

So, in a year or 2 when the 599's are 100K I put in 30K plus steaal rotor conversion and it would be a very cool car I must say. Iactually think its very good looking opposed those kit car looking rear engine Fiats...

Now that I am in my 40's maybe shifting is getting harder and I need an automatic, sure would make for a nice daily driver..

But Rad, honestly do you really think it will last for example the next 5 track events I will do before March that equal 13 days at Sebring. I mean really?? No one has ever tracked a 599 in anger, It would be like sailing west in the 1400's thinking you'll go over the edge at any time..

triode

Just making sure that wasn't a typo...

NJ-GT

The guys in Europe track their Fiats and put thousands of miles on them. Unfortunately, the American Fiat market is packed with plenty of poseurs, good for the used market buyer, bad for reputation.

The 599 GTB is more reliable than the F430. The Scuderia, 16M and 599 GTB/GTO are the most reliable Fiats. Then comes the 458 Italia, less reliable but still fairly good (tranny problems out of warranty are $$$$).

As occasional track day car, and daily driver, with proper suspension, and optional power mods, a 599 GTB in the low $100k is going to become the best deal. It is so easy to find them with such low miles, and plenty of life in all the mechanical components due to the babied use. It can be made lighter than most GT cars with similar power, the weight distribution is 47F/53R, steel rotors are available and so are track pads, brake cooling ducts are a parts bin set from the 599 GTO. Fiat has tuned this same engine with non-street legal emissions, and a higher redline to 760 Hp, and the stroker version (6.3) runs 860Hp in the FXX Evo, so even at a street tune with 680Hp the engine has more potential, naturally aspirated and high redline.

The 599XX is based on the street legal car, the 1st generation FXX lapped the Nurburgring under 7 minutes, with 720Hp from the 6.0 V12 and Michelin slicks, around 400 lbs lighter than the car you can setup with less than $30k on mods starting with a 599 GTB, but there is plenty more weight that can be saved from the 599 GTB (200 lbs is just the easy weight reduction).

CRex

^ Great insights.

I've always struggled with the problem that Fiats lose effectively 150% of their value the moment you mod them. It'd be tempting to create a backdoor GTO or even a super-tuned aspire-to-be-FXX, but the math just ain't there unless one's prepared to write off the base car. Am I off-base to think so?

carcommander

You can mod a Ferrari you just need to bring it back to stock to sell it. But as Rad says you need to wait for them to come down a bit. The Dealer put 170K in my 08 for a market price 458 so they are not hitting the silk just yet. 599 is a great car. Mine was flawless. It's a GT though and not really a track car IMHO. You can play with it on the track. 599 GTO is cool but is overpriced and not really a track car either. I would agree with some of the opionions here that as supercars for the street go a 599 is hard to beat at the price. Looks are subjective but I think the car is beautiful.

TRAKCAR

Sounds like a nice car for my wife / Daily driver that one can take to the track a few times a year.
Not as a replacement for 30/40 hot track days a year Aero beetle replacement.

On the other hand there are many drivers that are still intermediate that drive a car only 7/10 - 9/10 for perhaps 4-8 track days a year. I think for those people Rad is on the money as this being a dream car for low 100's..

utkinpol

Rad, you know your stuff but you like to lower down price of those cars a lot.

2007 599 GTB Fiorano cars are solid in the $170-190K area with no hints to move anywhere from that level. it is not even close to $100-120K, at least i cannot call $190k a 'lower $100k'.

carcommander

Depends on the miles and the stories. My 08 Nero/Tan 3500 mile no stories car is 199K at F0A right now. It was 337 new. Call it 187 to 190. Cars with more miles or stories bring less. There are 140 to 150k 07's out there with low options, miles and stories. Also alot of 07's came with steel brakes. I don't think car shifted slow expecially if you shifted it with the paddles. My 458 and 991 shift alot faster but the 599 was not slow IMHO.

TRAKCAR

I'd be less worried about a manual 599, maybe I should get a plain 599? If its good enough for Chris Harris...

What would it need to have any chance of survival at Sebring besides steel rotors....

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...23431642&Log=0

Only problem is that they are 200k, not close to 100k..

Carrera GT

You could get movit rotors for $25K and use the same calipers (but what happens when they roast up a nice purple, then brown ... and what's F-camp charge to paint calipers ... $10K? : )

I'd seriously do this whole "faster and lighter than a GTO" thing NJ-GT penned out if the starting point was $100K, not $200K. I look at car industry decisions circa 2012 and what we can expect for 2013 and beyond is just not my idea of a good time. And at $200K, I'd rather pony up $300K and get a real car*.


* Carrera GT

TRAKCAR

Now you are stepping it up a level or 3..
Yeah, I'd have a hard time beating an a pretty Italian delicate play thingy that's all virging..

Atgani

Wow, some of you guys are hard on Harris ! Maybe he deserves it, maybe he doesn't.
Most British Porsche enthusiasts thought/knew he'd flip the car. They're trading at premium over here and Harris had his financed up to the hilt. It was unlikely to be a keeper.

As for the F car thing, firstly someone referred to Harris' "boss" or his "employer" earlier in this thread. Put bluntly, Harris doesn't have one, he's his own man. Some have queried where his money came from, many rumours abound (non of them suggest it's anything but legitimate) to date there's been no word from the man himself.

I suspect that Harris realizes now just how foolish his rant at Ferrari was, and as someone else suggested, he's now building bridges. Whether or not Ferrari will "forgive" him is a moot point. In days gone by, his card would've been marked (as some magazines were) and he'd not have got a second chance.

Something tells me Ferraris' PR department are smart enough to know that having Harris back on board can only be good. Harris will also see the benefit of not being a one trick pony and only praising the products from Stuttgart, as to do so would make many question his credibility.

Only time will tell whether Ferrari are prepared to let bygones be bygones. In the meantime, let's see just how long the 599 stays in the Harris stable . . .

Nan P

As a CH fan & Porsche nut I was disappointed that CH sold the 4.0.
I think he just wanted a change of pace; he's had a 997.1 GT3 prior & has raced several GT3 Cup cars over the last few years - I believe he's still a Porsche nut, but doesn't want to be know as the guy with a Stuttgart tattoo.

Eitherway, I still believe that he is the most entertaining auto journalist out there.