cesar

I spent the afternoon yesterday doing this:

www.caranddriverlive.com

The sounds the Ferrari make are unbelievable!
Drove the 997 Turbo and it felt like I was driving my Mercedes comparing to the Ferrari.

I will say that the Ferrari felt civilized compared to my 993 Turbo though.

It's an amazing machine.

If you have the opportunity, the car and driver event is a great way to compare these cars.

The cars we drove:

Ferrari F430 (paddle shift)
Lamborghine Gallardo (paddle)
Ford GT
Lotus Elise
997 Turbo
Corvette Z06

I did the open road course which was great to see what they do on the streets. The track course may be next.

By the way, I'm not bashing here, so calm down. Just expressing how different they are. Granted the difference in dollars is huge too.

Ape

I own an F430 and a 997 Turbo so I can tell you my thoughts based on more than a one time driving experience. Yes, there is nothing like an F430. The sound, feel, power delivery, cornering, balance, etc are all brilliant. I will say however that the 997 Turbo is as brilliant a machine. They are apples and oranges and both are epic driving experiences. I bought my 430 brand new off the showroom floor 19 months ago and have almost 19K miles on it already. It aint no garage queen. I drive it HARD as hell and enjoy it to the fullest. I have only 1000 miles on my 997 and haven't beat it up yet as to let it break in, but the couple times that I had her really warm and slammed on her I was blown away by the car. The feel of mid engined as opposed to rear engine, all wheel drive as opposed rear wheel, turbo as opposed to naturally aspirated, F1 paddles as opposed to manual, etc etc all make these cars far apart in so many ways. I know the 430 so well at this point that I trust myself much more in it at this point, but Im catching up with the Turbo. Bottom Line: Two friggin' amazing machines with completely different personalities. I love them both!! The main difference is that if I had to drive from L.A. to Las Vegas I would take the Turbo....why? I know that I would get there with no issues! The 430 is the extremely gorgeous and unpredictable girlfriend that may decide halfway to Vegas that she needs to go home on a flat bed. The Turbo says "I hope you feel like hitting it as hard as you want all weekend"......Which is easier to live with? I can't decide, so I have both.

InTheAir

Excellent writeup, Ape.

I don't own a Ferrari (although I would like to for a while at least), but I'm very happy to own a TT. The TT seems to be a perfect blend of driveability, reliability, and performance. Love it.

carcommander

Excellent write up. I own an F430 and 997TT as well. My experience is similar.

cesar

Have you had many issues with your F430?

Ape

I have had plenty of headaches with the 430. At 6K miles I needed a new engine. There was a hairline fracture in the headers that caused a series of failures including cracked cylinder heads and total destruction of 3 cylinders. It was covered by the warranty and Ferrari flew me a brand new engine within 36 hours. I had an F1 system failure at only 5 days of ownership which put the car in the shop for 2 weeks (I lost my mind on that one). There is a flaw in the exhaust brackets that hold the exhaust system in place that ends up with a rattling sound that makes you insane. That alone has been fixed 3 times. I have had at least 3 other very minor issues that require the car going to the shop for a day or 2. I will say however that there are plenty of 430 owners that have had barely any issues at all. I have no complaints whatsoever because the car is THAT good! Ferrari is hyper vigilant about their quality control and they are aware of every thing that has happened with my car. I am one of VERY few 430 owners worldwide that has a lot of miles on my car ( in Ferrari world a car with 5K miles in 5 yrs is a lot), and I drive it the way it's supposed to be driven. Every Ferrari Tech who has driven my car says it's the best 430 they have ever driven. It pulls so hard in the mid range compared to the garage queen 430's they have driven. The new engine is MUCH stronger than the original too.
The good news is that when I have an issue they send over a flat bed, fix the car, and get it back to me asap. I look at it like a race car for the street that needs some extra attention. The car runs better every time it comes back from them. They do software updates for the F1 system and they go through it with a fine tooth comb (It helps to buy the whole shop lunch once a month).
So that's story with my first Ferrari. I plan on always having a Ferrari in my stable.

OldGuy

If you like Porsche the 997 GT3 makes as great a song as the F430. The 430 sounds like computer generated Formula one sounds, I like the 360 capristo better HOWEVER the GT3 with a Sharkwerks
bypass on it makes a fine a noise as you can get on a 911. At 8000screaming RPMs its amazing.
If you like Porsches that is.

Ape

I completely disagree about the sound of the 430. It has the most amazing sounding exhaust I have ever heard, but I have yet to hear the GT3 with the Sharkwerks!

allegretto

Liked the TT much more for just about everything but looking stylish. Definitely better for road trips in the TT.

On the track it was no contest, the TT was far better. Perhaps a coupe would have performed better however...

RaceCarDriver

I've done similar driving events with competitors. The F430 and 997 GT3 were always my favorite. I think the FORD GT was the fastest or at least felt the fastest. I also prefered the Gallardo over the Murci.

skyytek

I agree too. nothing compares to the sound of a ferrari IMO.

Stradale

Well Said. IMO there's no better combo.

ps: Just removed the vacuum lines to the bypass valves on the 430 so instead of only being open in the higher rpms its wide open all the time! Sounds awesome! It's kinda like the PSE on all the time fix but much, much better. Wish I would have known about it a long time ago.