Ferrari of Houston is pretty elitist and quirky in my experience. I have tried to buy a Quattroporte over the past 4 years there over about half a dozen visits and have never been able to get a test drive (despite 8-10 cars on the floor). Each time I left disgusted and bought something else - E55, CLK550, Cayenne TT. I have resigned to never patronize that establishment. Joe there is a pretty decent Ferrari tech at Matthews Automotive, at Lambo of Houston, and supposedly some guru named Berta in the vicinity.

 

Actually I liked the other way around. An F430 Spyder and a TT coupe. Made more sense as the TT is a far better DD.

 

Could not agree more!

 

Exactly. The Turbo is a far better DD than the F430, it's less focused, more of a GT. So why would you remove performance & add weight (convertible) to the car (F430) that is more focused on stiffness/performance & light weight? And because the Turbo is the far better DD I get to enjoy using the convertible much, much more. Funny, my thinking is exactly opposite. If you're going to chop the roof off one or the other imo it's better to do it w/ the Porsche. Not just because it's less of a track type car than the 430 but also because the prettiest part of the 430 is it's roofline. And when you cut off the roof in the 430 you change the whole car from the windshield back, not just the roof. The whole rear of the car all the way to the tail lights gets very flat. And w/ the F430 coupe you get a large, angled rear window to admire the engine, w/ the Spider it's much smaller and flat, no such difference w/ the Turbo Coupe vs Cab because there's no engine under glass to look at. In the Turbo it's only the roof, the rest of the car from the top back is basically the same. And imo the Turbo just makes for a better looking convertible than the 430. Having the DD as the convertible I get to use the car as an open top constantly so imo it just makes more sense to enjoy having the convertible roof 10 times as often w/ the DD. But of course there's no right or wrong here just personal preference.

 

While I agree that the TT is the better daily driver, I disagree that the F430 is a better performer.

Spyder vs. Cab

Coupe vs. Coupe

I don't think there are many raw performance catagories where the F bests the P.

For me, the 430 was my sunny cruiser.

But in my geography, the weather may not be as good as yours.

 

Never said anything about it being a better performer time wise. The Turbo outperforms a GT3 but it's not more of a track focused car. The Ferrari is all about how the car feels, it's balance, etc. The Turbo is a softer, more of like you said; a Daily Driver. It's a GT'ish 2+2 car so imo it's a better fit as a convertible vs a car like the F430 that is more track oriented, more of a focused car. I dont think anyone would argue different. It just makes more sense for the Turbo to be the convertible vs the F430. (imho) . It's the reason I have racing seats in the F430 but think they would be out of place in a Turbo. & to me cutting off the roof of the F430 would be similiar to a Porsche GT3 convertible, just doesnt make sense but it's really about whatever floats your boat... You still have both/ how bout some pics? ps: Geez, guess that was a thread-jack, sorry.

 

Here you go. No, sold both. Got into racing Lotuses. Don't even ask...

Now back to the TT, but a Cab this time. If I get it (probably) will do it tomorrow. Pics to follow of course.

But FWIW I don't think 430's or TT make particularly good track cars. Too heavy, wrong parts. But if anyone else likes to flog 'em it's fine with me...

 

430 coupe/cab- either way it sounds amazing!

to the OP in regards to H/T shifting with the PCCB- what kind of bedding in procedure have you followed?

when broken in properly, the PCCB pads/rotors (in my RS) are actually much smoother to modulate than the steels were in my GT3...and not squeaky. but if they're never brought up to temp repeatedly to the point were you've gotten pad material transfer to the rotor, they'll grab unpredictably- especially when cold.

I bedded in the pads thoroughly and my RS will heel and toe just fine (even on the street), but with my big wide feet I find it fairly easy in most cars.

 

Funny but if you think about it, our disagreement about which car makes the better convertible is so trivial when considering we both own/owned a Black 997 Turbo & a Red F430 at the same time. From all the cars & colors to choose from that's pretty amazing.

Looking forward to seeing your Turbo Cab! Wait. Turbo CAB? See. LoL! All the best! Cheers

 

Herman you are a dealership's wet-dream!! The only thing better than a TT cab would be a TT cab with 900NM of torque. You might actually hold onto that one for awhile

 

Is that what you did to yours?

The P-dealer in my area is a serious racer. Has ALMS and Daytona factory drivers come up and run with us at the track, has all kinds of speed and track goodies, etc. He's a Revo dealer. Anyone with any experience there? He claims to get 70 HP with just a re-flash.

900 in a Cab? That might twist the frame!!!

 

Yes, I quite agree! In either case you have excellent taste.

Now you're gonna laugh, but the hang up in buying today was working on a solution for being able to take my 4 yo twins in the back seat. On a Cab the darn rear seatbacks lean forward. I think we'll be removing them and then using the porsche child seats. Not sure how much they cost. Not cheap I'm sure, but some of my best times are going out with them.

It's a snap in my M3 Convert...

 

You've been gone too long:

https://rennlist.com/forums/997-turbo-forum/418220-awe-700-kit-review.html

~630 to the wheels and faster than the RT12 (184), CGT(181), 08 Viper(169) in the Texas Mile (185.8)

 

I would check out http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=1943168 - this works perfectly in my coupe for both my 4 year old and 2 year old. Its by far the best fitting seat. I tried the britax roundabout with and without the rear seats - wasnt comfortable with the fit. I then drove down to babies r us and tried every seat on the shelf - ranging from convertibles to boosters to backless boosters - nothing even came close to fitting. I then went to walmart and tried this seat - perfect fit. Now having said that - mines a coupe - but you might find they fit in a cab.

I wasnt too keen on the porsche seat in terms of the big thing that sits on the childs lap. Price is around $500-600 per porsche seat too and IMO the fit of the one I have just listed is equal if not better than the porsche ones.

 

Thanks for the heads-up on that. Yes, the Coupe is a far easier issue than the Cab due to the space taken by the top stowage, and the Porsche seat isn't particularly artful except for the way it breaks down to store. Not sure I've found the proper solution. Maybe I should just buy a bad-a$$ Coupe for myself and keep the M3 for the kids, it is perfect for that intent. In fact, I was on DuPont last night looking for any performance car that would fit all categories (reasonable sporting performance, cabriolet, nice back seat) and there really aren't many/any better than the M3.

Snap!