Stradale- new Car magazine text. Log Out | Topics | Search
Moderators | Edit Profile

FerrariChat.com » General Ferrari Discussion » Archive through August 30, 2003 » Stradale- new Car magazine text. « Previous Next »

Author Message
Ben Cannon (Artherd)
Member
Username: Artherd

Post Number: 829
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Saturday, September 06, 2003 - 2:45 am:   

gian- I think they did compare it to a GT3 IIRC.

Agree it's not quite fair, as the Stradale price has creeped way up.
Ralph Koslin (Ralfabco)
Member
Username: Ralfabco

Post Number: 704
Registered: 3-2002
Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 4:37 pm:   

The CS costs a few dollars more than the other
cars. Not just inexpensive American Cars.
It is quite a bit more than the other
European cars.

Is that a fair comparison ?

Anyone can build a faster car with more $$$.
wayne skiles (Bad_tt)
New member
Username: Bad_tt

Post Number: 48
Registered: 8-2002
Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 4:33 pm:   

I'll be using mine pretty much on a daily basis.
gian maria traversone (Giamma)
Junior Member
Username: Giamma

Post Number: 83
Registered: 10-2002
Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 4:27 pm:   

The stradale should not be compared to the other two. It is a completly different kind of car. They sould have switch the Stradale with a Viper or a 360 modena: and compare the Stradale to a gt3 , gt2, Lotus Exige, ect.. street raicers. ( like Evo magazine call them)
N'din (Abangdin)
New member
Username: Abangdin

Post Number: 29
Registered: 7-2003
Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 6:11 am:   

Dare he pick the Stradale and anger the Volkswagen-Audi group ? I don't think so.

I subscribe to CAR and I think the writer's gut feeling is to single out the Ferrari but has to prop-up the Stradale. It is a very good car by any comparison but the Stradale is in another planet.

The writer is assesing the Stradale and the Gallardo in terms of everyday use. No buyer of the Stradale nor the Gllardo will use their cars for daily commute. They probably have at least 2 other cars in the garage for that. So both those cars are for weekend use and they should be judged as such. In that case the Stradale wins hands down. No contest.

Paul Loussia (Bumboola)
Junior Member
Username: Bumboola

Post Number: 162
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 11:57 pm:   

For reasons of practicality and everyday usability he picked the Gallardo, said the Porsche was "too civilized for its own good" and that the interior was too bland, but did praise all three cars.
JT (Mightymagician)
Junior Member
Username: Mightymagician

Post Number: 149
Registered: 11-2002
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 6:52 pm:   

i just bought this magazine yesterday. the stradale section was awesome. overall a great article.

the writer preferred the gallardo.
syd (500syd)
New member
Username: 500syd

Post Number: 10
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 5:18 pm:   

Paul, which car did they like the best? 911, Gallardo or Stradale?
Ryan Alexander (Ryalex)
Junior Member
Username: Ryalex

Post Number: 61
Registered: 8-2003
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 6:55 am:   

Car definitely has the best writing of any car mag.
Ben Cannon (Artherd)
Member
Username: Artherd

Post Number: 770
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 3:24 am:   

Love the exhaust quote. It's definately that loud and then some!

Best!
Ben.
Me Myself (Kid_enzoz)
Junior Member
Username: Kid_enzoz

Post Number: 145
Registered: 4-2003
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 12:47 am:   

Sounds about right for such a car...
Paul Loussia (Bumboola)
Junior Member
Username: Bumboola

Post Number: 161
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 12:38 am:   

The new Car magazine has a comparo of the Stradale, Gallardo and the 911 Turbo. In typical Car fashion, it is a subjective test and they shower praise on all three cars.

Stradale text:

"Boy does the Ferrari make it's own introduction. I'm standing on top of a pass in the Apennine mountains and hear a mild parping. That's the 360 Challenge Stradale arriving then. The sound gets harder, sharper and louder. But slowly... slowly because it's so far away. Eventually the noise is at a fever pitch and I figure the car is just rounding the bend before coming into view. But it doesn't. There are a half a dozen hairpins more to go, and when the 360 does arrive in a blaze of searing sun-blitzed yellow, dogs are barking and birds are falling out of trees. It's a profoundly life-enhancing sound for sure, but if this exhaust is legal, so's driving at 200mph in the rain on bald tires. Talking on a mobile phone. To Saddam Hussein.

Driving the Challenge is as intense as listening to it. You don't sit in it, you plug yourself in. From the race-style seat, you connect to the 360CS via no-slack controls. The software on the F1 paddle-shift is, after all these years, finally beginning to justify Ferrari's hype, shifting decisively and fast, with no jolts. This is also the first F1 Ferrari I have driven that hasn't turned its clutch to Ryvita when asked to shuffle back and forth for the camera. Get this car into the kind of road it's made for and those paddles free you up to get the very best from the steering, throttle and brakes.

And the steering is brilliantly connected. Oh what joy it brings me to type those words. I've been thinking lately my central nervous system has been severed somewhere beyond my wrists. There is so little road feel in so many cars now, but this Ferrari shows it needn't be that way. The rim lightens and darkens in a non-stop info stream even when aren't pushing hard, which intensifies the experience every mile you drive. Load it up and it stays wonderful, without beating you up with kickback over bumps. Throttle response from the newly ultra-tuned V8 is just as sharp, and once you go beyond 4000rpm it drop-kicks the car forward, all the way through a neck-prickling soundscape to 8500rpm.

Then there are the new carbon-ceramic discs. Ever driven into a brick wall? Nor me, but when you mash the 360CS's middle pedal it might be rather like this. Okay so the brakes make a bit of dull scraping sound at low efforts, but it's worth it for the stopping power and, better yet, the way the pedal is staggeringly progressive and firm from the first bite. It's the same with the steering and throttle: you're hard-wired. So, you pay attention. You make a deal with the 360 Challenge Stradale. Get close, feel the heat, but don't put your hand into the fire, This is not a car for slithering about in, for breaking rules. The limits are so magnificently flagged up, the joy is in getting close, but staying just the right side.

The Ferrari might be focused but it isn't barmy. I mean, you can see out of it and use all the controls. Bare composite make up the doors, center console and seats, its hand-laid carbon weave shimmying beneath a deeply glossy gel. If you wondered how a mainline 360 was built, peer into the Challenge Stradale. With the carpet gone, the aluminum structure is clearly on show all about the footwells, casually painted matt black. Either sid of the simple rubber floor mats, rivet heads and chunks of the wiring loom put in cameo appearances. It's as honest as the day is long, and bit of it- the carbon console and the suede dash especially- are beautiful. But face facts: with no soft material it's so loud it'll make your ears bleed on a motorway, and all those bare surfaces are soon going to be stratched and chipped into a right old mess. So anyone who buys one will have to get their mind around to thinking of it as an 'attractive patina of use'.

Which if I were blessed with a 360CS, I could easily do. And , of all the three cars here, the Ferrari would accelerate my heart the fastest- and sometimes all but stop it- if I had a perfect day and a perfect road. One 15-mile stretch is permanently wedged among my all-time driving highs."

Add Your Message Here
Posting is currently disabled in this topic. Contact your discussion moderator for more information.

Topics | Last Day | Last Week | Tree View | Search | Help/Instructions | Program Credits Administration