Another recent owner review

Now that ive had a chance to put some miles (over 1000) on my car (01 360 Modena 6MT), I thought id share my early impressions, although they prob aren't very different than those before me.

1)its quite a driveable car. I find the power to be adequate, and when you are gentle on the accelerator, the gear ratios allow it to be driven within posted speed limits quite readily. Other cars Ive owned, never seemed quite comfortable at staying within speed limits at given rpms. I ve always liked cars that arent brutish…that you can drive as calmly as the situation requires but still have that power available should you need it. It is quite wide, so claustrophobic traffic/parking conditions should be avoided.

2) the transmission is not the smoothest MT ive ever driven. I’ll spin that into a positive and say that its teaching me to a better driver. Im perhaps spoiled by german transmissions. 2nd gear can be somewhat notchy in particular. You run out of first gear rather quickly, but 4th/5th are a real joy. in an era of dot-com nerds owning awesome looking cars they are barely able to drive, the aluminum shift gate bucks that stereotype and just has badass written all over it, seemingly saying “youd better have some balls if you think you can drive me”.

3)the interior is functional and roomy, albeit a tad quirky (am I the only person that tells first time f-car riders to NOT touch the “STOP“ button or else the car will immediately screech to a halt even at highway speeds?), but I do miss some of the creature comforts…cupholders, GPS NAV, Bluetooth etc .A/c works fine. Visibility is good, other than the front fender humps, the view of the front of the car pretty much ends at the bottom of the windscreen.
I struggle with the seats (daytonas). Im a bigger guy, but far from huge (6ft, 240lbs), yet I don’t feel quite like I fit in these seats. Im not a particularly tall guy, but I do feel the roofline gets in my point of view quite a bit. The seats themselves are fine in the “seat area”, but for me, quite uncomfortable in the shoulders. They feel stiff and narrow as though they were designed for a diminutive narrow shouldered bicyclist more so than a broad shouldered stocky hockey player . For that reason, I doubt race seats would be much of a solution for me. Imo, the Gallardo seats are a better design for someone with my proportions, although that cars interior had other negatives. Generally I would say the interior is one of the more underwhelming aspects of this car, but this was no surprise to me, I knew that prior to purchase.

4)ride quality is definitely sport oriented. I don’t find it obscenely low, but I wouldn’t want it any lower or harsher for street use. it’s a sports car, its to be expected. In street use I find handling to be responsive and predictable, but not necessarily forgiving. You are driving the car, it isn’t driving you, or taking care of you. Im a little under whelmed by the braking, but I’ll reserve judgement until after I give it a fluid flush.

5) Appeal: generally the reactions i have gotten from most people have ranged from indifferent to positive. I try to be a good ambassador for the brand. Yes, it has been mistaken for a Corvette before I personally love the looks of the car, it grows on me more as time goes by. I still have a soft spot for cars like the Gallardo and Ford GT as well though. I love them all.

6) Sound. This is a hard one for me. The sound deadening of the car is quite effective IMO-which is good and bad. I don’t hear *that much* exhaust noise, in spite of the Tubi exhaust…although im told it is far from quiet for others in the vicinity. In a perfect world, id like more of that sound funneled back to me and less to the environment. I can see how that might sound crazy though.

7) Overall: Overall, it is a fun car that can create quite a bit of buzz based on the marque and its stylish yet modern appearance and attention grabbing sound. It may not be the last or only car I lust for, but its an incredible value for an entry level “exotic” and its hard to not have fun in it. If you ever ridden MX dirt bikes, its like a 2 stroke 125cc that is so much fun to wind up and throw around, even if you could probably handle the bigger, heavier, torquier 250cc 2 stroke bike.

 

Mikael, around these parts, every 3rd sports car is a vette. Great cars, but far too ubiquitous.

One of the vette comments was actually pretty fun....I was checking out of a store that wasn't very busy...2 cashiers were chatting and glanced out the window at my car in the empty parking lot. One says "wow, look at that sweet vette!"...she then stepped outside to take a closer look. About 10 seconds later she runs back in shouting to her coworkers "holy crap, ITS A FREAKING FERRARI!". As I was the only person in the store, I had to spend the next 10 minutes answering questions about it