Hello everyone...congrats to Dave on his 360 purchase...I wonder how much harder is the clutch pedal on a 360 versus a dino....I own a dino and I am considering a 360... undecided about 6 sp as my left knee is aging sooner than the rest of me.
and in a 360 there's the clutch-less option and there's more of them than the other,iirc the opinions are split but the attention not as much leaving more time for the ''driving'' than the shifting,,, ,,, ,,, I thought I needed a manual,but my first drive in an F1 was all,"oh hello this is funnnn"
Clutch in the Dino is very light, nice direct feel, very low effort, as one would expect from a less than 200 HP car. At least in my Dino the clutch was a piece of cake to use. Clutch in the 360 is another matter entirely. First time I depressed it I thought I had gotten into a Mack truck. Part of the reason for that is my other car, a Porsche Boxster S, also has a VERY LIGHT CLUTCH. 500 miles of driving later, I am completely adjusted to it, and it's not really all that heavy to deal with. My 4X surgically repaired left knee is not complaining at all. The gearbox comparison is what will throw you. Silky smooth in the 360, like butter on up and down shifts, cold or warm. Well, very cold is still a little balky into second, but I think the dealer is gonna fix that. Versus the Dino, even my completely rebuilt gearbox is still notchy, and requires careful attention to detail when using. It certainly doesn't allow for rapid fire shifts. The Dino gearbox is much more deliberate in its use than the 360. Handling isn't as different as you'd expect, it all happens faster, but the mid-rear engine layout has some striking similarities, at least to me. It's the power that gets you. Revs happen much quicker, and the engine just pulls and pulls. Of course with only a couple hundred more pounds to toss around and 200 more HP, that's not surprising either. My wife loves the 360. First performance car I've owned that she asks us to take when we go out. She's bummed that it's raining now, as we're headed for dinner and the threat of snow eliminates the use of the 360.
As to the issue of paddles vs. manual shift car. I've owned a paddle car, it was a BMW SMG II M3. I HATED the paddles in that car, and I'm told the 360 system isn't a whole lot more refined. It's also MEGA BUCKS to repair when that clutch on the paddle system wears out. As long as I have a left leg, and the cars can be ordered with a clutch, that's the way I'm going from now on. (Disclaimer. I have not driven an Paddle Ferrari, so I may be worng about comparing it to the M3.)
A service manager at a Ferrari dealership told me he expects the paddle-shift cars to become very cheap someday because fixing that gearbox is incredibly expensive.
Not at all surprising. I don't know the number, but I seem to recall it's a$10K+ repair to put a new clutch system in. I think a simple repair on it is $3500 or more. Owning a paddle 360 is not for the weak of heart.
Thanks for the information....I don/t think I could get adjusted to a paddle shift car...too many years driving stick shift,,,can't afford to buy the wrong car...I plan on keeping it at least ten years
Well yes,I can certainly understand and appreciate that concern...when it's at the bottom line the decision is always economic...and maintenance costs are an acknowledged and huge factor in the Fcar acquisition process...devil/details/etc...so/and the 360 has been called a ''tank'' as far as the reliability goes compared to previous models,iirc...but isn't the clutch in a 360F1 controlled by a computer instead of a pedal? I haven't called my service contact at the dealer to ask but how's the replacement cost impacted higher by that distinction if in fact it's basically the clutch that's being repaired. Is it the dreaded F1 pump and associated hardware that's the bugbear costwise? I sense I'm gonna find out,maybe, but that's what happens being on a forum such as this. This is me saying,''so it ain't so Joe"...flicking my paddles,lifting my T-bar,,,.and enjoying that part. A 10k tranny job[essentially], eww,that'll leave a mark.
annnd just wondering how many manuals they had on the floor at that particular time? What,sales and service don't talk to each other? Just the skeptic until I find out what this auto might end up cost'n me[oh,I had a budget for maintenance but mite need to kick it up,huh,even hi'r]
The F1 repair stuff is mostly internet BS. In the 360 its the same gearbox in both 6-speed and F1. The F1 gb has a hydraulic pump, ecu and acutators to change the gears. Most of the speculation has been about failure in the pump. The 355F1 pump has a price of 16K, but the 360 item is "only" 1K (interestingly a new auto gb for a 456GTA is 50K). So true on the 355 for the moment, but you can bet that the price will create at least one specialist who can rebuild the pump using some bosch part that's 35$ for a lot less than 16K. Ecus are a different matter - who knows what will happen with them long term? They are certainly expensive from Ferrari, but as long as you don't get them wet there is really not much to go wrong with them. Any gearbox work on any Ferrari is an expensive, typically engine out job. On the subject of gears - the 360 6 speed is firmer than the Dino but less firm that other stick shift Ferraris. Its a great gearbox without any of the recalcitrance of all the 5-speeds (no "don't use second gear stuff"). If you want to see a profound difference in clutch pressure you should compare the difference between a 997TT and a 997GT3, night and day. And on the subject of knees, I can sympathize. I had my left ACL replaced and meniscus reprofiled back in September and when asked the "do you have any questions" by the surgeon, my first was "how long till I can drive stick?" (6 weeks was the answer).
