New to me Spider

Hi all,

Been offline for a while as sold my beautiful Asprey 355 GTB.. Plan was to stay away from F's for a while, impractical, kids, blah blah blah. Didn't last long, about six months. Bug bites bad doesn't it??? ha ha

Picking up a new to me 430 Spider in a few days, 08 model, 5,000 mls on the clock, CCB's, beige daytona interior etc. Had to go for red, even though I'm not a massive fan of red it just seems to look right on the Spider - ?

Well, very excited to be back in the fold, and simply cannot wait to get the roof down and find my nearest tunnel!

Cheers,
LL
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Oh, couple of practical questions for you: how much longer is a F430 than a 355 in reality? Also does anyone know how much further from the front wheels the nose sticks out than a 355, if it does - ?

My garage was a tight fit length wise for my 355, and I have a bar strategically embedded in the ground to stop the 355 nose hitting the rear wall of the garage. I may need to relocate this..

Many thanks

 

Can't help you with the practical questions, but congrats on a beautiful car. Drive her like she was meant to be driven and smile the whole way!

 

109411?

Beautiful! Congratulations! Can you tell us the serial number? Is it F1 or a manual?

 

08's and 09's are the best!

Enjoy it with the top down as often as possible.

 

Yes, 109411. Pics in my Gallery. Not sure on the F430 yet serial number wise but it's F1.

 

Congratulations. Fantastic. Perfect color combo.

I am a bit biased however.

 

Six months is a long time to go without a Ferrari in the garage. Congrats on getting back in the game. The car looks great, now put the top down and drive that baby.

 

Doesn't have all the answers you wanted but here is lengths and other measurements of the 355 and F430 spider

http://www.ferrari.com/English/GT_Sport%20Cars/Classiche/All_Models/Pages/F355_Berlinetta.aspx

http://www.ferrari.com/English/GT_Sport%20Cars/Classiche/All_Models/f430spider/Pages/F430Spider.aspx

 

VERY NICE!!! Interested to hear how your F430 compares with your F355. I'm thinking about a move from my 355 to the 430 (or maybe even to ... yikes! ... a Gallardo).

 

Why are the 08 and 09s the best, other than being the newest???

 

Great looking car!

 

The cars at the end of a production run have worked out most of the problems from earlier year models. Upgraded exhaust manifolds come to mind plus beginning with 08, CCBs were standard.

I think this question has been answered a bit more in depth in another thread. My memory is limited.

 

Awesome car! Congrats.

 

Nice.

 

Thanks all, should have it for weekend after next, can't wait!

 

Oh, you don't have it yet? That's gonna be the longest week ever!

Sorry, I'm not trying to rub it in; I can only imagine how excited you are - and I know that level of excitement can literally slow time down to a crawl. Be sure to post pictures (after you go for a loooong drive).

 

Yes, it's starting to drag already....

Question for you all. I drove a Cali quite a bit a few months ago, and the CCB's seemed to be very good, had quite a lot of bite and huge stopping power.

The 430 when I drove it seems to need a very big push to get the brakes working. Is this normal, are they different to the Cali?

 

I have CCBs on my 360 Spider and the stopping is immediate !

You may consider a brake fluid change ?

 

That's what I was thinking too, but seems a bit odd with the low mileage and just had a service. Will get it checked out.

 

gorgeous car. best color combo IMO. Congratulations.

 

To answer an earlier post re: 355. Well, with my Capristo valved switchable exhaust the 355 sounds better. It sounds more mechanical, more F1. But to say it sounds better than the 430 Spider would be a lie. It's just different. At < 6000 rpm, the 355 sounds better, but the 430 sounds demonic, gutteral, agressive. But once you hit 6-6500 rpm the car comes on cam and it howls like the 355.

The 430 is so much faster it's insane and a shock at first. In the Spider it's aurally amazing.

The build quality is much bettter, especially in the engine bay. The interior leatherwork is better too, but not massively so. Got to factor in the age of course.

Handling, well, the 355 can't hold a candle to the 430. You do feel the extra weight and the very, very slight scuttle shake in the Spider. It's so minor it's not really even there, it's quite amazing really. Virtually no draw back on the Coupe.

On top of that, whilst the Pininfarina lines are not quite as well resolved as a 355, the 430 still has the DNA, and from some angles even eclipses the 355. It's a harder more aggressive look but importantly, most definitely Ferrari.

I love it.