Parlay NSX for360?

I love cars and am always looking to find my next car fix. I currently have a few cars but for the purpose of this conversation I will talk more specifically about my NSX. I currently have a very nice 93 NSX but the Ferrari bug has been nagging at me for a few years. I'm trying to figure out the whole 360/430 preference deal. Thats another converstation. More importantly, from a drivers point of view I'm wondering if the ferrari is all that different of a driving experiance than the NSX. Part of me thinks I may be just parlaying the reliable JDM car for a little less reliable Italian car. The performance, on paper, is not much different between the two. Each is unique in thier own way but I'm not the type to lust after a car or be brand loyal. I love cars, I love to drive and own all different types of cars. Is the 360 and the NSX a similar experiance?

 

Go drive one and find out. I've not driven an NSX but I doubt it would compare favourably.

 

I have never driven an NSX but can't imagine getting rid of my 360 for one. As the previous person said, go drive one and decide for yourself. Fill out your profile so we know where you are located.

 

Why on earth would anyone trade a Ferrari for a Honda?

NSX is less visceral, less "race car like" in the rides that I took. Way too "tuner crowd".. which with modded is the only way I could see it comparing in any way with the 360.

 

I love the NSX, always have... A great looking, performing vehicle wrapped in a very reliable package. However, it's not as sexy looking as the 360 nor does it have that intoxicating sound.

 

I have driven both. The NSX is a very nice driving car. The 360 is a magnificent machine. Ideally, you would test drive the unknown and it should be pretty clear to you. The 360 is also a slight bit newer, so it benefits from some technological advances over the NSX. Still, the 360 is a pretty simple car as far as modern Ferrari's go. But, it's simple AND beautiful - uncomplicated and I like it that way. I feel this way, even though mine is a spider with an F1 gearbox!

 

I was once told by the owner of the local Ferrari dealership that his customers have NSXs as daily drivers and keep their Ferraris for weekends.
Alan

 

Got it! I'll fill out my profile. I certainly appreciate the input from the community. I've been known to be an impulse buyer when it comes to cars. I have a feeling this will not change when I test drive a 360.

I have left the NSX mostly stock aside from some tasteful mods. I purchased a low mile car from a passionate member of the NSX community to ensure a well cared for car. I will do the same with whatever F-car I go with.

I understand I am asking questions on a Ferrari car forum. I expect the opinions to be reflective of the boards preference. I appreciate them all the same. From what I'm gathering the mileage is important, not critical. Service records are however paramount and a PPI is mandatory. All of this makes sense. Despite what other uninformed types tell me the Ferrari will not spontaniously combust at 20k miles nor will the wheels fall off at 15k. The value will take a hit of course the higer up the mileage food chain I go. I think for that reason I would look specifically for a higher mileage car which is priced accordingly with depreciation in mind. Other than that the only other item that is a "must" would be the manual transmission. I just don't like paddles.

Anyway, thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. I look forward to reading more opinions and who knows, maybe I'll be a 360 owner in the next few months.

 

I have owned two NSX's. In my opinion you can not compare them. Totally different cars. You should drive one and make up your own mind.

 

The NSX is Japans attempt to compete with Ferrari from a different era. So you are talking about a car that was made to challenge the Ferrari 348 and F355. The 360 will be a significant upgrade.

That said, I like the suggestion to keep the NSX as a daily driver and use the Ferrari as a weekend car, or have one of the other cars in your stable serve DD duty.

As for mileage, it is only a concern if very low or very high. A car that averaged 1k-3k per year will be the least likely to have issues since it would have been kept in running condition. A ten plus year old car with under 10k on the odometer is going to have as many problems as a car with 100k.

 

I've driven the NSX and I now have a 360. The cars are night and day different. In comparison, after driving the 360, the NSX feels kind of boring.

You'll be giving up reliability and increasing your running costs, but you'll be gaining a much bigger thrill. Another you could consider is a V8 Lotus Esprit. It falls between the two imo.

 

I have logged 100,000 miles on my NSX (60,000 of those with basically every high performance mod available), then logged 60,000 miles on my 360. I wrote an exhaustive comparison of the two and it is located on nsxprime somewhere. Search for posts from "Chromatose" and let me know if you cannot find it.

 

The NSX felt lighter and more nimble, very easier to drive. The 360 felt more powerful, sounded better, more exciting to drive.

 

I am a big fan of the NSX. One day I would like to have one in the garage but I cannot imagine that it is comparable to the 360 experience. This you will find out in short order if you get a chance to drive one. I would like to read software drones write up on the two. Is it appropriate to post it up? or maybe PM me a link?

 

Didnt find Mikes write up yet but this seemed good from another nsxprime guy "JChoice"...

I've been meaning to post this for a while but I never really got a around to it. Thought about writing it for NSX Driver but didn't want to have a long Ferrari article in there. I don't really like posting too much private info about myself online but here is my story - it's a long read but I’ll split it up into two posts. If you just want to read the comparison, read the second post.

Some Background

A few months ago, I bought a 2002 F360 Modena as a 30th bday gift to myself. I've been working extremely hard for many years, worked my way through college, started the business before I graduated, and so forth.

Buying the Ferrari was as much about having something to show to myself that "I've made it this far at least..." as it was about owing a car that I lusted after ever since its introduction. I bought a model of a 360 in 1999 and put it in my office. I knew that some day, I would own that car.

So soon as my finances made it possible for me to do so, I started thinking about buying one. In 2005, I made the decision that this would be the year. The fact that I was turning 30 was the biggest motivator. I wanted to do something to celebrate and mark this point in my life. It wasn't about performance necessarily - I was having so much fun in my "SOS Stage II" NSX that I didn’t desire more performance... I just wanted to have something more special, more exclusive, more fun, and something that was newer and in pristine condition.

I mention pristine condition becuase I had owned my NSX for 6 years and in that time, the car had its share of rock chips, one or two dings, bumper that needed to be repainted etc. Most people didn’t believe that my car was a 92 model but still, it was as “perfect” as the day I had bought it. The car also had over 115,000 miles on it. I had stopped religiously washing and cleaning it. I still had fun with it but the "specialness" of the car had worn off for me.

The other factor that influenced my decision was the fact that I had spent $5,000 in service and upgrades just a year ago and only drove the NSX for 4000 miles. I drove the NSX as much as I wanted to – just didn’t have as many good opportunities to drive it.

I thought: “5k in service and only 4k miles in one year?” That sounded like Ferrari ownership to me.

The Search

It took about 5 months from the time I made the decision to buy the car to the time I actually took possession of it. Find the car was actually harder than I had anticipated.

My original budget allowed me to buy a 99 model only – preferably a Euro one – with over 20,000 miles from a private party. Euro models are cheaper but are also lighter and faster. 20,000 miles is high by Ferrari standards.

Basically, my strategy was to buy one that was pretty heavily depreciated so I wouldn’t take much of a depreciation hit when I sold the car. In short: I was the Walmart of Ferrari shoppers – the low end guy.

I even had one of those crappy Florida dealerships tell me on: “Hmm, so you’re a low-budget buyer.”

In terms of the color, I was initially looking for a titanium 360 until someone talked me into getting a red one. I never even considered a red car until someone said, “If it’s a Ferrari, it has to be red.” That got my wheels turning and as I looked closer at pictures of red 360s, I started falling in love with the color.

I started my search by just looking at online sale listings on a daily basis. To me, that’s “Stage 1”. Looking at car listings isn’t being too serious of a buyer. My first thought during my search was that most cars were higher priced than I had expected. On top of that, I couldn’t find Euro cars. When you look at the number of 360s listed for sale, you think that finding one should be easy. The reality is that if you want specific options or a specific color combo with all records from a private party – finding the right car isn’t that easy.

After four months of emails, phone calls, strong consideration of a low-cost Grigio Alloy (light blue silver) 360, and only one test drive - I finally found the car I wanted. The problem was that it was a 2002 model and cost much more than the max budget I had set for myself. But it had the sport seats (I think the standard seats are ugly), all the options, and being a 2002, it was less prone to having problems and had a better F1 system than the 99-01 models.

So instead of buying a “cheap” 360 and keeping the NSX, I bought this extremely clean example and sold the NSX (which I regret but I will get into that soon…)

As for my one test drive, I never drove the car I ended up with prior to purchasing it. It was on the other side of the country and so I had it inspected by someone else. The car I did test drive belonged to a lead singer of a fairly well known rock group. I didn’t know that until I was at his house and he was showing me the car. He was a really nice guy and it was a cool experience to meet someone you recognized.

Pulling the trigger

Looking for the car was taking so much effort that there was never the, “I’m buying a new car!” feeling. It actually became another "task" on my long lists of tasks that I had to complete. I started to get excited when I first confirmed with the seller over the phone that I accepted his counter offer. I hung up and thought, "wow, did I just buy a car?! Did I just buy that car..?!" It got way more exciting when I wired the deposit money to the Ferrari dealership (it was private party but through a Ferrari dealership). I was actually slightly shaking with excitement as I filled out the paperwork. “Wow, I’m sending money to a Ferrari dealership for MY Ferrari.” The teller started asking me questions about what I was buying and I had to explain to her what it was. At that point, I stopped feeling like a shopper and started to feel like an owner. Wiring the rest of the money was very satisfying - it felt good to be able to pay for the car outright.

Transportation and other experiences

I had to have the car shipped. That took two weeks and that was a LONG two weeks. When the car arrived – I felt like a kid on Christmas day. Then, it took me two weeks to square away all of the insurance. Finding insurance is a long and interesting story in and of itself. I got it all squared away about a month before my bday.

Finally, there was the trip to the DMV. I had to get the car registered. That required a 12K+ check for sales tax and registration. OUCH. The sad thing is that if I were to sell the car tomorrow, the next guy would also owe 12k in sales tax! What a scam.

It took me a few weeks to get used to the car but I've driven it enough now to know the car pretty well. I'll compare the NSX and the 360 in my next post.

OK, so I recently purchased a 360. I had an NSX for 6 years. Stage II (cams, headers, intake, ECU, exhaust, ported intake manifold, throttle body, short gears, 4.23RP, light flywheel, recaros, race sway bars).

Here is my comparo:

Acceleration:
My NSX was 280whp. When I first nailed it in 2nd gear on my 02 360 F1, I was dissapointed. I could tell it was faster but didn't feel significantly faster than the NSX. Now that I've owned for a few months and have gunned it on the freeway - I can feel the significant difference in acceleration. The 360 has much more urgency and flies through the higher gears extremely fast. I can't believe how short 6th gear feels on the 360. 6th gear feels like 4th gear on the NSX.

Sound:
I loved the sound of my Taitec exhaust. I had a Comptech originally and the sound was nothing compared to the Taitec GT LW. Initially, I thought the Ferrari sounded different - not really better but different. The funny thing is that all my car buddies comment on how the Ferrari sounds so much better than the NSX did. I have a Tubi on my 360 and the car actually seemed quieter than the NSX with the Taitec. Again, it's just how I am but it takes me a while to get used to a new car. I remember when I first put on the Taitec, I complained to Chris at SOS that it was way too loud. Now, the TUBI sounds absolutely wonderful to me and it's just loud enough. As I remember it, I like the 360 + Tubi sound better than the NSX + Taitec sound. Both sound AWESOME!

Handling:
My NSX actually felt dangerous until I put on the Dali race bars. The car leaned alot, the large ass steering wheel felt too big, and the car just didn't inspire confidence. With new shocks, the race bars, wide tires, Recaros, and a smaller steering wheel - the NSX felt fantastic. The steering was a bit numb compared to stock because of the wider front tires but the car still felt great. With the 285s I had in the back, my car never ran short on grip.

The Ferrari actually felt too loose. I guess it's the assist. However, at speed, the steering is amazing. The car is also very stiff but absorbs bumps at speed extremely well. I have the Challenge Stradale wheels on the car which are a bit wider than stock. There is tons of grip.

Seating position:
I prefer the NSX here actually. I really miss the cockpit feel of that car. With the stock seats, you do sit a bit too high and feel like the car is below you. With my Recaro seats, I sat lower and felt more like I was IN the car rather than ON it.

The Ferrari feels more like a regular car in this respect. The sport seats in my car don't have much cushion but the seats are very supportive. It's more roomy inside than the NSX.

I miss the cockpit feel of the NSX.

Interior:
My Ferrari has the leather roof and leather rear shelf option so the interior is just full of leather. The car smells like no other car I've ever smelled. It's an 02 and it smells brand new.

The NSX also had a leather smell but more of a traditional one. The leather in the Ferrari smells like no other leather I have ever smelled. The stitching on the leather is excellent and the tan/black interior combo is absolutely beautiful. The car feels much more "exotic" inside than the NSX does.

Brakes:
The NSX brakes were OK. I've worked the crap out of the Ferrari brakes already. Compared to the NSX... well, there is no comparison... the Ferrari stops RIGHT NOW.

F1:
The F1 tranny is fun when you go fast, boring when you don't. I miss having a stick shift. You can just drive a stick car moderately hard and have fun with it. In fact, I was shopping NSXs and S2000's after I sold my NSX just because I miss having a stick shift and miss having a really fun car I can drive around without having to worry about it so much.

Attention Magnet:
The Ferrari wins here of course. People like the NSX - it's another level with the 360. Even my friends' parents asked for rides in the car. That surprised me. Most strangers comment on how young I am when they see me next to the car. I'm 30 but I look 25 but still.. that never happened in the NSX.

Sound system:
Bose system in the NSX is better but I'm satisfied with the Ferrari sound system. It's loud enough and sounds OK. Putting a great sound system is a waste in that car - the exhaust can easily drown out the stereo. In the NSX, I think the interior was quieter.

Looks:
I love the shape of the NSX. A lowered NSX with the right wheels is absolutely beautiful. It has that class midengine look. The Ferrari is more modern of course and more beautiful but it doesn't have that classic mid engine appearance. Still, I greatly prefer the looks of the Ferrari.

Ownership experience:
Ferrari - hands down. It's not just a special car, it's a marque that's special in so many ways to so many people. I mean - the smell of the leather, the engine sound, the F1 Championship badge in my interior, the prancing horse, the stitching, the colors..... damn, I love my car.

Quality:
There were several issues with the NSX I had to fix. The car was reliable but since I owned a 92, I had the common failures to deal with. I had to fix the evap, ABS, master cylinder, Bose speakers, snap ring prevenative maint, etc. I spent thousands on the car. I also redid all the seals at 110k miles when I did the cams and other upgrades (Thanks to Jon Martin).

The Ferrari feels solid and I have no worries about the car. I couldn't say the same if I owned a 99 model. I go in for my 15k mile service soon and it's gonna cost me around $3k. I think modern Ferraris are reliable. If something does go wrong however, you'd better be ready to PAY.

Depreciation:
I bought my 92 NSX for 35k and could have sold it for 29k. Even without the mods, I would have only lost 10k on the car after 6 years of ownership! I sold it for less than that to a friend.

I plan on owning the 360 for 3 years and will probably lose about 30k in depreciation. Precentage-wise, that's less than I experienced with the NSX.

Final words:
Stock for stock, the Ferrari is in a completely different league and can't be compared. I think a stock 91 - 96 NSX is actually not a very fun car. However, the NSX can easily be tuned and modified to make the driving experience much better.

 

Totally agree with comments on keeping the NSX if it's possible. I personally love the 360 and have often considered buying one, but the NSX is just a great all around iconic car. I still have mine after often contemplating selling due to lack of use over the years, but although rarely driven I place it actually above (this is heresy and blasphemy on a Ferrari board) my 512TR in overall driving experience, which by all accounts is a raw true Ferrari driving experience - so that says something.

It will truly be a personal preference choice and you're dealing with a lot of bias asking the the question on a 360 forum and you will have to drive a 360 to decide

 

I have both. The NSX is a great car (especially in the context of other cars of the same era) but the experience is totally different compared to the 360. I remember the first time I drove the NSX again after getting the 360 and I thought to myself that the 360 makes the NSX seem like a Camry -- an exaggeration yes, but there really is no comparison between the two. The 360 has way more power/nervous energy and is more visually and viscerally exciting. That being said, I still enjoy driving the NSX for it's reliability and refined/understated performance (still fast) and now slightly retro (but not outdated) looks, and also that you don't see one every other day even here in SoCal!

 

I found one of my writeups, but it was not the comprehensive one. I could summarize my experiences as such:
The NSX is still one of the most gorgeous cars on the planet. More gorgeous than the 360 in my opinion. The NSX interior wins hands down. The seats are perfect and it feels like you are in the cockpit of a fighter jet. With a couple of transmission mods (4.55 ring and pinion, short gears) the car is an absolute blast to drive. It has that "snap" acceleration that the 360 has. Not so much without the gears. If you supercharge the NSX you can achieve the same HP as the 360 but then you lose that snap acceleration. The 360 suspension wins hands down. The 360 sound wins hands down. The 360 brakes win hands down.
The thing about a fully modded NSX is that you are driving a 400 HP car that was designed for 270 HP. With the 360, you are driving a 400 HP car that was designed for 400 HP. Driving the NSX extremely fast (~160 feet per second) was scary. I have had the 360 over 180 feet per second and it really wasn't that bad. On my local onramp, I could never get the NSX over 110 feet per second, even with all of the mods (over 400HP) but could get the 360 to 140 feet per second on the same stretch of road before braking to enter the freeway at the posted speed limit.
The NSX really is a fantastic car, but the 360 is, in my opinion, at another level.

 

I'm trying to sell my gt-r with the hope of getting a 360, but I am planning on keeping my nsx. I've owned mine for ten years and it has most mods except a super charger and I can't imagine getting rid of it at this point. Now to convince the wife... It was easier to buy cars when I was single!


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I have a 92 NSX with 140k miles (I bought it with 10k) and a 430. The NSX is wonderful, and I hope to keep it forever--fantastic car considering the age and relatively low cost compared to Ferrari. That said, when it drive the NSX right after the Ferrari, I have often thought maybe the car had problems--low power, poor braking, handling, etc. nothing was really wrong, just much lower performance level when just having driven the 430. If I just drive the NSX, it feel great-and it really is. Very different cars--both fantastic.

 

Agreed. I've driven both and the NSX has plenty of performance. Not a bad option.

 

I had a 92 NSX, great back when I had it..many years ago, but the only time it felt exotic to me..was when you were driving it hard and fast, if you drove it normal..it felt like a honda... at least to me... ferrari feels exotic when driving slow and fast...

 

they would look good together in the garage.
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The NSX is a milestone.
I don't ever imagine selling mine even though I plan on adding a 360CS next to my Boxer (another keeper).
Comparing a 360 to an NSX is like comparing a 458 to a 360.
Of course one is faster. Thats a given.
But there will never be another icon like the NSX. It took Ferrari 8 or 9 years to catch up to it engineering wise.

If you can justify only one get the 360. Just remember respect and acknowledge where the base design originated.