What's wrong with simply rolling down the window?
You know, Ken, what always gets me is when drivers race through tunnels to hear how great their cars sound. The is a bit of danger in that...
Agreed - it’s not often I’m out for a spirited drive with the AC on and windows up - while spiders are beautiful cars, the berlinetta lines are what do it for me. That said, much as I love berlinettas and have never been out in a 355 spider, I’d guess windows down in a B is still not quite the same aural experience as top down in a spider, exhausts being equal.
I haven't been out in a 355 Spider either, but I find convertibles with top down tend to have alot of wind noise in general. In the Berlinetta, I find having the windows down half way on both sides feels just about right. Exhaust sound without a ton of wind noise mixed in.
That's funny you say that because when I'm in my Cayman if I put the widows down, even 1/2 way, there is so much buffeting at 60 mph and above that the noise is intolerable. Same in my wife's BMW. I just don't enjoy driving around in a coupe or sedan with the windows down. At best I crack them an 1" or so to help recirculate fresh air. And before you say it, same thing in my 308 GTB. Not to mention the way the air circulates in the car (particularly annoying in the 308). In a closed car with windows down you get a Helmholtz resonator effect that I find very annoying. In the 355 with the top down I don't notice the wind noise over the sound of the engine and the wind doesn't even mess my hair. Not picking on you Ken, just responding to your comment from my experience. Different strokes....
Windows-down air flow varies in coupes. In a Cayman and 911s, I also don’t like the buffeting and resonance effect. The 355, with windows down, doesn’t have the buffeting and resonance IMO.
Probably less in a 2.7 coupe since the F129B is nomming all the air flowing around the quarter windows.
Right. At the track we're required to have our windows open and if we're using a window net, it must have a quick release... Image Unavailable, Please Login There's no buffeting and resonance. The window net hardly moves. Image Unavailable, Please Login There's a reason why windows are left open and why the epaulets on my driving suit are reinforced and not decorative. Can anyone guess why?
I have it on the ultimate authority, the WIFE, that there is not a lot of wind noise or turbulence in the cockpit of a 355 spider with the top down. She pointed out that we often converse while out driving and don't need to raise our voices significantly, unless I'm on it, in which case she puts her hands over her ears and gives me "THAT" stare. Haven't spent enough time in a 355 B to make a comparison.
Really the coupes are great for lack of buffeting as well. Very comfortable to drive at speed with the windows down. Something I notice as I've had cars that are rather awful at the same. B5 S4 wasn't buffeting but felt like someone was pointing a leaf blower directly at your eyeballs. C6 Z06 buffeting was so bad the seat belts would rhythmically slap you. Maybe that's why they were initially blowing their roof panels off.
It would be nice if manufactures spent 10 minutes in the wind tunnel looking at open window aerodynamics. I bet that on my Cayman the buffeting could be stopped by something as simple as making the rear quarter windows tilt out like old '80 3 series BMWs. It's just poor engineering.
The modern 911 and Caymans are known to have excessive buffeting. There are a bunch of aftermarket “triangles” that can be affixed to the leading edge of the door triangle that make a huge difference. I like the ones that attach with double sided tape. Check out fabspeed and other similar sellers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Best LHD car I have seen come to market. https://andreaswuest.com/cars_for_sale/1996-ferrari-355-berlinetta/
Not just modern 911s. My 993 coupes are horrendous with the windows down at anything over 40 mph. That said, my 355GTBs have minimal buffeting and ironically my old second gen MR2 also perfectly fine with the windows down. just depends on the car. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]
