I agree with William H that the Porsche 917 was the best looking car that Porsche ever made, with the 904 ranking up there as well. However, I happen to also believe that the prettiest street car ever made was the euro-bumpered 308, and I love the 288 GTO. I believe Fiorvanti did that shape when he was at Pininfarina. I also find the Alfa GTV-6, again with euro-bumpers, a very nice design. Giorgio Giugaro did that one.
A Porsche is simply ugly for supercar standard. It is one step up from the Mercedes SL series. Now the Porsche 2004 came out exactly like the 90's ones. They have that same look since the begining of their company. Magazine critics critizied the Lotus Esprit looks to be out dated. What about this 911. What update about it. It even go backward in design. Ferrari has best design and styling. And that last forever, not technology. In classic cars market, the 911 isn't anywhere near Ferrari in value at all. Why? because it's ugly...
I think it depends on what you want out of a car. I have a 993. I had about the same amount of money to spend and my goal was to have a reliable track car that I could have a lot of fun with. I looked at the 308 vs the 993 and I chose the 993 because for a reliable track car, the 8 year old Porsche beat the 20 year old Ferrari hands down. That said, My boyfriend had a 308 and now has a Lambo. When we go out, do you think we take my car? NO WAY!!! for looks, styling, and pure fun the Italians have the Germans beat IMHO. The other plus to the 993 is that it is not as rare, meaning you can park it and not have to worry about comming back and having fingerprints all over it, or (this happened to me last week) someone almost running into you because they are trying so hard to look at your car. They are both great cars, it just depends on your needs.
my 2 cents and quite likely already covered in this thread... I have a 996 Cab and a 550. What I like about the Porsche is that: I can turn the key and smash the accelerator and go - no warm up period I can park it in the sun and the dash wont get heat warp I can leave it for 4 months and turn the key and it will start I have gone 30,000 miles with little more than oil changes I can park it almost anywhere without worry No check engine light going on No costly services No timing belt changes The Porsche is great to drive - indeed it was my dream car. Then I got the Maranello. If I a looking to enjoy a drive - hands down it is the Maranello that comes out to play. I am not sure if it is any one attribute; power, feel, sound, that make the 550 my car of choice - rather it is the combination and then something indescribable that most of us on this board can't describe that make the Ferrari what it is.
Porsches are not beautiful and don't get attention? Funny. My 930 gets almost as much attention as my 328, and it does get more compliments and conversations started, don't even start with the performance almost nothing can touch this car in speed, anyone that has tried has ended up looking like a fool they were so far behind me. Italians don't have a monopoly on the fun to drive aspect as well 930s are a blast to drive only if you are a good driver and like severe oversteer and spinning your tires at 60mph, they are very light at 2600 lbs about 500 less than my 328 and my 512Boxer and nimble, you can rack up miles on them without care of counting down till the next belt change or concern of a failure.
I have owned both Porsches and Ferraris. I enjoy them for different reasons. I remember reading a great article back in 1995, I think. It was in Top Gear mag. The cover was the 993TT and the F355B. Both facing front to front. In that article they talked about how the two cars compare to each other on the track, on the street, etc. In the end the writers' came down to this. The 993TT was a great car as was the F355B, but in their opinion they thought the perfect solution was to own both, if you can afford it. Drive the 993TT Monday to Friday and drive the F355B on the weekends. In the end they said if you had to choose only one then it would be the F355B. It was just so much fun to drive. The experience of driving the F355B just was so special and that when you buy a sports car you buy it to drive on special occasions. This was their thoughts. So the Ferrari would be their choice. At that time I was thinking of buying one of the two. I went to look and drive both. The 993TT was faster and easier and everything else everyone has said here. The F355B was special as Top Gear had written. Ultimately I fell for both cars. It was then I decided to work towards being able to have the ultimate as Top Gear said. I bought the F355B and loved driving it on weekends and special times. But I also ended up buying the 993TT. It was a great car to drive daily. And compared to everything else I was thinking about at that time. It made sense. It was not expensive to maintain, and yes it was special enough to drive, may be not to the people you pass. And yes you needed to be a car person before you would really know and or understand what was special about a 993TT. The other thing was most people just saw it as a Porsche. Not a 993TT. So in my daily life it was perfect. I loved driving it just as I loved driving the F355B. Both cars brought me great enjoyment in the different sensations and feel of driving them. Porsche and Ferrari design and build incrediable cars. It is a pleasure to be able to have a choice of what to buy. And it is interesting to see how two companies go about building a sports car. As for special well as the Enzo is special to Ferrari and represents the best in their abilities, so does the Carrera GT represent the best in Porsche's abilities and special to Porsche. Are any of you telling me you would refuse either of these cars if some one offerred one to you? I know I wouldn't. I might have a prefrence but I wouldn't say no to either. We live in great times if you love cars. Just look at what is happening to regular cars like BMW with the new M5 and MB with the E55, CL65 etc. The three germany companies are in a battle of who builds the badest, fatsest sedan. This is a win win for us. How cool is this. When have any of us thought a M5 would be as quick as a 911 or quicker. If you told me when I was a teenager this would happen, I would have never imagined it possible. But here we are. Now if you love performance you can buy a sedan that allows you to enjoy handling, speed, and comfort for four. This is all good for me. And when it comes to sports cars again you have great choices. Both Porsche and Ferarri are building better cars than they have ever done. May be not prettier but better in lots of ways. Cheers,
I dont know why I come into this thread so much. I always just end up Pissed off. And writing a post that I know will get me banned if I don't tone it down to one long beep. The details of the rant were that 1: Classic Porsches can cost as much and more than Classic Ferraris 2: The 911 body style has remained the same because it is the 911. If they changed the body it would be a different car. The reason why journalists don't complain about the shape is because it is a truly beautiful and timeless design. Indeed if Porsche did change it they'd cause a horrible uproar from the journalists for tampering with perfection. 3: Normal 911s do not cost near as much as Ferraris because of the difference in production numbers, it has nothing to do with beauty.
Porsche makes far superior cars than Ferrari in all areas of performance, reliability, economy, parts availability and build quality. However, a Porsche will never match Ferrari's cachet. A Porsche is a wife whereas a Ferrari is a mistress!
Well here's an Ego buster for you folks......sold the 308 and eventually got a VW-Porsche 914 just to have fun with. Gets as much attention, thumbs up and comments as the 308 did. All for the price of minor F-car tune-up. Nothing sounds as nice a a Ferrari - thats for sure - and the body designs and mystique of the F-car are unsurpassed. Might even consider another one someday.
After owning both, I would like to make the following comparison: A Porsche is like a very good looking woman, who has a good career, good disposition, likes outdoors, indoors, etc. A Ferrari, on the other hand, is like a very beautiful, very temperamental high maintainence woman who prances into a room with her head held lofty and everyone stops what they are doing to stare.
i think the whole high maintanence italian car thing is overated, sure Ferrari tune ups are expensive but go to a non F dealer and it will cost you half. when u have the money who cares? i bought a 15 yrd old alfa romeo, ppl told me wat a mistake, high maintenance, so many problems, get a japanese car bla bla......after 6 months the final resuslt:.................a burnt headlight, radiator fan switch and bal joint adding up to 250$cdn. during this same time period my friend's that drive german, volkswagens and bmws have given them so many expensive and serious repairs that my alfa looked like a toyota in reliability terms.now should i have bought a Bmw or volks for the week and an alfa for the wknd cuz an alfa is like a mistress??? ppl drive your italian cars as much as u can, they like it that way
Here are some good points over Porsche.. http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33769&page=1&pp=20
I've owned both, but never felt the Porsche was a great car. I do think that about both the 355 and the 360. Both are great to drive, the Porsche felt like my first new car, a 1966 VW, on steroids. Good car, but not a Ferrari. Art
Porsche vs Ferrari? Frank is right. If you compare the "comparable" models, the Porsche is superior in almost every performance related way and it costs far less. But, it doesnt look as good, sound as good or carry as much mystique. I own both. I love my Daytona, its my favorite car. It is just amazing. Incredible heritage, looks, sound, engineering and style. But if I am heading for the track, I'll take my '69 911S every time. The 911S has 225hp vs 400hp for the Daytona.... but the Porsche would run circles around it on the track plus the Porsche will run hard on the track all day long without a hiccup. The Daytona.... the brakes wouldnt last 5 laps. I drive a '00 Boxster S as an every day car. Its reliable, looks good, is fast and handles better than just about any other car on the road. Its extremely practical and very comfortable. The A/C even works great when the top is down! Still.... you see 10 of them every time you go out. It has no charisma. If ultimate performace is what you want, get the Porsche. If racing is your thing, from club racing to professional endurance racing.... get a Porsche if you want to win. If you want an interesting car that looks better than anything else, draws a crowd, is unique and has a great history but you dont mind being outrun on the racetrack, buy the Ferrari. Better yet... buy both! Terry
Someone who owned both makes once told me that "Porsche is a great car, and Ferrari is a great experience." Dave Olimpi
Well, there you have it. Against the Ferrari, the Porsche makes a great case for itself. It is all in all by far the most sensible choice. But if sense had anything to do with it, I´d go out and buy a Toyota. I´ll admit though that some ratio comes into the equation. Just enough to make a Ferrari justified for those that truly want one.
Interesting comment! On a recent club drive I had a BMW riding my tail all day. He was part of the group and was kind enough to never cut into the pack of Ferrari's but I know he could have passed me several times. While I'm sure he wouldn't have been able to keep up with the 360CS and 355's that led the pack he had no problem keeping up with the "old-slow" 308 in the back of the pack!
