I had my first drive in a F360 with a F1 gearbox today (a Spider). I found two key things that raised doubts in my mind. First of all, on hard acceleration through the gears at full throttle, I noticed the upshifts were harsh (with a jolt). Is this normal? Does it not damage the transmission or clutch? Equally, the inability to do a quick move off with some revs (unless you hold the brake I guess?) suggests it is not as quick to move off as it could be. Along with that, its tendency to jump into neutral whilst stopped at the lights means it needs to be put back into first before moving off. Any thoughts/comments on the above please? Secondly, I thought the power steering didn't let much feedback through to me. Are my comments fair, or perhaps I was just limited by the fact I only had 10-15 mins driving it? Jas
The jolt is what you would experience with a perfect shift. It's my understanding that it does not hurt the car at all. The car should not jump into neutral unless the clutch is possibly going. I've found you have to ease into it off the line. Sure, you can bolt away but it will add more wear and tear. The car is not really suited for quick off the line starts.
Properly warmed up car should shift smoothly at high revs. Keep the foot down without lifting. Going to neutral at stop is unusual if your foot is on the brake pedal.
The whole engine and gearbox assembly is only supported by 3 mounts. They all suffer from fatigue, and have all been replaced with superior types of design and materials. Just look at your plenum chambers in the mirror/window as you manoevure the car or accelerate... if the engine is jumping around you need new mounts. The gearbox mount is the weakest, but the engine mounts fail too. The challenge type gearbox mount is still rubber, but stiffer than even the new road spec mount. I like the challenge spec for the road, but you may want to keep with the improved road spec.
at very cold temperatures when the car is not yet fully warmed up yet, the shifting of the F1 is very harsh and jerky.
Couple of things you should know: 1. There are multiple settings for the driving style of the 360 Modena. In sport mode, the shifts are quicker (harsher), the suspension is harder and the traction control doesn't engage as easily. In normal mode, the driver is much easier. 2. The transmission on my 360 Modena (a 2000 model) absolutely sucked until I had Ferrari upgrade it to the newer one. Now the off the line power is great. Before, there was way too much slip and the car even stalled on numerous occasions. I even had backfiring problems. Sunny
I agree with the above. My 360 is 2 cars in one-cold vs warmed up. The F1 is smooth when warm, but it it takes about 20 min to get the oil temp up. Until then, I take it easy. It also comes off the line better with less clutch slip when warm. If you were in the car when first started, 10-15 min would not be enough time (at least in my car) for the oil to come up to temp. steve
Thanks guys It sounds like the car's behaviour was pretty normal, but would improve somewhat when warmed up. The jolts on upshifting concerned me from the perspective of mechanical stress only. It was not uncomfortable in any way. Jas
Is the manual shifter smoother than the F1? How concerned should one be about repair and maintenance cost for an F1 vs manual? How is the 02 F1 upgrade vs early years F1? Still rough or much improved?
The manual gearbox in the 360 is very slick, one of the best I've driven. Everyone seems to agree (I don't have any F1 experience) that the F1 is a pain in the butt in traffic, but wonderful on the track. From what I hear, there are meaningful improvements every time the software is updated, so the newer the better. Anecdotal evidence is that the F1 system will wear out the clutch significantly faster than the manual, again depending on how you drive. If something breaks in the F1 it will be quite expensive. Gary
Gary, why would a F1 be worse in traffic? No clutch ...There i also automatic mode! I would think just the opposite.
It is counter-intuitive, but that is what F1 owners say. It's just not a very polished system at slow speeds, quite grabby and lurchy I gather. Gary
Grabby, lurchy starts happen when the driver's not applying steady pressure on the gas pedal and not giving the car enough gas.
You're bound to get very polarized opinions on this topic! There are just a few 6-speed manual die hards left (including me) so the preponderance of posts on this site will sing the praises of the F1. Apart from a few outliers (like Willis360's), the clutch life in an F1 appears to be painfully short. Apparently FNA has said that the design life is 10K miles and from anecdotal evidence, at least, that does appear to be the center of the bell curve. The F1 system is significantly more complex than the manual so some poor shmucks are destined to spend crazy money when it fails after the warranty expires. Not to mention the routine clutch replacements. btw, I agree with Gary -- once you get it warmed up, the 360 manual is delightfully smooth and, how else to put it, very engaging!
Wow 10k miles for the f1 clutch! How much does it cost to replace? It seems f1 is the choice for the track and manual is the choice for the street. How will the clutch hold up in an f1, driven mainly in automatic mode? Ive driven tip and manual in Porsche and I really like the driver-car interaction in the manual. Will this hold true for ferrari as well?
Bronson there is no comparison for a Tiptronic Porsche and a F1 Ferrari, Ive had all 4 options 911TT 6speed 911TT Tip. Ferrari 360 6 speed and now 360 Spider F1. The shift time in a F1 vs. Tip is Night and day.. I learnt my lesson when i bought my 911 TT Tip. resale is awful because non sportiness of the transmission. F1 at this point i see split 50/50 but there is no mistaken the shift speed of a F1 much much quicker. I consider myself a well above average 6 speed driver but know-one can stay with the F1
My service manager told me the estimated clutch life is a bit over 20,000 miles. Mine lasted about 30,000 miles. There is another on this site with 22,000 miles on the original clutch. 10K is way to pessimistic. Forget the auto mode in the 360. It's not very good. In fact, I've only tried it a couple of times out of curiosity when I took delivery of my car about 4 years ago. How would it hold up in auto? Don't know. Don't care. Tiptronic is not the same as F1.
So how much would a new clutch cost in the manual and the f1 respectively? Im considering a 00 to 02 so I'm assuming the warranty will be expired.TIA
