Need some input...Deciding between an F40 and a Carrera GT

F40 all the way. Its a classic vs. a newbie... one of the great ferrari super cars vs. the new porsche. no electronics vs. electronics...

 

That's a really tough choice. One of the best loved classic Ferrari aginst the cutting edge in auto technology of the Porsche..... GO with the F50.

 

Well,
I think it's formerly a subject concerning passion.
The F40 is the ultimate REAL Ferrari, the one desired entirely by Enzo Ferrari, a real race car with a city plate. So obviously it's a very special car: hard to drive, noisy, but it's a car where the hands of passionate men (not mechanical arms) have created a myth.

The Carrera GT is the emblem of the future: great technology, simple to drive but also created by the Marketing! Not by passion as Enzo Ferrari wanted!

So i think there's not an answer:

If you want a jewel, something very special to drive sometime, a celebration of traditio, a rare example of an Italian way of building sportcars, maybe the Ferrari is the correct choice.

If you like to have a strong piece of modernity, to use to go to do shopping and drive a 300 km/h relatively easily, maybe the Carrera GT is your car.

 

Hahaha im with you in your thinking patpong F50 all the way!! Rock on, V12, convertible if desired, awesome looks + the Ferrari badge..
however if you dont want an F50
I love both the F40 and Carrera GT, but having seen both of them, i'd have to say that the F40 looks just that bit more outrageous, low slug and will be the difinative supercar! it certainly looks the part!

 

An Fchatter invited me to the Hong Kong Porsche club driving event at the Shanghai GP track this past Saturday. There were 3 CGTs there. Very nice car, but not raw like the F40 was. One of the owners also has a 288 GTO and an F40, I asked him if he liked the CGT better and he said it was different and much easier to drive on the track than the F40.

I thought it was too quiet a car (I think my wheezy Mondial makes a better noise).

Drive both, buy the one that makes the smile bigger.

 

Come to think of it... it's a Ferrari. stay with passion. Techno comes and goes.
last month me and wife went out to an invitation to test drive a Mercedes AMG SL65, their AMG top model 600+ hp. turbo. with traction control. When we're in the car. We stop on the side of the road and count 1,2,3 then I floor the accelerator all the way. The car just pulled and pulled and pulled, so hard we both laugh. Then, we stopped and did it again and again. We were like kids with new toy. We sort of laugh along the way. It pulled really hard and smooth and quite, we felt like we were in a roller coaster than in a car. Half and hour later, we got a little dizzy. We were a bit confused about the experience if we like it or dislike it. Yes, it pulled or accelerated hard but it didn't feel like a supercar experience or even a car. It's like we were in an airplane taking off.......
.....may be if the car's so perfect, nice smooth quite easy soft comfortable then what's the challenge in it.

 

Ok, why does everyone say "the carrera gt full of its electronics" it has ABD and ABS, thats it....not like it has a PSM system or anything....

 

The F40 is a bare bone racing car. But if you wish to ride in comfort, go with the CGT.

 

I have both a CGT and an F40.

I drove my CGT from HK to Shanghai last week and put over 200kms on the Shanghai F1 track.

Would I drive my F40 over 2,000 kms in a week over some rough roads at high speed and then track day? No way!

The F40 with stock rims and brakes will scare you to death at 280 kph on the main straight of Shanghai (longest in F1) when you have an urgent need to slow down a bit for a sharp 2nd gear hairpin corner at the end.

When my engine alert light in the CGT went blaring after 5 laps and I limped into the pit at 3,500 rpms, was I happy or what that the technician could plug in the laptop, see that the octane in my fuel that I picked up en route from Nanjing to Shanghai was low, reboot the system and get some additive in my fuel AND OFF I GO!! No damage, no drama, only 3 minutes of down time. Long live electronics!

I had my Daytona at the opening of the Shanghai F1 track. I love the feel of old cars. It was special to take a great old car to a great new track.

But it was no less special to come armed with a state of the art weapon and go hunting.

So here is my simple bottom line - every car has an optimal use. Find a car that suits what you really want to do and then just do it.

My CGT has 8,000 kms already from blasting around China and I will continue to pile on mileage. My F40 will never see that kind of workload. But I love the car for less ambitious tasks and the smile it can bring is huge.

CGT is paying me with sheer pleasure of use. It can depreciate. I don't mind. It cost half of an Enzo. It is definitely more than half of the car that an Enzo is.

F40 gets the respect that an aged super car deserves. Of course I will drive it and I am not afraid of stone chips. I fitted 19" OZ wheels and F50 track day brakes to take advantage of advances that will keep me safer. But it should not be subjected to the same strain as a new car.

On the topic of electronics, I just completed my Pilota advanced course. It happened that this course was only 2 days after my CGT track day in Shanghai. I drove quite a number of Ferraris in that program. The electronic aids in the Ferraris (including 575 GTC, 360 6 speed and 430 F1) were hard to get used to after the CGT.

I love raw cars and hate electronics spoiling a corner on the edge. BUT I am no superstar at never crossing the edge and don't mind being rescued once in a while. The CGT is truly amazing in that regard. It will save you (maybe) but you will sure feel it if your right foot gets trigger happy before the apex.

 

Please don't take this the wrong way, But if you have to ask the question, I think you should buy the CGT.
I would like to believe that most F40 guys (or girls?) own the car for everything it stands for as well as the experience it gives. The history of Ferrari, the last car Enzo had hand on design, the first 200 mph supercar. All that stuff. I would also guess they all bleed a little Rosso Corso
So if you want a cool fast car, pick up a CGT. Have fun. In a few years there will be a new trick cool car. Enjoy it too. Nothing wrong with that.
But if you want to live with a legend, well......

 

its a double edge sword. I know you will want the f40, but the truth of the matter is that you are on a ferrari board. there is a sense of loyalty. But, lets face it. CGT is a great car. My suggestion is go with the ferrari, then wait for some more additional depreciation to occur, and pick the cgt. that way you wont take the hit from the porsche. I simply just cant justify depreciation of $50g right off the bat just for a new car. Because afterall, why cant you wait to have both? I wouldnt buy a new new car simply because these cars are exotics. they are not daily driven corollas. More than likely the owner who had driven the cars take good care of it.

 

My 3 cents ( i added a penny since i have an f40)...

Which car keeps you up at night?

I searched a year for my f40 (1990). Every time I had a promising lead I could think about nothing else.

Obviously I'm biased, but decide why you're buing the car.
performance,... looks,... pseudo-investment,... crowd appeal,... show,... track.

The decision should become easier. One thing for sure, shop wisely, and you won't have too much trouble getting out of an f-40. not as sure about a carrera gt now or 5 years from now...

 

just typing while thinking...
My choice by passion is the 288GTO or a F40, Ferrari supercars built while Enzo was alive and so pure and sort of simple. My real choice is the 288 anyway. Right now I'm not yet out to buy either one, the Carrera GT is such an awsome machine and a Porsche at that, but maybe I would rather own a GT1 which for some reason no one even talks about, so I wonder about the Carrera GT a car that there are many to choose from. Drive both and pick the one you lke the most, but if you happen to really be a Ferrari guy at heart then the choice will be a clear one, the F40.

 

Excellent post.

 

Do you have any pics of the F40 with 19" wheels? I have never seen one before and would love to know what it looks like!

 

Sorry i did a typo on the 19. I have never seen one with 19" wheels either! Attached are the photos of my car with OZ's

 

F40

 

Since the Carrera GT is a MUCH newer car and the technology is far more advanced than that of the F40, it (CGT) would be the obvious choice. I have spoken to a fellow who has an F50 and a CGT and he says the CGT is a smoother ride whereas the F50 is much more aggressive. If you want your body to be sore after a drive, get the F40, otherwise, pimp it with the CGT. Furthermore, the CGT stock sounds pretty much better than ANY other car around, period! Especially with the prices plummeting, grab a mint CGT and drive the damn thing!