Can't afford a 430 anylonger; should I get a 360 in the meantime?

Keep the Porsche as a daily driver. Prices on the 430 are dropping and will continue to do so. So if you really want a 430-it may be quicker than 2 years before you can afford one again.

The 360 is a very reliable car; however, the Porsche is most likely even more reliable as a daily driver and less expensive to maintain. With that said, if you are looking at saving money to get what you really want, keep what you have and keep saving.

 

+1
I have an 07 coupe and although I paid under market at the time for it, its worth less than I would like to sell it for. Keep the Porsche as the DD for now and wait a bit longer for the early 430s to come into late 360 territory. (example:05 430 with some miles for 04/05 mint 360) Deals keep on popping up everyday so as stated above the wait may not be as long as you think.

 

See if you can drive one if you have not already. Your heart will tell you what to do.

The P-Car is great but it aint an F-Car and yes I have owned P-Cars.

Life is short and two years is a long time.......up to you, but I bought my F430 a month ago, and it is more than I had dreamed it would be.

The 360 is a great car and should not be too bad on maintenance for the enjoyment you will get out of it.

How many miles a year are you thinking?.....Steve

 

Some of the facts from my ownership experience:

360 pros & cons compare to F430

pros : cheaper to buy, more fun to drive, looks better than F430(personal subjective)
Engine & exhaust notes much better than F430 (but still not as good as F355)
Stock car sounds very good at higher RPM (over 5k rpm)
IMO used price is almost bottomed (60K - 90K)
Insurance should be little cheaper

cons : costs more to maintain (especially stupid remote fob or alarm speaker, and timing belt)
Car may die if the alarm speaker battery dies
(it happend to mine, but luckily my car alived after I replaced alarm speaker)
To get the best exhaust sound, you will have to spend some $$$

430 pros & cons

pros : more refined than 360, cheaper to maintain so better for DD.
more comfortable to drive (if 360 is porsche 993, 430 is 996)
Exhaust note is ok after removing valve.

cons : Not as fun as 360, costs more to buy
There are many 360s and too much F430s
IMO still have some room to depreciate.

Bottom line....

The decision is really up to you; however, I would like to recommend you to buy F430 instead of 360 because you are looking for a DD. If not, both cars have its own characteristics so I would recommend both.

At last, either 360 or F430 is not cheap to own.

 

1+
Can't agree more.

 

I have a Cayman S and a 430. Neither are DD. The P-Car is great and fun to drive...but in no way can it hang with the 430 for driving excitement, and the attention it gets is crazy. Also, my Cayman is for sale and I'm having a heck of a time selling it. It's an '07 with 9,000 miles guards red with black. A perfect car for under 40k. So I say sell the CS and get the 360. Then get a 430 in a couple of years if that's what you want to do. Good luck.

 

+1, I love my 360. The 430 body style does not appeal to me. I think the fact that the 430 has a timing chain instead of a belt is insignificant in the overall picture of ownership. Just my .02

 

Just left the 360 for the 430, and my opinion is that the 430 is more fun to drive, so that's subjective. Prices will always drop. 360 prices may plateau, but they'll drop again until they eventually end up in the junk yard like any other car. I drove a 360 for less than a year and was coming up on needing a clutch, which happens faster in a 360, and that's anywhere from $5k to $10k depending on who you use and what needs doing. My 360's stereo also sucked. I was looking at $2k to fix that as well. I was looking at $8k at minimum to get the car where I wanted it to be, clutch, TCU, resurface flywheel, upgrade stereo. Spread that over the payments, and the 430 upgrade was an even trade. Couldn't pass that up. My feeling is that this isn't that uncommon. Your story might go more like, had to replace manifolds, needed belt service, etc. But I wouldn't buy a 360 again. I think it's prettier as well, but it's half the car the 430 is. I would simply wait until you can afford a 430 you want.

 

Half a car that the 430 is???

 

As a Ferrari owner but a true Porsche enthusiast, I often see this argument on the Porsche forums. I currently own every Porsche turbo model from 1987 to current day. It is very easy to argue the aesthetics of each model and why a 964t looks better than a 993tt and so on but one thing it certain is that Porsche never steps backwards in performance. I love when I see passionate air cooled guys argue with the water pumper guys on how the air cooled cars are far superior. They just are not. Same holds true for Ferrari. As the previous owner of a 360 and current owner of an F430, the 360 drives like the box the F430 came in. Drivability, build quality, overall performance is far superior on the F430. As it should. The last thing we would want for the brand is for Ferrari to devolve (so to speak). So the bottom line is buy the best car you can afford. If waiting a bit longer to put an F430 in the garage is possible, then do so. I personally think the 458 is a nondescript looking car compared to a 360 or F430 but will I get one? Yes sir.

 

Agreed....the 430 is way more car and more fun to drive than my 360....

 

Who did you take the clutch to? because even with a NEW flywheel I can get a full clutch job for under 4k all day long (and usually 3k)5k to 10k for a new clutch? are you also replacing the F1 pump during this? maybe a new actuator also? because if you are not 10k is a ridiculous number.. Are you taking it to authorized ferrari? They are bending you over amigo..

my opinion on costs of ownership is that the 360 is essentially an bulletproof car.. yes every 3 years you are talking about 2-3k for a belt service.. but other than that (and perhaps a bit shorter f1 clutch life) you won't notice a big difference in maintenance..

both cars are subject to manifold issues (get an aftermarket exhaust.. tubi to help never have this issue)..

I think if I was buying my first fcar NOW I may get a 430 instead of a 360.. maybe.. but being that I have a 360 it's very hard for me to bother trading "up" for the car.. I still find the 360 to be the more iconic looking of the two.. performance is great for both (4.2 0-60 compared with 3.9) either will make you happy..

If I were in your shoes I would hit up the 360.. it's a work of art.. as if the 430.. but both with make you happy.. maintenance is a non issue (at least it is for me in 3 years and 13k miles) only thing I have done is replace a bad 02 sensor and the standard yearly serivce (brakes and oil)

oh and ricambi and ferrari have dropped to price of brake pads on the 360! you can get all 4 for under 500.00! which somehow is half as much as my maserati pads!

 

When it comes to F-cars, let the heart do the talking. Test drive one and you'll know what everybody means. I've always thought the Porkers were the ultimate toy when I was a kid. When I grew up, having the opportunity of previously owning 2 Turbos (996 and 997 which I ditched for an M6...LOL) and recently having a GT2 RS in the family, I would never trade my 430 for any of them. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the 360. In fact its got lot of soul in these little rockets and they sound and handle absolutely awesome. If finances permit, I'd add a CS to my tiny stable of cars. The 430 is different. It's less edgy, slightly more comfort as compared to the 360. And yes, I agree the prices for 430 in the States is seriously softening, you'll never know if you hold out for another 6 months you'd probably end up getting a Scud or 16M.

Good luck. Ditch the Porker please....yes, it's more user friendly as a daily driver but hell with maintenance costs, you only live once.

 

The clutch was going to cost about $4k. We were looking at a kevlar/ceramic hybrid I heard about here. That quote included resurfacing fly wheel, ring gear?, various other things. The competing quote from Ferrari was twice that. I was going to have Josh at ECS do the work. We were also planning on a Formula Dynamics TCU remapping, OR a COTS Challenge TCU, $2-3k depending. Then I was looking at $2k in stereo upgrades. Granted, that would have gotten me more sound than what I ended up with in the stock 430, but the stock 430 is adequate to not compel me to rip out the OEM gear for Alpine. Does that explain the $8k a little better for you?

As for the exhaust, you pick up an entry level 360 over 8 yrs old and that common exhaust problem is 100% out of pocket. Any 430 and it's taken care of in a recall campaign. No belt service is huge. Another 100hp. Better handling, safer. Shift so darned much better, like night and day, and it would have been a big gamble to spend all that dough on what seemed like a good clutch/TCU combo, but could have ended up being a neck breaking nightmare. A 360 is a project car, in my opinion, what can you rip out and upgrade next. A 430 is what it a 360 shoulda been in the first place. How in the heck did it take a company like Ferrari until 2005 to start using timing chains? What's that all about? Crazy.

 

Easy answer!
They experiment the chain design on the maserati cambiocorsa!
As the results were fantastic and very low recalls on that aspect the decide the upgrade the 430 with the same arrengment oh timing chains.
Good to have a guinea pig thought!

 

Double roller timing chain was a common shelf product in the mid '80's when I was rebuilding 455's. Not exactly experimental tech…

 

Wow, couldn't disagree more.

I do my own shifting so maybe I don't have the F1 issues, when the clutch goes I'll use only OEM no non-factory stuff, the radio is more than adequate as it is typically off in my car, and the performance is more than enough for me (acceleration, handling, braking) while the looks and sounds w/tubi are great. Maybe some day I'll upgrade to a spider or 430, but I don't think I'll ever think of a 360 as a project car!

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion though and we all use and have our cars for different uses/expectations...what makes the world go 'round!

For the original poster, I say get a good 360 and use it only in good weather to really enjoy it and make it a special thing. You live once, and don't know when your life will end If it's not going to strain you financially, do it and get a 430 later!

 

From my point of view after owning both models,

F430 is way more fun to drive than a 360. It sounds meaner and more intimidating. It looks like a 360 that was under steroids, it feels as what a 288gto is to a 308.

 

for fun-ness, i would go for a 360 cs (tho im not sure what the price differential is over there in the US). i use mine as a DD here in singapore, reliability issues not much difference to my previous 360 spider

 

He didn't mentioned the CS, but here in the States one can buy a 430 for more or less $20,000 cheaper than one.
I see he is a little concern about maintenance as I was too, one of the reasons I didn't buy the Stradale was due to its very costly carbon ceramic replacements at way over $20,000, and that car was offered at almost wholesale value when they were selling with premiums! Another negative is when Ferrari started to place carbon ceramics as standard items and not optional on later F430s and the current cars.
In all reality a 360 is more than enough of a car and specially if he hasn't owned anything more performance oriented than the Cayman. But if he can stretch to the F430 then that will really blow his mind away and specially for the low purchase price on relatively a new car.

 

No offense intended, of course. Have you driven a 430? I hadn't, but had heard enough to know that the opinion which is better is universal, when offered the comparison. I completely agree that the 6spd would have to be better than the early F1. I never liked the 360 F1 from the first drive, but assumed, hey, it's a ferrari, must be driver error. I think that was 75-80% the matter. The last 3 pedal I drove was a 50,000lb fuel truck, so I couldn't do stick any better. I wanted F1, and I absolutely do NOT want "that" F1 again. The 430 is the car I was hoping the 360 would be.

 

I agree Andrew.. my 6 speed gated transmission has been perfect, the only and I mean only concern I have in the future are belts. As far as "project car".. yeah you can pimp your out with lots of non-OEM wheels and exhausts.. mine is just fine for me thanks.
While everyone has their own opinions.. I feel no need to upgrade to a 430 and may do the 458 in the future IF my 360 fails to appease me.. And it is no where near my boxster.. Try the 360.. they're so cost effective..

 

Yeah, it was a little rude of me to say project car. Personal experience still stings, but mostly my fault. Live and learn, eh?

 

Perfectly fine to have an opinion (no offense taken by me at the earlier response either!)

I have not driven an 430, but oddly enough have driven an 458 a local collector had. The car was unreal, HOWEVER, it wasn't like I then got into my 360 and was disappointed. When driving the same collector's 599GTB a year earlier and then getting into my 911 right after I WAS disappointed. When I drove the 911 the next day on its own I wasn't, but back to back the soul of a ferrari really stood out and I couldn't get acquiring one off my mind

With that said, I do beleive the 430 is a better all around car and performer, but I don't think FOR ME that I'd drive one and than be disappointed that 360 was not doing it for me anymore. I know it's faster etc, but the cost isn't worth it to me when my 360 isn't bothering me because it's too slow.

I was surprised at the pros/cons post that states the 360 exhaust sounds better than a 430- I thought it was the other way around when talking factory exhaust set ups although I've never compared them in person (only watched some you tube vids). I know a 360 needs a tubi (or other high quality exhaust) in my opinion and I have the tubi so it sounds great. I have no experience with a 430 so I can't comment there.

The alarm battery isn't worth mentioning in my book- I think my mechanic did mine and charged something like $175 or so. Likewise the belts on the aren't a deal killer either - every 3-4 years or so...it's offset by the better looks of the 360

Bottom line I don't think you can go wrong with either car at this price point, although the 430 may have some more dollars of depreciation vs. the 360 left. I would get the 360, and get the 430 when the time is right...I'm sorry I waited as long as I did (although admittedly some of it was a growing family that put the move on hold for a few years)