Nope. I'd also not take a new Z06. Gallardo is cheaper to maintain than a Turbo. Plus, the Gallardo kills it in the looks and attention department. There's no emotion or passion left in Porsche's product. Yep, it's fast. Yep, it's fun. But it's an "eh" in my book. ...and I've had a bit of a list of 911s to draw from, both air cooled and water cooled. Sadly, I think Porsche has lost it's way with their brand. Great company. Fine cars. Just not my thing... which is odd, because now, Porsche technically owns Lamborghini.
I agree with you on this Emil (as you know), but Porsche hasn't yet gotten approval to buy up that huge chunk of VW stock! Could be a rough road on that one with the investment community...
Well, he said "a mixture of performance and luxury/reliability/comfort". If that's the reason to pick Gallardo over 360, I would think for same reason one can pick a Turbo S over a Gallardo.
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! The Turbo S is a great car. Just too far away from "exotic" for me to care abouut it. The real question is: Turbo S or SL65...
Regarding the SL65. I'm with you on performance, luxury, and comfort but reliability? c'mon, we're talking about a post 2000 Benz.
The SL65 might be great numbers-wise, but it's a damn $175k car that looks (almost) identical to an SL500!! The SLR should have been their $200k car and the SL65 should be competing with the M6/AMV8/etc. in the low $100s.... My $0.02
I'm new here but I hope to change that. Allow me to opine on Gallardos and Mondials. I own an '04 MB CL55. For those who don't know the car, it's a little heavy (4200 lbs) but the motor and transmission are killer. It's not the HP (493). It's the locomotive torque -- 516 ft/lbs at 2700rpm, 400ft/lbs at 1600rpm. 0-60 in 4.7. Fast as blazes and lunges at any speed in any gear. Active suspension (and big Eagle F1 GS-D3 rubber) permits cornering that rivals cars weighing 1000 lbs less. 14.1" 8-piston front brakes. And -- it has a Bose sound system you can enjoy, 12-packs of Bounty fit in the trunk with other stuff, and I can fit 2 adults and a child in the back seat. I now own an '89 Mondial t cab (1 month, 1000 miles!). I have also driven Noah's Gallardo for a day. The Lambo is exactly in between the Ferrari and the MB. The MB is truly point-and-click driving. The Germans have cleverly found ways to capture, filter, and reinterpret all driving feedback so that you get a Disney-esque sensation of motorsport. The input "feels" correct but you know it's fake. The Mondial t is the opposite, especially with a Tubi. The steering wheel feedback! The wind! The engine! The notchy shifter! 'SLOW DOWN 5-8'! The Ferrari hides nothing: it all comes back to you, raw and pure. It's up to you to figure it out. It has a radio but there's no point in using it because the motor+exhaust+wind renders it useless. I wonder about people who put in fancy multi-disc CD players and high-stereo in such a car. I was frankly surprised at how easy it was to tool around in the Gallardo for an entire day. I did some miles in Manhattan and didn't destroy the rims or skirts. The A/C blew ice cold when I was stuck in GW bridge traffic. You can hear the radio, sort of. On the highway it's not nearly as "light" ("responsive"?) as the Mondial but it feels super solid and tracks laser straight. The 6 speed permits 65mph crusing at 2100rpm, minimizing noise. It's like a....GT!
I'm putting my 2 cents in here, bc I'm feeling left out I'd get a Gallardo over a 360 or 430 if I were buying right now, and when the Gspider comes out, it'll be a no brainer. I do think they should have Lambo doors though (even Civics have them nowadays ) And although it is a fantastic car, I wholeheartedly agree with Emil on the P Turbo S - evokes very little passion and too common nowadays. The SL65 is WAY too expensive - went to look at it today and they wanted $195 for it - you could buy ANYTHING for that price - not worth it, esp when you see the same looking car all over the place that you can buy for 100k less. BUT, if I were looking right now, I'd also look at the AM V8, AM DB9 and Ford GT in a BIG way. The new Z06 is GREATNESS, but it doesn't evoke the same passion/ curb appeal/ sexiness as the others mentioned above. The Viper is pure American muscle but... I liked the old body style better. OK, now who's letting me drive their Gcar and who's buying an AM so I can droool all over it? Noah...
Noto -- g-car 3.0 comes back tonight from a customer...give me a call if you want to go for a spin... And I'm with you all the way on (at least) two of the four cars you mentioned....coming this Spring.... nlh
I think he's already done a detailed analysis on this comparo a couple of times... I'll let Noah send you to the right place to read it.
True, but I'll update my thoughts given some changes in various cars.... I'm comparing MY 360 coupe with a combination of Gallardos (I have 2 now, and each has +s and -s) -- these cars are somewhat different from the standard 360 and the standard Gallardo, the comparison isn't truly valid across the board, but whatever...we deal. My 360 Coupe is a ~60k mile Euro w/ 2-deg advanced timing, Tubi, test pipes, and a slowly dying suspension. One Gallardo is a 16k mile car, and the other is a 2k mile car. First off, I should note that there's a significant difference in performance between the two Gallardos -- a testament to the difference a broken-in engine can make. We haven't run the two head-to-head (that's for tonight...Noto!), but indirectly we've run each against the 911 Turbo. The 2k mile Gallardo is slower than the 911 Turbo. The 16k mile Gallardo is faster. 'Nuff said. 360s: My Euro 360 Coupe is _significantly_ faster than our 360 Spider, and a touch faster than (several) CS's...this is most likely due to a combination of the above-listed changes (mostly, I presume, the timing + high-mileage engine). This makes a difference in drivability -- the Spider definitely feels "sluggish" (if you can call it that) when compared to the Coupe, and the Coupe is zippy enough to make it MUCH more fun to drive. Now, head-to-head: For highway driving, zipping in and out, passing, etc., from a pure FUN factor, I prefer the 360 Coupe. The engine is devine, it's powerful, zippy, twitchy, raw, exihirating. You kinda wanna go "woooooohooooooooo" when you plant the pedal on the floor. It's a scream. The Gallardo is a lot more "sane" -- it's faster, more torquey (sp?), MUCH more planted, precise, exact. It gets more looks -- it turns more heads -- but it's more like a spaceship vs. the 360s F1 car. My opinion changed greatly of the Gallardo after a drive last weekend upstate. Hard driving on twisty roads, sharp turns (in a line w/ other cars), at least one gravel patch that made everyone go a little bit sideways, dips, etc. I felt MUCH MUCH more confident driving the G than I would have in the 360. It's so damn balanced and smooth -- even when I went sideways on the gravel the AWD kicked in and made the car feel as if it was intending on going sideways the whole time. So if it's twisty-roads / roadcourse / racetrack driving, I'd take the G in a heartbeat. And that's my $0.02. nlh
Informative post, noahlh. I have always heard that those Italian machines with high mileage broken-in engine gets faster and faster, now you confirm that. A touch faster than CS? Very impressive, was it staged drag race? Are they on this forum? Love to hear their comments on this one.
Good write up Noah. The yellow Lambo certainly turns heads everywhere. I hope Rob got vid or a picture of the G car going sideways.
Not on this forum, and it was 4 set-up highway runs from 30'ish to 130'ish. Three with one CS, and then one with another CS. My 360 came out ahead every single time.
Noah is the man! We took a spin in both Gcars last night - VERY SWEET!!! We didn't go all out, but it was noticeable that the one with more miles is considerably quicker that the new one. I would say the ride is a mix between an all wheel drive Porsche (Turbo or Carrera 4S) and a 360. Very insulated and a little muted when compared with a 355/360, but fantastic in every way!
Must have been a great race! Is there another Ferrari forum you can point me to? I would love to check out some sites where most participants are owners, enjoy some Ferrari info and stories. Way too much OT stuff here.
