Would you sell a BBI and kick in the difference to get a ford GT, or spend some money on the BBi and get an elise as well. I want a car for track play so the BBI is for the street and the elise would be for the track. A ford GT could probably do both well and there would only be one "reliable" car to take care of and insure. The BBI will alwayst cost to keep going and upgrade, but an elise boxer combo is still going to cost less at least intialy. Or should I just wait and go for a porche gt3 in a few years time. The boxer is my first and only fcar we are old freinds, but maybee a ford GT has all the classic atributes of a boxer with more power brakes and handling and would be just as satisfying to own over the long term. The GT also goes out of prod in less than a year.
Sean what part of CT are you from?? I know a couple Ford GT owners and if your interested i could put you in contact with them. -Jason
I'd go Boxer + Elise combo... tracking the Ford would probably void the warranty. Your boxer probably has been 'sorted' by this point, whereas the GT's have been running into many problems, it seems.
I own an elise and have tracked it a couple of times. Phenominal performance on the track, a little cramped for daily usage on the street. I go on drives with a couple of guys that own GT's, and they are also impressive but do you really want to track a $200K car? I would keep your boxer and go for the Elise, make sure you buy the sport pack, extra oil cooler and Rspec rubber. My theory is two cars are always better than one.
I love all three cars myself yet all three are so different! The BB is the most exotic, but it will keep your attention getting it and keeping it in shape. If money is not an issue you can just toss zeros at it and you'll have the best of the bunch as far as overall appeal. It's a Ferrari! But it will not be the best track car or street car compared to other stuff out there. It's just the coolest of the bunch for looks, mystique etc. IMHO. On a track, the Elise will smoke the BB and may even smoke the Ford if the track is small enough. Again, it's not a great street car in that it's small, stiff and has limited stoage for the Home Depot runs. But it's "cheap" to buy and is the most like a race car for tossability and handling (the Ford may be close...). The Ford may be the 'best' overall at doing everything well. You can drive it in stop and go traffic, it will do well on any but the smallest tracks, it looks cool and will have a factory warrenty if you buy new. And it looks really cool too. If it was me, I'd buy the Elise if I was on a budget, the Ferrari is money was no object and the Ford if I had twice the budget of the Elise. Your opinions, of course, are the only thing that counts however! Ken
Well, if you need some storage, maybe the Elise isn't such a bad choice after all. At the last NorCal Exotics run, ErnieGT was checking out my Elise and said, "Wow, you've got a lot of storage in there!" I thought he was kidding, until he showed me what his Ford GT has... the Elise's trunk looks huge in comparison. Empty (without the soft top), the Elise has room for a good-sized soft bag, and maybe a little more. The GT had room for a medium-sized camera case. The only shortcoming of that car, I'd believe... I just love my Elise. Aside from the nitwits who feel they have to challenge you in their modified Civics, it's just heaven. Cheers! Orrie
Ford GT is going to lose alot of money. Remember the ZR-1 ? The BBi is a classy collector car. A GT-3 should be a super buy in a few years. You can find as-new cars today, for the mid to hi 80s. Elise ? Wait and see what a used one will bring three years from now.
My personal experience is that no matter how wonderful your main exotic car is, you will at some point get tempted by something else- (Gee, the analogy is obvious, but i won't make it). I had a BBi and it is probably the Ferrari i most regret selling, even though it was one of the least valuable, dollarwise. What if you buy a used track beater, Elise or otherwise, keep the BBi and set money aside to eventually buy yet another car?
I would keep the BB and get the elise on the theory that two fun cars are better than one. Of course, that thinking leads toward keeping the bb, buying the elise, and buying the ford too.
Thanks for all the toughts, this quote is exactly where my head is at, but alas would need to sell the bb to go for the GT. The GT is probably too much for the street and an elise might be more fun, storage etc is just not an issue, I have an m3 for that, and whenever the road gets really fun I wish I was in the bb. Modern cars like the m3 just dont test and reward in the same way. The GTseems like the last and greatest of the old school cars. I think t will be worth a lot in the future, we will not see its type again. Its certainly going to cost a lot less to keep in the long haul compared to the bb. But the bb just has that classic stylish shape. In the end I am going to get a drive in the GT, hopefully it will either blow me away or just be another fast car, then the choice is easy. One thing I know is that if I sell the boxer I will always be sorry, but if I keep it I may regret the decision if ever something major goes south.
Great plan was thinking of that, possibly a morgan or era cobra as well, but then its back to looking after multiple cars, and dealing with the insepction beracrats every year is just wasting too many days.
I too am smitten by the Ford, and do think it's a wonderful car. But, everytime something is released as a 'last of,' 'never to be duplicated,' 'special, one time production,' I am skeptical. I'm not suggesting that Ford is hyping or is cynical. My point is simply that it is easy to be enticed by the prospect that your purchase will be a sound investment for the future; in my experience, at least regarding motorsports, nothing new really qualifies (Oh, yeah, maybe the McLaren did, but the price of entry was pretty high when new, and if you really wanted one today, you could still buy it for what it cost then). Maybe I'll be proved wrong with the passage of time, but something tells me that the money is better spent on what you want to drive now; if that's the Ford, go for it, not because it will stand the test of time. In fact, if you look at your buying habits, maybe you'll find that you switch cars every couple years, as I do, making the whole thing moot. Good luck with your decision.
Herr Prof Not thinking necessarily of "investment" value. So far have kept the boxer 12 years, so would go for a GT to last a long time. For me favorite car is 288 gto. A GT seems to offer similar or better performance and is "affordable" to buy and run. But I also want to learn how to drive much better on a track since cornering speeds are the thing to learn o a lower powered car like an elise is probably a better choice. But then an elise is something that just gets used up, and a boxer can easily eat the difference in money on maintanance over the next 10 years. Have tried a 550, and 456. The two ferraris were just cars, fast ones but cars, the boxer always feels like youre going into combat. But the boxer is relatively slow. The question is whether a GT feels like climbing into a piston engined fighter ready for combat, or whether it is just another modern car,really fast and with an exotic body, but in the end another do it all car lacking in passion. An additional point is that ferrari and many owners are taking its "brand" image way to seriously, is a ferrari still even the cognocenti's choice. My bet is that in the future lotus will occupy this position and ferrari will be more of a cliche of itself than ever.
According to this discussion, tracking (even "racing", as it were) does not void the warranty. http://www.*********************/vbforum/showthread.php?t=104 The early Ford GT's had mostly minor TSB's issued, along with the suspension arm recall (not a single known case of a customer car failing). They should be well sorted by now. EDIT: Here's a better link (the above is one of those Lambo ones): http://www.fordgt.net/breakingnews.htm
I hear ya Boxerman. I got rid of my BBi for a succession of 550's (well, a Berlinetta, and later, a barchetta) and the 550 just didn't have that gritty, hard-wired feel- its steering was over-assisted, it was extremely comfortable but fat, and you didn't feel like you were snugged into the car the way you were in the boxer. (The seats in the Boxer left something to be desired in terms of lateral support, but I never found them uncomfortable, even on 10hr. plus driving days). What you are describing is in some ways what led me to buy a 6.0 Diablo- sort of a more modern iteration of the boxer in some respects. (But, it is a little like driving an aircraft carrier, at least until you hit some serious speed and have the road space to carry it off- then the car gets all tight and raw). I understand your complaint about the Boxer seeming to be slow. But, it really isn't. Yeah, the 0-60 times aren't impressive, partly because of the shift pattern and the old style rubber, but it can be a seriously quick car when you are underway, at least for 'normal' street driving. I had a Porsche GT 2, which was waaay faster, and it wasn't as visceral as the boxer. Dunno what the Ford will do for you- I haven't driven one (yet) and am quite taken with everything about the car (including the reverse chic of it not being an exotic import). If you buy one, gimme a ride, OK? One other perverse thought i'd like to add. Sell the boxer, don't buy the Ford, don't buy a Lotus. Get yourself an F-40. No matter how rank the Ferrari hype becomes, the F-40 is a classic, it's raw and nasty just like you want and from what i understand, it is way more driveable than a 288 GTO. And, there is nothing like owning a 'dream' car to solve a dilemma, right?
Well an f40 thats 300k+ for that money I could keep the boxer, get a ford and an elise, but I agree the f40 is just mean. A freind in South Africa has a murcilago which he lets me use, so I know that aircraft carrier feeling, but man does it go, especially on the wide open roads. In fact I am taking it for a blast tomorrow. When i get back in a week or so I am going for a drive in a gt, then well see. Recently took a club drive in the boxer, on streets and through mountains it was no problem keeping pace with the lead 360, and what fun. But then my car also has new wheels and modern rubber. On stock wheels the boxer is ponderous and struggles to keep up. Speed is a relative thing, and part of the fun of driving can be in really using the whole powerband, so the relative mildness of the boxer power can be quite entertaining because you really have to work at it. But then I used to have a 500bhp 91 vette, not really a car more a loose collection of parts that traveled in the same direction, but power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutly. In the end t will boil down to the test drives, is the gt a gritty drive, and is the lotus just a total blast. Would love to have them all, but then given an unlimited budjet 40 cars wouldnt stop me.
If i had a BBI i would never sell it. I really like the Ford GT and would love to have one, but it will never be a BBI. In the future the BBI is going to be even more of a classic collectors car and will just go up in price. I guess if i wanted something for the track i would go with the elise just don't sell the BBI.
Did you guys read Motor Trend. The first lap in a GT and the test car broke. Done. Overtorqued nuts in the shaft or something. Way to go Ford! Good quality control. Ya, I wanna put my life in Ford's hands. OK< I know the build Champ Car motors and they are pretty bullet proof, but I suspect they have a diff assembly line for those. Where do they build those crappy GT's anyway? Haha.
Keep the BB, get the elise. Even the GT will be compromised when trying to do both jobs. Though I am on a smaller budget, I am in the same boat. Current car is 4 seater, plus fun car, plus would-have-been track car - all rolled into one. After I find an F-car, plan on a cheap car to enjoy building as a track car. Plus, the GT is hot now, and it will remain a nice car. But the BB is much more timeless. And the Elise will be more fun on the track. I wish my budget allowed me to plan an elise in the future.
