Im finally in the market for a 360 coupe. I love the F1 transmission but heard they are maintenance nightmares. This will be my 5th car so it will probably only see 2-3k year. If you had to do it again... would you go F1 or 6 speed?
I have a F1. I don't see the "maintenance nightmare". But, if I had to do it again, I would have gone with the true 6 speed (three peddle).
I also have F1. Love it. I wasn't looking for a 6 speed man either. If I did it again, it would be F1 for sure. No nightmares so far.
I'm happy with my F1. The only issue in 2 years of ownership so far was caused by a $35 brake light switch. I replaced it in a few minutes and it's been perfect ever since!
If the 360 3 Pedal gear linkage was the same design as the 355 (i.e. with rods etc. rather than cables) I would say a manual - but only just. As it stands, I prefer the F1 system on the 360 over and above the manual. When I bought my 360, I test drove both types of car and found that manual version felt a bit vague and woolly to me. The F1 has its limitations of course, fast pull away is a bit of a non-starter of you'll excuse the pun but other than that, I like it a lot and would not swap. I guess it depends what type of driving you plan to do ? I don't cane the life out of my car, it's driven carefully and with a great deal of respect so the F1 suits me perfectly. If you plan on thrashing it around a lot and doing a lot of fast pull aways then maybe a manual would be better.
If you want the F1.. Get the F1. Just know that if it needs service you are going to need an SD2/Leonardo. Just line up a shop that can do it beforehand. They're not that bad. They're not as reliable as the gated when compared side by side IMHO.. But it's a reliable design. OTOH, sales wise, I won't even consider an F1 for a car if a manual is available... Clicking though the gears on a run is truly magical.
For a 360, I'd go for (and one day plan to have) a 360 MT. Nothing like the open gated shifter. They are now a thing of the past and it only makes the car that much more special.
I'm old school here and really wanted a 6 sp manual. Bought a 00 6 sp and had a blast with it but in my new search I am slightly softening my thought on an F1. For one, there are a lot of really nice F1 cars out there compared to the manual and I definitely don't set any speed records with my driving style. Maybe an F1 would be a fun change. I will admit that if an F1 360 was delivered to me today, I would have no idea how to drive it. Is there much of a learning curve with the F1?
On a 360 I would go with a three pedal car. When I test drove F1 equipped 360's, I found them to be rough, to the point of being worrisome. It felt to me that with every hard shift, I was leaving pieces of the tranny on the road. The F1 transmissions on the 430 are more refined. They were IMHO significantly improved when compared to the 360. I opted for a 430 with paddles. BTW, this question has been asked many times in the past, do a search, you will find tons of posts.
Driving an F1 is quite simple, just keep pulling the right paddle. Seriously, nothing to it. This issue has also been discussed many many times in the past.
I bought a year 2000 manual coupe. Every time I read a thread about F-1 problems, and there are PLENTY of them, I get that warm fuzzy feeling. Same for Spider roof problems. Once in a while I see a thread about someone having problems with a manual transmission (usually a clutch problem) but not very often. And I've never seen anyone complain that the roof on their coupe didn't function properly.
6 or one, half a dozen of the other. F1 works great and is very reliable if set up properly. Of course things can go wrong and as Curt says, you need access to a shop with an SD and an experienced mechanic. The MT is reliable and most anyone can fix it. BUT, my mechanic tells me that he sees more MT with transmission damage, syncros etc. Yea Yea, I know; with your driving style that could never happen. That is what they all say but somehow it still happens. Do you pay a little more to maintain an F1 correctly along the way or do you spin the wheel on very expensive transmission repairs? The MT contingency is very vocal but drive both and buy what you like.
That is the beauty of the F1 system -- it never shifts badly -- no missed shifts no crunched gears. Alan
Without making this into a which is better thread which is not what the op asked... If an owner crunches the gears on the MT, their issues are much much greater than a clutch.To own a car like a 360, you're usually better at shifting than that. The F1 would be better for someone who is coming from a Lexus who can't drive stick. I don't know too many who learned to drive stick on a ferrari save one poster who taught his son to drive stick on a 430. Not a car I would buy personally. You tend to see more posts on the F1 here because of the nature of the technology.
I drove both F1 and 3 pedal before choosing my 04 3 pedal spider. While I like the paddle shift option in new cars, I felt that the 360 was too primitive for me. after driving a number of paddle shift cars, owning a dual clutch Audi, driving the FF and Cali 30...I just felt I wouldn't be happy with the delay's I experienced from the 360 F1 system. I love my 3 pedal EXCEPT when I am really hard on the turns and don't want to remove one hand from the steering wheel to shift. Not really much of an issue unless I am keeping up in a FOG drive with the 458's...they are moving so fast that it is the only time I feel an F1 shift would be easier...drive them both and make you own conclusions. The new dual clutch shifting is so fast that I felt the 360 lacked a little...sorry to my F1 fans out there!
Drove both an F1 and manual 6 speed 360 before purchasing. The 6 speed is very well suited for the 360 in my opinion. It delivers raw muscle car fun. Wouldn't have it any other way in the 360. My suggestion would be to drive both and whatever floats your boat go for it.
Blond or brunette? Much to be said for both. For those who only drove an F1 360 for a short period of time, I takes a while to get good at driving one and a short stint behind the wheel is nowhere near enough time. A new skill set to learn and, once learned, all the jerkyness from not knowing what you are doing goes away.
I am leaning towards 6 speed given these responses.. I have been registered on this site for a while, but rarely post so I apologize in advance if this question had been asked before. Thank you...
