I love both cars so much! :)
When I've pondered this, I think both cars personify their makers so well. I'm not at all into Porsches but I wouldn't deny the importance of the 959. My vote of course goes to the F40. IMHO it is simply THE ICON.
The F40 is race purpose car !! It is flawed, more dangerous, less comfortable, less practical for daily use !! The 959 is a better all around car !! It has safety features (AWD), luxury comforts and more practical for daily use !! Both are gorgeous and very very fast !! However, since none of these cars will every be used daily, my vote goes for F40 for the pure thrills and pure driving experience !!!
Armen, I love both the F40 and the 959, but as much fun as an F40 can be, from a usability perspective, I would pass on both these and take the 288 GTO instead. Perhaps as a fellow GTO owner you'll agree! Unlike the F40, the GTO can indeed be used every day if you like, it has great ground-clearance, absolutely superb visibility 360 degrees around the cockpit and is super-easy to live with. It just begs to be driven in an inviting way. You don't even have to open the engine cover to top-up the oil, and it has pleasing upholstery with carpeting and nice leather sports seats which our wives will actually sit in! The latter was a sore point with all 3 F40s we owned over the past few decades. The GTO really is the Supercar for all seasons, it's a nice touch that it is the number 1 car in Ferrari's Supercar Series for evermore, and it's rarer than the 959 and vastly rarer than the F40. Not to forget, it's FIA Homologated for Group B too, so it covers all the basis. There is a reason they bring what they do, and I submit it as the one to own if one has to pick just one of any of the aforementioned.
You are my hero !!! Sure, if you live in Geneva and commute to Monaco daily , the F40 would be a great driver !!! To be 100% honest, how that I grow up, and my business is growing and doing better all of the time, I find more time to enjoy my supercars... So, whenever possible, I try to use them as frequently as possible !! So , an F40 could potentially be a daily driver !! The best way to get our of bed to go to work !! and the commute back home is NEVER boring !!!
Never ever experienced that, conversely, in this information age I'm surprised how much even teens who weren't even born when the car was launched know about the GTO. The overwhelming majority of comments about them are how much more aggressively beautiful they are in person compared to in images. Also, the way motorists of more pedestrian cars react to you driving the GTO is different than when you are driving the F40. In the 40 I get some funny (envious or worse) looks, perhaps because of the racy-looking wing, in the GTO it's always a broad smile and a thumbs up.
Well you were right with the Magnum reference, before the information age many people thought they were some type of 308! I would have happily explained the difference to anyone but have never had to
I’ve contemplated this very question for a long time. They are very different so it’s really a matter of what else you have in your collection and what gets your juices flowing. One stumbling block I still haven’t fully vetted is can a 959 be enjoyed without spending six figures on service on a regular basis. At the end of the day, the conclusion was not which one, but which one to buy first. ps if anyone has first hand experience on the service question on the 959, I’d love to hear their insight. Feel free to DM me.
I love both cars, but gave up on the 959 when I talked to a Porsche tech working on one. I asked what he was trying to diagnose, and he explained that the most powerful chip at that time was an Intel Pentium (I think running DOS software)! So finding a working laptop able to run that software to interface with the 959 was just the start of the challenge.
Porsche Tech supercars are cool, but make no mistakes about it they are INSANE amounts of tech that no one really knows what happens in 15 20 years and were seeing that with the 959. Any mechanic who works on them says dont bother, same goes with the 918. Get a CGT and call it a day, its better than all the cars mentioned in this thread and then some...... thats my 2 cents.
I'm sure if you post this on Rennlist or another Porsche site, the response will be people prefer the 959.
For drivability I would go with the 959, AWD and more of a street car. But for excitement, F40. If I had to pick one I'd say 959.
