F430- and (not "vs") the Porsche 911 Turbo

This may be a repeat although I have never seen it before. From Winding Road Magazine the following was noted between the two vehicles. I found it informative and another example of how different two very "comparable" cars can be. Anyone owning both cars knows these are two very different automobiles, but anyone choosing either will not be disappointed. Best

STORY
Advance numbers do tell some of the story between these two absolutely sensational driver’s cars. Whereas the 4.3-liter V-8 in the Ferrari F430 creates 490 horsepower peaking at 8500 rpm, the 3.6-liter twin-turbo flat-6 in the Porsche 911 Turbo is now good for 480 horsepower at 6000 rpm. Our 911 Turbo with six-speed manual weighs in at a Porsche-estimated 3495 pounds at the curb, while the F430 with F1 paddle shifters scales at 3350 pounds (we’ve weighed one ourselves). Hence the weight-to-power figure for Porsche is 7.3 pounds per horse to Ferrari’s 6.8 pounds per horse. Yet the admittedly conservative manufacturers’ estimated acceleration time to 62 miles per hour is 3.9 seconds on the manual Turbo and 4.0 seconds for the F430. (We’ve personally taken the manual Turbo to a 3.7-second run and the F430 to a 3.8-second run.) They can both go near 190 mph with pedalto-metal, but this isn’t the big deal.

On such cars, the big deals are driving dynamics and power delivery during long technical stretches. Highway S65 that happily traverses both high passes in this story is a remarkable piece of work. If you seek a long, satisfying drive in a foreign place, S65, and the arterial two-laners that run up to meet it from the surrounding valleys, is the ticket. Both the Porsche and Ferrari simply glowed, they were having so much fun.

Regarding handling, a fundamental difference here is the Turbo’s viscous all-wheel-drive design that varies constantly between zero and 100 percent of torque-split between the front and rear axles. And torque, you say? Therein lies the rub that ultimately equalizes these two in raw power and speed. Whereas the Ferrari peaks rapidly at 5250 rpm with 343 pound-feet of torque, the Porsche with its 17.4-psi variable turbine geometry turbochargers (14.5-psi without Sport-Chrono) booms away on 460 pound-feet of it available anywhere from 1950 to 5000 rpm. Plus, the Porsche, with optional Sport Chrono in sport mode, gets an over-boost to 505 pound-feet between 2100 and 4000 rpm. In the Ferrari, we keep the revs high while at play. In the Porsche, we could let revs drop low for an utterly separate sensation while duking it out with the Italian. The Ferrari F1 transmission with paddles is the best of its kind in this business, especially as it mates so well to the rev characteristics of the V-8 engine. Porsche’s five-speed Tiptronic S sequential gearbox is not our favorite unit, but the six-speed manual here is slick and fits the Turbo power and torque like a glove.

This personality difference—pure Mediterranean passion versus serious German business—carries over into all aspects of each car. Idle speed for the Ferrari V-8 is set at a bubbling 1000 rpm, while the Turbo flat-6 rumbles steadily at 750 rpm. Exhaust notes under hard power and launching between curves are yelling out loud on the F430, and down and nasty for the Turbo. The Ferrari interior is exactly what we all picture in our heads when it comes to “piloting” a car while nestled down in the “cockpit,” whereas the Porsche is ultimately better to live with over longer drives.

There is a nimbleness in the feel of a mostly aluminum body and chassis, and the Ferrari has this tight and light sense to it. The feeling is aided and abetted by the fairly light feel at the wheel versus the thick and hearty steering weight of the Porsche. Lock-to-lock steering takes 3.1 turns in the F430 and just 2.6 turns in the Turbo, but the all-wheel drive necessarily removes a tad of the steering satisfaction from the experience with the Porsche. With its rear-wheel drive and brilliant E-Diff torque wrangler working discreetly behind the scenes, the steering action on the F430—admittedly our favorite current Ferrari by a mighty long shot—is exactly as we would want it. Under the pressures of high-performance conditions, the Ferrari is sheer fun, though the Porsche is more efficient about getting you to point B. Both GTs have road-holding down to an art, but the revs go so high, so fast in the Ferrari that it can cause more unplanned excitement than the rock-steady Turbo.

Though our Porsche Turbo did not come with the $8840 optional Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB), the standard drilled and vented 13.78-inch cast-iron discs at all four corners worked fine throughout the two days, and the pedal feel was the most progressive of the two cars. Ferrari did gift us with their optional $16,808 ceramic disc set and, dang, but they do stop a car dead in its tracks. The feel is like sandpaper discs rubbing calipers made of cinder block, sure, but once you get over that indelicate sensation, you love the things for the precision and efficient late braking they’re designed to provide.

When it comes to Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) plus Porsche Stability Management (PSM) plus Porsche’s Sport Chrono package, versus Ferrari’s Control for Stability and Traction (CST) via the manettino switch mounted lower-right on the steering wheel face, the F430 system is tidier, but both arrangements are stellar once you get your favorite setup. Our default on the Porsche Turbo for these two idyllic driving days was PASM in sport with Sport Chrono in sport (for quicker throttle response and the torque boost), wing up, and PSM poked off. In the Ferrari, setting the manettino in sport (faster throttle, faster shifts, stiff suspension, and higher thresholds for CST and E-Diff corrections) is great, and in race mode you just need to be sure that the road ahead is pretty smooth, because it’s hard. Putting the manettino in race/CST-off mode should generally be left for track days. Set up as described, both cars took everything we tried throwing at them and spit it back at us.

Okay, so the F430 starts at $177,929, while the Porsche Turbo begins at $123,695, but once you get up here into these privileged seats you’re not mainly concerned with the cost. Usually you know which one you must have, or, if Lady Luck has really drawn your number in life, you buy one of each and run your own comparison tests at your nearby private track whenever you like.

 

Noteworthy.

I dropped my 430 off at service Friday (rattling exhuast which service manager says Ferrari replaces entirely rather than any one piece -I like that) and the service manager and I were chatting about cars in general and his opinion(s). He said something I have thought was telling about Ferrari owners. He said, 75% of the people who come into his shop are very nice people, but also could care less about anything but the sound of the motor and looks of the car (and using his words) how much they impress the "babes". He said most Ferrari owners he meets, don't have a clue as to the exact amount of horsepower or foot pounds of torque and could care less. I guess I (and most here) are in the minority. Best