There's more of a 'latest greatest' attitude here. I'd rather a 355 than a 430 but would take a 360 cs over either. And I'd take a '95 355 challenge over a cs. Different strokes for different folks.
It makes no difference to me personally (my car is a UK car), But it does astound me the way 355 owners in the US seem to do everything possible to talk down their cars, while pretending that the trends from the rest of the world aren't actually happening.
I will always take a F355 over a 360 or a 430. Those cars have never made it on to the long list of cars I would like to own someday. They might be nice cars, improved, but the looks do nothing for me. It is nice to see the market is starting to appreciate the F355 what it is.
I was answering to this part of Steve's question. In the US an average 430 is ~ $115K and an average 355 is ~ $55-60. People will argue prices all day though.
Most Americans are naïve in these matters. They can not see or chose not to look past the borders. I have several time brought up the example of the GTB/S vs. the Spider. The American market presently puts a premium on the GTB due to it being rare. Check out mibile.de and you will fine 111 355s for sale. 69 are GTB/S and 42 spiders. Very little difference between spider and GTB prices. The top cars are challenge cars. And by a fairly wide margin the car below 50k euros are dominantly GTBs.
I think it's a matter of rarity primarily. Most F355 owners, like, can appreciate, and might also want, a challenge Stradale. It's the rarity thing. It's not really that different from a highly-tuned 360 that you could modify yourself. But it is rare as an original. Most F355 owners, like, can appreciate, and might also want, the sport seats for the F355, even though they may never have sat in them or seen them in person. It's the rarity thing again and they are original. Most F-car owners are already here because we like unique things that not everyone else has. The F355 is a more rare car than the 360 and F430, So it only makes sense that owners will gravitate toward them. I don't think any of us would be upset to own ANY F-car. They are all cool, fun and rare. Especially when stacked next to a Porsche. Which we may have ALSO owned before realizing what we liked more - that was more rare... with better sound. Robb
I've been looking at the f430 U.S market for the last 3 years. Any asking price below $95k is storied or salvaged car. A white F430 (very rare to see a standard 430 in white) with all the carbon features you can think of, with 45k mi, probably sold for about $90-95k (his asking was $99k). It was a rental, but did pass PPI if that means anything. 430s are very robust cars. Even the worst of the batch might be on par or close to the best 355 examples. I don't think 355s are up there in price yet even for the prime examples (aside from fiorano asking prices). But for 355s (prime examples) to come even remotely close to 430 prices says alot. I mean... Its the SECOND successor. 430s are good cars, but i only see prices going down for standard samples, which are in abundance. The ones with full carbon options, daytona seats, or even manuals will hover between 100-125k for a long time. I don't see these prime rarer examples ever going less than 100k unless it was a rental car . I would also be shocked to see a Scuderia below $125k unless the owner did something retarded to it. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I think the reason people love the gts and gtb in the U.S is because you guys love to track your cars and without a roll bar most places will not allow a spider.I find it funny that alot of people wont touch a car that may have had some paint work or a fender bender but they have no problem buying a car thats been tracked 10 times a year.I think some should go and watch a few video's on youtube and see what happens when a car is beat all day at red line.I'm not saying its bad to track your car sometime...But i wouldn't want one.
I agree with the track thing. I take leased 911s to track days. They're never as tight as they were before going to the track
Some people, and I'm one, just don't care if there's a roof or not, so why compromise on weight, chassis stiffness and limit my ability to track it, which is the only place I can actually open it up? Convertibles sports cars don't work for me, they're a massive compromise.
Personally I like GTS and berlinetta because of the look/roof line. I can see how someone wouldn't want a car that's raced every weekend following other cars on race tires, but a few fun outings with other street cars doesn't hurt anything. At least, I feel like it's designed to do that more than being wrecked
