kick a 430's butt

Sat in one this past weekend to get a fit feel, but no drive. For a kit car it seems well done. The $79k price seems a bit high for a used car, as new the rolling chassis is $58k or so plus then you add the engine ($6k or so) of choice and tranny + installation costs.

i think $60k MAX for a used car seems more realistic. FYI, there is another used one for sale at KTR Motorsport here in New England for about the same price. They are not THAT rare per se, it is low demand. Still, it seems to be an impressive car.

Are you trading in your 348 for a Noble?

 

sharp looking car.......i like it, could use less ground effects etc.....

 

Nice looking car if they'd lose that Erector-Set style wing.

 

There's the drivetrain cost of $11k for the GTO-3R, which includes the tranny, two turbos, ECU, harness, and misc parts. The engine is a bit less at $5k shipped (w/forged pistons, h-beam rods, ARP bolts, balanced & blueprinted, etc), and install is $3500 or so. There are a few options too, like metallic paint, leather, air conditioning, and alarm. It does all sort of add up.

 

Ditto. Anyone have a picture of one without the wing?

 

I only have a few pictures of the European model. Unfortunately, that one has the RC car antenna and ugly rear lights.


Here are all of the pictures I could find:

http://www.nobleforums.com/images/onyxm400/wingless/
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Seats look uncomfortable.

 

I love this car. But it's not as beautifull as the F430

 

Looks WAAAY better without the shopping cart on the rear deck lid.

 

Seats on the $10k more expensive M400 (425hp, 390 lb/ft torque, 2337 lbs curb weight) are much much nicer. Sparco racing buckets in carbon fiber, with alcantara fabric. They're very comfortable, which is bizarre, considering the fact they appear to be full buckets. I put 700 miles in 1 day in em.
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id love to have one. someday maybe

 

Do you post on vwvortex.com?

 

Yeah, that would be me. I think I have the only black one so far in the US. Everyone seems to be ordering M400's now though. The price difference makes it a no brainer. Lots of extra power, upgraded shocks & springs, hollow front sway bar, DOT-R semi-slicks, redesigned center tunnel for better driving position, upgraded seats, better braking, much better shifter, and a bunch of other changes for $10k.

You know, I'm not positive if they have the delete option. I know you can get plugs for the holes.

I doubt they'd drop the price by $5k removing the spoiler though. Parts for the car are relatively inexpensive. Remember, the entire engine including all of the upgrades done to the internals costs just $5k shipped, easily less than the price of a major service with some sports cars.

It's included because the rear gets a bit squirrelly during threshold braking in the 160-120 mph range. For the street, it's pretty useless.

Info about the M400:

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/motoring/2005/0223/4221893909MOT23NOBLE.html
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Looks like a rice burner tuner car to me...like a tricked out Scion.

I'll take the 430...anyone wanna give me one?

 

That one on ebay is about 15 minutes from my house, I'll have to go check it out. I haven't seen one in person yet.

 

....::sighs::....It's still just a Ford V6.


Though Looks very "raw" and I like that.

 

The car is not bad but I'm not convinced, the second wing looks terrible. I don't know how it performs but $79k seems too high.

 

Would a Westfield XTR2 be in this car’s category or lower? This seems to be more refined but the XTR is lighter and might be able to keep up with this. What do you guys think? Is there any comparison with this car and the XTR?

 

There is not another car out there that performs like it does for the money.

 

Thanks, but no. I would not touch one of these with the proverbial 3-metre pole.

Sounds great on paper, but you could never count on the thing to start, let alone run properly.

And, seriously, would you rather drive a Noble than a 355?

 

An XTR2 would probably destroy the Noble on the track, as would a Radical SR3. They'd both be difficult choices if you want to drive on the road though.

Car & Driver tested the 360hp GTO-3R recently. 0-60 in 3.3 sec, 0-100 in 8.1 sec, quarter mile: 11.8 sec. 1.0g cornering. I'm sure a dedicated track car like the XTR2 or Radical would be faster. A turbocharged F430 would probably be faster as well, at only 3x the cost.

 

Why would you say that? It's a Ford engine, not exactly rocket science.

If you factor in the maintenance costs--absolutely. I like the looks of a 355 better, but the Noble is no slouch in performance.

 

There are more systems to a car than just the engine. The turbos are not exactly Ford bits either. Did you see the troubles Car and Driver had getting their test car to run properly?

I think perhaps you need to start driving these cars to get a better understanding of what's really going on. Some tuner cars and home-builts like the Noble are sold by way of smoke and mirrors. The 355 is a production car. There's the rub, Stanley.

I don't care for Nobles because I have first hand experience with vehicles coming out of this factory. I don't like putting my life in the hands of so-called engineers.

If the car was executed properly, then I might be interested.