Hello, A friend of mine is considering to buy F430 and asked me to go for a test drive of Red/black 05, F430. What a nice drive especially with sport mode the car is responsive and handling feels just fantastic. However, the noise is no match to my good old 355, tubi with no cat. Just want to share this with you guys and Im sure many of you would agree Have a good day Pengster
Very nice!! So other than the sound of the 355 do you like it better? What did you think of the 430's looks, room, drive, etc.
well, very different car. F430 is packed with technology (10 years apart) which made it great car in many aspects. The flappy gear becomes lots more responsive when switched into Sport mode and the power comes in almost all the rev range. Cabin is very comfy and in fact feels rather luxurious with all the leather and carbons. Where as 355 feel more raw, certainly feel older with the 2 dials and 3 gauges in the middle console but you gotta love the sound of "click/clack" on the 355 opened-gate gear shift. Ideally, we should have all models of F cars at home. Looks like I will have to work harder P.
I agree, the sound of the 355 is amazing! However, it has become progressively less exciting with each new iteration of the V8's. The scream of a 355 is extraordinary!
I have only test driven a 360.. ........... but my experience was similar .......I felt very insulated from the engine and the road.... which was dissapointing .............. The 355 on the other hand, puts you in the midst of the aural excitement......... !!!
I recently test drove a 360 F1 and must admit that the sound & power just did not work for me. As for looks the 355 (smaller and more exotic in styling) makes the 360 appear less exciting (overly large) although the interior is well excecuted. The F1 transmission is not for me although I have been told that in the 430 F1 it is excellent. If the 360 was more powerfull than my 355 it certainly did not give me that feeling. But maybe its the race tubi sound on my car (verse the std tubi on the 360). I think when I change the 355 it will be for a 430 but as I have yet to drive it.....who knows.
Heh, drive a 348 Serie Speciale for real raw Ferrari performance. Ask gothster about my car. I almost converted him on the spot away from the hair-gel special. Well, almost...
Having owned both models (a 1995 355B, a 1990 348ts, a 1994 348 Challenge, and my current 1994 348ts Speciale) I can tell you that a good deal of "rawness" was also lost from the 348 to the 355. I'm not trying to start yet another debate on the relative merits of the 348 and the 355 (both are great cars, just different), but the different "feel" described in the posts above is what made me move from my 355 back to a 348 Speciale.
no problem - just at just some point we have to become "civilized" about the rawness.....and the 355 accomplishes what the 348 initiates. whoops that slipped out.
