You are right about that my friend! Although Mika has been retired from some time now. But still!! =)
Wow some things here never die, kind of reminds me of the old hot dog commercial "My dog is better than your dog". While the 360 is no dog, it also is not by modern standards very fast (considering you can list SUV's that can outrun and out handle it ). I don't drive with traction controls on ever, and what I never liked about the 360 was the fact the rear would break loose with no warning, the 430 handles better (I have owned 3 360's & 2 430's gearshifts and F1's of both), and I think I can say I've had enough experience with both to say the 430 is a much better car. My current 430 is a F1 with Fabspeed sport cats and headers, is it faster than stock (on paper it should be), I don't know and I don't care. I am way past caring about 0-60 (meaningless in my opinion), of any of the specs that are achieved by pushing a car in the way 99.9% of owners never would.
Interesting, I’ve found the way the 360 rear breaks loose to be very nice and linear compared to my 911. I suppose that’s true of most mid-engined cars though.
The numbers may be correct. It depends on if you are using an English or metric stopwatch to time the 0-60
Mine is reasonably predictable at the limit, too. A lot has to do with the alignment settings and tires, as not all tires have the same breakaway characteristics. Current tires are RE-11, but they’re no longer in production. 430s do not break away at the limit as abruptly as 360s. Besides the e-diff, the main difference between a 360 and 430 is alignment. The 430 specs are the basically the same except rear toe, which is 0.5mm greater on the 430. Charts by 360Trev. Image Unavailable, Please Login View attachment 2564278 View attachment 2564279 Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Of course. The 98 Ford Explorer down the way always blows me away in the hairpin. We both hit is at 85 and it just creams me in the 360. The key is learning how to drive on two wheels while tilted at a 45 degree angle... *rolls eyes in sarcasm* The problem is the drivers of the Jeep Trackhawk (or insert name of any high horsepower to handling SUV variant) are as bad as the guys in the exotics. They can nail it in the straight lines but the laws of physics always get them in the corners.
Greetings 360/F430 owners, (Been lurking on this site from time to time learning about these cars. My plan to get one in a few years as I believe I can fit with a set of thin shelled sports seats. I’m on my 26th year of owning an Alfa GTV6 with numerous mods so love the Italian hardware). There’s an element to this discussion that I’ve already been thinking about so decided to comment. That is, beyond a stop light drag race, most other drivers and too many public roads don’t accommodate higher speeds all that well. Traffic congestion around cities too often slows down to a crawl, and too many other drivers can be startled when passing them at notably higher speeds creating unknown effects when they wake up to the other traffic around them (not to mention cell phone distractions). Out in rural areas one can indeed blast up to 100+ mph levels of speed, but even then it’s for a generally quite short period of time. As such, pretty much anything with 200hp can exceed that lowly bar. Often less as a club colleague of mine has a very nice 1964 Giulia Spider Veloce (warmed over 1600cc engine) can keep up, up to just over 100mph. Now he doesn’t have much acceleration left after about 85mph, but he can stay in my rear view mirror most of the time when we’re doing such a sprint. My point is, unless you’re really pushing it on a race track where driver skills are equally as important, it’s really about the experience of driving and owning the car. My vision, and I've done this a plenty in my GTV6, is a weekend day or extended trip on rural roads, light traffic, plenty of curves, lots of beautiful scenery, the sun out, no deadlines, and lunch in the “frunk”. That to me is living life large. And now just thinking about that, I sometimes after a long day will move my Alfa out of the garage into the driveway, sit in a picnic chair with a beer in hand and just admire the car and say hello to the strollers and dog walkers passing by on the sidewalk. I know a 360/F430 would add to that experience as well irrespective of absolute performance numbers.
And now just thinking about that, I sometimes after a long day will move my Alfa out of the garage into the driveway, sit in a picnic chair with a beer in hand and just admire the car and say hello to the strollers and dog walkers passing by on the sidewalk. I know a 360/F430 would add to that experience as well irrespective of absolute performance numbers.[/QUOTE] Yes it will. When I bought my 360 7 years ago the dealer said I would sit next to it with a beer in hand just to admire it I thought he was mad. 7 years later (430 now) I still sit and admire with beer in hand. I drive it every week but I admire it daily. Oh and every thing you said on the performance front is spot on.
Sad to say, yes there are the Alfa, the Porsche, and in a straight line the Jeep, just to name a few SUV's (though in higher end trim). Will not even get into the Lambo, or what the new M5 can do. But in the end it really does not matter, since no one should be buying a 360/430 because they are the fastest car out there. They buy them for all (and many others) the reasons mentioned in this thread, much in my opinion is a very good thing.
Clever suspension electronics can help, but not enough to offset the CG advantage of a low wide sports car (whether a 360/F430 or something else) in handling against a big high SUV if both are wearing the same stickiness of tires. As far as straight line speed, of course something built today is going to be faster than a car that’s almost two decades old now, but the low-end torque gives today’s turbo, supercharged and now electric cars an immediate feels-fast effect that could easily make you forget that cars like the 360 are still no slouch when driven in the upper revs like they’re meant to. My 911 vs 360 is a good example of handling differences of a modern suspension vs older setup... the 911 has a higher absolute capability with the active suspension, dynamic engine mounts, etc which can of course be utilized by pro drivers to get all the fast published times, but the 360 is a lot wider which makes it feel flatter, and also the more balanced weight distribution makes it a lot more forgiving, you don’t have to be as careful to stay on the throttle in the corner like the 911. The 911 really shines when the roads get bumpy, because it’s so good at adjusting the suspension to adapt, but then when you start getting to high speeds and the aero on the 360 starts coming in to play, it just feels so planted and confident. In the end even though the 911 has the higher absolute capability that you’d see show up in higher lap times in a magazine or something (and iterations since mine even more so), I wouldn’t say that overall one handles better or worse than the other, they’re just different with their own strengths and weaknesses. They’re both wonderful cars to play with and enjoy! New cars that come out have to put up the numbers so they can be marketted as an improvement, but that doesn’t make them more fun to drive per se in every situation, just a different experience. It depends on a lot on the road too!
anyone with experience with both cars on track care to comment? .... magazine jockeys lose my attn quick. f430 mt vs 360 mt. curious about the drivers experience, balanced feel with/wo tc..... and well lap times. thx..... >>>>>>> we return to the normally scheduled interweb bench racing banter <<<<<<<
Ya. Semi infamous video there....The rental car had 40k or so miles on it, the CS cars just a few, and the weight difference on certified scales is not as much as Ferrari states for a Modena compared to a CS. It seems that a well broken in and presuming well running rental is putting out similar HP as a green CS, again it seems that in the real world the rear wheel HP difference may not be as much as stated...
Just found this thread . It’s interesting in that my 1963 Corvette could be optioned with one of 7 different rear differential ratios . A 3.08 for the highway , all the way to a 4:56 for hard core drag racing and a choice of wide or close ratio 4 speed transmission gears . Not so much on our Ferrari’s . Needless to say with the same engine quarter mile and 0-60 times were vastly different .
Here is a review from 1999 where they say they were able to get 4.1 seconds with the f1. Looks like they actually tested it. How accurate it is I have no idea.
is this an example from a customer or from the factory? It is known that Factory examples are .. ahem.. more spirited than the ones customers can get their hands on.
There was a story a number of years ago, by a European car magazine and they compared a Ferrari "press car" with a customer car, and noted not only engine performance differences but very different alignment (more aggressive) specifications as well. I also believe they got on the Ferrari ban list after publication... In Ferrari's defense, I don't think this is uncommon in the car industry.
Hard to say, as how many other car manufacturers are the target of not only envy of Ferrari, but equal amounts of hate from others? Ferrari has always had a big bulls eye on their back and I assume get more scrutiny than others.
Some people just have attitudes. Like Harley riders."It ain't s--t if it ain't a Harley." Same can be said about Ferraris".
Ferrari press cars often had lower gearing than standard for increased acceleration. One example is R&T's test of the original California. Its gearing was way, way lower than what came out of the factory and the acceleration results showed it.
