360 as an everyday car?

[alastairm]

How well do Ferrari build the 360? Is it Porsche good? I'd be looking at buying one or a 911GT2. The thing that worries me about the 360 is that old italian thing rust! Now i know the 360 is aluminium so that should not be a problem and the cambelts etc are cheaper to replace than the 355 but who uses one every day? I've seen a lot around that have racked up 20-25k miles in 2 yrs etc!! Will they plumet in value when the 430 is launched? Thanks for your thoughts.

[Big T]

On the reliability front I would say the 360 will not be a problem using it everyday. I try to use mine alot or whenever I can (I ain't gonna leave it in a garage and smile at it!!) and only had a couple of niggles, like bulbs going and tyres etc etc...Nothing that any other car wouldn't need. In fact, I have been shocked at how reliable the 360 has been and that's not comparing it to my troublesome TVR. You may wanna get a front end/bumper respray every now and then, gets really bad with stone chips, getting mine done now, quite reasonable too.

I knew I'd put miles on mine so I bought a 2001 LHD model...It already lost sh!tloads from new and doubt even if I put lots of miles on and keep it for a bit, I'm gonna lose too much, well not much that it would hurt.

I was looking at a GT2 a little while ago and would still love to have one for a bit but my 360's going nowhere at the moment

Good luck.

T.

[bertie]

I use my 36 everyday and I've had no problems.
Works fine in everyday situations, though you get some funny looks collecting bags of sand at the DIY shop in it.

Most ones with problems seem to be the ones that don't get used.

I tried a 911 before the 360 and it just felt normal and not very special in comparison.

[mudfish]

Was in the same predicament as yourself about buying one and using it everyday. Took the plunge in January after waying up what I truly wanted in a sportscar.

You could use it every day, I now don't, I still love the car to bits. I don't use it every day for the following reasons in order of importance:

~ It needs cleaned and polished up more frequently with the bad weather
~ It is a posing machine whether you buy it for that reason or not, I can't go anywhere without people wanting pictures of it on their mobiles, I am slightly paranoid about leaving it on certain streets.
~ Its not that entertaining in traffic jams which undoubtedly will happen if you use the car on a daily basis (I have the sports carbonfibre seats in mine).
~ High mileage will affect resale.

Negative points out the way.... I love the noise, the handling, the looks it gets, open roads, the feeling of achievement. I know for a fact no Porsche (apart from the Carrera GT megabucks!) gets the admiration the 360 gets!

>> Edited by mudfish on Wednesday 18th August 10:52

[jamesketchell]

I've also been down the 360 route and used it very regularly for about six months before selling it.

I think its possible to use every day but aside from all the other very valid points posted earlier, I think it really diminishes that "sense of occasion" that comes from not having to drive it every day.

A Porsche is a real BMW/Mercedes alternative as you can put 10k miles on a car per year (if its the right model) and lose very little % wise on resale. Ferrari's simply drop like stones. I lost 28K after six months ownership. To compare, I had a Porsche 996 4s and ran the car for 12 months put 11k miles on the car and sold it for just under list.

A GT2 is another story though and completely unusable as a day to day car. The ride would be enough to put you in traction after a months use alone!

At the end of the day i don't think its really fair to compare these two marques. A Porsche is an everyday super car, but has little or no "wow factor" on the roads anymore. You find yourself forever qualifying which model you drive to make sure people know its not a boxster or a hideous 4x4. A Ferrari is a Ferrari and nothing more needs to be said....

[456mgt]

I would have no qualms about using a 360 every day; in fact I'd extend that to any Ferrari from the mid-90s onwards. Mechanically and structurally there's no question they're up to it. As others have said though, there's a difference between 'could' and 'would'. Where many of us end up is using the cars frequently, but selectively.

There is no question that resale value IS still mileage-sensitive, though my sense is it's getting less so for the younger cars. It is only one of a number of factors that govern residual value though.

[GT2man-2]

I've owned a GT2 and a 360 Spider.

While I appreciated the GT2's outright performance and build quality, I didn't really enjoy owning it.

The GT2 is so stiffly sprung, that any uneven camber will cause it to lift a wheel (rather than have any suspension travel).. not good when you're making progress along country back roads.. point-to-point over rutted back roads, far lesser cars would be much quicker.

The GT2 also has the famed PCCB (carbon ceramic) brakes which have expensive (£10,000+) problems (do a google search).

My Ferrari had nearly 40,000 miles and was still as strong as a new one.. next summer, I'm going back to having another Spider. I'd never own another GT2, if anything, I'd go for the softer Turbo and have the X50 upgrade to match the GT2 power.

Here's a movie of how stiff my GT2 was..

www.exiges.com/gallery/porsche/GT2.wmv

Having said all that, a GT2 in black is very menacing to look at (if you can avoid the ditches)

>> Edited by GT2man-2 on Friday 20th August 17:42

[sjn2004]

jamesketchell said:

I've also been down the 360 route and used it very regularly for about six months before selling it. A Porsche is a real BMW/Mercedes alternative as you can put 10k miles on a car per year (if its the right model) and lose very little % wise on resale. Ferrari's simply drop like stones. I lost 28K after six months ownership. .

What year was your 360? How many miles did you put on it in that time? I know a dealer always takes a 10K cut, but still, you seem to have lost a big chunk of cash.

thanks