360 Modena "skittish"
Discussion
I am looking for a 2001 360 Modena and often hear "skittish", "tricky on the limit" , "unpredictable" etc etc when describing the handling, esp when you try to drive them fast.
Any owners care to comment on this - experiences etc? I am coming from a 996 Turbo which is like a limpet at any speed and whatever you do in it, at any speed, seems to sort it out for you - so these comments about the 360 worry me.
Dont get me wrong I dont drive like a loony everywhere, but if a car has a high speed handling "issue" I would like to know about it !
Cheers.
Any owners care to comment on this - experiences etc? I am coming from a 996 Turbo which is like a limpet at any speed and whatever you do in it, at any speed, seems to sort it out for you - so these comments about the 360 worry me.
Dont get me wrong I dont drive like a loony everywhere, but if a car has a high speed handling "issue" I would like to know about it !
Cheers.
USS Bozeman said:
I am looking for a 2001 360 Modena and often hear "skittish", "tricky on the limit" , "unpredictable" etc etc when describing the handling, esp when you try to drive them fast.
Any owners care to comment on this - experiences etc? I am coming from a 996 Turbo which is like a limpet at any speed and whatever you do in it, at any speed, seems to sort it out for you - so these comments about the 360 worry me.
Dont get me wrong I dont drive like a loony everywhere, but if a car has a high speed handling "issue" I would like to know about it !
Cheers.
Any owners care to comment on this - experiences etc? I am coming from a 996 Turbo which is like a limpet at any speed and whatever you do in it, at any speed, seems to sort it out for you - so these comments about the 360 worry me.
Dont get me wrong I dont drive like a loony everywhere, but if a car has a high speed handling "issue" I would like to know about it !
Cheers.
Is this to replace your 2005 Buggati?
Dry road= fun, predictable and very capable
Damp road= slight feeling of where is the limit
Wet road= There is definitely a limit to the grip and I don't want to find it
Very Wet road= hideous skittish thing that wants to swap ends if the electronics don't cut all the power
Very wet road with tramlines= Eek, who's that bloke with the scythe and the hood?
Buy car, find airfield, find limits safely, enjoy
Damp road= slight feeling of where is the limit
Wet road= There is definitely a limit to the grip and I don't want to find it
Very Wet road= hideous skittish thing that wants to swap ends if the electronics don't cut all the power
Very wet road with tramlines= Eek, who's that bloke with the scythe and the hood?
Buy car, find airfield, find limits safely, enjoy
One word of caution - 360's are incredibly sensitive to geometry set up. If it isn't set correctly the handling can feel very nervous with the car wandering quite alarmingly at high speeds. They are also prone to ball joint wear and this also affects handling. Both issues can be easily fixed but make sure that you look out for them on any cars you look at if you think the handling feels overly nervous. A properly sorted 360 should feel secure in the dry as Tony says but is certainly more challenging to drive than a 996 or 997.
I'll second the front ball joints and geometry being absolutely crucial and add worn front tyres to the equation. I got that lot sorted out and the difference was night and day.
I suspect coming from a 996 turbo it will not feel as planted, I came from a tweaked integrale which quite frankly you could take absolute liberties with, it was totally planted. I'm a little more circumspect in the 360 - especially in the wet!
Worth it though :-)
I suspect coming from a 996 turbo it will not feel as planted, I came from a tweaked integrale which quite frankly you could take absolute liberties with, it was totally planted. I'm a little more circumspect in the 360 - especially in the wet!
Worth it though :-)
Tyres (Pirelli Corsa's are very good) and tyre pressure (traction control issues) are key to the handling. Along with the obvious geo setup.
IMHO I've spun my 360 a couple of times on the limit - it seems to let go very suddenly and difficult to catch a slide. And even slow power slides in 2nd take a bit of getting use to. I much prefer a more progressive 'slide' - my CSL is perfect for that.
Rick
IMHO I've spun my 360 a couple of times on the limit - it seems to let go very suddenly and difficult to catch a slide. And even slow power slides in 2nd take a bit of getting use to. I much prefer a more progressive 'slide' - my CSL is perfect for that.
Rick
Yep, I came from a 996 GT3 to a 360 and initial impressions were that the 360 was more 'pointy' and felt a bit more go-kart like. No problems with high speed stability, always felt rock solid. But then one day while pressing on on a slightly poor surface it tried to swap ends on me when changing up from 3rd to 4th 
Even in the dry it's very easy to unstick the rears when you press the loud pedal - something that never happened in the GT3 unless you were actually on a mission to do it, even in the wet.
No regrets at all about the change though, driving the 360 is more of a sense of occasion - prettier car, much nicer interior, glorious noise etc. I just drive it more carefully especially in the wet. If all I wanted to do was get from A to B as quickly as possible give me a GT3 (or even my old Evo VII) any day, but in the real world I'll take the 360.
Apparently the 430's much better ...
Even in the dry it's very easy to unstick the rears when you press the loud pedal - something that never happened in the GT3 unless you were actually on a mission to do it, even in the wet.No regrets at all about the change though, driving the 360 is more of a sense of occasion - prettier car, much nicer interior, glorious noise etc. I just drive it more carefully especially in the wet. If all I wanted to do was get from A to B as quickly as possible give me a GT3 (or even my old Evo VII) any day, but in the real world I'll take the 360.
Apparently the 430's much better ...
Had 996 c4s then 997 2s then 4s, now got two 360 spiders, Manual and F1 respectfully. I drove the 996 and 9974s like I was THE driving god who had no respect for the laws of physics, amazing car, I could get from a-b in the blink of an eye, but after the intial oh my god this car is just amazing wore off and I wanted more fun on my 5am blasts I had to push harder than I was comfortable with, that was one of the reasons I sold up from porsche, I found that to get a realbuzz from driving thm I had to be doing something quite silly, and enjoyment at sensible speeds was not really to be had.
I got my first Spider as a treat to myself and its blown my socks off, I'm not a great driver but at moderate speeds you get a better a feeling and dont feel the need to go crazy, Its far quicker than the 2s and 4s but not as quick as the turbo, but you feel more attatched to the car so it hightens the feeling of speed ( i hope this makes sense???) The tubi exhaust in my silver car makes you feel like you doing 100mph when doing 50mph so its just wonderful, the Capristo exhaust on my blue car is wonderful but more civilised thru town and more day to day friendly.
I bought the second car as I needed to be driving the silver car more and more but wanted to keep the miles nice and low (legally).
My only gripe is that the ASR kicks in way too early, but I suppose if it didnt I wouldnt be typing this reply!
Less planted, but a much better drive. From all I can gather the Gallardo is suppossed to be best of both worlds, amazing driving experience and stuck like a limpet, maybe you should consider this route? (I wouldnt)
I got my first Spider as a treat to myself and its blown my socks off, I'm not a great driver but at moderate speeds you get a better a feeling and dont feel the need to go crazy, Its far quicker than the 2s and 4s but not as quick as the turbo, but you feel more attatched to the car so it hightens the feeling of speed ( i hope this makes sense???) The tubi exhaust in my silver car makes you feel like you doing 100mph when doing 50mph so its just wonderful, the Capristo exhaust on my blue car is wonderful but more civilised thru town and more day to day friendly.
I bought the second car as I needed to be driving the silver car more and more but wanted to keep the miles nice and low (legally).
My only gripe is that the ASR kicks in way too early, but I suppose if it didnt I wouldnt be typing this reply!
Less planted, but a much better drive. From all I can gather the Gallardo is suppossed to be best of both worlds, amazing driving experience and stuck like a limpet, maybe you should consider this route? (I wouldnt)
Thanks for all the input guys.
A Gallardo would be great but a good RHD example really starts at low £80k's and that would be a stretch for me at the moment. Dial in the fact that there is no warranty available and a decent 360 at £20k cheaper just makes more sense for me at the moment.
A Gallardo would be great but a good RHD example really starts at low £80k's and that would be a stretch for me at the moment. Dial in the fact that there is no warranty available and a decent 360 at £20k cheaper just makes more sense for me at the moment.
USS Bozeman said:
Thanks for all the input guys.
A Gallardo would be great but a good RHD example really starts at low £80k's and that would be a stretch for me at the moment. Dial in the fact that there is no warranty available and a decent 360 at £20k cheaper just makes more sense for me at the moment.
Don't get hung up on this warranty issue - it's been gone over many time before on here - they are not worth muchA Gallardo would be great but a good RHD example really starts at low £80k's and that would be a stretch for me at the moment. Dial in the fact that there is no warranty available and a decent 360 at £20k cheaper just makes more sense for me at the moment.
My old 360 had a Ferrrai UK Warranty - just a shame that it didn't cover the "oil pressure" problem on my car
The Gallardo is more of a handful than a 997TT in spite of it's 4 wheel drive if driven in anger. It is pretty easy to get the traction control light blinking furiously at you even in the dry if you try any physics defying manouevres. The suspension is also a lot firmer so it is much more sensitive to road surface imperfections and camber changes which the 997 would simply glide over as if they weren't there.
It must be quite annoying for Porsche's engineers when you think about. They've spent years taming the wayward handling of a rear engined car following constant motoring press criticism of lairy on the limit antics and turned it into one of the most usable performance cars on the road today. And now we are criticising it for becoming too civilised at anything less than autobahn speeds
It must be quite annoying for Porsche's engineers when you think about. They've spent years taming the wayward handling of a rear engined car following constant motoring press criticism of lairy on the limit antics and turned it into one of the most usable performance cars on the road today. And now we are criticising it for becoming too civilised at anything less than autobahn speeds
isuk said:
One word of caution - 360's are incredibly sensitive to geometry set up. If it isn't set correctly the handling can feel very nervous with the car wandering quite alarmingly at high speeds. They are also prone to ball joint wear and this also affects handling. Both issues can be easily fixed but make sure that you look out for them on any cars you look at if you think the handling feels overly nervous. A properly sorted 360 should feel secure in the dry as Tony says but is certainly more challenging to drive than a 996 or 997.
This is exactly right.I posted something about this on the Porsche board and was perhaps overly critical.
The 360 has been setup VERY conservatively. This attempt by Ferrari to make it more USA-friendly has actually resulted in a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to handling and held the car back. The car is crying out for some neg camber at the front and a ride height reduction. The front wheels can easily take 225 tyres and the rears even 295! Keep an eye on the pressures, add wider boots, and get the geo set it up by someone that knows their way around Ferraris and it's MUCH more planted. In stock form it IS skittish... no doubt... The rear end never feels planted and the front is prone to washing out making it scary when you REALLY press on. Compared to 911s it will never have the rear end mechanical grip but a Porsche is not a Ferrari so who cares?
Turns in like a racecar though.
Regards
Nik.
I've unintentionally swapped ends in mine (on track) and there is no doubt that it is a challenge to recover if you reach that limit. As regards the limit, I totally agree with the analysis as regards the wet/dry driving experience. Also, tyres are critical. I changed the tyres I bought it with (can't remember what they were) for P Zero Rossos and the change was like a revelation. Pre the Pirellis, the car terrified me, it was almost as if its mission critical role was to kill me in the most messy and spectacular way possible (think bright yellow wreckage spread over half a mile). After, I rarely see the tc light (when switched on) and it is just such a, waxing a bit lyrical here, spiritual experience, especially because of the Tubis (get them if you get a 360), compared to the '98 C2 Cabrio I run as my everyday car. It's a bit like a date with Keira Knightly v Angelina Jolie. With Kiera you will have a wonderful night following a meal in a Michelin 2 star, with Angelina, she will push the lift emergency stop button for a different kind of emergency and want you to drink blood with her. Kiera is pretty OK for a day to day runner but you need a night with Angelina every now and then, but not too often, because she has more stamina than you.
MingtheMerciless said:
I've unintentionally swapped ends in mine (on track) and there is no doubt that it is a challenge to recover if you reach that limit. As regards the limit, I totally agree with the analysis as regards the wet/dry driving experience. Also, tyres are critical. I changed the tyres I bought it with (can't remember what they were) for P Zero Rossos and the change was like a revelation. Pre the Pirellis, the car terrified me, it was almost as if its mission critical role was to kill me in the most messy and spectacular way possible (think bright yellow wreckage spread over half a mile). After, I rarely see the tc light (when switched on) and it is just such a, waxing a bit lyrical here, spiritual experience, especially because of the Tubis (get them if you get a 360), compared to the '98 C2 Cabrio I run as my everyday car. It's a bit like a date with Keira Knightly v Angelina Jolie. With Kiera you will have a wonderful night following a meal in a Michelin 2 star, with Angelina, she will push the lift emergency stop button for a different kind of emergency and want you to drink blood with her. Kiera is pretty OK for a day to day runner but you need a night with Angelina every now and then, but not too often, because she has more stamina than you.
I pefer Angelina any day but thats a different story! Anyway, perhaps its me that drives too much like a girl but I cannot imagine getting into too much trouble in my 360 on the road....however, I find the steetring over light and no where near as good as my old Boxsters (!) and this inspires me less than the overall grip levels.Gassing Station | Supercar General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff