Back to the Germans

[stuka]

So, apparently many 355's are afflicted with the paint irregularity at the seam of the C pillar and the body panel because the way it was designed. Kind of like the rear shock mount issue on BMW's.

Basically, if the car has been twisted hard on the track or the clutch dumped on, it creates undue stress on the weld, rippling the paint. It looks like the 360 doesn't have this problem, along with the dropping the engine for the 30K issue. The one big problem that the 360 has is the ridiculous price tag. I guess with F cars, you pay now, or you pay later.

This compares to the 200 bucks oil change for the Turbo/GT3 and 1200 bucks 30K mile service. Well, there was no contest. I guess maybe when we have a nice garage with lifts and tools and stuff, and me having actually had some experience working on cars, then maybe I can bring up the subject of F cars.

Until then, my sales guy found a great 04 GT3.

Yellow/black
Ceramic (if it passes inspection, I'll take it, the steel conversion kit aint much $$ anyway)
air con
CF bits
SHOP MANUAL
Car cover

4400 miles

The guy wants 86K. We will see if my sales guy can also get rid of the Turbo for me. I incentivesed him with the "the deal will go forward right now if you can get rid of the Turbo for me." If not, then I will need AF's help...

[FC]

If I were in your situation (from what I know), the GT3 would have been the answer for me a while ago.:cool:

Congrats!

[lemming]

no question that the F355 would have superior curb appeal --but it's pre-owned. those kinds of cars, you want to have it new and break in all of that gorgeous leather yourself and ease the engine into its life.

plus the F355, while the most gorgeous car (i think) in the 'entry level' line of Ferraris, is a significant step down from the F360 which is then a big step down from the F430. unlike most other cars, there is really a big difference in car generations at Modena. you wouldn't really be happy. you could convince yourself otherwise, but you'd not be happy. i thought i wanted an F355, too, until i came to my senses.

you can't lose with the GT3. it's durable, faster than almost anything else, and represents the best of porsche engineering, basically. the Turbo is okay but not hte pinnacle of hte marque. the GT3 is. always will be.

[FC]

no question that the F355 would have superior curb appeal --but it's pre-owned. those kinds of cars, you want to have it new and break in all of that gorgeous leather yourself and ease the engine into its life.

plus the F355, while the most gorgeous car (i think) in the 'entry level' line of Ferraris, is a significant step down from the F360 which is then a big step down from the F430. unlike most other cars, there is really a big difference in car generations at Modena. you wouldn't really be happy. you could convince yourself otherwise, but you'd not be happy. i thought i wanted an F355, too, until i came to my senses.

you can't lose with the GT3. it's durable, faster than almost anything else, and represents the best of porsche engineering, basically. the Turbo is okay but not hte pinnacle of hte marque. the GT3 is. always will be.

See that's the thing... Stuka wants to drive the piss out of whatever car he gets ...at the track. The GT3 is better for that in that it's newer (with all that that entails) and cheaper to own.

I'd get an F355 for simply emotional/irrational reasons.

[stuka]

See that's the thing... Stuka wants to drive the piss out of whatever car he gets ...at the track. The GT3 is better for that in that it's newer (with all that that entails) and cheaper to own.

I'd get an F355 for simply emotional/irrational reasons.

Yeah, when I saw threads about "Is it OK to use 355 as track/street car." A big huge red flag went up.

The fact that this GT3 comes with that ridiculous 3 grand shop manual as part of the deal makes me really want to buy it, assuming that the PCCB checks out and is not flaking.

But dammit, there is just something about F cars. Hell, even my wife, who really just entertains my car hobby because she loves me, got totally excited when we stopped by the F car dealer and she saw them in person and heard the 360 engine fired up.

[lemming]

Yeah, when I saw threads about "Is it OK to use 355 as track/street car." A big huge red flag went up.

The fact that this GT3 comes with that ridiculous 3 grand shop manual as part of the deal makes me really want to buy it, assuming that the PCCB checks out and is not flaking.

But dammit, there is just something about F cars. Hell, even my wife, who really just entertains my car hobby because she loves me, got totally excited when we stopped by the F car dealer and she saw them in person and heard the 360 engine fired up.

not to sound jaded or anything, but i prefer the lumpy idle and rasp of the 996GT3 engine over any Ferrari, personally. part of the appeal is that the GT3 is not far removed from the GT3RS cars that run the grand-am and ALMS for sure. but the other part is that i trust germans a lot more than i trust italians for mission critical motoring.

look, there is no question and no debate. the GT3 is faster than the F355 and is probably faster than the F360. in fact, it prolly takes the F430 to seriously whup the laptimes that a GT3 could post on track days.

seriously. you buying the badge or the car?

[Jason C]

Good pick!


I would have selected the GT3 over the GT2. It sounds so much better than any other car in the 996 era and up, mega-exotic excepted of course. Plus you can thrash it without ending up like these two folks:


http://www.nsxfiles.com/f355_update.htm


Granted, they love the car, it's just that you're not going to be out on the track a lot as opposed to servicing the damn thing.