360 buyers guide

[acme]

Is there a definitive 360 buyers guide?

I’ve found all the usual ones online; Walkersport, Evo, Autocar etc.

I’m looking into one & as ever would like to go in with my eyes wide open.

I shall get a PPI & or buy from a mark specialist (whoever they may be?) but I’d like to know what both prior to & once I see the car I should be looking for.

I’m well aware of the old it was a £XXX car so it still costs that much to maintain scenario plus the need to spend 2-3k pa on maintenance etc.

In respect of specialists can anyone recommend any Herts/Essex way? Any comments on Grimaldi in Halstead, & of course there’s AV, though in Kent of course.

Any other advice especially from owners would be much appreciated.

Cheers in advance.

[Scrump]

360 buyer’s guide here:
https://www.pistonheads.com/features/ph-buying-gui...

Full range of Ferrari buyers guides here:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[acme]

Many thanks for that.

Somewhat ironic that I didn’t look on here or above, doh!

Oddly a Google search didn’t bring them up.

If anyone else can make any recommendations etc, it’d be appreciated, cheers.

[johnnyreggae]

acme said:

Is there a definitive 360 buyers guide? there’s AV, -

Any other advice especially from owners would be much appreciated.

Before AV there was Aldous's own site https://aldousvoice.com/ferrari-360-f430-buying-gu...

[supersport]

And the Aldous Voice guide which I found really useful

https://aldousvoice.com/ferrari-360-f430-buying-gu...

[acme]

Thanks both for the Aldous link.

If anyone else has advice etc it’d be appreciated.

Cheers

[NeilTB]

I bought one (a 2002 spider) last winter - happy to chat if useful?

[davek_964]

I also owned a Modena for about 6 or 7 years (sold last year) so can answer most questions.

They are brilliant, and an excellent choice!

[acme]

Thank you for the reply Gents.

I’m really looking for additional things from your experience as owners, the things you wished you’d looked for & advice on maintenance as well as independents to look after it.

Having owned a 993 911 for many years I’ve had patchy service at best from the various companies I’ve used, despite trying to build up a relationship when I’ve owned it so long.

[acme]

davek_964 said:

I also owned a Modena for about 6 or 7 years (sold last year) so can answer most questions.

They are brilliant, and an excellent choice!

I followed your Vantage thread with great interest, and seem to recall you only ever had positive things to say about the 360.

So I’d be very interested in any thoughts etc you may have.

Cheers

[johnnyreggae]

You need to buy a car first !

For maintenance you could talk to SBRace as I think Aylesbury is nearly in Herts/Essex - similarly Bell Sport near Luton

[NeilTB]

Acme - feel free to PM me if you wish

[davek_964]

acme said:

I followed your Vantage thread with great interest, and seem to recall you only ever had positive things to say about the 360.

So I’d be very interested in any thoughts etc you may have.

Cheers

I've reached the point with my 650 where I think the 360 is now the second best car I've ever owned. But I'm not 100% sure, and given the difference in age (2001 vs 2014) and the massive amount of everything that the McLaren offers above the 360 - it's still much closer than it has any right to be. I think they are the perfect balance of power for use on the road.

Regardless of the mood I started a journey in, the 360 would genuinely have me smiling by the end, 99.9% of the time.

One thing to be wary of is that when I first got it, I hated it. The merest hint of a corner - even one that was still half a mile away - would have the traction control cutting power. It was about a month before I realised sport mode did more than just firm up the suspension.

Mine was generally very reliable and very very rarely went wrong. Ball joints needed doing, it seemed to get through brakes fairly often (but doing the supercar weekend both days each year probably caused that).
The one big issue I had was the exhaust cam variator snapping a year before I sold it - which cost me about £6,500 for a top end rebuild on one bank. A known problem that Ferrari did provide a recall for - and mine did have it (in 2001) but it can still fail. Other than mine, in the time I owned the car I didn't hear about another having that problem, so it's not all that common.

I'm trying to remember issues I had and anything you need to look out for, but I had very few.

For Indy's, I used Riverside (opposite Chessington) a few times but although they definitely know the cars and were first class help on a few occasions they always seemed expensive.
Had good results from QV but was considering swapping to AV.

I only sold mine because the McLaren is more useable day to day and - no matter how good it was - the Ferrari wasn't getting used. I no longer really wanted a garaged occasional car. Plus, I'm not sure I ever really trusted it quite as much after the engine issue, even though it was pretty faultless after that.

I've had many cars in the past where my response to a thread like this would be : well, it was good at x,y,z but pretty crap at a,b,c. And while the 360 was clearly not perfect - I did have to be in the mood for it (and often was) - my answer to threads like this for the 360 is : Good choice, buy one!

[acme]

NeilTB said:

Acme - feel free to PM me if you wish

Thanks, just sent you a message.

Cheers

[acme]

davek_964 said:

I've reached the point with my 650 where I think the 360 is now the second best car I've ever owned. But I'm not 100% sure, and given the difference in age (2001 vs 2014) and the massive amount of everything that the McLaren offers above the 360 - it's still much closer than it has any right to be. I think they are the perfect balance of power for use on the road.

Regardless of the mood I started a journey in, the 360 would genuinely have me smiling by the end, 99.9% of the time.

One thing to be wary of is that when I first got it, I hated it. The merest hint of a corner - even one that was still half a mile away - would have the traction control cutting power. It was about a month before I realised sport mode did more than just firm up the suspension.

Mine was generally very reliable and very very rarely went wrong. Ball joints needed doing, it seemed to get through brakes fairly often (but doing the supercar weekend both days each year probably caused that).
The one big issue I had was the exhaust cam variator snapping a year before I sold it - which cost me about £6,500 for a top end rebuild on one bank. A known problem that Ferrari did provide a recall for - and mine did have it (in 2001) but it can still fail. Other than mine, in the time I owned the car I didn't hear about another having that problem, so it's not all that common.

I'm trying to remember issues I had and anything you need to look out for, but I had very few.

For Indy's, I used Riverside (opposite Chessington) a few times but although they definitely know the cars and were first class help on a few occasions they always seemed expensive.
Had good results from QV but was considering swapping to AV.

I only sold mine because the McLaren is more useable day to day and - no matter how good it was - the Ferrari wasn't getting used. I no longer really wanted a garaged occasional car. Plus, I'm not sure I ever really trusted it quite as much after the engine issue, even though it was pretty faultless after that.

I've had many cars in the past where my response to a thread like this would be : well, it was good at x,y,z but pretty crap at a,b,c. And while the 360 was clearly not perfect - I did have to be in the mood for it (and often was) - my answer to threads like this for the 360 is : Good choice, buy one!

Thanks for your reply, appreciated.

The power issue is an interesting one as I'm no longer seeking that at all, indirectly it's replacing my M3 so has less power, but as per the 993 it's the fun factor that is most important (+ sense of occasion) so that's great to hear you still hold it in such high regard after all those years and having a 650 which I'm sure is objectively a much better car. Likewise the smile factor is very important to me.

The cam variator seems to be one of the main things I've heard mentioned, have you any suggestions as to how this can be checked etc?

You mention QV, can you advise who this is? (unfortunately unlike the '993 world' I'm completely unfamiliar with the Ferrari one!)

As I mentioned Grimaldi Engineering are near ish to me but I do get the impression AV are well regarded too.

Your closing comment, especially from someone who owned one for so long is great to hear, thanks.

Edited by acme on Wednesday 21st July 11:06

[davek_964]

acme said:

The cam variator seems to be one of the main things I've heard mentioned, have you any suggestions as to how this can be checked etc?

You mention QV, can you advise who this is? (unfortunately unlike the '993 world' I'm completely unfamiliar with the Ferrari one!)

As I mentioned Grimaldi Engineering are near ish to me but I do get the impression AV are well regarded too.

I can't think of any way you can check the variator - it literally is the sprocket at the end of the cam (with the belt on) snapping off. I guess that mechanics could check around that area when they do a belt change to see if there are any signs of stress fractures - but I don't know if there really are any signs before it snaps.
The "fix" did result in a green dot being put somewhere (I can't remember where, so you'll need to search) but my car proved that it didn't solve the problem anyway. Maybe it made it less likely.

QV are in Windsor (but used to be in London, and are still named that) : http://www.qvlondon.co.uk/
If Grimaldi is close to you, then I think AV would be closer to you.

The only other issue I know that can be a big one is the heat exchanger leaking into the gearbox. I don't know how common it is, but know one owner with an F1 car that suffered from it.

[acme]

davek_964 said:

I can't think of any way you can check the variator - it literally is the sprocket at the end of the cam (with the belt on) snapping off. I guess that mechanics could check around that area when they do a belt change to see if there are any signs of stress fractures - but I don't know if there really are any signs before it snaps.
The "fix" did result in a green dot being put somewhere (I can't remember where, so you'll need to search) but my car proved that it didn't solve the problem anyway. Maybe it made it less likely.

QV are in Windsor (but used to be in London, and are still named that) : http://www.qvlondon.co.uk/
If Grimaldi is close to you, then I think AV would be closer to you.

The only other issue I know that can be a big one is the heat exchanger leaking into the gearbox. I don't know how common it is, but know one owner with an F1 car that suffered from it.

Thanks for the info re the variator, one to research then. I’m
assuming then the belt will likely come off/break too, & I also assume it’s an interference hence the bill you had.

Thanks re QV, yes in that case AV is probably easier plus I hear only good things.

Appreciate the heads up on the heat exchanger as that’s not one I’ve heard of on any of the guides etc I’ve read to date.