360 Spider just acquired for the Wife
Discussion
Never really liked them when they came out in the early noughties but this to me is a timeless classic now and has matured so well with age!
TDF Blu with Tan interior and gated manual is a match made in heaven! She's smitten with her and will be enjoying the car very much when we get some sun!
Feels slow compared to most hot hatches and is twitchy as you like but that adds to the attraction for sure. Low miles, low owner car too.. Off for a belt and service soon so lets see if it throws any big bills as it was bought unseen at auction.
TDF Blu with Tan interior and gated manual is a match made in heaven! She's smitten with her and will be enjoying the car very much when we get some sun!
Feels slow compared to most hot hatches and is twitchy as you like but that adds to the attraction for sure. Low miles, low owner car too.. Off for a belt and service soon so lets see if it throws any big bills as it was bought unseen at auction.
That is a lovely example!
Not sure if its a Spider thing but my 360 feels very planted, make sure your car is not running older than six year tyres (check the date stamp) and then put something decent on it, I fitted PS5, also get alignment checked, the 360 is hugely sensitive to alignment, in particular front toe, if it is toeing neutral or worse toeing out the car will feel very nervous.
Performance wise, a 360 if healthy is still a 10-11s car 0-100mph, which is quicker than even the latest hot hatches, but you may find once belts are done and engine timing is checked it feels stronger as they can easily lose upto 100HP if the engine is not running in the sweet zone as to speak.
I test drove 5-6 360's before buying one and it was quite stark at how different the performance could be between them.
Not sure if its a Spider thing but my 360 feels very planted, make sure your car is not running older than six year tyres (check the date stamp) and then put something decent on it, I fitted PS5, also get alignment checked, the 360 is hugely sensitive to alignment, in particular front toe, if it is toeing neutral or worse toeing out the car will feel very nervous.
Performance wise, a 360 if healthy is still a 10-11s car 0-100mph, which is quicker than even the latest hot hatches, but you may find once belts are done and engine timing is checked it feels stronger as they can easily lose upto 100HP if the engine is not running in the sweet zone as to speak.
I test drove 5-6 360's before buying one and it was quite stark at how different the performance could be between them.
Yeah I get that, what I mean is they are revvy, or you have to rev them and be in that sweet spot to get the best out of the engine, they are after all variable timed. What I mean is it doesn't feel quick compared to my Perf but then not much does. It's amazing how much higher the bar has been set 20 years later for a performance car. 400 bhp back then was lots but now you can get that in a hot hatch and family saloon. It's not about all-out speed in these anyway is it? Enjoying the sound with the roof down etc and pottering along. Brakes feel a tad hard too but the car hasn't been used for a good while. It's going down to AV engineering soon for full check up. I am aware that these cars used rose joints rather than the normal bushes and eat suspension components and that Ferrari recommend replacing the whole arms but Hill engineering do a replacement rose joint for them? It probably needs a good tyre change and hunter alignment to get the best out of it and check all those joints. I'm aware of the pain of shimming these cars for alignment etc...
Contigo said:
Yeah I get that, what I mean is they are revvy, or you have to rev them and be in that sweet spot to get the best out of the engine, they are after all variable timed. What I mean is it doesn't feel quick compared to my Perf but then not much does. It's amazing how much higher the bar has been set 20 years later for a performance car. 400 bhp back then was lots but now you can get that in a hot hatch and family saloon. It's not about all-out speed in these anyway is it? Enjoying the sound with the roof down etc and pottering along. Brakes feel a tad hard too but the car hasn't been used for a good while. It's going down to AV engineering soon for full check up. I am aware that these cars used rose joints rather than the normal bushes and eat suspension components and that Ferrari recommend replacing the whole arms but Hill engineering do a replacement rose joint for them? It probably needs a good tyre change and hunter alignment to get the best out of it and check all those joints. I'm aware of the pain of shimming these cars for alignment etc...
Aldous will look after you, I have the CS alignment on my car along with PS5 tyres it is really superb. Get him to do your belts as well and if you want he does the CS remap / timing for £1000ish which really wakes the car up and is well worth it, a lot more torque in the mid-range and even more eager at top-end.
matrignano said:
I know of someone who could sell his tdf on crema manual spider if of help
Always open to ideas and I’m thinking of starting a separate thread to have a real world view of the coupe v spider and the F1 v manual debate.I’ve always liked a manual box for an occasional car as it’s more involving and my fears with an F1 is the jerky/slow changes like a classic old automatic of the era was.
Coming from Porsche I’m used to teutonic build quality, 2yr servicing and ultimate reliability. None of which apply to things coming out of Italy
so on the one hand a Boxster could be half the price and twice the fun to use everyday.Gassing Station | Ferrari V8 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff