Mark Pattison

Simon, any chance of a sneak preview of your anticks with the ferrari?

Reason I ask is because we are considering a F355 and are hungry for any info/opinions other than "Jesus that sounds like an F1 car!"

Can't order the scoobynet CD at the moment cos I'm overseas. Bugger.

rsquire

There was one ( and 2 x 360s and 1 x 456) at the Seattle International track day last Saturday.

bloody quick and sounded AWESOME.. Best of the bunch of the Ferraris that were there.

Especially when I was standing on the corner onto the main straight. So close you can touch them.. I jest NOT ....

Well if your hands are quick enough

I really have to get a ride in one

Richard

Mark Pattison

Theres a serious lack of info about the F355. Looks like you need to buy one to find out what its really like...

I do agree with rsquire what the 355's sound ten times better than the 360's for some reason.

Have to get this ferrari business out of my system while I'm still young and foolish

Adam M

Give Iain Litchfield a call at Litimports, there is a banner on this BBS.

He has had to source some cars in the past so has some knowledge of buying nad riving them.

PS.

good choice. the 355 gtb is without doubt the best ferrari (f40 excluded) and the only one I would buy.

Been out with Iain in a 360 and though impressive, just doesnt have the soul of the 355.

Hope he canm help.

RonaldoH

The 355 has a serious pose eliment to it, and handles just like a well balanced performance car should, the 360 carries a pedigree and performance reputation that has meant many 355 owners have considered dabbling in the purchasing game of these beauties.

The 360 Spyder is being drip fed to the uk at the moment and we went to look at a really nice silver one at Marranellos in Egham last week, we noticed it parked up with a black roof lining and thought we would go and have a nose.

According to a Ferrari source, the roof mechanism is being built by the same guys that do the roofs on the SLK (fantastic method and silent) and the Audi TT (again, quick but not as silent. Given the delays, this will make the 360 spyder with its blips on down change something that even Mr De Banke will be gagging to get his hands on!

R

matt d

Why not hire one for a day and take it down some good roads? I think you can get them for about £550 for one day. Pricey but not compared to the £60k+ you'll spend on one.

Bas

My boss was considering a 355 until he drove a 360 and had to have one.

Took me for a spin the other day and all I can say is

Looks and sounds amazing especially the blip of the throttle on the downchange.

Although he was still running it in and didn't take it over 6K, up to 60 it doesn't actually feel that much quicker than my Scoob but after that the aerodynamics start taking over.

Also the power delivery probably makes Scooby's feel faster with the kick in the back over 3K.

Can't wait to go for a ride when he takes it up to 8.5K rpm!

Cheers

Bas

Mark Pattison

Thats a good idea Matt and in fact Ronnie has quoted me some prices. I won't be back in the uk until June and will have probably taken the plunge before then

I have been out a few times with a friends 355, on the highway theres sod all in it. STi6 TypeR with scoobysport possibly having the edge. BTW, you can't hear the full scoobysport exhaust at all with the tubi'ed 355 around. Bloody antisocial if you ask me

godzilla

As readers of EVO magazine know, I sold my 620bhp GT-R to buy the F355 Spider Simon seemed to enjoy so much at Bruntingthorpe. I have driven a few 360s and definitely prefer the handling of the 355; it's much more entertaining once you get it over the limit. Very fast in a straight line though, Autocar timed one at 8.8sec 0-100mph I seem to remember! My decatted and Tubi'd Spider seems capable of keeping up, just!
'Er indoors just bought a Prodrive 5 door and it's quick but still not in the same league as a Skyline. A Mine's tuned R34 appeals, but only when I can afford to keep the Spider as well...
Good luck paying HK tax on one Mark!
David Yu

Richard Simpson

Welcome aboard Mr Yu - your diary entries in Evo always brings a smile to my face

Cheers,

Richard

[This message has been edited by Richard Simpson (edited 22 March 2001).]

Mike Rainbird

Ditto the welcomes David.

I was absolutely gutted that you didn't stick the timing gear on the Skyline before you sold it, as there seems to be a funny smell about the big power claims of these cars and it would have been nice to prove the sceptics (me being one of them ) wrong...
LOL
Mike R

Neil Smalley

Welcome to the BBS, Mr Yu

If you are here looking for a cure for 'Yu's tuning disease' then I'm afraid you will be disappointed

Congrats on a great series of EVO articles

Gary Foster

David,

Don't give away the result of the 355 v Scoob article, we are all still waiting for Simon to finish it and put it on the CD - would be a shame to know the result before hand

Mike

Hehehehe now that would have been an interesting comparison

Ps Well done David on the Evo articles, I have to say it's even more entertaining reading about someone else throwing money away than doing it myself ...

Simon

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Mike Rainbird:
<B>Ditto the welcomes David.

I was absolutely gutted that you didn't stick the timing gear on the Skyline before you sold it, as there seems to be a funny smell about the big power claims of these cars and it would have been nice to prove the sceptics (me being one of them ) wrong...
LOL
Mike R[/quote]

I seem to remember a letter published in EVO several months ago asking the same thing... Come to think of it, that guys name was Mike Rainbird too, what a coincidence.

Simon

Mark Pattison

Hi David,

Its great to hear from you; and even greater to see you are enjoying your 355 so much I bet you get some strange looks parking the beast with the tubi exhaust thundering away at idle

I can well believe your skylines power. Brother has a slightly modded supra which scares me silly once on power and would pull away with ease in a straight line.

Being as though you can't comment on the STi/355 event I wouldn't mind hearing how the 355 stacks up against your old skyline. As for TAX, that was mostly paid by the original owner. The car I'm looking at is 5 years old - bit of a gamble I know. It wouldn't really bother me if its in the garage a lot (getting 1 year warrantee); for gods sake man I'll own a Ferrari

I've been told this will wear off and I'll revert back to owning a 4WD turbo pocket rocket next year...

blp

A good friend of mine has got a 355. Ive got a STi V5......and I will stick to my car thanks.
The 355 is a money pit. Theres always something going wrong with it. It costs a fortune to put right (thousands and thousands). Even a simple driving holiday to Bordeux turned into a £7k repair bill. My mate (although its his choice) wont drive it at night in the rain.

Even the simplest single lane country road bottoms the car out...with the suspension RAISED!!!

I reckon its a waste of cash, and you need to be a wealthy chap / chapess to have one. Personally, wouldnt touch one with a barge pole. Id spend my money on a house and rent it out!

Sorry all you Ferrari owners.

SDB

hehe

The thing is...

The Ferrari is not a shopping car. It's not a car in ANY normal sense of the word.

You don't buy a Ferrari to save money, or to be sensible. There is only one reason you buy a Ferrari... You want a piece of the magic. And magical it certainly is.

If I could afford one, I would buy one without a moments hesitation, but I can't. I would want to hang on to my Type R also though.

Cheers

Simon

PS. Welcome David

Mike Rainbird

Simon,
You have a very good memory! The reason I mentioned it again, is that I recently had a go against an R33 "750bhp" Skyline at Brunters. It had a NISMO "Tarrantula" series ECU upgrade, several fuel pumps, bigger injectors, aftermarket cams, TRUST intercooler and lots of other things that I can't remember and ran 1.8 bar (prepped by Abbey Motorsport).

It did a couple of 170+mph runs (a best of 172) and then blew up. Looked and sounded nice before hand, but was no match for the Cossie... (180.6mph with 1000 revs to go - we ran out of runway, as they had cordoned off the bottom part due to the number of new cars at the end.)

Should do 190mph with use of the full strip and a few other mods...
Best regards
Mike R

godzilla

Mark, I must admit that if Godzilla had been in the least bit reliable, I would still have her. (I completely identify with the owner of the car Mike R described!)However having set up the Skyline GT-R register I can safely say that reliability is an issue with a lot of the UK tuned cars. Those brought in from Japan properly done seem to fair better. It's difficult to compare Godzilla with the Spider but on any objective criteria the Skyline wins hands down. It's faster, more practical, handles better and has better roadholding. It also has the best steering I have ever tried ( tied with the F40). But the uncertainty of whether you were going to reach your destination or not, meant I became unwilling to continue the relationship.
The F355 on the other hand, counters with unbeatable looks, noise and sense of occasion and the challenge of driving it well does actually make it more satisfying when you get it right. BTW NEVER be tempted in the future to buy an F1 version as the clutch will only last moments, you'll get horrendously jerky upshifts and miss out on one of the highlights of driving a Ferrari, mastering the gated gearshift. Have fun Mark, but I don't think you'll have any choice in that matter!
David Yu.