Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Howards Dillema...Almost.

As it happens, that was the route I took ( from Lotus to Ferrari) and for the same reason - I had difficulty getting in and out of my Elise.It may be fond memories but I still think that the Elise was marginally the more fun to drive than either Ferrari or Porker thanks to absolutely delightful steering.

I am on my second Ferrari now, and after the first I went backwards to a manual gearbox spider - a 2003 360. Bit heavier than Peters Boxter at 1500kg and with only slightly more power at 400 bhp but even then more power that I can use on the road. Its worth maybe 65k on a good day compared to the 35k you can buy a good a 2018 Boxter for.. Its a bit more raw than the Boxter and likely a bit less capable but it has more personality than the various modern Boxters ( and 911s ) that I have tried. That said I like the look of the Boxter Spider that has appeared at the yacht club.

What does it do more than the 718 Boxter? Nothing really. But then you dont buy either car for rational logical reasons do you? For me a Ferrari is special even a cheap one like mine. And as for Morgan, even though I thought the CX series so much better than the old trad as to be in a different league, I dont think I could ever contemplate spending the amount a new one would cost when the alternatives are my 360 or Peters Boxter.

One final comment. The build quality of Ferrari is excellent as is the reliability. Service costs are £ 600 pa with £1300 every third year. Parts vary from downright cheap to supercar prices and not all are now available. And being all aluminium, it isnt subject to the Porshe tin worm. Or bore scoring, or intermediate shaft bearings.

All said I still cant give any sort off rational reason for owning any such car in the pothole infested 20 mph scamera land I inhabit.

P.S. Tried the 488 and the 458 before buying the 360. They were simply too powerful for me. Even with the 430 a foot to the floor NSL overtake of a truck would see you coming out on the other side at 100mph. Imagine a further 200 or so bhp!


PPS have done the shopping at Lidl in the 360 before now. Sure you try to park next to a privately owned car rather than a builders transit, but never had a problem other than people gathered round and wanting to chat.


The car:

Howard, many thanks for a real world insight relative to ownership and running of your lovely Ferrari and your personal evaluation of alternatives you mention.

I guess there may be many well thought out tick box lists created when attempting to justify the acquisition of a vehicle that is just a little bit special, and there can be little doubt that the mix of rarity and general public awareness of the marque will always make a Ferrari that bit more special than most.

Justifying a car joice differs from person: for me it is all about a raft of empirical and subjective issues. I had a work colleague who would run a series of 7 year discounted cash flow projections.....!

The Boxster S does everything I want, or need. I like the looks, the feeling, everything. It is affordable and I will keep it until I can't get in or out....
The F360 is, in many ways comparable, but I'll bet it sounds better, with a V8.
In blue it looks very attractive.

As Howard comments, what is the point of more than 400bhp on a public road...?
The Boxster S has 350 and I'm having 9" winter wheels and M&S tyres put on it next week, on summer P Zero tyres it is a bit lively on mud and leaves...!!

Boxster S.
A car for an up-market hairdresser. Am MX5 is the wrong image. More suitable for a Cyber Mega Cut barber ( butcher).
Only kidding.....
Drive what you enjoy and ticks your boxes.
I’d love a 2CV. I don’t suffer sea sickness so would be ok.

As I have typed previously, I got into Porsche in the air cooled era, when they seemed 100% reliable and built to last once they started galv dipping the monocoque circa 1977. The interiors were also very robust.. Ferrari just scared me financially, and seemed built more along the lines of a race car, of which I had experienced enough of messing around with various 60`s-70 Lotus Elan, Europa, Elite, the difference betwixt them and Ferrari was the parts cost, thus I never arrived at lusting after a Ferrari much as I did machines that I might be able to repair and run on my meagre budget... Pity.

When I thought to go back to a tin top sports car, the tick boxes equated to an air cooled as being out of the running and anything water cooled in the 911 derivative range, would have to be a 997.1 or later.. I ended up with my 991.1 which I am into for circa £71K other than fuel and insurance, having bought 3 years of extended warranty and having paid to have a OPC service repeated a month or so after the same service had been performed by a Porsche specialist just prior to my buying it...Also have since had a oil and filter change as well brake fluid change circa 1 year on from purchase.... So perhaps with that in mind I could have been in a Ferrari after all.... BUT.... I do warm to the look of the curves and much else on my C4S, were it closer to the external dimensions of my air cooled Porsches, I might like it more, but then all the on board gimology seems to make it handle like a much smaller machine when the road narrows and corners tighten up.... (-: Having typed that... I suspect it`s circa 400HP seems well OTT for the sort of driving I enjoy..

The old Mog is in standard tune with carbs and I think it was perhaps circa 150 HP when new, and I never found it short of horses at any time on the roads that I had/have the good fortune to drive it on in my locality or while touring, though when touring I was ever in cruise mode and not seeking to stress anything in order to maintain reliability... I guess as ever, the secret lies in the power to weight ratio...? (-:

Back in my earliest days of driving, a flashy fisherman friend had a Vauxhall Cavalier SRI 130, so impressive was the 130hp it was displayed in large numerals along the side of the car. Doesn’t seem that long ago yet the conversation was the same, “too fast for the road and dangerously powerful”.

These days, in their skin pulling department, the rice pudding factory staff would laugh at the measly power of this😂

I like more power but l also like hardly any and everything in between, if it looks good, it is good, nobody’s wrong in this regard.

The best sports cars have traditionally been those with light weight, good handling, and moderate power from a well tuned engine that was often a souped up version of an engine used in the family sedan.

The best selling sports car of all time is the Mazda MX5. The current model has a motor that develops 135 kW (184 CV) @7000 rpm and 205Nm @4000 rpm. It not only looks good and has a smart acceleration but handles pretty well too.

Perhaps Mazda has understood something about what is needed to make a highly enjoyable car without going to extremes that mere mortals cannot handle without a lot of "driver aids".

Made a mistake in my earlier post relative to the first of the water-cooled Porsches I would consider buying was the 991.2, and NOT the 991.1 as I had typed, the .2 version had resolved the IMS issue and others that reportedly put the 996 and early 997`s at some risk...?

Ewan the first vehicle that caught me by surprise many years ago when it was new, was a Diesel Astra van, such was the degree of comfort/ isolation and performance that I found myself barrelling down the m/way at three figures thinking I was perhaps doing 70...!!!! The van was two up and filled with a scaffold tower I had built at Doune for the commentators at a car event that weekend..! An acquaintance who ran a recovery business told me at the time that the Astra Diesel van`s were written off in high numbers, given their performance seemed to catch a few unawares...!

Seems to me that the horse power race is just nuts. being an old codger I remember well when the Clarkson crew took over Top Gear and slewing the car sideways round every corner became THE thing to display just how much power and rubber was available to waste...!

I have watched a few American TV shows "Kindig it design," there is no doubting their talents, however putting huge amounts of horse power into the likes of a customised 50`s pick up truck seems entirely impractical for any use on the road... But then as an automotive art form it seems to work well enough. Just watched one where hey put a super special 1000HP engine into a customised early Lincoln Continental... the owner of which may well have been in his late sixties or early seventies.... as many of the customers featured in this prog seem to be... I do wonder how often, if ever, they use the power available in there ultra expensive recreations to burn rubber... Hmm.. Each to their own.

Ewan ... having worked for Vauxhall back in the day "too fast for the road and dangerously powerful" ... is not an unjust description of a souped up Cav 🙂

Difference with your Ferrari is that it has been designed as a package with dynamics to match the power.

Supercars are a law and species unto themselves ... however, for 'sports cars' I subscribe to Gambalunga's tboughts ... balance and fun over bhp bragging rights .... one of the things that killed the Brit bike industry was the way the Japanese manufacturers spun the optics to figures on a bike-mag page over actual road experience.

K

For 'sports cars' I also subscribe to Gambalunga's thougts.
BUT where is the dividing line between a sports car and a supercar?

Is a Porsche Boxster S, with a mid engine producing 345bhp at 6500rpm and 310lb ft of torque between 1900 and 4500rpm. The redline is set at 7500rpm and it weighs just 1395g, so is it a sports car or a mini supercar? I don't know.
My neighbour has a series 2 MX5. It is more like a well sorted Morgan Plus 4 than the Boxster: not bad, a wonderful gearbox and a responsive chassis, but it isn't a cohesive package in the way a Boxster S is. But a good used MX 5 of similar age and condition to my Boxster S will be less than £15,000 whilst a Boxster S will be £50,000 so the MX 5 is stunning value for money and very capable. In the end neither is better than the other, they are not directly comparable, as the Ferrari in the photo that started this thread isn't directly comparable with the Boxster.