Post NSX - F360 Purchase Update

[Tokyo-Joe]

Hi all,

I promised to make an update on the forum after spending some time owning and enjoying my F360 Modena so here is that update.

http://www.180sx.co.uk/media/f360/f360_1.jpg

The car has been behaving very well on the whole, I have put around 1,500 miles on it driving across the UK once to a friend in Devon and the rest of the miles on my favourite Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire roads.

I have got my head around the excessive power and torque on tap, when I first got it I was struggling to keep it on the road within UK limits as the power band feels limitless, however with a more measured approach to the throttle and short shifting the F1 gearbox you can drive it over here and still have fun without worrying too much - it just requires more restraint then I was used to driving the NSX for three years on the same roads.

http://www.180sx.co.uk/media/f360/f360_2.jpg

I have yet to fully open it up and bang through the whole gearbox as the speeds you get to are crazy so I am thinking about tracking it to really understand what it is capable of. My worry with that is the value of tracked Ferrari's does take a hit - which is a real shame as it does put you off.

http://www.180sx.co.uk/media/f360/f360_3.jpg

There have been only minor defects so far, the brakes are squeeling and the aircon does not want to activate but other then that is has been faultless. The battery is good as I left it parked for over two months at a time and it started straight away so it must have a very efficient battery.

http://www.180sx.co.uk/media/f360/f360_5.jpg

The engine note still gets me every time I fire it up, it reminds me of when F1 cars used to actually sound nice.. The noise begs you to ring it out just a few more revs every gear, just to hang onto that shriek. It's ace. It is still dreadful on fuel. I mean, really bad.. perhaps 15mpg on the motorway?

In terms of my NSX I do not miss the driving experience too much, I enjoyed the car and invested in some large bills for it but over my years of ownership I was also saving up for my first house so I could never fully commit to making it the car I wanted it to be.

I eventually sold it to a real enthusiast and not a garage queen collector which I am happy about - I hope he goes crazy with the mods and makes it a monster.

I still check out these forums to see what's going on in the NSX world and I am very keen to see what they make of the new car, it looks really interesting! I also keep my eye on NSX-R values though even with the crashing YEN the cost is ridiculous..

If you have any questions about the F360 feel free to post on here and I will try to answer them.

J

[Papalazarou]

A very interesting write up. After nearly ten years of NSX ownership at an end, I am just about to embark on something new and although it won't have a horse on the bonnet, I was interested to read how you were getting on.
The 360 seems very reliable as F cars go. The engine is certainly an event.
I also took a look at the domestic NSX market. Not for a type R. Just a coupe of some description. But even with the more favourable exchange rate, the import route still looks unviable.
Anyway, happy motoring.

Cheers.

[nobby]

its the car i would likely turn to if and when i decide to leave NSX ownership
your colour choice is definitely the choice i would be making
i have been looking at the 360 market but there are few cars that i would consider

I have to admit bit shocked at the mpg ... would thought it would have been better

is she a manual or auto shift?
what sort of cost estimate for its next service are you budgeting for?

i would do the odd track day and there is a guy who goes constantly with his 360 ... it really deserves to be on track ... its fantastic ... i was a passenger and the car handles like a dream on a spirited drive in a regulated environment.

all the best with it and look forward to updates

[Mistercorn]

Your car does look fantastic. I must admit I am tempted towards the 599GTB for when I sell the NSX, which will probably be 2015 or 2016. I love the NSX, but then I also like lots of other cars. That said I am better at buying cars than selling them.

MC

[Alf Tupper]

Yellow (or red) 360 with challenge grille looks fantastic in my opinion. It'd be interesting to know about maintenance, spares, independents, main dealers and so on.

[Tokyo-Joe]

Yellow (or red) 360 with challenge grille looks fantastic in my opinion. It'd be interesting to know about maintenance, spares, independents, main dealers and so on.

So I am going for my first annual (minor) next week at the main dealer to retain service history. I have been quoted a fixed £850 for the service that covers oil, coolant, brake fluid, air and fuel filters and possibly plugs. Dealer hourly rate is charged at £100 which is surprisingly cheaper then Norton Way Hondas £120 hourly rate.

I will keep this thread updated to help inform anyone looking to slide from their NSX into a 360 as I did.

[Tokyo-Joe]

Hi guys, I thought now that I am fast approaching the end of my second year of ownership of the 1999 Ferrari F360 Modena I would give you another honest update.

http://www.180sx.co.uk/media/f360/nsxcb_ferrari_1.JPG

So I have put a further 1,800 enjoyable miles on the car, I have driven to Cornwall and sampled some of the lovely roads there along with plenty of my favourite local roads in both Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. The car has been on the whole reliable and extremely good fun. I had one *near* breakdown where the car fell into limp home mode after a one hour journey in torrential rain, once the rain had dried off it was back to normal with no errors (the engine compartment has many, many holes in it and some rain water must have splashed on something electronic).

http://www.180sx.co.uk/media/f360/nsxcb_ferrari_2.JPG

My first annual service on the established schedule was a minor service, this came in at the main dealer at circa £1,000. Unfortunately the dealer then gave me an inspection sheet with a colossal figure to rectify a range of problems - mostly minor but some quite dangerous for example £2,500 to replace the cam cover gaskets (belts inc) as the gaskets are seeping oil over the exhaust manifolds. New brake discs and pads all round (£1,000 per corner) and many smaller parts (an oil hose was £800), replace brake lines all round (£400-ish), a pair of new front tyres (£500).

I was not best pleased with the previous seller withholding this information from me ("everything that needed doing has been done" - bull****), but I suppose it was my own fault for not forking out for a comprehensive inspection, lesson learned. I concluded my service and took the car to a respected independent called SB Race Engineering in Watford. SB took on half of the allotted jobs and charged circa 15% less then the main dealer. All of the potentially dangerous and important items have all been rectified and in my upcoming service I will be investing in some of the remaining outstanding issues such as the non working air conditioning and dimming dash lights.

Once those issues have been resolved I will be looking forward to personalising the car, adding some Challenge Stradale 19" wheels, rear 'nub' (spoiler) and hopefully some CS mirrors. There are many engine mods that can also be done to easily extract power although I am not sure it needs any more for the road.


http://www.180sx.co.uk/media/f360/nsxcb_ferrari_3.JPG

I took the car to a dyno in Cambridgeshire, I have been to many dynos and thought I would try out this very odd looking place. The dyno itself looks like it came from the 1950's but it gave a solid result of 390bhp at the fly. My brother also dyno'd his rebuilt 180sx and that gave the expected figure of 350bhp verified from a different dyno so it seems that the car has barely lost any power after 16 years of leaving the factory.

https://aldousvoice.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/av360pi.png?w=460

There is a final thing to mention and that is the surging values, a kind Ferrari owner has applied his skills in collating data to the F360 price index and pictured above shows the real data of what cars have been selling for by month. The most desirable F360 is a low miles (<10k), Red, Cream interior, Manual and these are now selling in excess of £100,000 in some cases.

The chart above shows the last couple of years, including the month where I purchased mine (thankfully when values were lower). With luck I suspect my car will be valued around the £55,000 / £60,000 mark which is a significant premium over what I paid in March 2014 and it does pose a question of should I cash out now and buy something else or keep hold of it and hold out for a higher value come sale time..

[Tokyo-Joe]

http://www.180sx.co.uk/media/f360/nsxcb_ferrari_4.JPG


With that said even after two years of ownership I cannot imagine what I would like to replace the F360 with? Certainly not a Gallardo or an F430 (they do not take my fancy for various reasons), possibly a 458 but the fiscal jump would be too high and I am not sure I want that much capital tied up in a car anyway.


Ah well - please excuse my ponderings!


As always if you have any questions just let me know.


Joe

[Sudesh]

Very nice! Had one myself as a buy in to sell and it was a nice thing to drive. It's a good move up from the NSX, although I think the NSX is going to hold its money better and is more rare. I still see more 360 that NSX and that's over in this little country.

The black rear end on yours really sets it off, I did this to my Diablo. Look allot better, also added the racing mesh.

[Tokyo-Joe]

Thank you Sudesh, they do seem to be a good next step on the automotive ladder after the NSX (I don't mean that as a knock to the NSX, I love them both).

How are you getting on with the Diablo? One of my friends sold his more modern Murci to return to a Diablo so they must be very special cars.

[nobby]

hey mate

yeah had noticed the price increases on the 360 too as i was pondering doing the exact same as you in terms of moving from the NSX

thanks for the update on ownership ... your official garage works assessment would have sent me over the edge ... some of those prices are soul destroying and it is my fear of moving into ferarri ownership

but great that you still have a passion for the car and still enjoy it ... which what its all about anyway

good stuff

[Sudesh]

Hi MR Tokyo Joe!

I think with the Audi inspiration, they lost there heritage...I stayed to the model before Audi got involved as you can feel that the car was hand built; certinally in allot of places looks hand built lol. Build quilty of my Diablo wouldn't be as good as the 360. My car is 93/94 so real old skool. But Like here, I have a refresh programme going on it and a member of the clubs of which are US based as that's the biggest market so doing allot of the work myself. Another real issue on the Diablo is parts, Lambo have completely stopped selling certain bits, so if something goes wrong, your on the man hunt for parts. Very expensive.... Like the 360, a pair of tyres is the cost of a good big service to the NSX. I'm thinking of buying an EB110 too, but haven't seen it in the flesh. On pics it looks good from certain angles, others look crap. Might be better on buying an NA1 NSX-R....

[Alf Tupper]

Nice photos, fabulous car!

Can't get my head round the cost for brakes though. A quick search on the net brings up superformance and choosing the most expensive options gives original discs at £119 each, Brembo front pads at £184 per set and Brembo rear pads at £203 per set.

[Tokyo-Joe]

Hi Alf,

Apologies I may have been inaccurate with the exact pricing, I believe I ended up paying around £1,800 for both discs and pads all round including a discount from the independent - that initial cost was from the main dealer.

After I told the main dealer that I don't have the cash to fix these issues they came back and knocked £3,000 off the total cost! That put them almost inline with the independent. Fair play to them for trying but factoring in distance I have opted now to remain with the independent.

I should also say that I could certainly have sourced the parts and done the work myself for a much cheaper cost, but having spent many of the weekend's in my 20's working under my old cars (with help from talented friends) - in my 30's I would rather keep my time and pay somebody to do that for me. The intact skin on my knuckles thanks me for this although my dented bank balance does not!