Quote:
Originally Posted by Banning
I just ran across this thread.
Since owning a Testarossa for 8 years, being Vice-President of the Ferrari Club...
...Misc ramble deleted...
Remember that all Ferraris are not created equal and you should check all available models in your price range.
For instance, a Mondial was mentioned early in this thread as a good car to own.
The Mondial is an entry level Ferrari, inexpensive, fairly reliable, but very slow and at the bottom of the list of Ferraris to own. I would suggest to stay away from it if possible. Sorry, but you will end up being made fun of, at least in the Ferrari Club.
The Dino was mentioned and is still to this day one of the most beautiful Ferrari designs ever manufactured. It was the first Ferrari to attract my attention back in 1973. I fell in love at first sight. The Dino has unbelievable re-sale value and has skyrocketed in the past few years in price. It is a small car with a 2.4 liter V-6 engine that is mounted sideways, and so it is probably the slowest Ferrari available but incredible to look at.
My advice is to stick with Porsche unless you have no choice and are "driven" to own a particular Ferrrari. Check all the available models in your price range and definetely have the car checked by the Dealer.
Good Luck, see you on Mulholland.
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Hey ban.
I was pointed this direction from a fairly large group of Ferrari enthusiast's over at a similar forum. They had been particularly amused by your Mondial & Dino comments. Its no big deal, and no offence meant but I did want to clear up a few things in your post.
To begin you actually made some inaccurate comments on both steeds so I thought I would present you with a few informational bits.
First off my personal Mondial t coupe has never found a Testarossa it could not beat. Drag strip, road course - whatever. It has fun playing with that wide machine like a fat cat-nip mouse. Here is a quick video of my "very slow" Mondial t taking part in a Ferrari Club event at a drag strip, and winning fastest 1/4 mile run of the day for that matter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1maYzWhJ0k0
The best run was
only in the 13's but that was sufficient to best
all Testarossa's as well as any others that day. You see when Ferrari was on their last version of the Mondial (the T) they really did a great job. The engine grew from a 3.0 in the beginning to a 3.2, then to the 3.4 liter like in the 348. It was rated at 300HP, had a drysump lubrication system (to get the engine low in the chassis), a transverse mounted transaxle and semi tubular chassis mounted on electronically selectable & adjustable suspension to enjoy it all with. A far cry from something someone would need to be forewarned of. And think of the rarity. Ferrari only sent 43 Mondial t coupes (my favorite & the most rigid) to the USA period. That would make them rarer than even an F40. Made fun of? No. Not in the enthusiasts Ferrari clubs I belong to.
As for the Dino... You state that it too is slow. But let it be known that when piloted correctly that small bore machine can produce lap times that are considerably quicker than the 2.4 liter may suggest. It is all about momentum and not torque. It may not be a wonderful stop light to stop light car, but it is a fabulous momentum machine and when driven correctly would surprise you & the Big Testa in the hills of Cali. These are Ferraris by all means. But not Hemi Chargers.
Nevertheless I wanted to take a moment to try to shed some light on this thread as I am a current dual/multiple Porsche/Ferrari owner and find that too many fables are told of cars like the 400i, the Dino, Mondial, 456 and that more research is needed by posters like you before painting your picture with such a wide brush.
Enjoy your drive on Mulholland.
