Intro
Well those who have read previous articles or blogs know that I have grown up with a number of Italian exotics my father owned. That fact has always left a lasting impression and desire for something in that realm, as well as a bit of Nostalgia and memory. Having sat in my dad's old F360 as recently as 2007 I have always looked at those cars as well as others. Currently F360 are pretty close in price to my current Cayman GT4 so I figured it was time to start investigating more. To see if the memory and nostalgia held up and to compare old school analog to modern digital performance.
Quick Impressions / TL;DR
Looks still make an impact on me. Car feels surprisingly more punchy than Porsche. Feels Fast. Good ergo. Sound so-so. Classic older car and all that implies from cosmetic to quality to driving feel and handling. Didn't have as much of an "occasion" feel as the Gallardo but also easier to drive, more Porsche-esque comparatively but way older in capability. Brakes and actually to some extent sound a big letdown. F1 paddles, and "ease of driving" a bit of a surprise. I'd go for a 6MT but for a first test drive the F1 was actually pretty fun.
Looks / Cosmetics
Headlights dated. Car soft but still has that exotic wide low slung look. Challenge grill always good. Going back and forth to my GT4 sort of like both look cool. No question my GT4 and wrap is exotic and looks really good. 360 still in that world tho. Sort of a toss up and of course looks are subjective. That back end tho... memories of OutRun... But yeah GT4 is still a stunner especially in green.
Probably more worth noting it is things like bits of trim under carpet area missing under wheel. Driving around the top plastic bits of defroster surround pop out and fell into lap of my buddy who was passenger. Typical of these. Dash shrinkage etc. General cosmetic wear and tear on paint, window trim, wheels etc etc. 30k plus miles and nearly 20 year old car. Yeah. In that way reminds me more of my old 2001 Boxster S. Which makes sense same era / age. A pre-owned car decades old. Not a pristine show car but a driver.
Engine / Transmission
Surprisingly spry when you consider when this car came out. Felt as fast or faster than GT4 tho I know it’s not quite the same. Close enough. That v8 torque helps. Still a long draw to red line but torque continues to build. Similar to Porsche it’s a high revving prefer to be at higher rpm car. But felt like a stronger pull sort of like Quaids GT3 I was in vs my GT4. Weird being that I feel like 0-60 times etc are slower than my GT4.
My buddy was instantly laughing from passenger seat. I also felt the torque but still not as much as say Gallardo was torque wise. And passenger seat plus auto transmission always makes it feel "more". Honestly for straight line torque fun no Q the Gallardo was the winner. That's the only way the Gallardo was the winner. Straight torque and looks. For any sort of usability for "driving" Ferrari or Porsche.
The F1 transmission was actually fairly fun. Since you still have to let off of gas and shift. Still fairly engaging. That said I would only ever want a 6mt gated shifter.
Side note this car had a check engine light that never went off.
Sound
Sound was the usual more loud idle and cold start of an Italian car. That said I was surprised that the tone didn’t really get to the high pitched F1 feel I was expecting. Honestly my gt4 and headers sounded better and higher in pitch at redline. Plus louder than the 360 with capristo. Surprised me. Maybe I am expecting 458 sounds. Maybe I just like my car. Funny as I was recently considering yet even more exhaust for GT4...
Steering / Brakes / Handling
Steering lighter as mentioned by reviews. Not horrible but not a Porsche. As you start to get to faster speeds and turn you start to lose a bit of assuredness about what the car is doing. Nothing as bad as the Gallardo which felt like absolute zero no info.... But not my Porsche. Little bit of slop and not as quite as precise as even my VW but way better than the Lambo. So overall steering and suspension a bit soft. Salesperson mentioned they would suggest tightening up/redo suspension stuff. Just to plus it. Makes sense. Can’t imagine what that would cost.
Brakes were disappointing. At least compared to my GT4 Maybe even to my Cayman S.. Just nowhere near as much bite as I would have wanted or expected moving at that speed. Again I guess I am spoiled by gt4. Or maybe this car needed a flush or something. Also possible. And again it’s 20 years old. Classic car. But so fast you definitely want to be thinking about how fast you attack corners. Or slow down for freeway ramps etc earlier than I anticipated. 
Suspension softer. Again not bad just not modern as much. Did a freeway exit out then side roads back. So got some good feel of car in various scenarios. Not like a ton of body roll but again not GT4. Actually thinking back car was maybe smoother over bumps too.
Ergo
Actually quite good. Didn’t feel too different compared to Porsche driving and feel. Visibility was good back and sides. Car size felt similar etc. At normal speeds felt like could just cruise around. Again similar. Felt like I could understand the dimensions of the car, and see what I needed to. Having to drive in a narrow construction bit on Freeway with divider blocks to my right was tight but ok. About same as I felt in my Porsche.
Summary
Can’t say I am surprised car felt 20 years old but I guess actually driving it - drove that point home (pun intended) quite a bit more than just reading about it. As I was driving and discussing with my friend the F1 trans and torque we were both mulling what a 458 must feel like. Tho my suspicion is faster and torque, faster shifts and better handling like gt4 but also meaning more filtered less analog. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? i just imagine a 458 is basically my GT4 with not as good steering/handling, but crazy sound, way faster and equally digital.
I did a quick DM to a guy I know who has a 360 and was out driving it today. His response was of course you can’t compare a modern car to the 360. But he likes the analog feel it has but overall took him some weeks to get used to and appreciate. Pretty interesting. I’ve seen people who had had both. And others who have had both ferrari and porsches and such and swore they would keep the 360 and sell everything else before it.
Anyhow interesting. During the drive I was like wow. I was actually impressed. It sort of had the better feel of a sports car. On the other hand I don’t know that it felt "different enough" than the GT4 sports car feel other than being a dated older version. The Gallardo was somehow giving me a much more nostalgia memory feel with the gated shifter and low seat and visibility reminding me of the Countach. I feel like the Lambo was more of "an occasion" but at the same time even -worse- of a "car". Popping back into my GT4 I was like yep feel a bit more filtered but wow much more precise. Trusting. Able to drive faster. Brake better. Etc. I guess I was expecting the F360 might feel more "special". I remember reading some forum where people were talking about the difference of Lambo vs Ferrari...and that you need to drive both to understand "which one you are" or prefer. I can understand the show-off big muscle lambo vs. racing heritage ferrari snob viewpoints now.
I also have ‘waned’ quite a bit in recent months over the whole lust of an Italian exotic. I think wrapping my car has given me that extra bit of fun too. Interestingly I felt like my gt4 got more attention. Then again I wasn’t really looking around Vs focusing on test drive. But yeah. Very interesting. The salesman was ogling my car and wrap from the moment I showed up. Even took video of me pulling out of his shop etc...Heh
Anyhow from a “scratching the itch of owning an exotic” the 360 would be livable and fun. (assuming I could stomach occasional service costs ) But having tasted the fruits of modern day performance I don’t know that I even want to go backwards. I guess I respect people driving classic cars now in a different way. It’s just a different experience. Probably more raw but I don’t know that raw translates to fun as much as maybe I was imagining...
My friend left me telling me not to ever drive a GT3. Because even with PDK I'd want to move forward that way vs. the GT4. Heh. Like I said I sort of wonder what a 458 is like but I love my 6MT. Reality is unless a gen 2 manual trans GT3 falls from the sky at some affordable price and I test drive it doubtful I'll be changing cars...
Porsche just nailed everything so well with the GT4... I think if I ever do nostalgia thing it would have to be in addition to not in replace of... I also perhaps would need to drive another different 360 to get a feel, have a second more calm test drive etc... but I am pretty sure I am hitting the nail on the head about "sense of occasion" which is more what I was after with the exotic and nostalgia thing than anything else. And in that regard it seems like other than Lambo the Ferrari and Porsche are more on equal footing. Which means the GT4 will win by default.
It also cracks me up that this "Ferrari" is basically same price or less than some of the Teslas roaming around all over today. What does that mean? Actually what I mean more is perception of owning a Ferrari when in fact it's less expensive than other peoples daily drivers... of course...maintenance....
Thanks for reading!
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