Porsche (996) Turbo vs Ferrari 360

[V8slayer]

I've always heard the Porsche turbo is amazing. But when I test drove it about three weeks ago, it felt weird. I mean it was quick but it didn't feel confident in its turn in and road holding. The worst part was I felt insulated from the drive. Is it that I'm not used to rear engine 4WD. I expected an absolute blast.

Last week I test drove the 360 and it was just magic. The howl of the engine aside, the car felt like it responded to my mind rather than my hands and feet. And it felt confident. I just went faster and faster into the corners and I would pour on the mid-corner power searching for the limit of the grip and I just didn't find it.

I guess it's an understandable outcome. German clinical precision against Italian hot blooded passion. But that's not the impression I got from reading all the reviews on the Porsche. It's always held up as the standard by which supercars are measured. But it really wasn't fun to drive.

So I need help from people who have driven both. Am I too inexperienced a driver to appreciate the Porsche? Is it simply the Ferrari having less turns lock to lock? Or is my experience like that of everyone else?

[kman10587]

I'm only 18, but I've driven a 2000 Carrera 4, which is also rear-engine/AWD. I agree that the driving experience feels kinda insulated and dumbed down for the average older buyer.

[Layla's Keeper]

Well, the AWD watercooled Porsches have a history of feeling very vague and disconnected compared to their RWD bretheren (notice that the GT3 and the GT2, both RWD examples, are media and track favorites). The Ferrari is a RWD thoroughbred that makes very few concessions to the touring/luxury aspect of high dollar sports cars, whereas the Porsche 911 long ago adopted rear seats and electronic aids in order to protect its affluent but inexperienced drivers.

Ah well, at least with the GT2 there's still a Porsche turbo that can bite you in the ass in the grand tradition of the classic 930.

[Jimster]

The Modena is the drivers car of the bunch, it always has been- few of those silly driver-aids that you'd have thought the Supercar driver wouldn't need and it's Rear wheel drive (and it has soul!)

The 911 Turbo is the one for the poser- it's there to catch him when he (as it always is with 911T customers) slips up, that said I have driven a 996 Turbo quite fast and it was enough to keep me entertained for half an hour, so it's not all bad.

[9eleventb0]

here's how i would compare the two:

acceleration - turbo
handling - tie (in various comparisons, both cars have won some and lost some on different road courses)
handling 'feel' - 360
looks - 360
engine sound - tie (with a nice performance exhaust on the turbo, both would sound REAL nice, but that's just my opinion)
exoticity - 360
reliability - turbo
cost (including maintenance and repairs) - turbo
structural safety and stability - turbo
weather safety - turbo (AWD is DEFINITELY a plus)
room - turbo (the back seats are convenient if you need to lug little kids around)
best suited for track driving - 360
best suited for road driving - turbo (not only does the turbo feel better on the road, but its more usable.....people can park porsches in many different places and not have to worry too much about vandalism since porsches are fairly common...as an example, i recently saw a shiny silver 996 turbo parked in a 'ghetto' part of town at Hooters.....the modena on the other hand is not a car you can just drive anywhere)
fun factor - 360

as you can see, choosing between the 360 and the turbo is not really as easy of a choice as one might think. the turbo is cheaper, slightly better performing, more reliable, more usable, and safer......the 360 on the other hand is expensive, beautiful, and fun as hell. however, remember also that i'm only comparing these cars at there absolute limits....in other words if i were pushing both cars as hard as i could on the road, the turbo would be more sure-footed.....but for normal driving, both cars will have more than adequate safety in terms of handling and grip. plus if i were rich enough to afford either one of these cars, i would be able to afford a nice daily driver anyways (an m3 perhaps?), so the daily transportation and room issue is not really a concern in my opinion. all in all, although i love the 911 turbo (hell, its my screen name!!), i gotta give the nod to the 360 on this one

FORZA FERRARI!!!

[crayzayjay]

The Porsche's rear-engined configuration is probably why you didnt feel comfortable with turn-in. When driving my uncle's 911 he talked me through gradually changing my driving technique to get more speed - and involvement - out of the car. I didnt push it that hard (too scared to write off an expensive car that wasnt my own) but i hooked it up nicely in a few corners and it felt very rewarding. I find it strange that you felt more confident in the 360's roadholding than the Turbo's. The 996TT grips like a mother due to AWD and is probably the quickest point-to-point machine in the real world. The steering in my experience was also very communicative, certainly not detached.
You may have enjoyed the ride in the the 360 a lot more partly because its so loud (much louder than the 996TT), which infuses the drive with more drama and amplifies the impression of speed. If you "poured on the power mid corner" and it didnt oversteer im guessing you had TC engaged on the Ferrari.

Anyway, both great cars, but very different in character. To each his own

[3000ways]

Originally Posted by 9eleventb0

here's how i would compare the two:

acceleration - turbo
handling - tie (in various comparisons, both cars have won some and lost some on different road courses)
handling 'feel' - 360
looks - 360
engine sound - tie (with a nice performance exhaust on the turbo, both would sound REAL nice, but that's just my opinion)
exoticity - 360
reliability - turbo
cost (including maintenance and repairs) - turbo
structural safety and stability - turbo
weather safety - turbo (AWD is DEFINITELY a plus)
room - turbo (the back seats are convenient if you need to lug little kids around)
best suited for track driving - 360
best suited for road driving - turbo (not only does the turbo feel better on the road, but its more usable.....people can park porsches in many different places and not have to worry too much about vandalism since porsches are fairly common...as an example, i recently saw a shiny silver 996 turbo parked in a 'ghetto' part of town at Hooters.....the modena on the other hand is not a car you can just drive anywhere)
fun factor - 360

as you can see, choosing between the 360 and the turbo is not really as easy of a choice as one might think. the turbo is cheaper, slightly better performing, more reliable, more usable, and safer......the 360 on the other hand is expensive, beautiful, and fun as hell. however, remember also that i'm only comparing these cars at there absolute limits....in other words if i were pushing both cars as hard as i could on the road, the turbo would be more sure-footed.....but for normal driving, both cars will have more than adequate safety in terms of handling and grip. plus if i were rich enough to afford either one of these cars, i would be able to afford a nice daily driver anyways (an m3 perhaps?), so the daily transportation and room issue is not really a concern in my opinion. all in all, although i love the 911 turbo (hell, its my screen name!!), i gotta give the nod to the 360 on this one

FORZA FERRARI!!!

Wow, great answer, pretty much agree with almost everything you posted.

[V8slayer]

Well I didn't even think about the traction control. It never kicked in. What's the Ferrari system like. I know the DSC on my M3 is a real spoil sport. You punch the throttle when you think you're at the apex and it feels like...... nothing. The system won't let you go until it's satisfied with the amount of traction.

That's another beef I have with the Porsche too. The dealer I went test driving with pointed out that the PSM system is more progressive than DSC and it gradually corrects any driver error rather than simply deny driver imput at a certain point. But it still feels too bossy, too eager to interfere. That's why I said it didn't feel confident. I always felt like I was overstepping the boundary because it kept interfering.

Now the 360 just let me do what I want. I add throttle, the revs go up and I was left to look for the limit and couldn't find it. Like I said it was MAGIC.

I would have expected far more tolerence from a 4WD car compared to a MR like the 360. So was my way of driving the Porsche just completely wrong?

BTW, before the 360, the most amount of fun I've had in a car was my friend's 996 cabriolet. NA, RWD. That car felt raw. I'm guessing I musn't like AWD.

[crayzayjay]

I still find it weird that you were setting off the TC on the 996T and not on the Ferrari. You should have switched the Porsche system off

A normally aspirated flat six sounds meaner than the turbo six in the TT, which in addition to RWD vs AWD probably played a hand in you enjoying yourself more in the standard 996. Which btw if you think that was raw, test drive a GT3. If you're the kind of guy who likes to go searching for the limit, im sure you'll find it a hoot.

[V8slayer]

I've never even thought about a GT3 because it's manual only.

I know this will probably lose me any respect from fellow forum members. But I decided to post this anyway.

I've never liked manual transmissions. I learnt how to drive on a track in an SMG M3. My M3 is SMG. The Porsche I drove is Tiptronic (the worst system imaginable from a top sports car maker). The 360 was an F1.

I don't find the satisfaction in having a clutch pedal. I don't understand when people say it makes the driver more involved in the drive. I find heel and toe shifts to be inprecise at best and a pain in the butt normally. And I have a great love of left foot breaking in medium to high speed corners.

And quite frankly, I don't see how true manuals can beat the precision of paddle shifts even on a proper race track not to mention normal roads or drag races.

Well that's how I feel anyway. I've taken plenty of verbal lashings from "true enthusiasts" because of that but hey, what the hell. It's got to be fun for me.

Back on topic, the tiptronic is another thing I hate about the Porsche. What's with the push buttons? Could they have come up with a less intuitive design? Not to mention the 0.2 second shift time. I can't wait till they perfect their DSG system.