Last weekend by accident I got to take the club’s 2001 Ferrari 360 F1 on a drive. It is a gated manual and for much of the drive I wished I was driving my XKR instead. Now granted I thought I was renting the club’s much newer 458 Italia so was a tad disappointed when I got the F1 but since I’d never driven it figured what the heck. The Italia is more in line with my F-Type but the 360 is clearly a better match for my XKR.
Now the 360 is a much better sports car, hands down it was far more planted and I was chasing the club’s Porsche 911 S 991 aggressively. I hated the Ferrari manual. I’m told they are all like this, until the transmission warms up it doesn’t like 1st or 2nd gear making stops and starts ugly but most of the drive was in 3rd and 4th through the hills toward the coast behind Los Gatos.
My wife was in the F-Type and really there is no comparison as the 360 clearly shows its age against that car. But what surprised me is I missed my XKR as well. Part of this was the XKR is a convertible and it was a nice day in the 70s and driving with a hard top meant I missed much of the open air experience I normally enjoy. But I also like turning up the music and with Ferrari’s it is all about the engine sound, which coming from in back of your head is glorious but my custom exhaust on the XKR is pretty awesome as well and the F-Type excels at making wonderful noise.
The 360 did get more stares, it was the only Ferrari on the drive and we had two F-Types, ours and a coupe. If you want to be noticed it is hard to beat a Ferrari but my custom paint on the XKR often nearly does as well (particularly with kids).
In the end though it was about fun, when I’m done with one of these drives in the Jags I’m all grins and looking forward to doing it again. When I got out of the Ferrari I felt it was time well spent, particularly the long pass at 130+, but I had no real desire to rent the car again. I can see why people would want a Ferrari but given these older ones are hard to find under $70K that is a lot of money for a car with high maintenance bills that doesn’t put a smile on my face.
You can see pictures of the club stable here: http://www.clubsportiva.com/rentals/exotic-cars

 

Rob,
My Pantera also has the same slotted gate as the Ferrari and it's just a pain in the ****. Many owners have cut the teeth out and just left an open box to shift in. When I drive it on the track (not much anymore), I simply get it into third gear and let the car's torque get me around the track because it nearly takes both hands and both eyes to make sure you're slotting it correctly, and on the track that can be hazardous. 5 years is a long time in the life cycle of the improvement of current cars, 10-15 years is a lifetime. So, it's not surprising that the Ferrari feels old.

Interestingly, I love driving my 2002XKR even though it's ancient compared to the 2010 XKR coupe. But I wouldn't want to take it on the track, whereas I've had the coupe on the track 3 times in the last couple of months, where it feels at home and performs without hiccups. The first generation XK/XKR is a great cruiser and I dare say gives you more of a sense of occasion especially in the convertible. And finally, I still like its looks better than the current car even though I own both.

 

Agreed gated shifters suck. I kept having to look down when shifting which is damned dangerous driving fast in the trees. On the looks couldn't agree more.

 

Great write up and sounded like fun, I noticed this:

My wife was in the F-Type and really there is no comparison as the 360 clearly shows its age against that car.

Did you notice this as she passed you ?

 

Yep that was pretty much it...

 

I bought this one. I use the xk8 daily and this one for odd trips. The 575 is a GT car with more power than you can imagine.

 

The 575 is my favorite of the modern F-cars.

 

I used to drive my best friend's 550 Maranello on occasion about 10 years ago. Its speed was scary at the time, and I found the car very twitchy. Fast forward 10 years and I have a 5.0L XKR that is even quicker but so much more refined that it's not as frightening. Still, the Maranello body style is timeless, not quite in the Daytona league, but beautiful nonetheless.

 

She's a beauty!