Songer

I grew up salivating over the old Ferrari BB512 and the original Ford GT. Now I am ready to find a similar mid-engine coupe. Until the R8 was announced, it was between the Ford GT and a Porsche GT3 or Turbo. It is hard for me to justify that kind of money for a 6 cylinder car even if the performance is similar. So, without an opportunity to even sit in either car, I am leaning towards the Ford or the Audi. I read the 360 v R8 thread also, and though I love Ferraris, I don't think I could stomach the maintenance costs.

Any advice would be appreciated. Bonus points for a nice high rev engine sound, reasonable maintenance costs, and resale value.

DukeLeto

If I'm not wrong a car magazine did a GT vs R8 comparison...now if I could just remember which... help, someone?

T.

JMSIV

I guess with the price difference I never thought about it. I have a good friend who has an '06 GT. I can tell you that he would not trade on an R8, period. He drove a 430 recently, and though he thought the car was really tempting, it was not worth a full 60k more.

The GT is a very, very well done machine. My only complaints would be that the A-pillar is really big, and the doors are a bit of a pain. It is REALLY fast. It is tunable to the point of being ridiculously fast. He had it at VIR with ACNA last fall and will be there this spring too. I was amazed at the fact that he could gain time on me in corners with me driving a Lotus - 1400 pounds less. I could go deeper into brake zones, but I was braking at 125 and he was braking from 150+! (his is completely stock). The GT is more raw, none of the comfort crap on the R8.

He has mentioned that the V12 TDI could be a contender. The GT is a lot of car, and a bit of a bargain in it's price range. There has been almost no depreciation though, so you are in the 150+ range. I think it is one of those things where you would just have to drive them both to know.

Schadenfreude

have you considered an 04-05 Gallardo. Given the mark-ups on the R8 you could probably get one cheaper than the Audi and you get a V10. I've mentioned it before on this forum and I am considering it myself (especially after researching the yearly maintenance costs). That being said, I saw my first R8 on the road today and it was stunning in person.

PhoenixGTS

don't mind the GT interior and general feel, just buy a Viper and eat GTs for lunch with a warranty.

Songer

Great, confuse me more why don't you? I didn't know those could be had for less than 200k.

There is the problem of the nearest dealer being at least 200 miles away, so service would be inconvenient at best. Also, I'm not sure I want a car that gathers a small crowd wherever it is parked.

Still, it is a great idea. 120-130 is in range now, 150-160 is a couple years off. That adds the V10 R8 to the list as well. If most thought that was the way to go I was going to see about putting a deposit down. More food for thought. Thanks.

Songer

Thanks for your input. I doubt I will be able to even sit in either before I buy, so any other thoughts would be very helpful.

Songer

Why kit-car? The build quality looks stellar to me. If you mean interior, that was one concern of mine. Years ago I was looking at Mustangs, but could not get past the look and feel of the interior. I don't need many features, but a quality/solid feel and look is important. The pictures I have seen of the Ford GT look fine to me. Can you be more specific?

Schadenfreude

I hear what you're saying about getting it serviced. There's two Lambo dealers within 50 miles of (one within 15 miles) so service wouldn't be an issue. If you search Carsdirect or cars.com you'll find a pretty good selection of 04-05's in the $130k range. What surprised me was the maintenance costs. 7500 mile service is $900 and 15k mile service is around $1800. I had expected them to be 5 times that much. I'm sure that's Audi influence.

JMSIV

to P-cars (GT3, Turbo), Ferrari 360, V8 Vantage, '04 Gallardo. And R8. The R8 is a solid match for any of these. Oh, you can get a Ferrari 550 too.

When you go to the less than 160 range, a lot of things start to come up. The '06 Gallardo adds a lot of little options that you didn't know you wanted, like a better clutch and the front raising system and better transmission. The GT is there too. If you are into open tops, the 360 spider. You are into V12 Astons (used), and you can have your pick of 550/575 front engine Ferrari's (sorry, still no 430 or 599). This is a huge list of cars!!!

The great thing is, the R8 still competes with these. When you look at it that way, it is a real bargain. My advice... Order the R8, enjoy it. For the money, you cannot go wrong!