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MKW said:
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VKSF said:
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MKW said:
One concern I have with these newer trannies is San Francisco's steep 30 degree hills around Pacific Heights and Russian Hill . A friend of mine cannot take his 360 F1financial district there when there is a chance of crawling traffic ( basically between 8 am and 11 pm ! ) . The stench from his clutch slipping is overwhelming . And parallel parking on a hill - forget it. Will the DSG on Porsche's be just as bad , since I drive these areas all the time w/o a problem with a traditional manual .



Suspect that was an older 360....newer 360/430/612, etc seem well-adapted to SF's hills....after all, SF is arguably hilliest major F mkt in world, so not surprising that early 360 F1's weren't engineered for those hills (though I bet early P DSG boxes will similarly struggle w/these hills)....also, SF stop-and-go traffic is relatively small-townish....many in the financial business use NYC as the relevant comp...and there are a few truly hard-core guys who successfully commute around/into Manhattan in latest-generation F1-equipped F's.... I laugh at the criticism of F F1 boxes vs SF hills.....bigger issue for the marketing failure CGT (OK, OK I know that P quietly fixed that problematic clutch...but what's the latest discount price on new CGTs again? ) is its ground clearance, which makes it very annoying/near-nonusable vs an Enzo/Murci (which have ht adjustment) for PacHts/PresHts....or some Woodside/Los Altos Hills/Los Gatos driveways....places where more than a few potential CGT buyers hang out....



It was an '00 360. I know they updated the programming in '02, but does that really correct the problem. ( Trying inching up Divisadero from Union Street , a foot at a time , to see what I mean - stinkerama , lol !).
Actually, the big problem with any Ferrari I've driven on SF hills , even Testarossas in the 80s , is the end of coming down a steep hill where the front spoiler is just grroundd into the asphalt if you have to continue straight. Can't imagine anyone driving a Carrera GT in SF for the same reason unless they are long time residents and know EVERY street on their route .



Latest F1 trannies, esp 430/612, are downright SL55-like in auto mode...perfectly suited for commuter duty in Manhattan stop-and-go and/or SF hills . Have found 360CS/430 to be very commutable in terms of ground clearance on SF hills (incl streets you described)....430 scrapes only slightly more often than 996TTS does (and on 430 what often scrapes is a plastic/metal guard that's essentially not visible to a casual observer...and is easily/cheaply replaceable). I give credit to F (esp as a low-volume producer) for understanding their serial buyer base and refining 430/612 to point where many buyers view F's as essentially interchangeable w/SL55/996TTS as pragmatically commutable cars in places like SF/Greenwich, 2 regions w/perhaps biggest concentrations of serial F buyers in world. OTOH, P's CGT and L's Gallardo are great examples of cars where cos. failed to engineer ground clearance for relevant major mkts...and resale values prob reflect these failures....