Well, was just youtube-ing coops and just seen flea's, impressed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLPppzqdY7w

And also quietly followed JBT's progress on his coop since Ive had work done by him (Flea too ) and met him.

I want one.

My girlfriend bought me a driving experience in August. Drove an R8, F430 Spyder and got a passenger ride in an Ariel Atom.

Must say though, I always thought Ferrari was a "status symbol" car, but until i experienced what it was.....Amazing!!

My point being that I loved the experience that super cars can deliver and how costly would it be to get that from a coupe?

I've also just been quoted a good price, insurance wise, to go from 200->300bhp with a coop.

Basically, could i get near to the Spyder experience but using a coupe without the supercar bill?

Depends which supercar you're measuring against, and depends which element of their performance you're comparing with.

My Coupe is faster in a straight line than most supercars of the same era (F360, Lambo Diablo, that sort of thing). However, show me a series of bends and the Ferrari in particular would waltz away from me.

The Coupe can be made to go ridiculously fast for sub £10k, but it will never match the overall experience of noise, handling, performance and theatre that you get with a 'proper' supercar.

As for F430 performance from a Coupe - the very fastest Coupes might be a match in a straight line from say 30 - 130 but everywhere else, the F430 will destroy any Coupe

Nice explination Nigel. Hat's of to you're patience.

Liquid was considering breaking his car. I estimated the prices he's likely get for all his parts 2nd hand in this thread. Of course new parts would probably cost 2 - 3 times the quoted prices. The turbo is £645 from CR turbos for instance.

The spec he had/has would be between 300-330bhp, which is plenty for the standard engine. The suspension mods would have made it very tidy in the corners too. Perhaps not to Ferrari levels, but probably able to keep up with modern hot hatches.

Push the engine to 350-400+bhp and you'll likely bend a rod from the associated torque increase (from memory). Forging the engine to maintain that power level is *a lot* more expensive.

Basically keep it around 300bhp and sort the suspension / brakes and you'll have a very capable all round car.

Totally agree Nigel.

They are 2 different cars completely.

Gunzi- you got my point.

I`ve driven 360 spider recently for the whole night in the city, and when I dropped back into my 270hp coop it felt soooo slow(
The best way for you to get the same driving impressions is to save for TVR Tuscan S IMO.

A standard coop doesn't feel exactly slow when compared to a Tuscan. Does feel a bit like you're driving a bus though

Once owned by a mate
Different Tuscan

I think we proved at Donny and at Spa that the supercars dont stand a chance on the straights.

Save up and buy a tvr instead.