/\ I would wager to say it's the overall balance, power-band smoothness, and overall handling ability that really sets the GT3 out from other cars....although I have only driven then newer 991. I have a lot of track seat time in it and and waiting to hopefully this year finally see how my FD feels on track considering I have had it for 13 years!


and btw, the new 991 GT3s are plagued with engine issues. I've dealt with 2 different cars that BOTH were on their THIRD engine by 5,000 miles (hard track miles). Porsche has been covering them so that is a good thing

 

Lots of things but yes it's advantage over a GT3 is power to weight along with handling.

Unlike the GT3 it's super easy and cheap to setup which makes it a great bang for the buck in terms of performance. Unlike other cheap fast cars such as the corvette, mustang etc... the handling or driving sensation in the FD is second to none.

I don't know of any other track car that is as fast AND reliable as the GT3 out of the box but it takes 25k plus to really make it FAST. Put 25k into a bone stock FD and it will keep up with todays 997 GT3. Put in another 25k and it will keep up with todays cup car (which is a 250k race car).

The FD dominated autocrosses for 10 years (until the c5 came out and later z06) in stock form. It's still dominating SSM autocrossing which is the top tier of road going chassis cars.

Despite that the FD gets no damn respect (something about the ownership experience/whatever LOL) even within an organization that should have a frikken monument of the car on it's front lawn.

see list below of the SCCAs top 10 autox cars

autocrossing, motorsports and performance driving - the scca starting line

 

YEP until they iron out the engine issues you'll see the prices on 997 and 996 GT3s continue to soar.

 

I have had a bunch of FCs. Everyone who has an FC really wants an FD though.
Got an FD. Decided it was too slow, parted out my 20B FC to put the engine in the FD.
Then I changed jobs twice and moved 3000 miles. Still working on that one.

In the meantime we have had:
99 911- Nice car but POS timebomb engine design
07 Mini Cooper - Ok car, obviously not in same class as FD
12 Mini Countryman AWD- Ours was a lemon I think, had lots of problems
04 RX8 - I like the idea of the RX8 but too many little dumb problems
72 Opel Gt - project car
94 Miata - Loved it, had to sell for move
99 Miata - My current DD, and eventual donor for Opel
06 Lotus Elise - Faster than my FD on track, WAY easier and more reliable to maintain. Terrible for DD use though.
99 Mygale Formula Continental - WAY faster on track obviously, but open wheel is just different.

For me the location has been the biggest thing. I am still trying to get the FD back on the road if I ever have time, but around here we don't have great driving roads like we did back East, so it makes more sense to spend time/money on dedicated track cars instead.

 

8 yrs later ... FD is still the answer and the car everyone goes back to.

 

 

@Fritz Flynn did you keep power steering in your track FD?

 

Still have my 1993 RX-7.

2004 Subaru STi - with pretty much every mod available for it, including a rebuilt engine, and single turbo upgrade. Sold it, and regretted it the moment I sold it. Would buy it back in a heart beat.
2013 Jeep Wrangler - sold last year, miss it. Did its job as a mountain vehicle / camping / mountain biking /ski trip vehicle.
2015 C63 507 - replaced with...

2015 E63S - still have this, and love it. Drive it in bad weather in the winter.
2019 911 GTS - love it. Street/track tires and Endless brake pads for now. Debating upgrading to a GT3 or spending $$$ on the GTS suspension. DD it year round. Winter tires it does very well. Take the E63 for bad weather days.

The Subaru was a good balance between being quick / handled amazingly / comfortable enough to DD / and was an amazing winter car with winter tires.

 

sedan or wagon?
what’s the running cost for these?

 

Sedan. I originally looked at a wagon, but my wife thought it didn't look as nice as the sedan. Fast forward she prefers how the wagon looks.

As for costs of ownership, just the scheduled maintenance for me so far. Serviced at an Indy. Nothing unexpected yet. The indy shop is 1/2 the cost of servicing at the dealership.

Oil & filter, brake fluid, air filters. Plugs, coils and coolant flush will be coming up prophylactically.

It is very low mileage, picked it up 2 years old with 6500 miles. Now it sits just over 45000 miles, so can't comment on reliability. Keeping an eye on the usual suspect issues for this platform. Will be doing the rear pads myself. Have been through tires as the main cost.

Bottomline no different than any other car, if maintained at an indy shop in my experience. But I recognize that is not the normal case with AMG vehicles off warranty.

 

I couldn’t agree more! I’ve had my Viper for a while now. It’s a completely different experience compared to the FD. Both are stock and the Viper is vastly faster, but I get just as much enjoyment driving the FD.

 

"Back in the early 90’s, before the McLaren F1, Ferrari and Porsche went head to head with two supercars: the F40 and the 959. They had two completely different approaches. The F40 was light, lots of carbon on a steel tube chassis, bare, turbo lag, noisy, it had a rope for a door handle and that wasn’t for style. The turbochargers whooshed and the exhaust spit fire. It was a barely-tamed race car, and built by one man Enzo had implicit trust in: the late great Nicola Materazzi. The 959 was the opposite. It was a technological tour de force built by a team. It used an unconventional suspension with 8 hydraulically linked dampers, electronic ride height, the first TPMS in a road car, computer controlled diffs with AWD, sequential turbochargers. It was the quicker, more advanced vehicle. 35 years later the F40 is the more valuable and more desired car, and I think there’s a very valuable lesson to be learned here: Technology advances, and if your car’s greatest strength is a technological one, it will soon be surpassed and diminished over time. Its relevance then becomes more of a historical one.
If a car’s greatest strength interacts directly with the brain’s limbic system… described as: “the part of the brain involved in low order emotional processing of sensory input”, it will always maintain that strength. It becomes immune to the advancement of technology and maintains its strength, because it will consistently interact with the most primal part of your brain. The rest, is irrelevant."

 

ME:
1979 - 1983 Mazda GLC
1983 - 1992 modified FB RX-7
1992 - today FD R1. very modified

WIFE:
before me a crappy Nisson until 1992
1992 - 2002 MX3 V6
2002 - 2017 PT Cruiser "yuck!"
2017 - Mazda 3 hatchback

 

I've been Daily driving a Golf R since I sold my Mazdaspeed Protege in '19 and haven't had any problems. It's a fun, comfortable little sleeper.

I almost hate to admit I've been looking at Evoras lately. You can get one for around 40k if you play your cards right. . A Camry powered Lotus is pretty attractive after decades of FD ownership.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2010-lotus-evora-19/

 

I test drove an Evora with a buddy of mine on the street..... IMO the car is a bit of a rolling Yawn on wheels.

 

I've had my FD since 1998, and I've had my frustrations with it. The replacements seemed to come in waves where a handful of guys would jump ship when something came out.I looked at most of these myself at one point.

1. S2000
2. C5
3. M Couple (yes, the clown shoe)
4. Elise/Exige
5. C6
6. 911 varients

The only one I regret not buying was a track-prepped Ultima GTR with a pre-emissions title. I'd have walked away from the FD for that.