First Impressions SPF MKIII Roush 427IR
 

well, she's finally here after travelling across the atlantic and the med.
i received my car yesterday evening and was busy all morning detailing her before going for a spin.....

SPF MKIII 2726 with a Roush 427IR and 15" knock off's.

highs: sound is incredible. as if attending a harley club meeting. maybe even too noisy. i did not exceed 4000 rpm. not cause i didn't want to, rather cause the noise through the sidepipes becomes unbearable. unbearably nice, yet unbearably loud. i am also still breaking her in...so that's the second reason i did not go beyond 4k revs.
the car looks good and is a real attention grabber. however, it's positive looks one gets. unlike driving other modern exotics.
paint quality is very good


lows: quality wise, the roller could be a lot better. the way the carpeting is laid out. glue overspray on many parts. mirrors are terrible. very flimsy feel to all the switches, pedals and even steering wheel.
whole body shakes on bad roads. i also find it extremely unnerving, that the whole body is one part. what if i ware to break the nose where the oil cooler sits on a roadbump. that will be a pain to fix and am sure this part of the shell can be stuffed easily.
SPF should put a lot more attention to finishing and detailing. it is a 45k roller chassis after all.
pedals are too close to each other. needs some concentration to hit the brake pedal correctly.

general thoughts: i am not sure the engine is as strong as i would have imagined. surely i am spoilt as my other 2 sports cars are a 997GT2 and a 997TT. massively fast cars. even though the roush 427 IR is said to have approx. 560 hp and 530 tq i did not feel that power. as said i did not really push it but i just would have thought it would feel much stronger from 2000-4000 rpm....let's get back to this once broken in.

the brakes feel ridiculous. of course my porsche have ceramic brakes and are known to be the best brakes out there. but i am not comparing. i am simply judging the SPF's brakes. it takes quite a while for the wheels to lock up. and i really have to stand on the pedal. might become better once the pads and discs are bedded ?? i had stressed the brakes issue with my installer and had asked him to test the car for 150 miles before shipping. which he did. his response was positive on the brakes and he said that it brakes as any SPF he did. (i referred him to the thread on CC where sub par SPF braking performance was discussed)

all in all i like the car and i guess i have to wait for final judgement when broken in.

InTouch,

Congratulations on the delivery of your car! I'm surprised to hear about the issues with the glue and overspray. The fit and finish of Superformance cars is normally very good and is one of the main selling points. Did you had an opportunity to inspect or drive the car prior to delivery?

You'll get used to working the pedals...wear some narrow driving shoes.

Congrats! Please post some pics.

As for the power, wait until you get the revs above 4,000 RPM. Generally, the power comes in at 4,000-6,000 RPM.

will surely post pics.....today i was simply too busy driving and listening to what the car tells me......:D

Congratulations on putting together a nice Superformance with a fine engine. :)

You're right about comparing the Superformance to a new Porsche GT2 or TT in regards to fit and finish as well as comfort and handling. You gotta hand it to Porsche for coming to near bullet proof and desirable cars after their decades of refinements. In reality one might compare the Superformance to an original Porsche instead. :LOL: It's a whole other deal I guess, but the Superformance is a very nice car any way you look at it.

As to acceleration under 125 mph I'm not sure how your car is set up, but I can confirm the prep my 427R had in a Superformance was a little quicker than a friend I know with a Porsche 996 GT2 with Evolution Motorsports GT700 package and the EVOM intercoolers("778 HP").

Whatever the case, break in your car nice and it will run for a long time. Mine got about the first 1000 miles of easy driving.

Porsche 996 GT2
 

Isn't that one of those overpriced German Corvairs ???


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ride, ride like the wind!

recheck those nuts and bolts after your check ride.

I sure would be curious to hear what level of due diligence you performed before you decided on buying a Cobra? Did you ride in one? Sit in many to determine which replica fit your body the best? Your feedback sounds like someone that looked at one in a catalogue and then wrote a check. :confused:

-Dean (SPF #747)

[quote=Intouch;895252]
the brakes feel ridiculous. of course my porsche have ceramic brakes and are known to be the best brakes out there. but i am not comparing. i am simply judging the SPF's brakes. QUOTE]




I have drilled and slotted disks with Ceramic impregnated Kevlar pads on my Sedan DeVille daily driver !!! :rolleyes:


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I also have a 997TT and the Cobra gets the nod any time I'm out for a joy ride. I felt the same way about the brakes but after a while they get much better and you get much more used to them.

Wait until you break it in...I hit the rev limiter all the time because I'm in such heaven with this thing...I would sell the 997TT tomorrow if I lived in a warm climate...but it's great for when the weather is lousy and I can't drive the Cobra...give it time...you will love it! The P-Car feels lame in comparison.

As far as poor handling on poor road conditions, Michigan roads are about the worst in the nation, and found my drivability tremendously improved adjusting my BFG's from about 28-30 Lbs to 18-20 lbs. Much more pleasurable experience.

Intouch,

You have a moral imperative to not only photograph the beast but also post the pics.


Ed

Intouch, I can understand some of the complaints (overspray is something I would not tolerate), as for the set up of the car (switches, mirrors and pedals)...don't forget the one simple fact, this is a reproduction (all the good and most of the bad) of a car from 1965. It wasn't designed with driver comfort in mind, it was designed to go fast and it does that part well.

As for the brakes, I intially had some issues with my brakes also (soft pedal), but after bleeding the brakes, adding 150 rpms to my idle, I was able to get a firmer pedal. It's not like my wifes M3, but guess what, I adapted to what the car is and drove it as such.

Final thought, enjoy the car. Be very careful also, bang a lower gear and the rear tires can lock up, snap oversteer is just a hick-up away with 500hp and you are already aware of the fact the pedals ofset and close proximity can make a speed shift into a 80 mph brake lock up (did that once at the track, good lord did I crap myself). So, go slow, take some track days to explore the cars handling, accelerating and braking and you'll discover all the good...and bad traits of the car. Most of all...have fun.

If you think the pedals are to close on your SPF then you sure havent looked or set in the other kits an replicas out there. I flew all the way to Michigan to look at one a unique. Time I set in the drivers seat an touched the pedals I knew I didnt like it. The pedals were to close together. I love my SPF BB427. I aint crazy about the brakes either, but im 62 so i can live with them.

Brakes. They take a lot of pressure. As some have stated, it's not a modern car.

Pedals. I made the mistake of taking it out once with regular shoes once. Short version of the story is I hit to many pedals at once and did a 180 right in front of a cop as I was making a left turn. I alway wear narrow driving shoes now.

Loud? Wear ear plugs. He!!, I'm already deaf, so it doesn't bother me that much.

Ever hear stories of the early Porsche's wanting to swap ends? Those cars are ***** cats compared to a Cobra. Take your time and get used to the car.

hey RB, unfortunately wanting a cobra and living in egypt is not the best combination. i had no other option than to just go for the purchase. i did however do extensive net research to grasp as much info as i could.

i sure wish i would have had the option of testing a few cars and having a dealer nearby.

my closest support pointz for my car is 6000 miles away....nautical miles that is :3DSMILE: i guess this should explain how much i really wanted to have those.

[quote=CobraEd;895343]
so you wanna compare the DeVille's brakes with the GT2's 6 piston front and 4 piston rear ceramic composite brakes ? hilarious :LOL:

big difference between having some coated pad and ceramic composite discs !

SPF2245, iam surely aware that i bought a 1965 replica. and part of it's charm are the flimsy controls. but i really do think that the whole package could be much better in terms of quality. maybe i was expecting too much. it might also be the fact that i want with the highest spec and spared no expense and simply do not 'feel' it's a 100k car (not even accounting for the import tax i had to put up with)

i guess i was expecting more of a lotus exige kind of feel. a tighter more composed car.....

Did you not consider the Kirkham?

i surely did. i shied away because aluminum bodies can be a nighmare to fix here. in retrospect it might have been the right thing to do.....

nevertheless, i am happy with what i got.