RE: PH Heroes: Ferrari F355
Discussion
Lagerlout said:
Makes me laugh people talking about interior quality, if that floats your boat buy a bloody Audi or a Porsche.
In a Ferrari you pay for the engine, the rest you get for free.
Thats not actually you that made up that comment though is it? Wasn't it the late great Mr Enzo Ferrari himself that said that?In a Ferrari you pay for the engine, the rest you get for free.
baptist said:
I bought one in February and have put about 5k miles on it since then. I didnt quite know what to expect of the build quality before looking at one, and being a 997 owner, thought that it might put me off. Alright, so some of the plastics look cheap by todays standards, but the finish on the car is really very good. No squeaks or rattles, which is more than can be said from my 911!
All the things that you get on modern cars, such as computers, gadgets and gizmo's mean nothing, and this car proves this whenever you drive it. They are just brilliant to drive, and the noise is just epic. I fitted a level 3 capristo to mine, decatted it, and whilst its probably too much for most, I couldnt be happier with the noise. Just about nothing compares to this car for noise with the right pipe on it. Handling is sublime, looks gorgeous. They really arent cheap to run, but its worth every penny.
Ok, some cars are quicker, and ive had quicker cars myself, but being the quickest thing on the road isnt what its all about, as this car proves with every mile i put on it.
Baptist did you use the capristo decat pipes? because i heard they are not the best, and some people use the tubi decat pipes with the capristo exhaust. All the things that you get on modern cars, such as computers, gadgets and gizmo's mean nothing, and this car proves this whenever you drive it. They are just brilliant to drive, and the noise is just epic. I fitted a level 3 capristo to mine, decatted it, and whilst its probably too much for most, I couldnt be happier with the noise. Just about nothing compares to this car for noise with the right pipe on it. Handling is sublime, looks gorgeous. They really arent cheap to run, but its worth every penny.
Ok, some cars are quicker, and ive had quicker cars myself, but being the quickest thing on the road isnt what its all about, as this car proves with every mile i put on it.
Just reading through the posts here and like many I reckon the 355 is by far and away the prettiest car Ferrari have ever made, if I was in a position to buy one I don't think I'd be too bothered that other cars can out-10th-of-a-second this and that.
Personally, I've never driven one, but I have had a ride in a friends yellow MR2 replica, and of course while it doesn't have the noise or the Ferrari feel, it does one have one very special feature - young ladies do not know it's a fake!!
Personally, I've never driven one, but I have had a ride in a friends yellow MR2 replica, and of course while it doesn't have the noise or the Ferrari feel, it does one have one very special feature - young ladies do not know it's a fake!!
spidermanUK said:
I've driven one too......for just under 20,000 miles, so I've probably had just a tiny bit more time to form an opinion.......and the only thing that's "shaky at best" is your summary of one of the greatest cars ever made!
You probably have. You've also had plenty of time to form an emotional attachment to a car you paid an awful lot of money for.spidermanUK said:
The throttle has never stuck on mine in 20,000 miles and 9 years.
You're very lucky - lots of people I've spoken to report a sticky throttle in the 355. It drove me round the bend.spidermanUK said:
The handling is far from "cack".....what are you comparing it to?
Exige? NSX? There's a couple of the slightly less offensive contenders. spidermanUK said:
As for build quality.....in certain areas it's not the best, but it's by no means the worst.....ask anyone who's ever been in a TVR!
A new TVR cost £50k, a new 355 cost more than twice that.spidermanUK said:
Also, the only change to the interior during the life of the model was the addition of the passenger airbag.....so all the interiors looked like the one pictured above....except possibly in different colours!
'Look' and 'feel' are two very different things.I'll refer you back to my post...
MrKipling43 said:
That looks utterly mega - but the one I drove felt very KIA-ish on the inside.
The only reason I bought a Morgan Aero instead of this is because I do not have a garage. The Morgan is tougher and can take living outdoors under a cover, and I'm not convinced that the Ferrari can.
The day I live out of London and have that garage, a Tour de France blue spyder with magnolia leather will be occupying it.
The day I live out of London and have that garage, a Tour de France blue spyder with magnolia leather will be occupying it.
I was chatting with an old man today who owned a Jag E type superlight many moons ago. he bought it for £1,000 and sold it for that. Now it'd be worth £100k today, which got me thinking if I was to do that with a car today, what would it be, and now I know. A 355!
So if I had £35k and want to turn it into £350k in 20 years buy a 355! But I won't because that would be just too easy and very very boring. I will spend the 35k on chasing after women for the next 20 years, then at the end of it I will marry and divorce one worth £700k in a year and I will get my £350k that way.
So if I had £35k and want to turn it into £350k in 20 years buy a 355! But I won't because that would be just too easy and very very boring. I will spend the 35k on chasing after women for the next 20 years, then at the end of it I will marry and divorce one worth £700k in a year and I will get my £350k that way.
I think 'for the day' the 355 interior was fine.
Take a look at a 911 interior from the mid 90's, the 993 was ok, but hardly a shining light of beauty. Same with mid 90's Audi's and BMW's. Nice and functional, but hardly pretty. Comparing the 355 interior with current Audi's and BMW's is daft.
Things move on, tastes and expectations change. At launch I think it will have been one of the nicer supercar interiors.
Dave
Take a look at a 911 interior from the mid 90's, the 993 was ok, but hardly a shining light of beauty. Same with mid 90's Audi's and BMW's. Nice and functional, but hardly pretty. Comparing the 355 interior with current Audi's and BMW's is daft.
Things move on, tastes and expectations change. At launch I think it will have been one of the nicer supercar interiors.
Dave
Mr Whippy said:
I think 'for the day' the 355 interior was fine.
Take a look at a 911 interior from the mid 90's, the 993 was ok, but hardly a shining light of beauty. Same with mid 90's Audi's and BMW's. Nice and functional, but hardly pretty. Comparing the 355 interior with current Audi's and BMW's is daft.
Things move on, tastes and expectations change. At launch I think it will have been one of the nicer supercar interiors.
Dave
I disagree. Porsche interiors even today are pretty bland, borning and often cheap looking places. Same goes for pretty much most of VAG and BMW's too. The Ferrari is way more interesting.Take a look at a 911 interior from the mid 90's, the 993 was ok, but hardly a shining light of beauty. Same with mid 90's Audi's and BMW's. Nice and functional, but hardly pretty. Comparing the 355 interior with current Audi's and BMW's is daft.
Things move on, tastes and expectations change. At launch I think it will have been one of the nicer supercar interiors.
Dave
It was only in a few area's in my own experience that the F355 interior lacked. But for a car costing what it did, it really shouldn't have lacked at all.
However compare it to an Aston, Bentley or Jaguar of the same year for a comparison.
300bhp/ton said:
Mr Whippy said:
I think 'for the day' the 355 interior was fine.
Take a look at a 911 interior from the mid 90's, the 993 was ok, but hardly a shining light of beauty. Same with mid 90's Audi's and BMW's. Nice and functional, but hardly pretty. Comparing the 355 interior with current Audi's and BMW's is daft.
Things move on, tastes and expectations change. At launch I think it will have been one of the nicer supercar interiors.
Dave
I disagree. Porsche interiors even today are pretty bland, borning and often cheap looking places. Same goes for pretty much most of VAG and BMW's too. The Ferrari is way more interesting.Take a look at a 911 interior from the mid 90's, the 993 was ok, but hardly a shining light of beauty. Same with mid 90's Audi's and BMW's. Nice and functional, but hardly pretty. Comparing the 355 interior with current Audi's and BMW's is daft.
Things move on, tastes and expectations change. At launch I think it will have been one of the nicer supercar interiors.
Dave
It was only in a few area's in my own experience that the F355 interior lacked. But for a car costing what it did, it really shouldn't have lacked at all.
However compare it to an Aston, Bentley or Jaguar of the same year for a comparison.
Dave
BlueEyedBoy said:
Dagnut said:
Jonty355 said:
spidermanUK said:
Obviously it's not as fast as the others.....it's not as fast as a lot of things, !
Why do people keep saying this? How is 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, 0-100 in 10 seconds and a top speed of 183mph and some fantastic handling at any sort of speed not quick?And those that say Subarus are quick... erm, I think if the 355 had such short gear ratios that it was out of puff at 140mph then it would be bonkers. But thats the point, downforce anyone? I'd like to see a Subaru corner at 180mph... lots of tyre smoke I reckon!
Edited by BlueEyedBoy on Thursday 10th July 11:13
Don't forget that this is a high revving engine, it will not feel fast unless the engine runs up past 6ooo rpm and on to 8000 rpm. My Z3M was the same, it felt pretty slow unless you made it rev.
Caddyshack said:
BlueEyedBoy said:
Dagnut said:
Jonty355 said:
spidermanUK said:
Obviously it's not as fast as the others.....it's not as fast as a lot of things, !
Why do people keep saying this? How is 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, 0-100 in 10 seconds and a top speed of 183mph and some fantastic handling at any sort of speed not quick?And those that say Subarus are quick... erm, I think if the 355 had such short gear ratios that it was out of puff at 140mph then it would be bonkers. But thats the point, downforce anyone? I'd like to see a Subaru corner at 180mph... lots of tyre smoke I reckon!
Edited by BlueEyedBoy on Thursday 10th July 11:13
Don't forget that this is a high revving engine, it will not feel fast unless the engine runs up past 6ooo rpm and on to 8000 rpm. My Z3M was the same, it felt pretty slow unless you made it rev.
My friend's 4.5 Cerb ran 367 of a claimed 440bhp, and weighed nearly 1300kg when claimed weight was 1100.
I love TVR's but theperformance figures need to be taken with a large pinch of salt...it doesn't surprise me that the F355 was quicker.
TVR's power figures for 4.5 were indeed optimistic for factory cars, with a remap however you can get close and with aftermarket induction match it. For 4.2's however the power claims were bang on with no mods at all. More importantly the performance claims have been established by mags in the past, Autocar measured a 4.2 at 4 secs to 60 and believing they had a bit of a magazine special they went and RR'd it and it got bang on the factory claim, proof is in the eating and I don't think a 355 has got down to that sort of time, a well set up and 4.5 producing what the factory originally claimed is easily in the high 3's, at which point the 355 isn't going to get a look in. If we have to generalise then I would say a "generic" recently fettled Cerbera of any engine variant will have the measure of a 355, the downside of the Tiv is there it's not hard for them to be down on power due to poor setup, so yes you might want to be confident that yours is healthy before you try to hand down an arse spanking, mainly for fear of that backfiring badly .
As for the 355, it's probably one of the nicest looking Ferrari's to my mind (and that's given most F cars do little for me), more importantly they seem to be a decent size for our roads where the 360 and moreso the 430 became just her-uge and less sharp in design, bit more jellymould.
As for the 355, it's probably one of the nicest looking Ferrari's to my mind (and that's given most F cars do little for me), more importantly they seem to be a decent size for our roads where the 360 and moreso the 430 became just her-uge and less sharp in design, bit more jellymould.
Jonty355 said:
Lagerlout said:
Makes me laugh people talking about interior quality, if that floats your boat buy a bloody Audi or a Porsche.
In a Ferrari you pay for the engine, the rest you get for free.
Thats not actually you that made up that comment though is it? Wasn't it the late great Mr Enzo Ferrari himself that said that?In a Ferrari you pay for the engine, the rest you get for free.
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