RE: PH Buying Guide: Ferrari F355
Discussion
I owned a GTS for 14 months. Loved the noise, attentionit recieved and the drama every time I drove it. I did 14000 in a year and the only things to go were, suspension actuators, clutch (was a fault but they only warrant them for 8000 miles)and the buttresses on c pillar (common fault to look at if you are buying where the paint bubbles up where the pillar meets the body), I averaged about 10 mpg ( to be honest I drove fairly hard everywhere I went. Cam belt service was £3000. Went through a set of tyres too. I was a little dissapointed in the real world performance, its not as quick as you might think, a well driven M3 could keep with you., but all that pails into insignification when you walk back to your car and there is a group of people around it looking through the windows etc. The pride that washes over you makes you realise how lucky you are. If I haqve the oppertunity again I would deffinatly buy another. Let me say one last thing. If you are single (or maybe married) it does make an impression with the ladies and the people out there who say its just an extension are green eyed monsters who have never owned such a car.
BlueEyedBoy said:
Interiors do vary:
Nice:
A 5.2 Motronic car (96 onwards) with passenger airbag (no glovebox), airbag steering wheel, optional carbon seats and Bosch ABS.Nice:
BlueEyedBoy said:
Not so Nice:
A 2.7 Motronic car (up to 95) with no airbags (passenger glovebox instead), standard sports seats and Teves ABS system (ABS off button on the console).The Teves ABS system does have a tendency to come in too soon (certainly from the test drive I had) and no doubt part of the reason they went for the off button.
The Teves ABS system does have more parts to go wrong too as it uses a separate pump to pressurize the system.
[/anorak mode off]
Mroad said:
BlueEyedBoy said:
Interiors do vary:
Nice:
A 5.2 Motronic car (96 onwards) with passenger airbag (no glovebox), airbag steering wheel, optional carbon seats and Bosch ABS.Nice:
BlueEyedBoy said:
Not so Nice:
A 2.7 Motronic car (up to 95) with no airbags (passenger glovebox instead), standard sports seats and Teves ABS system (ABS off button on the console).The Teves ABS system does have a tendency to come in too soon (certainly from the test drive I had) and no doubt part of the reason they went for the off button.
The Teves ABS system does have more parts to go wrong too as it uses a separate pump to pressurize the system.
[/anorak mode off]
But the newer car (top) looks like someone's bought it to pose around Mayfair in. The bottom, older one has me creaming my pants in 'oh god, it's functional and looks good because of it' fashion.
PompeyM3 said:
I'm taking this feature as a sign from above !!! 
After much ummming and ahhhing these past few months on what to get next, my mind was more or less made up at Wilton House last weekend that I want to upgrade my Esprit to a 355. Now seeing this feature my decision is made.
Thanks for the info and I will be coming back to check on any tips any existing owners can point me to when going to look at cars.
+1 - you only have 1 chance to do thisAfter much ummming and ahhhing these past few months on what to get next, my mind was more or less made up at Wilton House last weekend that I want to upgrade my Esprit to a 355. Now seeing this feature my decision is made.
Thanks for the info and I will be coming back to check on any tips any existing owners can point me to when going to look at cars.
10 Pence Short said:
Mroad said:
BlueEyedBoy said:
Interiors do vary:
Nice:
A 5.2 Motronic car (96 onwards) with passenger airbag (no glovebox), airbag steering wheel, optional carbon seats and Bosch ABS.Nice:
BlueEyedBoy said:
Not so Nice:
A 2.7 Motronic car (up to 95) with no airbags (passenger glovebox instead), standard sports seats and Teves ABS system (ABS off button on the console).The Teves ABS system does have a tendency to come in too soon (certainly from the test drive I had) and no doubt part of the reason they went for the off button.
The Teves ABS system does have more parts to go wrong too as it uses a separate pump to pressurize the system.
[/anorak mode off]
But the newer car (top) looks like someone's bought it to pose around Mayfair in. The bottom, older one has me creaming my pants in 'oh god, it's functional and looks good because of it' fashion.
Fuelbrother DC said:
ex vtskid said:
Really great interesting read, not that I'll be buying one anytime soon!
And this might be a bit of a dirty thing to say... but does anyone else prefer the 348?
I do. Better tail-light design, for me. And this might be a bit of a dirty thing to say... but does anyone else prefer the 348?
The 355 seems a bit bland in that respect.
The F355 is undoubtedly the better car but the old 348 is such a good price these days it has to be the best Ferrari bargain out there at the moment in my view.
mikebrownhill said:
Fuelbrother DC said:
ex vtskid said:
Really great interesting read, not that I'll be buying one anytime soon!
And this might be a bit of a dirty thing to say... but does anyone else prefer the 348?
I do. Better tail-light design, for me. And this might be a bit of a dirty thing to say... but does anyone else prefer the 348?
The 355 seems a bit bland in that respect.The F355 is undoubtedly the better car but the old 348 is such a good price these days it has to be the best Ferrari bargain out there at the moment in my view.
Forza_Roma said:
Largely interchangeable panels you say....
The 355 panels may fit a 348, but if for example you wanted to fit a F355 engine lid onto a 348, you'd also have to swap the rear wings as the kick up at the rear of a 348 is different that a F355 . . . . . . . . . . . . .doors and bumpers are straight swaps, everything else requires a bit more thought 
ArranAshman said:
me say one last thing. If you are single (or maybe married) it does make an impression with the ladies and the people out there who say its just an extension are green eyed monsters who have never owned such a car.
That, as far as I'm concerned, is something you get as well with some british gear, with even more style. I, personally, think that (above the, honestly, really glorious sound and drama about Ferrari), it is of great advantage not to be always in the middle of attention. Connaisseurs, obviously will like every 'special' car, be it a classic Lotus or Ferrari, but by owning a Ferrari you may also step into a world of envy, sometimes even hate. Here in Germany, somebody owning a Ferrari is considered to be - let's say it politely - not always sure about tastefulness. Some of those guys (often white haired) tend to wear golden watches with pink Ralph Lauren Polo-Shirts and are accompanied by doubtfully bleached blondes, etc. Think of sugardaddy Flavio B.In a better world, those guys would all just stick with Bugatti, or whatever, to preserve Ferrari for real enthusiasts.
Btw. - do you think the ladies will like you or the car you own? Maybe you don't care
Nevertheless: Apart from ridiculous maintenance cost (cambelt: 3k!?), the V8 Ferrari are fantastic cars!
But I'll stay with my Esprit.
Rusty-C said:
10 Pence Short said:
Mroad said:
BlueEyedBoy said:
Interiors do vary:
Nice:
A 5.2 Motronic car (96 onwards) with passenger airbag (no glovebox), airbag steering wheel, optional carbon seats and Bosch ABS.Nice:
BlueEyedBoy said:
Not so Nice:
A 2.7 Motronic car (up to 95) with no airbags (passenger glovebox instead), standard sports seats and Teves ABS system (ABS off button on the console).The Teves ABS system does have a tendency to come in too soon (certainly from the test drive I had) and no doubt part of the reason they went for the off button.
The Teves ABS system does have more parts to go wrong too as it uses a separate pump to pressurize the system.
[/anorak mode off]
But the newer car (top) looks like someone's bought it to pose around Mayfair in. The bottom, older one has me creaming my pants in 'oh god, it's functional and looks good because of it' fashion.
Rusty-C said:
10 Pence Short said:
Mroad said:
BlueEyedBoy said:
Interiors do vary:
Nice:
A 5.2 Motronic car (96 onwards) with passenger airbag (no glovebox), airbag steering wheel, optional carbon seats and Bosch ABS.Nice:
BlueEyedBoy said:
Not so Nice:
A 2.7 Motronic car (up to 95) with no airbags (passenger glovebox instead), standard sports seats and Teves ABS system (ABS off button on the console).The Teves ABS system does have a tendency to come in too soon (certainly from the test drive I had) and no doubt part of the reason they went for the off button.
The Teves ABS system does have more parts to go wrong too as it uses a separate pump to pressurize the system.
[/anorak mode off]
But the newer car (top) looks like someone's bought it to pose around Mayfair in. The bottom, older one has me creaming my pants in 'oh god, it's functional and looks good because of it' fashion.
James Junior 14 said:
Why would you want a stylish motor like a 355 to have a crappy 'functional' interior?!
Because its meant to be a sports car, not a tarts boudoir. The creme/red interior is way too try hard. The black leather is perfect. (and thats coming from someone who has a creme leather interior!)
I owned a 1997 F355 Berlinetta until 3 months ago, when due to my divorce it had to be sold. It was a beautiful looking and very easy car to drive with no obvious 'faults'. ( A very forgiving clutch - unlike earlier models) I just had to replace a battery which is in quite an awkward place, but when not using it for extended periods, switch all the electrics off. Also use a trickle charged over shorter periods. I must admit in the 2 1/2 years I owned it I only drove c 8,000 miles as for the last 9 months it was pugged up in a garage trying to keep it out of the hands of my (not yet quite ex) wife.
A couple of areas to be aware of, the first being the dealer you buy it from, as my experience was very good until the point you handed over the money and found that things such as the numerous (but small) bonnet chips hadn't been painted in and you get charged £25 for a gallon of fuel! as of course, there was only 10 pence of fuel in it.
Secondly, on selling it recently, (for a pretty knock down price) having had it MOT'd two days earlier, the buyer had only driven for c 20 miles when 4 (of the 5) wheel nuts departed the offside wheel. As you can imagine that led to some fairly heated phone calls but all ended well as fortunately, there was no real damage. Mind you, you would have thought that if you heard a large thumping noise from somewhere at the back of the car you'd look really closely to see what the problem was!
I subsequently found a Ferrari owners site which says you must torque the wheel nuts every 600 miles or so. Obvious really with the power going through the rear wheels and the size of them.
One laughable generality is the number of boy racers in their Peugots or Renaults who will try and tempt you to race them whenever you're on the M25 (or any motorway proabably). As second gear was enough to see them off it was always a lost cause, but if you couldn't be bothered I expect they could always brag that they overtook a Ferrari F355.
I previously owned a Honda S2000 with no claims so shopping around I found fully comp insurance for £500.
I'm still pretty upset about having to sell it - you can really get attached to a car like that and for most of us, only get one chance in your life of buying one.
One plug. If you live in Surrey, the Surrey branch of the owners club has a high membership and very good social events, plus they're always willing to lend a hand if you ever get caught needing a replacement part or some technical support.
A couple of areas to be aware of, the first being the dealer you buy it from, as my experience was very good until the point you handed over the money and found that things such as the numerous (but small) bonnet chips hadn't been painted in and you get charged £25 for a gallon of fuel! as of course, there was only 10 pence of fuel in it.
Secondly, on selling it recently, (for a pretty knock down price) having had it MOT'd two days earlier, the buyer had only driven for c 20 miles when 4 (of the 5) wheel nuts departed the offside wheel. As you can imagine that led to some fairly heated phone calls but all ended well as fortunately, there was no real damage. Mind you, you would have thought that if you heard a large thumping noise from somewhere at the back of the car you'd look really closely to see what the problem was!
I subsequently found a Ferrari owners site which says you must torque the wheel nuts every 600 miles or so. Obvious really with the power going through the rear wheels and the size of them.
One laughable generality is the number of boy racers in their Peugots or Renaults who will try and tempt you to race them whenever you're on the M25 (or any motorway proabably). As second gear was enough to see them off it was always a lost cause, but if you couldn't be bothered I expect they could always brag that they overtook a Ferrari F355.
I previously owned a Honda S2000 with no claims so shopping around I found fully comp insurance for £500.
I'm still pretty upset about having to sell it - you can really get attached to a car like that and for most of us, only get one chance in your life of buying one.
One plug. If you live in Surrey, the Surrey branch of the owners club has a high membership and very good social events, plus they're always willing to lend a hand if you ever get caught needing a replacement part or some technical support.
I was fortunate enough to run one of these for a couple of years, back in 2002 - 2004 - a nice 1995 GTS in Rosso / Crema (my co-director bought a 1998 Giallo 355GTB as well - the salesman did well that day!)
It was sourced from a Ferrari main dealer, which means I paid top dollar. However, I had the foresight to have a two-year Marannelo warranty put on it, which cost £1,700 (on top of the £53k purchase price)
I ran it hard for two years, covering over 12,000 miles (high for a Ferrari) - it was used in all weathers apart from snow and ice
My experience was that the car was fine, but the dealers were awful. I bought the car in May 2002, and by August 2002, the dealer had had the car for longer than I had. It wasn't that it kept breaking, its just that every time it went in for some work, it came out with more problems. They forgot to bolt the seat in once!
They were so bad that on one occasion, when it went in for the belts service, they rang me to tell me the clutch was "75% worn" and did I want another fitted (at a cost of £750) while the engine was already out. I asked them to leave it with me for 24 hours while I consulted my bank manager (aka Wifey). After much grovelling, I decided to have the new clutch fitted. However, just as I was picking up the phone to call them, my car arrived on the back of their transporter. So - I called them and said "yes - I'll have the clutch done please" - they replied - "no problem sir, we'll get right onto it". "Really?" I said "are you sure?". "Yes sir, no problem at all". I then respectfully suggested that they go and have a word with the mechanic that would be fitting the clutch and ask him how he was going to do it from twenty miles away.
In the end, I sold it to buy my co-director out of his share of our business. It was almost two years to the day (and conveniently, just as the warranty ran out). It was a desperately hard thing to do - I really loved owning and driving it.
Regrets? - only one - I should have found the money to put a Tubi exhaust on it - it sounded a bit flat with the stock pipes.
I sold it for £47,000 - a loss of just £6,000 over two years - I'd have suffered more depreciation with a one year old Focus 1.6
Photo taken the night before I sold it
Oh - two final comments - rust has no respect for the badge - whichever way you look at it, this is fifteen year old steel (and Italian steel, at that) but buy carefully and spend a couple of hundred quid having a real expert look at it. Once you've found a good 'un, make sure you use the engine like it was meant to be used - the redline isn't at 8,500rpm just to look pretty!
EDIT - proof that I didn't mind using it hard - me and my co-director at Santa Pod
video
It was sourced from a Ferrari main dealer, which means I paid top dollar. However, I had the foresight to have a two-year Marannelo warranty put on it, which cost £1,700 (on top of the £53k purchase price)
I ran it hard for two years, covering over 12,000 miles (high for a Ferrari) - it was used in all weathers apart from snow and ice
My experience was that the car was fine, but the dealers were awful. I bought the car in May 2002, and by August 2002, the dealer had had the car for longer than I had. It wasn't that it kept breaking, its just that every time it went in for some work, it came out with more problems. They forgot to bolt the seat in once!
They were so bad that on one occasion, when it went in for the belts service, they rang me to tell me the clutch was "75% worn" and did I want another fitted (at a cost of £750) while the engine was already out. I asked them to leave it with me for 24 hours while I consulted my bank manager (aka Wifey). After much grovelling, I decided to have the new clutch fitted. However, just as I was picking up the phone to call them, my car arrived on the back of their transporter. So - I called them and said "yes - I'll have the clutch done please" - they replied - "no problem sir, we'll get right onto it". "Really?" I said "are you sure?". "Yes sir, no problem at all". I then respectfully suggested that they go and have a word with the mechanic that would be fitting the clutch and ask him how he was going to do it from twenty miles away.
In the end, I sold it to buy my co-director out of his share of our business. It was almost two years to the day (and conveniently, just as the warranty ran out). It was a desperately hard thing to do - I really loved owning and driving it.
Regrets? - only one - I should have found the money to put a Tubi exhaust on it - it sounded a bit flat with the stock pipes.
I sold it for £47,000 - a loss of just £6,000 over two years - I'd have suffered more depreciation with a one year old Focus 1.6
Photo taken the night before I sold it
Oh - two final comments - rust has no respect for the badge - whichever way you look at it, this is fifteen year old steel (and Italian steel, at that) but buy carefully and spend a couple of hundred quid having a real expert look at it. Once you've found a good 'un, make sure you use the engine like it was meant to be used - the redline isn't at 8,500rpm just to look pretty!
EDIT - proof that I didn't mind using it hard - me and my co-director at Santa Pod
video
Edited by Nigel_O on Monday 23 August 14:00
Edited by Nigel_O on Monday 23 August 14:05
Fuelbrother DC said:
but by owning a Ferrari you may also step into a world of envy, sometimes even hate.
Your so right, its particularly hostile here in the UK. It ranges from jealous members of the public to so called "petrol heads" who will always have a problem with the owners of Ferrari's. I find they dislike the owners as opposed to disliking the cars them self.Interestingly enough in last months EVO magazine Chris Harris wrote a piece on the negative and hostile attitudes towards people who drive nice cars here in the UK, compared to the attitudes of main land Europe. An interesting read.
Nice Lotus by the way
ferrari spider said:
Fuelbrother DC said:
but by owning a Ferrari you may also step into a world of envy, sometimes even hate.
Your so right, its particularly hostile here in the UK. It ranges from jealous members of the public to so called "petrol heads" who will always have a problem with the owners of Ferrari's. I find they dislike the owners as opposed to disliking the cars them self.Interestingly enough in last months EVO magazine Chris Harris wrote a piece on the negative and hostile attitudes towards people who drive nice cars here in the UK, compared to the attitudes of main land Europe. An interesting read.
Nice Lotus by the way
However, once, I visited a local tourist feature together with a good friend. When we came back to the car, a mid-aged lady stood next to it, marvelling. Instantly, in the same second she saw us (two young guys), her face changed to a grim look. She then made compliments about the beautiful car and asked how much it costs (standard question here...
). As I told her the price (which is comparable to a new GTI, mind you!), she dared to ask: "Married rich or professional son?" - and walked away. 
I was so upset that I couldn't reply funny enough - it's a shame people don't see the effort that is sometimes put into things.So: when talking about jealousy, find Masters of that here in Germany. Some other mate told my a nice saying (don't know if this translates too well): "you'll get compassion for free but you have to earn envy"
That's why I'm glad everytime I see a happy guy in his Ferrari or Pork, grinning. He has fun. Which is a positive feeling.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff