RE: Ferrari F355: PH Heroes

[SuperSonicSloth]

Gameface said:

Does anyone actually do that?

Im very fond of my cars but a glance over the shoulder when walking away is about as far as I go.

Deliberately going out of your way to look at your car for an extended period of time, just seems odd to me.

Why is it so difficult to understand? For a lot of car folk, this machine is an artwork in exactly the same way as a pretty picture hanging on a wall somewhere.

[Targarama]

daltonr said:

Gameface said:

SuperSonicSloth said:

A big part of owning one of these for me would be just to sit and enjoy looking at the thing, beer in hand.

Does anyone actually do that?

Im very fond of my cars but a glance over the shoulder when walking away is about as far as I go.

Deliberately going out of your way to look at your car for an extended period of time, just seems odd to me.

Really, I'm amazed by that? The 100% opposite of this. I put a chair in my garage just so I could look at my fleet.

I have a chair in my garage too

[Gameface]

SuperSonicSloth said:

Gameface said:

Does anyone actually do that?

Im very fond of my cars but a glance over the shoulder when walking away is about as far as I go.

Deliberately going out of your way to look at your car for an extended period of time, just seems odd to me.

Why is it so difficult to understand? For a lot of car folk, this machine is an artwork in exactly the same way as a pretty picture hanging on a wall somewhere.

I didn't say it was difficult to understand. I just said it's not for me.

[Rawwr]

Hmm. I was just pondering whether or not the F355 could be considered Pininfarina's most successful design. Although they've penned many amazing bodies, I can't think of another that's had the universal praise the F355 has, either then or now.

[daytona111r]

1781cc said:

BlueEyedBoy said:

Was a hero, drove one, no longer.

Beautiful car, but interior was a big let down, the driving position shouldn't be underestimated as been quite bad with the pedal offset and didn't feel that fast.

I had just got out of my Cerbera which felt like a rocket ship when I got back into it.

Edited by BlueEyedBoy on Wednesday 29th August 07:55

Totally agree with this, I did exactly the same thing on an Everyman racing day but in my case it was my twin turbo Supra that made the F355 seem slow and unwieldy

Same here. Laps around Thruxton for my 18tj Bday present, couldn’t have been anymore excited. Sure I wasn’t allowed to rev it much beyond 6k, but still . . steering felt too light, didn’t feel as connected to the road as I wanted it to be. Really underwhelmed, and this was before I had a go in a single seater that just blew me away. Still absolutely love the 355 to though, and I’m prepared to forgive it . .

Edited by daytona111r on Thursday 30th August 15:45

[3FiveFive]

FocusRS3 said:

I had a peach of a 355 circa 8yrs ago that I paid 37k for and sold a year later for 43 and thought i'd done well !

I guess you gotta pay 85-90k for a good one now but with lots of economic uncertainty i'd be careful about paying up at the mo.

Money no object and with a long term view you buy one and just stare at it.....

This is where i'm(sort of) at.

Had the opportunity to buy a distressed sale one at £32k in 2013, but couldn't go for it as i was getting married at the time. Its been my dream car for almost 20 years now and am now in a position to buy but imo I wouldn't with the current economic climate. I think they are overpriced in relation to the 360 and F430 and even the 458(the top end of F355s are just shy of the bottom end 458 atm .

Saying all that I haven't been a passenger in one yet, let alone piloted

[MaserCoupe]

Rawwr said:

Hmm. I was just pondering whether or not the F355 could be considered Pininfarina's most successful design. Although they've penned many amazing bodies, I can't think of another that's had the universal praise the F355 has, either then or now.

Yeah +1. I would agree, its difficult to criticise and fault it. A really beautiful design, it was a well thought out project.

Pininfarina after initial hand sketches and design renderings went (for the very first time) to the full use of CAD technology on this road car. Interesting times the early 1990's as it was when the world was waking up to the full power of computing. For Ferrari and the 355, it represents old world hand built/hand assembled, mated to automation & new world computer aided design. They incorporated too for the very first time, Laser welding robotics on the 355's double skinned chassis which gave a superior and more consistent precision quality weld.

To me anyway the 355 in all its forms is still an enduringly fresh design. Un-deniably it appeals to many for a multitude of reasons and seems to nullify which demographic and or stereotypes it attracts.

Edited by MaserCoupe on Thursday 30th August 15:44

Edited by MaserCoupe on Thursday 30th August 16:22

[daytona111r]

Styling wise it’s really just the 348 architecture with a facelift - vents, skirts and numbers smoothed over and new lights. But Oh my is the overall effect magnificent, and just as fresh today. Pininfarina/Ferrari were killing it in the 90’s

[roboxm3]

MaserCoupe said:

The prettiest girl on God's green Earth IMHO... She looks amazing and makes all the right sounds, now what more could you ask for? A sonorous voice? Tick. A little ground effects tech? Tick. A little F1 Valve technology and Titanium Conrods? Tick. A little Suspension trickery? Tick.. An option of manual or F1 paddle shift? Tick. Coupe, Targa or Convertible? TICK, TICK, TICK!!! What a package, what a fabulous, complete and accomplished package. Sorry any excuse to post a pic! 1 of 2 in this colour and is "the other love of my life". Love you darling but the 355 stays!!!

Edited by MaserCoupe on Thursday 30th August 12:38

Edited by MaserCoupe on Thursday 30th August 12:41

Edited by MaserCoupe on Thursday 30th August 12:42

Edited by MaserCoupe on Thursday 30th August 15:02

No apologies for quoting the pics again, just to say "ooof"

[Outrun]

This is the video that did it for me:

https://youtu.be/COVd_vwkxCM

Wanted one ever since and bought my first one in 2009. Sold it soon after as I wanted a low mileage one with the CF seats as a keeper. Found this one and will probably never sell. Best car I’ve ever owned.

[HardtopManual]

daytona111r said:

I wasn’t allowed to rev it much beyond 6k

That's a shame. You still had 2.5k revs to go. It's only really just come on cam at that engine speed.

[GTSJOE]

[Otispunkmeyer]

Garvin said:

Maldini35 said:

. . . . . . . . Find a good one and you’ll keep it forever.

I found a good one (took two years to find) and, yes, I intend to keep it forever,

There are two criticisms I would level at the car:

1. The driving position is a bit old style Italian - long armed and short legged! The seats are excellent but, then again, mine does have the optional carbon sports seats.

2. The usual Ferrari problem of the soft feel rubberised coating on the switches degrading to mush - costs a small fortune to get them refinished properly.

Other than that this is a car you can still use it’s full performance every day and the noise it makes at full chat . . . . . .

https://youtu.be/fU48yWje8CM?t=630

excuse the exuberant, chubby, Italian bloke, but F355 + tunnel.

and 6 minutes of exhausts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StYScWta5eQ

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Thursday 30th August 17:43

[GTSJOE]

Had mine since 2007; manual GTS in TDF & Tan. Have thought many times of selling the car but can’t bring myself to do it. Have recently added a 993 C2S which feels quicker than the 355 even though it’s got less bhp but the sounds and feel of the 355 is more special.

[GTSJOE]

Great place to be, had all stickies replaced recently by Keys Motorsport

[MOORO]

All the go is 5k to 9k rpm - feels slow and unexciting below that. If keeping below 6k rpm then no wonder it felt underwhelming. They need to be thrashed and the motor is very eager to rev out to the red line. Still not fast by modern day standards, but a lot of fun and all the noise! I think the 0-100 mph is below 11 seconds so still pretty decent...

daytona111r said:

Same here. Laps around Thruxton for my 18tj Bday present, couldn’t have been anymore excited. Sure I wasn’t allowed to rev it much beyond 6k, but still . . steering felt too light, didn’t feel as connected to the road as I wanted it to be. Really underwhelmed, and this was before I had a go in a single seater that just blew me away. Still absolutely love the 355 to though, and I’m prepared to forgive it . .

Edited by daytona111r on Thursday 30th August 15:45

[Number91]

The 355 is a very important car in design terms , it was arguably the best car Ferrari had made in a long time . It was £40k in the middle of a recession as everything else was , Also interest rates were high so money stayed in banks . When interest rates are low then money looks to other investments. 355 manuals are worth every penny of £100k and more .

[Jex]

3FiveFive said:

This is where i'm(sort of) at.

Had the opportunity to buy a distressed sale one at £32k in 2013, but couldn't go for it as i was getting married at the time. Its been my dream car for almost 20 years now and am now in a position to buy but imo I wouldn't with the current economic climate. I think they are overpriced in relation to the 360 and F430 and even the 458(the top end of F355s are just shy of the bottom end 458 atm .

355 prices have been stagnant or dropping over the least two to three years. Will they drop further or go up? Dinos cost two to three times more than 355s and a big part of their appeal is how pretty they are.

Edited by Jex on Thursday 30th August 19:58

Edited by Jex on Thursday 30th August 19:59

[Midgster]

Back in 1998, test drove a TVR Cerbera 4.5 and an F355 (cant remember which model), the TVR won hands down in every detail for me back then (so I bought it) and if current values are to be ignored and not brought into the decision, if I had the choice today between the two, I'd go for the TVR again. The only slight niggle is I do love the 355 to bits and barring a lottery win, I know I'll never own one where if I'd bought the 355 back then, I could afford a Cerbera today.

[Gus265]

Resolutionary said:

When I was about 12, a friend of mine used to live down a private road in Coombe near Kingston. We used to walk around with his then hi-tech plug in camera for a Nokia mobile phone and do a rudimentary bit of car spotting around the posh bits of Wimbledon and so on.

One afternoon I remember us having seen a lot of Porsches, an Esprit and a Morgan thingy, but this particular and very long side road we went down had many beautiful houses, but nothing interesting parked out front.

We'd nearly given up when we approached one of the last houses. Sitting pretty was a 355 Spyder in red. I remember yelling at my friend with my jaw open at what had to be the most majestic car I'd been up close and personal to in my life thus far.

We took a crappy photo, just for our records, and as we went to leave the owner appeared on a balcony above us, and asked if we wanted to have a look. Within the hour, he'd taken both me and my friend for separate drives up the long road and back down again, the manual transmission seeming like the slickest thing I'd ever witnessed. His wife / mistress was hot as heck too.

It was something I'll never forget - and an experience that etched the 355 into my minds hall of fame.

My pleasure “Resolutionary”. That car and mistress long gone now. Replaced by younger models of course.