355 owner ....... first thoughts
Discussion
Hi Guys, well I found one, ask me in a year if it was the right decission but she's here sitting in the garage pretty as you like.
Funny couple of days with ups and downs believe it or not, I thank whoever it is you have to thank that I am fortunate enough to be able to own a Ferrari before I am too old to enjoy it ......
Negotiated a price on the car via internet as I am one end of the country and the car is the other, viewing and then returning again later to buy was out of the question as a new job tommorow means no leave for a fair while.
Having asked all the questions and got many photos, I felt I had a fair summary of the car, payment details had been agreed so all we needed was the car albeit 475 miles away.
Good old easyjet to the rescue .....
Saturday
7am flight to glasgow, .... whose silly idea was that ?, had a mate come with me and his wife kindly agreed to take us to the airport so at 5am we set off, rain of course, flight ontime but typicaly didnt take off until half hour after it was due too, arrived Glasgow airport and went straight for a bacon roll and a tea whilst awaiting the seller / taxi ride to the home of the 355.
Breaking every rule in the book we look over the 355 in the rain, looks pretty good to me but then it would, we check out the service history and various receipts, and it seems to stack up, the odd mot missing and some minor gaps but in all seems to have been looked after, sale agreed (we couldnt fly home till sunday even if we wanted to anyway)money done we set off for home Tom Tom tells me 7 hours :-(
First impressions of the car upon starting is how low you sit in the car, even compared to the 911's its low.
Seems very quite with the standard exhaust, pretty unimpressed if Im honest, lets hope when the exhaust valve opens its a different story, power steering seems really light, as does the clutch action, throttle a real pig being heavier than the clutch it seems, and that silly (sexy) H gate manual box looks technical until you dont look at it and just use it.
Funny enough it needs juice before we go anywhere so first garage we stop, bit worried to be honest as not heard the best reports of Glasgow, how wrong I turned out to be, even the bloke selling the big issue loved the car and gave me the thumbs up, £82 notes later and we are full .... sod that ! and I predict we will need at least another due to Mr Ferrari sticking some great big V8 in it.
M8 .. M6 .. best not go silly I really dont need a ticket or a pull in the first few hours of ownership and it's raining for a change, I hold it at approx 80mph which = about 3750 revs in top and appears to be just off the cam, hard work with the throttle and no cruise control :-)the odd burst to see what she goes like but Im thinking the 380 horses = about 260 Porsche ones if im honest ....... Jesus what have I done ?
After 270 miles we stop for fuel and a cornish pasty as the sarnies are £3.50 a pop, stuck in £64 ish (this is getting silly) and cried in my beer.
To cheer me up I played with my new iphone and found a calculator tap tap tap 24.9 mpg, checked and double checked (using 4.5L to a gallon)thats very good .... cheered up a bit ..... still dog slow and cant live with the standard exhaust, sounds like a ford mondeo (sure the solenoids not working properly)the other thing to note is the level of cabin noise is nothing short of terrible, worst I have ever been in for tyre noise including GT3 on track rubber.
M6 bypass and M1 .... getting bored and just want to get home, cant hear radio and it will only pick up radio 2 anyway, holding 95mph and fuel gauge seems to drop a lot quicker, its now on cam by the sounds of it at approx 4500 revs ish.
M25 ... at last the end is near untill we hit a dead stop about 7 miles from the dartford bridge, all gauges heading north at tickover so I switch off for a good 20mins, really bored now and hate the UK and its motorways.
Finnaly home after 8 hours, tin of lager and fish and chips, wife and kid in love with car, Im undecided and bl00dy tired after 475 miles or something but still mange to give it thr respect it deserves with a quick bath before bedtime, polish can wait ....
Laying in bed, have to sort throttle and do something about exhaust, and check all fluids and tyre pressures ... Im dead.
Sunday ... what a difference a day makes.
08.30 and the Autoglym is in action as is the kettle and the radio in the garage, takes water, oil, and washer fluid and gets a light hoover.
I remember reading about wiring open the vacuum operated exhaust valve and figure anything is worth a try, 10 mins later it's done.Greesed up the throttle pedal and seems marginally better also, still too heavy though.
Couple more hours titivating and fiddling and looking and feel we are ready for a roadtest on something other than an english motorway.
Fired up sounds superb (not tubi superb but for 50p worth of lockwire not bad)as I pull away it seems so much more responsive and at 3500ish wails like a Ferrari should do .... Love it, just love it !
Everyone looks at the car no matter what ..... but with love not anger, unseen before.
Finnaly give her the beans in second and third and find that the throttle pedal has very long travel (silly long imo) unlike the 911, ok now she goes ... maybe it has got 380 afterall !
50 miles or so of visits and aimless whizzing about on roads I know for no reason and I am in love with the car, windows down, sun out, going to bed tonight and so glad I have done it at last ...
Thank you Barclaycard :-)
Pictures to follow.
Funny couple of days with ups and downs believe it or not, I thank whoever it is you have to thank that I am fortunate enough to be able to own a Ferrari before I am too old to enjoy it ......
Negotiated a price on the car via internet as I am one end of the country and the car is the other, viewing and then returning again later to buy was out of the question as a new job tommorow means no leave for a fair while.
Having asked all the questions and got many photos, I felt I had a fair summary of the car, payment details had been agreed so all we needed was the car albeit 475 miles away.
Good old easyjet to the rescue .....
Saturday
7am flight to glasgow, .... whose silly idea was that ?, had a mate come with me and his wife kindly agreed to take us to the airport so at 5am we set off, rain of course, flight ontime but typicaly didnt take off until half hour after it was due too, arrived Glasgow airport and went straight for a bacon roll and a tea whilst awaiting the seller / taxi ride to the home of the 355.
Breaking every rule in the book we look over the 355 in the rain, looks pretty good to me but then it would, we check out the service history and various receipts, and it seems to stack up, the odd mot missing and some minor gaps but in all seems to have been looked after, sale agreed (we couldnt fly home till sunday even if we wanted to anyway)money done we set off for home Tom Tom tells me 7 hours :-(
First impressions of the car upon starting is how low you sit in the car, even compared to the 911's its low.
Seems very quite with the standard exhaust, pretty unimpressed if Im honest, lets hope when the exhaust valve opens its a different story, power steering seems really light, as does the clutch action, throttle a real pig being heavier than the clutch it seems, and that silly (sexy) H gate manual box looks technical until you dont look at it and just use it.
Funny enough it needs juice before we go anywhere so first garage we stop, bit worried to be honest as not heard the best reports of Glasgow, how wrong I turned out to be, even the bloke selling the big issue loved the car and gave me the thumbs up, £82 notes later and we are full .... sod that ! and I predict we will need at least another due to Mr Ferrari sticking some great big V8 in it.
M8 .. M6 .. best not go silly I really dont need a ticket or a pull in the first few hours of ownership and it's raining for a change, I hold it at approx 80mph which = about 3750 revs in top and appears to be just off the cam, hard work with the throttle and no cruise control :-)the odd burst to see what she goes like but Im thinking the 380 horses = about 260 Porsche ones if im honest ....... Jesus what have I done ?
After 270 miles we stop for fuel and a cornish pasty as the sarnies are £3.50 a pop, stuck in £64 ish (this is getting silly) and cried in my beer.
To cheer me up I played with my new iphone and found a calculator tap tap tap 24.9 mpg, checked and double checked (using 4.5L to a gallon)thats very good .... cheered up a bit ..... still dog slow and cant live with the standard exhaust, sounds like a ford mondeo (sure the solenoids not working properly)the other thing to note is the level of cabin noise is nothing short of terrible, worst I have ever been in for tyre noise including GT3 on track rubber.
M6 bypass and M1 .... getting bored and just want to get home, cant hear radio and it will only pick up radio 2 anyway, holding 95mph and fuel gauge seems to drop a lot quicker, its now on cam by the sounds of it at approx 4500 revs ish.
M25 ... at last the end is near untill we hit a dead stop about 7 miles from the dartford bridge, all gauges heading north at tickover so I switch off for a good 20mins, really bored now and hate the UK and its motorways.
Finnaly home after 8 hours, tin of lager and fish and chips, wife and kid in love with car, Im undecided and bl00dy tired after 475 miles or something but still mange to give it thr respect it deserves with a quick bath before bedtime, polish can wait ....
Laying in bed, have to sort throttle and do something about exhaust, and check all fluids and tyre pressures ... Im dead.
Sunday ... what a difference a day makes.
08.30 and the Autoglym is in action as is the kettle and the radio in the garage, takes water, oil, and washer fluid and gets a light hoover.
I remember reading about wiring open the vacuum operated exhaust valve and figure anything is worth a try, 10 mins later it's done.Greesed up the throttle pedal and seems marginally better also, still too heavy though.
Couple more hours titivating and fiddling and looking and feel we are ready for a roadtest on something other than an english motorway.
Fired up sounds superb (not tubi superb but for 50p worth of lockwire not bad)as I pull away it seems so much more responsive and at 3500ish wails like a Ferrari should do .... Love it, just love it !
Everyone looks at the car no matter what ..... but with love not anger, unseen before.
Finnaly give her the beans in second and third and find that the throttle pedal has very long travel (silly long imo) unlike the 911, ok now she goes ... maybe it has got 380 afterall !
50 miles or so of visits and aimless whizzing about on roads I know for no reason and I am in love with the car, windows down, sun out, going to bed tonight and so glad I have done it at last ...
Thank you Barclaycard :-)
Pictures to follow.
Welcome to the 355 club!
I note that you felt it a little 'sluggish' at first, perhaps a gentle reprogramming of your own 'systems' may offer you the fix you crave.
Max power is at 8200 rpm and max torque is at 5800 rpm. If you keep the rev counter needle between these figures, as you go up the 'box', forward motion is considerably enhanced with an aural sound only matched by a V16 BRM.
Potential downsides are fuel figures that are definitely not 20+ mpg! and possible loss of licence!
355's are very, very, addictive, as you will soon find out!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do mine. (and everyone else I know who has one!)
I note that you felt it a little 'sluggish' at first, perhaps a gentle reprogramming of your own 'systems' may offer you the fix you crave.
Max power is at 8200 rpm and max torque is at 5800 rpm. If you keep the rev counter needle between these figures, as you go up the 'box', forward motion is considerably enhanced with an aural sound only matched by a V16 BRM.
Potential downsides are fuel figures that are definitely not 20+ mpg! and possible loss of licence!
355's are very, very, addictive, as you will soon find out!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do mine. (and everyone else I know who has one!)
Great write up!
As regards power, get some of your sensors checked out, Cat ECUs, Oxygen sensors, and oxygen flow meter. These can sometimes drastically reduce performance, but to be fair, if you're getting 24mpg out of her, then thats pretty good. I think the most I managed out of a tank was 230miles, but that was both motorway and north yorkshire B roads!
As regards power, get some of your sensors checked out, Cat ECUs, Oxygen sensors, and oxygen flow meter. These can sometimes drastically reduce performance, but to be fair, if you're getting 24mpg out of her, then thats pretty good. I think the most I managed out of a tank was 230miles, but that was both motorway and north yorkshire B roads!
steelej said:
Not heard the best reports about Glasgow? It's a big place you know and like most places with good bits and bad bits, not a lot of riots going on here though 
John.
Not meant in a bad way ..... as you say good and bad areas everywhere, just only had my tom tom to guide me and didnt want to end up somewhere I shouldnt be in a ferrariJohn.
Edited by steelej on Sunday 14th August 23:48
Jonty355 said:
Great write up!
As regards power, get some of your sensors checked out, Cat ECUs, Oxygen sensors, and oxygen flow meter. These can sometimes drastically reduce performance, but to be fair, if you're getting 24mpg out of her, then thats pretty good. I think the most I managed out of a tank was 230miles, but that was both motorway and north yorkshire B roads!
To be honest I was driving it like an old woman as it was raining most of the way home, all motorway, and it was all new to me, the second tank looks more like 240 miles, so seems to be about right, and after yesterdays outings dont think it lacks performance, just has huge pedal travel compared to other cars to get used to.As regards power, get some of your sensors checked out, Cat ECUs, Oxygen sensors, and oxygen flow meter. These can sometimes drastically reduce performance, but to be fair, if you're getting 24mpg out of her, then thats pretty good. I think the most I managed out of a tank was 230miles, but that was both motorway and north yorkshire B roads!
Glad you found one Paul and that you're happy! If you have any questions feel free to get in touch and if you're not already a member; Clubcuderia (as well as here) is a great place for knowledge. Geoff at Shiltech is always happy to help and knows his stuff!
Shouldn't be any issues of overheating in traffic so if that's a genuine issue and not a new owner nervousness get it checked out!
Enjoy the car but make sure you find some time to get a few piccies up!
Shouldn't be any issues of overheating in traffic so if that's a genuine issue and not a new owner nervousness get it checked out!
Enjoy the car but make sure you find some time to get a few piccies up!
hondafanatic said:
Bugger...I added this to my 'watch' list and I thought I was about to see the pictures.
Well done on your purchase...are you sticking with the standard exhaust?
will try and add pictures tonight, they are 3mg and pistonheads only allows 2.5mg .... unsure what to do.Well done on your purchase...are you sticking with the standard exhaust?
std exhaust until funds recover slightly, or I press buy it now on ebay :-)
to be honest it's not bad wired open, maybe with a decat job would be even better ? anyone ?
The Milfman said:
Glad you found one Paul and that you're happy! If you have any questions feel free to get in touch and if you're not already a member; Clubcuderia (as well as here) is a great place for knowledge. Geoff at Shiltech is always happy to help and knows his stuff!
Shouldn't be any issues of overheating in traffic so if that's a genuine issue and not a new owner nervousness get it checked out!
Enjoy the car but make sure you find some time to get a few piccies up!
Hi mike, thanks for all your help in my search, and knowledge passed on.Shouldn't be any issues of overheating in traffic so if that's a genuine issue and not a new owner nervousness get it checked out!
Enjoy the car but make sure you find some time to get a few piccies up!
when I spoke to shiltech about your old car geoff couldnt have been more friendly, would love to use him but suspect car will end up at Foskers or KHPC due to location.
She took half a gallon of water and some oil sunday morning so suggest this didnt help matters, note in one of the services there is a comment about the start of some corrosion on the rads so will keep an eye on it.
Or if you cant hear the fan kicking in when the temp hits 190 degrees F then it might be the sensor like it was on mine. Very easy and cheap fix. £7.99 for the new sensor from eurospares, and easy enough to change it yourself. Its located in the engine bay at the top of the radiator on the near side.
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