Which 348 would you buy ?
Discussion
Hey everyone,
I`m looking to buy my first Ferrari after selling my Porsche a few weeks ago. I`m 27 and live in the North East of England. I`ve noticed a lot of these cars are 200+ miles away from my area so I`m trying to do as little of travelling as possible. My situation is that I`m self employed, own my own £200k house all paid for and am ready to buy a nice two seater car to have some fun in.
After reading through the posts, my thoughts are to get a 348 as my first introduction to Ferrari life.
I`m looking for some opinions on which of the following cars you guys would go for, all are within my budget but obviously I don`t want to pay over the top prices for a car that is 15+ years old.
Heres the choices, all opinions are welcome and if anyone has actually been to view any of these cars then your opinion is even more welcome
On with the show, all red with creme interior :
348 GTB : 1994 : £34,995 :
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/188673.htm
348 TB : 1993 : £29,995 :
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/239712.htm
348 TB : 1991 : £28,950 :
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/201142.htm
348 TB Speciale : 1993 : £35,995 :
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/251702.htm
Many Thanks
Stu
I`m looking to buy my first Ferrari after selling my Porsche a few weeks ago. I`m 27 and live in the North East of England. I`ve noticed a lot of these cars are 200+ miles away from my area so I`m trying to do as little of travelling as possible. My situation is that I`m self employed, own my own £200k house all paid for and am ready to buy a nice two seater car to have some fun in.
After reading through the posts, my thoughts are to get a 348 as my first introduction to Ferrari life.
I`m looking for some opinions on which of the following cars you guys would go for, all are within my budget but obviously I don`t want to pay over the top prices for a car that is 15+ years old.
Heres the choices, all opinions are welcome and if anyone has actually been to view any of these cars then your opinion is even more welcome
On with the show, all red with creme interior :
348 GTB : 1994 : £34,995 :
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/188673.htm
348 TB : 1993 : £29,995 :
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/239712.htm
348 TB : 1991 : £28,950 :
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/201142.htm
348 TB Speciale : 1993 : £35,995 :
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/251702.htm
Many Thanks
Stu
Having been in a similar position to yourself earlier in the year I opted to go for a 348 first to see how I got on with it before I decide if I want to step up to a 355.
My main advice would be to buy on condition and not to exclude private sales, just make sure you get an inspection done. I looked at 2 cars in dealers and they couldnt tell me very much about the cars other than just producing the paperwork and just seemed to be keen to shift them on. The cars felt somewhat unloved and unwanted to me which was reflected in the condition but these werent from Ferrari specialists.....
Out of the 3 private sale owners I spoke to, all of them could tell me virtually the entire cars history, what work they'd had done and what the approx running costs had been like over the last few years of ownership, very different from the dealers I'd visited.
Also, as your buying at this time of the year, expect a discount as prices tend to dip by a few £k over the winter, the prices you've quoted in the links above are a little toppy if you ask me for this time of the year.
Theres a lot of difference between a rough 348 and a nice one so be prepared to view a few, minor cosmetics such as scrappy interior plastics are a cheap and easy fix as are slow electric windows etc so dont be put off by them. Aircon computer can be expensive to fix so if its not working be ready to haggle. Also check the age of the tyres, the one I bought had tyres that were 11 years old and 9 years old so I ended up changing the whole lot !! Obviously a recent cambelt service is a must unless the price reflects it.
Good luck !
My main advice would be to buy on condition and not to exclude private sales, just make sure you get an inspection done. I looked at 2 cars in dealers and they couldnt tell me very much about the cars other than just producing the paperwork and just seemed to be keen to shift them on. The cars felt somewhat unloved and unwanted to me which was reflected in the condition but these werent from Ferrari specialists.....
Out of the 3 private sale owners I spoke to, all of them could tell me virtually the entire cars history, what work they'd had done and what the approx running costs had been like over the last few years of ownership, very different from the dealers I'd visited.
Also, as your buying at this time of the year, expect a discount as prices tend to dip by a few £k over the winter, the prices you've quoted in the links above are a little toppy if you ask me for this time of the year.
Theres a lot of difference between a rough 348 and a nice one so be prepared to view a few, minor cosmetics such as scrappy interior plastics are a cheap and easy fix as are slow electric windows etc so dont be put off by them. Aircon computer can be expensive to fix so if its not working be ready to haggle. Also check the age of the tyres, the one I bought had tyres that were 11 years old and 9 years old so I ended up changing the whole lot !! Obviously a recent cambelt service is a must unless the price reflects it.
Good luck !
Thanks for the replies guys. I was also curious on if the prices of the Speciale and the GTB would hold the value better in years to come over normal 348`s. From what I understand only 100 Speciales and 222 GTBS were produced, compared to over 8,000 348`s. However I guess the question lies on if the 348 continues to drop in value rather than increase in the next 5+ years, then I imagine it doesn`t matter what model you have.
In regards to the Westovers 91 car, I have also heard nice things about the car, did you happen to take it for a drive Chris ? Any problems at all with the interior / exterior ?
In regards to the Westovers 91 car, I have also heard nice things about the car, did you happen to take it for a drive Chris ? Any problems at all with the interior / exterior ?
recaptured said:
In regards to the Westovers 91 car, I have also heard nice things about the car, did you happen to take it for a drive Chris ? Any problems at all with the interior / exterior ?
Sadly not fella, just nipped in to eye up an Exige! But it was in great condition, absolutely stopped me in my tracks. The 348s look fabulous and this one really was glowing! recaptured said:
Am i right in thinking that the "speciale" has the rear lights exposed ? Only pic i could find on the speciale is below any other pics would be appreciated :
Yes, you are right. I thought they were only sold in America though. This site might help... http://www.club348.com/index.htmlEdited by MitchT on Tuesday 9th October 13:24
Out of those I would be tempted by the '93. it is only £1k more than the '91 but you should find that the '91 only has one airflow meter and the earlier ignition system. The later TBs had dual AFM and later ignition and can be chipped to add another 20bhp to bring them in line with the 320bhp GTBs.
Having said that. If budget isn't an issue then the GTB is the better. At £35k though i think it is personally about £5k overpriced. I sold my mint Spider for £30k two years ago!
As for the Speciale ... I visited that dealer in his previous guise when I was looking for mine and he had one in stock in an interesting number of shades.
"yeah, we'll sort that out if you want it"
Sorry pal, you should sort it out before you advertise it.
Good luck - 348s are great cars, much under estimated and I would have another one like a shot
Having said that. If budget isn't an issue then the GTB is the better. At £35k though i think it is personally about £5k overpriced. I sold my mint Spider for £30k two years ago!
As for the Speciale ... I visited that dealer in his previous guise when I was looking for mine and he had one in stock in an interesting number of shades.
"yeah, we'll sort that out if you want it"
Sorry pal, you should sort it out before you advertise it.
Good luck - 348s are great cars, much under estimated and I would have another one like a shot
recaptured said:
Am i right in thinking that the "speciale" has the rear lights exposed ? Only pic i could find on the speciale is below any other pics would be appreciated :
The US Serie Speciale looks like your picture. The car in the ad is not the same thing and has a standard rear grill. Indeed the ad does explain up to a point. Four cars were 'upgraded' by Maranello Concessionaires that they had had trouble selling towards the end of 348 production. They have various detail differences from standard cars. Can't remember what the differences are offhand and I'm not 100% sure all four had the same updates. The car I have seen most often is badged '348 GTB tb Speciale' on the bootlid. Another I have seen is not. I have details of all four 'Maranello Speciales' but not immediately to hand.Edited by recaptured on Tuesday 9th October 13:12
As an aside, the US-only Serie Speciale was made in two batches (Series I and Series II). In theory the first batch (1992-93) was of 100 cars and they are numbered 'x of 100' and the second batch in 1994 being of 15 cars. However, it has been said that only 80 of the original 100 were actually made. I can't prove or disprove that at the moment as I have details of less than 80 cars.
Jonathan
burriana said:
I can recommend the guys at R & D Automotive in Manchester who are Ferrari & Porsche specialists. It was they that told me about the 2.7 ignition chip.
Nick is the man for Ferrari, not sure of their web address but the tel no is 0161 789 3555.
Cheers Burriana I'll look into that, I've got an X-ost on with a full decat so I reckon thats probably worth 20-30hp on its own (as proved by PAP348 on the Dyno) but another 20bhp on top would be rather nice indeed! Nick is the man for Ferrari, not sure of their web address but the tel no is 0161 789 3555.
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