F355 - 1 year on (almost to the day).
Discussion
Following on from this thread
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
I thought I'd share my thoughts after 1 year of ownership.
Firstly, costs.
Insurance under a classic policy is surprisingly affordable and cheaper than my old E36 M3!
Petrol - just close your eyes and don't think about it. Motorway is not too horrendous (maybe 220-240 miles out of a tank) but around town its just rubbish and on the track its utterly diabolical! I honestly don’t know where the hell it all goes…
Tyres – I fitted a new set of Bridgestone RE050’s after about 4 months. Cost about £680. Not overly impressed so I’ll fit something different next. It eats rears a bit, although the airfield day didn’t help, as I found it handles like a dream and powerslides very happily. It really is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding cars I have ever driven. Fronts seem to be wearing OK as well, thankfully.
Issues so far:
1. Needed a new windscreen. £2.4k all-in, although insurance covers this.
2. Alternator died. Apparently common for the voltage regulator to fail due to the heat. £280 but you can remove and fit new regulator and inverter for a fraction of that price. If it happens again, I’ll be doing that. That left me stranded next to Trafalgar square on a Friday evening at rush hour, so I personally stopped central London. Yay!
3. The radiators appear to be a bit battered and corroded, so I’ll be pulling those out and getting them re-cored, which is probably to be expected on a 12 year old car. Cost should be about £170 per side + VAT, so no different to any other car, except there’s two of them
4. Speedo sensor failed – fixed under warranty
5. Oil pressure sender failed – fixed under warranty
6. Air-con leak – fixed under warranty
7. Heater control failed – fixed under warranty
8. Cats were shot, so replaced with sports cats. £136 per side. Free flowing and passed MOT no worries. Cats2go, and were a direct fit.
Other outlay
First stop was a Capristo exhaust. Best money spent, hands down. It really does transform the noise of the car and makes it, in my opinion, one of the best sounding machines on the road.
Also, the stereo was rubbish, so a new Alpine head unit and some speakers followed. Now it needs a small sub to finish things off, as sitting in traffic can be tedious otherwise.
The only other outlay has been some carbon seats by Cobra which I am currently getting re-trimmed in matching tan leather. The originals are good but could really do with some more lateral support and the genuine 355 carbon seats are nigh on impossible to find, and very expensive when you do stumble across them (yet to see any in 12 months).
Impressions after a year?
Its still easily the best money I have spent.
The car is anything other than a garage queen. Its covered in stone chips, the paint is swirly (albeit with loads of wax and polish) and its covered in vinyl from Le Mans. I’ve done a decent amount of miles, including quite a few trips to Europe, hammered around North Weald and the Nurburgring, been to Le Mans and the Millau bridge and the car has been simply brilliant.
Its decently comfortable, its noisy when you want it to be but relaxing enough on the motorway. The boot and storage space is surprisingly large, far more so than say a 996 (back seats not withstanding) and makes a surprisingly decent GT. It gathers just the right amount of attention if you like that sort of thing without being overly lairy, helped no doubt by the blue/tan colour combination.
Most importantly, I still get stupidly excited whenever I hop in the car and I look for any opportunity to dig it out and take it for a spin. The banshee scream when you nail it is addictive, as is the tactile feel of smashing that metal gear lever around the gate which remains a singular pleasure of owning a manual Ferrari. The steering is light around town so parking is easy but loads up nicely at speed and in the corners. The handling is just brilliant: its not so tail happy that you can’t anticipate and catch the back end letting go, and the car truly does seem to shrink around you leave you feeling directly connected to the road and all the mechanical bits.
It truly does make every trip that little bit special.
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
I thought I'd share my thoughts after 1 year of ownership.
Firstly, costs.
Insurance under a classic policy is surprisingly affordable and cheaper than my old E36 M3!
Petrol - just close your eyes and don't think about it. Motorway is not too horrendous (maybe 220-240 miles out of a tank) but around town its just rubbish and on the track its utterly diabolical! I honestly don’t know where the hell it all goes…
Tyres – I fitted a new set of Bridgestone RE050’s after about 4 months. Cost about £680. Not overly impressed so I’ll fit something different next. It eats rears a bit, although the airfield day didn’t help, as I found it handles like a dream and powerslides very happily. It really is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding cars I have ever driven. Fronts seem to be wearing OK as well, thankfully.
Issues so far:
1. Needed a new windscreen. £2.4k all-in, although insurance covers this.
2. Alternator died. Apparently common for the voltage regulator to fail due to the heat. £280 but you can remove and fit new regulator and inverter for a fraction of that price. If it happens again, I’ll be doing that. That left me stranded next to Trafalgar square on a Friday evening at rush hour, so I personally stopped central London. Yay!
3. The radiators appear to be a bit battered and corroded, so I’ll be pulling those out and getting them re-cored, which is probably to be expected on a 12 year old car. Cost should be about £170 per side + VAT, so no different to any other car, except there’s two of them
4. Speedo sensor failed – fixed under warranty
5. Oil pressure sender failed – fixed under warranty
6. Air-con leak – fixed under warranty
7. Heater control failed – fixed under warranty
8. Cats were shot, so replaced with sports cats. £136 per side. Free flowing and passed MOT no worries. Cats2go, and were a direct fit.
Other outlay
First stop was a Capristo exhaust. Best money spent, hands down. It really does transform the noise of the car and makes it, in my opinion, one of the best sounding machines on the road.
Also, the stereo was rubbish, so a new Alpine head unit and some speakers followed. Now it needs a small sub to finish things off, as sitting in traffic can be tedious otherwise.
The only other outlay has been some carbon seats by Cobra which I am currently getting re-trimmed in matching tan leather. The originals are good but could really do with some more lateral support and the genuine 355 carbon seats are nigh on impossible to find, and very expensive when you do stumble across them (yet to see any in 12 months).
Impressions after a year?
Its still easily the best money I have spent.
The car is anything other than a garage queen. Its covered in stone chips, the paint is swirly (albeit with loads of wax and polish) and its covered in vinyl from Le Mans. I’ve done a decent amount of miles, including quite a few trips to Europe, hammered around North Weald and the Nurburgring, been to Le Mans and the Millau bridge and the car has been simply brilliant.
Its decently comfortable, its noisy when you want it to be but relaxing enough on the motorway. The boot and storage space is surprisingly large, far more so than say a 996 (back seats not withstanding) and makes a surprisingly decent GT. It gathers just the right amount of attention if you like that sort of thing without being overly lairy, helped no doubt by the blue/tan colour combination.
Most importantly, I still get stupidly excited whenever I hop in the car and I look for any opportunity to dig it out and take it for a spin. The banshee scream when you nail it is addictive, as is the tactile feel of smashing that metal gear lever around the gate which remains a singular pleasure of owning a manual Ferrari. The steering is light around town so parking is easy but loads up nicely at speed and in the corners. The handling is just brilliant: its not so tail happy that you can’t anticipate and catch the back end letting go, and the car truly does seem to shrink around you leave you feeling directly connected to the road and all the mechanical bits.
It truly does make every trip that little bit special.
Edited by Cactussed on Thursday 2nd July 08:14
I'm still working towards F Car ownership
Along the way, I've toyed with the idea of a 360, but I just have the niggling doubt it will leave me wanting
The shape of the 355 just does it for me, and having had a mate that owned one for several years I got up close and personal with a Berlinetta on several occasions
Your write up's great, its left me wanting one all the more!
Along the way, I've toyed with the idea of a 360, but I just have the niggling doubt it will leave me wanting
The shape of the 355 just does it for me, and having had a mate that owned one for several years I got up close and personal with a Berlinetta on several occasions
Your write up's great, its left me wanting one all the more!
Cactussed said:
birdcage said:
Which level Capristo have you got please, I have decided it is for me just need to decide the level..
Its actually a lvl 2. On a 355, they're all the same at WOT, its just the noise at idle that varies...
At WOT the Level 3 is louder, in fact its louder all the time. The bypass channel is the same for all of the systems, i.e. when the valve opens, the gas routed to that side of the exhaust is unsilenced. The difference lies in the other section of the exhaust, with the level 3 having less sound deadening than the 2 and 1 etc. Normal driving and flat out are louder on the higher levels, as not all the gas goes through the bypass.
Good to see your using your car alot. I bought mine last feb and have covered nearly 8k miles in it now. I've just got back from a 900 mile round trip up in the North of Scotland, great roads up there!
Its nice to see someone use their car also, all this obsession over mileage really annoys me, they are just cars, drive them as they are meant to be driven!
Cactussed said:
markoc said:
I've seen your car outside the Greyhound, and it was refreshing to see a 355 that gets used the way it was intended. Fantastic colour combination too.
Really? I don't recall visitng the Greyhound? Where is that?markoc said:
Cactussed said:
markoc said:
I've seen your car outside the Greyhound, and it was refreshing to see a 355 that gets used the way it was intended. Fantastic colour combination too.
Really? I don't recall visitng the Greyhound? Where is that?Actually, I think I was there for lnch with some friends! Had no idea where I was as it was their idea. thanks for the compliment on the colour
Cactussed said:
markoc said:
Cactussed said:
markoc said:
I've seen your car outside the Greyhound, and it was refreshing to see a 355 that gets used the way it was intended. Fantastic colour combination too.
Really? I don't recall visitng the Greyhound? Where is that?Actually, I think I was there for lnch with some friends! Had no idea where I was as it was their idea. thanks for the compliment on the colour
Fancy a lunch there again sometime?
OK, so I took a good look at the rads. Nearside (ie passenger side) is fine, looks pretty good, but the offside looked terrible, whic explained the slightly higher oil and water temps I'd been noticing recently.
Pulled the offending rad out and it was totally cactussed. Most of the fins had collapsed and the tank runners expanded which left almost no cooling and blocked most of the air flow. The oil cooler looks good as new, so its curous that just the one rad decided to s
t itself. Mind you, probably to be expected on any 12 year old Fiat. Going to replace all the heater hoses and jubilee clips whist I'm there, no point in skimping on the 50p parts!
Off getting a quote for a re-core as we speak. Others have used Serck Marson in Manchester before. I'm trying a mob in Kent. Will keep you posted...
Pulled the offending rad out and it was totally cactussed. Most of the fins had collapsed and the tank runners expanded which left almost no cooling and blocked most of the air flow. The oil cooler looks good as new, so its curous that just the one rad decided to s
t itself. Mind you, probably to be expected on any 12 year old Fiat. Going to replace all the heater hoses and jubilee clips whist I'm there, no point in skimping on the 50p parts!Off getting a quote for a re-core as we speak. Others have used Serck Marson in Manchester before. I'm trying a mob in Kent. Will keep you posted...
OK, so the shop have sourced a replacement core, rad should be ready for pick-up on Friday. Core fitted, painted, pressure tested and 12 month guarantee.
£180 notes all-in. Yay! Shall let you know how I get on.
If anyone can post some pics of the old core, I can email them across for interests sake...
£180 notes all-in. Yay! Shall let you know how I get on.
If anyone can post some pics of the old core, I can email them across for interests sake...
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