348 service intervals
Discussion
going to look at a nice RHD TB tomorrow as well as a LHD TB and also a RHD spider (that I blatantly shouldn't look at as I can't afford it at all, but nice to check out as it's in the same place...)
Reports here on monday...
Craig how many did you look at / drive before you gave in and paid up?
Reports here on monday...
Craig how many did you look at / drive before you gave in and paid up?
Well, I only got to see one car at the weekend due to other things coming up, so thanks to my local independent dealer who were extreemly helpful.
The car was a 1990 red/crema TB with 14k on the clock and a FSH and buckets of supporting docs. Drove the car for about 30 minutes. The car itself inside was immaculate, as was the paint. Engine fired smoothly with no discerable smoking on startup and sounded like a million dollars (though the 355 with the tubi they moved to get the tb out sounded like $2,000,000!)
The big quirk was that you're not supposed to use second gear until the gearbox oil warms up (can anyone confirm this idiosyncracy?), this isn't really a problem as theres plenty of torque, and round the lanes where I did most of the driving, 3rd was the ideal gear. Gearchange is firm, and certainly a bit stiff until the oil does warm up, at which point changing was a little bit of an effort. (still given its only done 14k in 12 years I guess you'd expect it to be a little on the stiff side!)
The car sounded great, steering feel and feedback (no pas) is absolutley amazing, definitely the most positive steering of any car I've ever driven. Brakes were good, took a while to get used to their very positive nature (given that I'm used to my hire car fiesta at the moment which has a brake pedal that behaves like a victoria sponge when stepped on)
Accelleration is excellent, though it is very very smooth, no turbo kick, just mighty and progressive power, plently of torque (5th pulls from 30-170). This made the car a pleasure to drive, and even in traffic it wasn't daunting - though the learner who held me up for a couple of minutes would probably disagree. Must have been a little intimidating to have a big wedge of rosso corsa looming in your mirrors! The real wave of power seems to kick in at about 60 in third, and is darned exciting.
Overall, despite the notchy change, and 'character' that denies use of second for the first ten-twenty minutes of use I really love this car.
Still this is the first one I've seen so the chequebook stayed firmly away. There are a lot of practical considerations to owning a car like this, the main one for me is to have a garage, so I'm researching that at the moment. Also I've got to drive a porker 993, I don't think I could love a 993 like I could love a 348, but until you've tried you don't know...
More info on test drives when they happen..
The car was a 1990 red/crema TB with 14k on the clock and a FSH and buckets of supporting docs. Drove the car for about 30 minutes. The car itself inside was immaculate, as was the paint. Engine fired smoothly with no discerable smoking on startup and sounded like a million dollars (though the 355 with the tubi they moved to get the tb out sounded like $2,000,000!)
The big quirk was that you're not supposed to use second gear until the gearbox oil warms up (can anyone confirm this idiosyncracy?), this isn't really a problem as theres plenty of torque, and round the lanes where I did most of the driving, 3rd was the ideal gear. Gearchange is firm, and certainly a bit stiff until the oil does warm up, at which point changing was a little bit of an effort. (still given its only done 14k in 12 years I guess you'd expect it to be a little on the stiff side!)
The car sounded great, steering feel and feedback (no pas) is absolutley amazing, definitely the most positive steering of any car I've ever driven. Brakes were good, took a while to get used to their very positive nature (given that I'm used to my hire car fiesta at the moment which has a brake pedal that behaves like a victoria sponge when stepped on)
Accelleration is excellent, though it is very very smooth, no turbo kick, just mighty and progressive power, plently of torque (5th pulls from 30-170). This made the car a pleasure to drive, and even in traffic it wasn't daunting - though the learner who held me up for a couple of minutes would probably disagree. Must have been a little intimidating to have a big wedge of rosso corsa looming in your mirrors! The real wave of power seems to kick in at about 60 in third, and is darned exciting.
Overall, despite the notchy change, and 'character' that denies use of second for the first ten-twenty minutes of use I really love this car.
Still this is the first one I've seen so the chequebook stayed firmly away. There are a lot of practical considerations to owning a car like this, the main one for me is to have a garage, so I'm researching that at the moment. Also I've got to drive a porker 993, I don't think I could love a 993 like I could love a 348, but until you've tried you don't know...
More info on test drives when they happen..
Dealer suggested that 2nd was best avoided until the gearbox was warm as slamming it into second when not warm could be bad for it. After 15 minutes driving, I tried second and it was fine.. Dealer was just suggesting that doing this could extend the life of the gearbox a bit... Could also be that at <1500 miles a year this car isn't exactly fully run in and the gearchange could be a bit smoother generally.
Still I've got to drive some more, roll on the weekend!
Still I've got to drive some more, roll on the weekend!
I have been watching the porsche board mate, I'm still dithering. Arranged to drive a 993 this weekend, so we shall see. Thing with the ferrari -particualy in LHD is that I could realisticly run 2 cars - something with 4 doors and a boot that will soak up the 'boring' miles and use the ferrari as the balls out drivers car that it undoubtably is.
Or I could try and split the difference and have the car for all seasons - ideally a 993 carrera4, which would be the 'sensible' option. Still why should i spend my whole life being sensible?!
I shall find out whether I'm sensible or not at the weekend....
Just can't help feeling that although the 348 makes no sense at all, the amount of time i stood ogling the car outside the showroom was close to unhealthy..
Now if I can rent that garage off my neighbour I'm in business......
Or I could try and split the difference and have the car for all seasons - ideally a 993 carrera4, which would be the 'sensible' option. Still why should i spend my whole life being sensible?!
I shall find out whether I'm sensible or not at the weekend....
Just can't help feeling that although the 348 makes no sense at all, the amount of time i stood ogling the car outside the showroom was close to unhealthy..
Now if I can rent that garage off my neighbour I'm in business......
hmmm well I think when it comes down to it a 348 engine is a pretty reliable piece of kit. It's very similar to the 355 engine, but running at 300bhp not 375, figure its less stressed and several people in the know (along with evo mag) suggest a 348 engine is easily good for 100k without issues. As usual though it still means you've got to buy a good one.
As for runing it, you're looking at letting the gearbox / engine warm up for about 15 minutes so it's not a car to just drive down for a paper on a sunday. As you say a good midweek thrashing is probably good for it too and I'm sure I could manage to make the effort ;-)
Seems that a LHD car is the way to go given the lower prices, and having a second car is a must. KHPC and Talacrest who have both been very helpful to me have more or less said don't even think about this without a second car and a garage.
So far I'm not put off. Went to see a 993cab at the weekend. It's a wonderful car, but I think the flexibility of having 2 cars might suit me better. I travel a lot and leave my car overnight regularly in london, and not always in nice areas - I could never leave a 993 out on the street and not spend all night stressing! A knackered supermini, and a (not so knackered old supercar would in theory mean ease of travel in the capitol, and fun on the roads outside.
Anyone else got any experience of doing the same - (day car / weekend car) ?
As for runing it, you're looking at letting the gearbox / engine warm up for about 15 minutes so it's not a car to just drive down for a paper on a sunday. As you say a good midweek thrashing is probably good for it too and I'm sure I could manage to make the effort ;-)
Seems that a LHD car is the way to go given the lower prices, and having a second car is a must. KHPC and Talacrest who have both been very helpful to me have more or less said don't even think about this without a second car and a garage.
So far I'm not put off. Went to see a 993cab at the weekend. It's a wonderful car, but I think the flexibility of having 2 cars might suit me better. I travel a lot and leave my car overnight regularly in london, and not always in nice areas - I could never leave a 993 out on the street and not spend all night stressing! A knackered supermini, and a (not so knackered
old supercar would in theory mean ease of travel in the capitol, and fun on the roads outside. Anyone else got any experience of doing the same - (day car / weekend car) ?
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