| Author |
Message |
Greg Owens (Owens84qv)
Member
Username: Owens84qv
Post Number: 634
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 6:51 pm: | |
Pick up a copy of the Forza 355 Buyers Guide in the February 2000 issue. If you can't find it, email me and I'll send you a scanned copy. It contains loads of useful information. |
DMC (Machinnes)
New member
Username: Machinnes
Post Number: 38
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 6:41 pm: | |
Make sure all recalls are done, have the car completely gone over by someone you trust. Make sure they look closely at the headers and cats for cracks, the 355's have heat problems in the exhaust system which can be costly to repair. From what I read late 95 cars and on do not have the valve problems. |
Mark Collins (Markcollins)
Junior Member
Username: Markcollins
Post Number: 104
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 3:38 pm: | |
Here's some info below I did for a couple of guys buying in the UK some of it won't be relevant but it may give you some pointers, I've not heard of the Head Gasket problem before.
In terms of blatchat style sites the nearest to it is Ferrarichat.com but it is US based with a small EU following, there is a forum on the owners club but it gets about one post a week no not of terrific value.
Where to Buy
Official Dealers, regretfully they're just as useless as any other Marques! I bought my 355 from Meridien Modena in Lyndhurst for one reason which I'll go into later, be aware that some dealers charge much more than others for a car of the same spec
Specialists, I've dealt with Talacrest (http://www.racecar.co.uk/talacrest/index.htm) in Egham and Kent High Performance (http://www.theferraricentre.co.uk/) in Maidstone, bought my 328 from KHPC and had it serviced at Talacrest some very good guys there who know their stuff and are enthusiastic about the cars. Others that have a good reputation are Nick Cartwright Sports Cars and Foskers.
Privately, As in any other car market you'll get it cheaper but lacking the dealer facilities, without doubt if you go this route you MUST have the car inspected by a specialist before you buy, there's some ropey cars out there some of which have been rebuilt from write offs! Good place to look for private sales is www.ferrariownersclub.co.uk where the for sales section is a free access area.
Warranty
As I said earlier I bought mine form an official dealer because I wanted a good warranty and it paid for itself when it covered a �5k bill in April!, however the renewal cost in May was too high so I didn't renew, I subsequently found out there was another warranty I could have had (and now have) that is cheaper and better!.
All official dealers will sell you a car with Formula (1) warranty included, this covers engine, gearbox, electrics etc however there is a �10k limit to any individual failure, an engine rebuild will cost you around �30k. When I asked to renew it they wanted �2,100 for Formula (2) for another year which was still limited to �10k but excluded all the electrics inc ECU etc (circa �5k for a new one!). If you buy privately or from a specialist and the car is under 6 years old at inception you can get a factory warranty that is unlimited for two years for �1,400 inc vat, you have to have a dealer check the car and that costs around �300 and it must have a genuine official dealer stamp on all the services. Obviously Specialists can offer third party warranty. Personally I wouldn't have one without a warranty that you know you can rely on.
F1 Gearboxes/Clutch
The 355 F1's are renowned for excessive clutch wear, the dealer will tell you that it's because people don't drive them properly and treat it like an Auto but history has shown that 3.5k miles out of an F1 clutch is good going!, fortunately it's only a �500 job to change it (�350 parts) however I would be inclined to go for the manual for the above and the following..... the general view being that the F1 is good for the track but almost dangerous on the road, Tiff Needell showed a scenario on Top Gear a few years back, you start to pull out of a junction, realise there's a truck coming towards you, you need to reverse, stop car, press Neutral button on dash, move lever to reverse, somewhere in there the truck has hit you!.
General
Earlier F355's (Changed around early1996 and have Bosch Motronic 2.7 ECU) are known to have problems with valve guides and bore wear, easy to identify as they have no airbags and on the induction system the pipes from the air filters go straight in to the air intake castings, the later cars (Bosch 5.2) have a convoluted arrangement to improve emissions and also have some tricks to beat the drive by noise restrictions, the later ones allegedly have 5 BHP less and are a bit quieter.
Also Cats are expensive they've stopped making the ceramic ones which lasted about 20k miles and replaced them with a Metallic one, All of them suffer from failed Exhaust Manifolds, �1,400 each new but can get rebuilt ones for �600, maybe worth looking one htat has new Manifolds and Cats.
Re-reading the above I realise that I've been somewhat open, I'm not trying to put you off but best you're aware!, They are great fun, in a different way to the 7.
BTW, it's worth joining the Owners club (about �88 a year) they organise loads of things from trackdays to Concours's and very good magazines/ newsletters.
Insurance on a limited mileage policy is cheap (�800 a year for 5k miles) and includes trackday cover albeit with a fairly large excess these days.
|
Tim N (Timn88)
Intermediate Member
Username: Timn88
Post Number: 2059
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 3:30 pm: | |
Make sure the valve guides or valve seals problem was fixed. Odds are that by now the problem would have occured and been fixed. |
Ghostrider (Threefivefive)
New member
Username: Threefivefive
Post Number: 30
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 2:37 pm: | |
Thanks. Its a 99, manual, GTS.
Regards. |
Omar (Auraraptor)
Member
Username: Auraraptor
Post Number: 285
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 2:35 pm: | |
95 cars have some type of head/gasket problems...I think, but benifit from OBI and not the emission controling-read power draining-OBII. I might be off with some info here, but its all in the archeives.
In a nutshell, unless you are looking specficly for a F1 trany car, I would go with a 95 that had that head/gasket problem ironed out. A member here has had that done prior to his purchase of the car. I dont remember the specifics, but he prob. will read this and post specifics (or you can look it up in the archeives)
Hope your hunt ends well. Good Luck! |
Ghostrider (Threefivefive)
New member
Username: Threefivefive
Post Number: 27
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 1:29 pm: | |
Hi there. Looking seriously into buying a 355. Wanted to get the perspective who has been -- or is -- in the market for one as well to swap notes. Wanted to make sure I understand all the things I need to keep an eye out for (especially those that are 355 specific!!). Would appreciate a perspective from all involved. Feel free to private me if necessary.
Regards. |
|