Spider vs Spider

spyder vs spyder?

 

Have to say, bit of a strange question. If you can't press on at 5000 rpm due to traffic conditions, road layout and speed limits, you won't be able to press on in something turbocharged and torquey at 2000 revs, unless you're one of those people who likes to drive from traffic light to traffic light as quickly as possible.

FWIW, I live in London too, plenty of opportunity to open the car up, just get yourself outside the M25.

 

Strange that you mention the Testarossa as that car needs even more speed to come alive and is a real dog to drive down town.

You are really focused on mid range torque and driveability around town. If that is your main concern, forget the two at all.

as for comparison, the 355 has lots more torque at lower revs vs 348.

the 355 has more than enough torque at low range to drive in dense traffic so no worry at all there.

 

I'm not sure that's true. I owned a 348 for 7 yrs and now have a 355. I felt that the 348 had more torque down low. The engine on the 355 doesn't even seem to wake up until 5000 rpm or so, THEN it starts to really pull and you notice the difference between it and a 348.

 

I drive my 355 often below 2000 rpm withouth any problem.
as far as I remember the 348 didn't feel the same but that is now 20 years ago

 

http://cartype.com/pics/1654/full/ferrari_f355_spider.jpg

http://cartype.com/pics/1654/full/ferrari_348_spider_emblem.jpg

 

I've driven My 348 TS in stop/start rush hour traffic on several occasions and can't say it had any problems bumbling along with the rest of the traffic.

It didn't cough and splutter along, even when cold, and it didn't suddenly feel out of its depth due to any alleged lack of torque - It just got on with the job in hand like any other car would.

The gearbox can be a bit truculent when cold, but the car deals with a 1st to 3rd gear-shift when cold without batting an eyelid, and once warmed up, whilst not as slick a gear shift as My BMW's, it doesn't take that much effort to change gear.

Yes, city driving in stop/start traffic isn't the 348's greatest forte obviously, but anybody would think we were talking about trying to drive an Formula one Ferrari car in traffic with all this "lack of torque" talk!

I can't speak for the 355, or for anyone else's 348, all I can say is that driving My 348 in slow traffic is no problem at all! (If you're a very self conscious person then you may have a bit of an issue due to being stared at whilst in traffic, but you get used to that also!)

 

totally agree with this...the 348 definitely HAS or at least gives you the feeling in your butt that it has more lower end torque.......

 

The torque stats for each car are:

Ferrari 348: Maximum Torque: 238 lb/ft, 324 Nm @ 4200 rpm
Ferrari 355: Maximum Torque: 268 lb/ft, 363 Nm @ 6000 rpm

So the 355 has 40lb/ft more torque than the 348 but it's developed much higher up the rev range (in a region that you're very unlikely to be using when driving in city traffic).

As the 348 develops it's torque lower down the rev range, I suspect that at slow city traffic engine speeds (@1000 ~ 3000 rpm), the 348 probably does develop more torque than the 355,

 

Why can't you get past 5000 RPM? Speed limits only 40 MPH? Even in the city I run my F355 past 8000 in first gear because, well, it's a law. Granted I don't stay there long but it is fun getting there. Since you're concerned with torque you can always keep the RPM up by running a gear lower as the F355 has 6 compared to the 348's 5.

 

No experience with the 348, but the F355 does not have much go under 4000 rpm. It really wakes up after 5000, especially with the bypass valve open.

 

Oops! - My mistake!

I should have posted that the 355 only develops 30lb/ft more torque not 40! (Or @ 40Nm more), and a lot higher up the rev range.

The 348 is a funny engine when it comes to it's torque delivery.

It delivers 238 lb/ft @ 4200 rpm and is very flexible, but it feels a bit "gutless" at the same time.

By that I mean that you don't get a major shove in the back from the torque when you floor the throttle. At the same time though, you'll find the car accelerating very quickly with no apparent effort.

I currently run a BMW E46 330 ci as My daily driver which develops 221 ft/lb (300 Nm) @ 3500 rpm and that feels like it has far more torque than My 348, even though in reality it doesn't.

Press the throttle pedal hard in any gear in the BMW and you instantly get that shove in the back as you're propelled forward (even in 5th gear!).

Do the same in the 348 and whilst there's rapid acceleration, it doesn't seem to come with any serious low down shove.

Based on how the 348 is when it comes to torque delivery, I can only assume that the 355 feels even more "gutless" at low revs.

If the 355's engine is anything like as flexible as the 348's though, then it'll be a puddy cat to drive around town and simply wont bat an eyelid when asked to amble along in slow moving city traffic.