thinking about a 348 spyder help?

It all depends on your budget. I've owned all of those. If you can spend $50K, the 348 Spider is the most fun you'll ever have, best sounding V8, period.
I have my Mondial T coupe for sale, quite rare (1 of 43), best money you could spend today for $31K, 348 DNA for a lot less. Feel free to call me for advice when buying.

 

If you can tolerate the looks of the grills (Cheese graters), on the sides and rear, then go for it! Market wise, I think the 328 will, or have already, exceeded the value of the 348. But for the money, it performs better and has more power. To collect it as an investment, IMHO, the 328 is a better choice. But the 348 guys will tell you differently, of course.

Ace

 

Well you're asking in the right place. Those guys on the 348 board...

There's a solid line between the 308/328 and the 348/355, IMO. The reason 348s tend to be less expensive than 328s is mostly styling (more people like the 308/328) and service/repair costs (348 parts, and the engine out belt service, tend to be costlier.) 348s have a bad reputation, partially deserved, partially exaggerated. The 300 bhp in a 348 is a noticeable leap over the 260 bhp 328. But they're all slow relative to modern sports cars.

You might search the 348/355 section for known issues, but 348s have a few notable weaknesses. The big ones are the single timing belt design -- if your water pump or anything else in that long path seizes up, your engine is toast (all these cars have interference engines) -- and the infamous exploding gearbox. These are just bad design. I think Daniel at Ricambi (sponsor link above) had the gearbox incident happen, and it's a five-figure job. TMobileGuy had his engine blow up - not a common thing, but you can search the site for his thread as a kind of worst case.

The 348 Spider came late in the run, so it won't have the stupidly expensive dual plate clutch. It does have the same flaky ECUs, I believe. It has a nice manual top, so you will save thousands of bucks over what a 355 Spider could bring you in repair costs. More minor stuff: first generation engine management electronics can be a little flaky. Cosmetically, Ferrari switched from leather to plastic for interior console trim, and it doesn't hold up well.

If I were to buy a 348, I probably would get a late Spider -- most of the gremlins were sorted by then. But, I think the 308/328 is more car and probably will hold value better. But, you knew that, because this is the 308/328 forum...

FWIW, I think the 348 looks great -- a bit '80s, like the TR, but still unmistakably Ferrari.

I would buy a late 308 QV or 328, but I can see why it's tempting to get the modernish 348 instead. Good luck.

 

Buy a 348. It is fantastic value for money.

The single belt and other myriad threads on belt shredding, expensive damage occurring is WAY overblown. If you service it in the appropriate intervals (every 3-5 years or 30000 miles max) then you have nothing to worry. The horror stories are of cars that not adhered to the service intervals and sadly there is a price to pay for that. You would face a similar issue on a 308/328 that is not serviced either - the damage will be restricted to one bank of cylinders. So I would ignore the scare mongers on this account.

The gearbox damage occurred to very few owners - 2 owners to my knowledge. There are lot of 348s with similar mileage without this issue. If you are worried then get your car inspected during the major service.

Interior plastic not holding up? Simple process to clean it up - I've done it myself - or send it to stickynomore.

Flaky electronics? there are lot of info in the "348 brotherhood" to help you fix them yourself

Expensive to service? About $2000 extra per service once in 5 years. Big deal considering you are paying a lot less cash upfront for a pristine 348 than a pristine 328 with equivalent miles.

The 348 is roomier, faster, better A/c, better handling, better braking and still has the raw feeling of the 328. big plus you get spared the Magnum jokes / question.


The 348 sub-forum is fantastic - the brotherhood really comes through for you. In fact bullfighter seems to spend 75% of his time hanging out in the 348 forum.

Hi Bullfighter.

 

Bah, back to the 348 forum with you!

They do have their own magazine, though. And Pap. And lots of grated cheese.

 

No, the only investment grade 348's are the Lemans 348 Competizione LM's from 1994 (2nd fastest qualifying time in class, 6th place overall).

I've got the 348 Spider, but a pretty good case can be made for the 348's coupes. The 348 brought back the Ferrari Challenge gentlemen's races ("at tracks near you!"). Tres cool. The 348 Challenges and 348 SS's are wired and primed for heavy track duty.

Early 348's had the stronger dual racing clutch, but the weaker Motronic 2.5 engine management computers. By 1991 all of the 348's were being shipped with the vastly better Ferrari F-50 engine ECU's (Motronic 2.7) which has a delightful (and free!) cockpit error code display system for multiple engine and related problems. A separate error detection system is in all of the 348's air conditioner/heating ECU. And there are catalytic converter ECUs for watching that system. Yet another on board diagnostic system is in the ABS ecu for the braking system.

Press a button (or install a fuse), get a code light...very easy for the owner to know when lots of things need attention...without the hassle of taking your car to a dealership for diagnostics.

That being said, outside of the computer diagnostics pretty much everything but the windows and locks are manual. Let's face it, when talking about old Italian cars, manual is better!

The seats are manual, as is the gearbox, as is the convertible top. Manual steering. No airbags. You can easily put any Momo aftermarket steering wheel onto a 348 without even so little as an adaptor. No alarm. Alarms on Italian vehicles are just an excuse to frustrate owners with yet more reasons for the car to fail to start. You don't want an alarm on a Ferrari!

Bullfighter brings up the one weakness of the 348...the gearbox. One day in a good shop can insure that your 348 gearbox is ready for hard duty (cover disassembly, 2 bearings properly locked down, no signs of stray metal or broken pins, etc.). Send a PM to Fatbillybob, ernie, or Reinerkaiser for more details there.

The 348 is a sweet car. Fast (172mph top speed). Easy to work on. Everything bolts on, screws on, and/or unbolts off. Robotic assemblies didn't come into play at Ferrari until the 355, so every 348 is an entirely hand assembled car...which means that everything can be hand unassembled. Plenty of room to work in the engine compartment, and when more room is needed the engine sub assembly unbolts 8 bolts to pull the engine and rear wheels out as a sub-unit.

The A/C works extremely well.

You can, and I do, drive the wheels off of these cars. The 348 suspension is 4 corner adjustable in every direction, angle, and height for perfect 4 wheel balancing and drive feel.


With all of that said...do a title search. Exotic car cloning is a mean crime, and at least half of the 348's that I looked at 4 years ago had "duplicate titles" and other red flags of stolen/cloned cars.

Buy your title insurance from Autocheck.com (a decent little Alabama company, btw). It's just $50!

 

I love my carbed 308, but I'll tell you if, ok ... when I look for 2nd F-car - it will most likely be a 348! Just love the modern looks actually and No Doubt's info below is a big plus. Yellow, Red, Black, White .... now, the hard part is which one??? Ugh, hard life - decisions, decision ........ but, that' still 5 years away if all goes good. I'll say I'm really interested to seeing the market change on these ..... I mean there are some good prices out there now ....

 

PS. I saw Bullfighrer over the 348 Forum more than once as well, so I feel I would still be in good company ;-))))) ... needless to say my first Ferrari love is the 308 and still continues to be one of my favorite cars of all time - period.