Nice! I'm definitely going to be getting that when it comes out - thanks for the heads up Pete! All the best, Andrew.
Andrew, I'm guessing you're a fine upstanding citizen and that you'd never cross any boundaries with regards to copy right. That's why I'd never encourage you to click on the link to the Germancarforum above that Soup has posted where the entire article is.
Steve, your story is exactly the same as mine. Wanted the car as a teen, finally was in a position to buy, everyone (or at least most people) said to avoid the 348.... Its basically a carbon copy. I was lucky though in that Ferraris, while not exactly common place, are not quite as rare here as they sound like they are in your neck of the woods. I went out, drove one and was able to make up my own mind. Almost everyone I know who've driven a 348 has said it's fantastic. Not all but most. I've had several debates with people who have said that it's an inferior car compared to its siblings but almost all these end with me asking the protagonist if they've driven one and been told "No, but it's common knowledge...." It's only common knowledge because people who don't actually know keep saying it. Slowly those of us who do might start to swing opinion a bit and articles like the one this month in EVO go a long way to reinforcing this view. Pete
Good on you mate. Got it electronically myself, it's been available to subscribers through both the ipad and post for a few days. Happy reading when you get it. Try not to be too smug about how the mag rates the 355's steering, suspention feedback, ride, etc though to be fair and without giving too much away they say the aftermarket sports exhaust sounds good. I know a few 355 drivers and I'm being very good about it though it is kind of like being told that the high point of a job interview was you had shiny shoes.....
Thanks, I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Well, on a very basic level, the 348 and 355 are the same car - though critical components are changed out. I think it just boils down to personal preference as to which is better to drive, though on a "technical" level, the 355 would be the superior performance car. I'm sure we can be pleased with a good 348 review without disparaging the 355, which is also an amazing machine. All the best, Andrew.
Couldn't agree more, personally really like the 355, just messing around. I think some people prefer the feel and involvement that a 348 gives. This isn't a criticism, the 355 is engineered to take some of that away. It's supposed to be more user friendly, easier to handle, maybe a little more tame. It does it with clever electronics, power steering etc but that will always take you a little further from a raw driving experience. These aren't criticisms, it does what it's designed to do and it does it extremely well. The 348 is designed to be a bit more raw, full of feel and a totally engaging experience and I think that's what the author of this article brings out that some others have missed. Cracks at the 355, while quoting the article, are just a bit of fun at all the 355 owners who regularly dismiss the 348 as rubbish. I've driven a 355 and like it a lot better than EVO seemed to.
This is a little far-removed from Ferraris, but... I currently drive a 2004 1st Generation MINI ONE and have been thinking about an upgrade to a 2011 2nd Generation MINI Cooper Coupe for my next car. I had a drive of one down at the dealership and although I was impressed with the exterior aesthetics, interior finish, performance, and ride quality, the actual driving experience itself left me cold. The steering was too light and felt numb - little to no feedback of the road. The clutch was so light it was difficult to know I was pressing it rather than just flailing my foot at thin air - this also made the bite points difficult to manage. The brakes were far too heavily over-servo-assisted and the lightest touch had the car standing on its nose. The ride quality was so smooth, I couldn't really get a sense for what the wheels were doing on the road. I took the long road back home in my inferior performance MINI and simply enjoyed the journey. So, I certainly appreciate the issue of driver involvement. All the best, Andrew.
Andrew, not that far removed at all. In fact pretty much the same thing though as the 348 has no power steering (lot of assistance in the 355) and the 355 goes to pretty extreme lengths to 'iron out' the ride and handling (electronic dampers etc) you'd possibly find the difference even greater. The 355, as I said, is great at doing what it does which is basically to tame the 348 and make it more acceptable to the average driver. The 348 is great at doing what it does which is deliver a thrilling, engaging driving experience. Horses for courses. Neither is 'better', just different. That's not the popular conception but it is the truth. BTW thought your next car was going to be a 348?
Let's chat Steve, one of the best 348's ever made happens to live in Adelaide You are such a stirrer........but you are right, it is a given!!
Andrew, I would have thought that most here would be much more interested in the other car you drive....one which I share a particular passion for...of course I mean the Top Gear 2004 clown handling car of the year....the Fortwo SMART
I don't know what article some of you guys are reading, but apart from the steering, the article gives a much better review to the 355. anyway.....here's what they thought of a 348's handling. (i think i'll stick to my 308 thanks) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
ANDREW LOOK AWAY NOW...... That's what he thought of the handling on the limit. He said that as you gather pace the steering comes alive, you get perfect feedback, it has constant communication, it is possibly The best he has ever sat behind, brakes are full of feel but it's the corners that he's starting to enjoy. The nose feels direct and eager to react.... Then he finds the limit. Comments like "don't, whatever you do, lift off now" and "if you dare to hesitate when entering a corner too fast". Can't argue with that. I'm not criticising the 355 but comments like "After the constantly busy thrills of the 348 tb the ....F355 F1 Berlinetta feels like a wonderously smooth place to be." are good if that's what you're after. (actually either an F355 or 355 F1 but anyway...) When he says things about the shift interupting the flow of the driving and you're not encouraged to explore it as the steering is slow and over assisted, there's no initial feel through the wheel and the electronic dampers feel loose and make it feel like you're never really wired into what's happening, it doesn't really sound like he approved of the gizmos that had tamed the 348. Yes he says the handling is friendlier than the 348 but the 348 isn't meant to be friendly, the 355 is. At the end his highlight was the steering on the 348, even though he said he didn't expect it to be. He went into the test expecting not to like the 348. Don't think we're reading a different article mate, just a different perspective. The 355 is a smoother ride. Its handling is 'sorted out' but in doing that it takes away from some of the involvement for some, some of the feel for all. I'm not criticising, I drove a 355 and liked it. The 348 is raw, it's supposed to be. Near the limit it's down to driver skill not electronic gizmos and while I doubt whether it'd be wise for me to find those limits on the public road, the lack of those gizmos adds to the involvement of driving the car. Both good cars doing different things. The real surprise was the authors comments about his highlight. Having driven a 430, even a 458, it was the feel he got in the 348, the involvement he felt through the wheel that was his highlight.
I do think sportscars should have a certain rawness to them. I also sat in a 360CS while it was idling and I got this sense of barely restrained power waiting to be unleashed. It felt ferocious as it quivered in anticipation of getting going. Both the 348 and the 360CS have a sense of occasion about them and that they are lacking the, for want of a better word, "refinement" of a soothingly luxurious daily driver type of car (e.g. Mercedes S-class, BMW 7-series, etc) just makes them seem all the more exotic and fun. Out of some of the cars I have driven such as: 2000 Mercedes CLK, 1999 BMW 5-series, 2003 BMW Z4, 2006 BMW 3-series, 2006 BMW 1-series, 1997 Porsche 911 (993, air-cooled), etc... I really liked the Porsche 911 the best as it was more raw than any of the others. Creature comforts were inferior, but the driving itself was more fun. Also, my own MINI has been modified with an eye to improving the driving experience rather than particularly making it any faster or changing the aesthetics. Well, I need to have a cheap and reliable daily driver and in the near-term while I'm trying to reduce my student debts (I have just over £20k of these) accumulated throughout my BSc and PhD studies. I will eventually live the dream and get a 348, but it may not be the very next car I buy. If I do change cars in the near-term, it'll be into another reasonable economical car to run so that I can improve my financial situation and not delay getting into a 348 by too much - so I'm staying focused on the eventual goal. I don't want to park a 348 on the drive that I then cannot afford to drive or properly maintain as it should be. LOL! Yes, I've got one of those as well. Primarily, my wife drives it, but we've been sharing it after I had a little incident in my MINI and my car is off for repairs. Actually, I put wider tyres on the front of the SmartCar to combat the catastrophic understeer and it handles much more nicely now. For those who aren't of a sport-driving inclination, it feels a little twitchy and at low speeds the non-power assisted steering is now quite heavy, but I think it's an improvement. Both my wife and I like to drive, so it was a good option for us. Weirdly, the steering in the SmartCar actually feels a little better than in the MINI as it isn't power assisted. Also, the power steering in the 1st Generation MINI has been somewhat problematic as the power steering pumps tend to give up every couple of years. Thanks Pete, my eyes were duly averted! Anyway, I feel this post is probably sufficiently long now, so I'll end it there. All the best, Andrew.
Andrew, for your next car I think you should go on the classifieds and get the cheapest volkswagon (Golf?) or, preferrably alfa romeo (80's vintage should do), you can find and use that for 2 years. With either of these, preferrably the VW, you will have enough wrenching experience to welcome the 360 with open arms in a couple of years. ;-) The Alfa may, admittedly, be too much of a financial drain to allow savings for the 348. Conversely, the alfa will be inoperable anough that you will be able to fix ANYTHING in the middle of the night with a penlight. The 348 after this will also be a basion of reliability. ;-) I had a 928 in grad school and med school. It was reliable enough that it didn't bleed me dry, but left me enough of a mechanic that I can diagnose anything and the 360 is a BREEZE to diagnose and fix after that.. soon my friend... soon.
I'll likely stick with the MINI until it's irreparable, as I do enjoy it and keeping it running is probably cheaper than changing cars. Anyway, back to the 348... All the best, Andrew.
I don't know if anyone who looked at the article paid attention to the stats at the very end of the article. They list all the cars tested, give the technical stats and then give each car an EVO rating which is ranked by a 5 star rating system. 308- 4 stars 348- 4.5 stars 355- 4.5 stars 360- 4.5 stars 430- 5 stars 458- 5 stars Honest, independant ratings by a professional and the 348 ended up ranking right on par with the 355 and 360 and only a 1/2 star behind the 430 and 458. NOT TO FRICKIN BAD!!!!! Not a bunch of words put on paper by people who have never driven the cars. Not a bunch of rumors and "old tales". A side by side real life comparison by a PROFESSIONAL who works for a magazine where the reputation is based on these tests. Finally a real evaluation that puts the whole matter to rest once and for all.
Good spot, hadn't noticed the stars. To be honest I think this is a start. A good start but probably not the end. I've been on a couple of forums starting these type of threads, mostly as it irritates me when people who know nothing about the car put it down. Generally the trend is those who have driven the car like it, those who haven't have heard that it's rubbish so many times that they believe it. I spoke to another FChatter a while back on another forum about a change in the way a 348 was seen and we spoke about magazine articles, TV reviews, that sort of thing. My belief is that the 348 will speak for itself if its given the chance, it just needs to be given that chance. Quite a bit of damage has been done to its rep over the years and it'll take time for that to reverse. When I first went looking for a car the 'Brotherhood' gave me loads of advice and lots of you knew a great deal about this car. Kind of feel like I've joined now, I own a 348 after all, and although I don't think the rep of the 348 needs to be 'saved' by the Brotherhood I think there's alot we can do to help it save itself.
I found a Road Test article from "Autocar & Motor" from Spetember 1990 on the 348. It is a pretty good article that is honest and well written. To qoute the article: "No amount of technology wielded by the German and Japanese can be a substitute for the charisma of the 348. And in it lines, engine and outstanding chassis control its pedegree shows." At a quick glance: Pros: Fantastic Engine, grip, suspension control, brakes and presence. They really like the car and compliment it as a true Ferrari and a grand step forward from previous models. Once again. Driven, Tested and Evaluated.......not just assumed from those with no idea.
