355 Berlinetta vs GTS vs Spider is there much difference

First off I did a basic search to see if this topic had been covered before and nothing substantial came up, so apologies if this has been covered before.

Long story short I started looking at 308s and have now ended up looking at 355's, I have driven a GTS and I think my experience was tainted somewhat by the fact it was a hardly driven example, F1 and LHD. Make no mistake I enjoyed it but I wasn't over awed, the car has been standing for a long time which I don't think helped matters either.

My question is has anyone driven the Berlinetta, Spider and GTS, if so are they substantially different to drive, I would imagine the spider looses a bit of rigidity compared to the others but is the GTS substantially different from the Berlinetta?

I am not looking at F1 gearbox cars at all but I am told the manual cars have rather cramped footwells, is this true?

 

I have to wear driving shoes 2 sizes too small to really drive the car properly, but I have big feet. The footwell is pretty cramped on the 95 Berlinetta, and very much offset to the right on my LHD early US car. I love it more than any other non-living thing in life!

 

+1

Robb

 

Hi Jacques,
I think you will find a difference between right hand drive and left hand due to the foot well and transmission tunnel design. South Africa is right hand drive so maybe try comparing the 2 set ups first to get a better feel.
Not sure how the dead pedal/footrest is on left hand drive but does help to have one for more room.
With my size 10 feet I always wear the puma Ferrari driving shoes in my right hand drive 348 which are specially designed to be narrow and without overlapping soles to avoid your feet clashing and also have rounded heels.

 

I wear size 10 shoes and I get in and drive it with whatever I have on without any thought regarding which shoes I'm wearing.

I don't really notice the cramped footwell. I have the hill engineering dead pedal which i do rest on on longer rides.

 

I'm speaking from a LHD perspective. The drivers seat is offset more toward the center of the car, however, the pedals are still further toward the center (not inline with the seat or steering wheel. This is due to the left side wheel well protuding into the footwell.

I've only driven the F1 (which I own now), but I take delivery of a gated GTB today and it will be interesting to see how much clutch pedal room there is..

 

Special shoes ? I 've driven wearing work boots without a problem.


" serenity now "

 

Ok whatever

 

I have driven all 3 and owned all but the GTS.
Spyder can be a little less rigid. ( had a 95)
GTS loved it other than when storing the roof panel......a little tight for me.
GTB ridgid.....mines a paddle car so the tightness of the 3 pedals isn't an issue.
My personal preference is the GTB which I have now......no flames, its just my PO

 

I forgot to mention..... The F1 has a larger (wider) brake pedal than a stick. While I could have adjusted it by using different bolt holes, I ended up replacing it with the same pedal of a stick. I like it much better.

 

The gtb is the lightest and stiffest, but as to whether you can feel the difference on a test drive, probably not, at least not on a test drive I'd allow in my car. I can feel the difference in my car when I have a passenger vs.no passenger (which is about the same weight difference to a gts) but that's after owning it a while and only when getting on it fairly hard.

 

Yes, but you know what they say about a man and the size of his feet.. Mine are like 18" long, I can barely walk.

 

I have a 348 B and a 355 Spider. I don't do enough had cornering to be bothered with the rigidity. The one thing that is really different between the two is the road noise. Yes, the 355 has a much louder exhaust but the top does little to block out exhaust, road noise, wind buffeting. etc. I have to crank the stereo to counter it all. On the B there is much less auditory chaos and you can listen to the radio comfortably. If you like the top down wind in your hair of a spider there is a trade off I would say.

Never drove a GTS but maybe that's the best of both worlds as they say.

 

Lol
... And no doubt EEEEEEEEEEE width

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone. At the moment finding a Berlinetta would be first prize but in reality I think each variant is special in its own right. Living down here with some fantastic roads, police who (sometimes) look the other way, any of the three would be fantastic.

There is a lot of info in this section and search has been very useful.

 

Not quite, unless you carry around very light passengers.

The difference between a B and GTS is 10kg (22 lb)
From a B to a Spider is 40kg (88 lb)

 

Size 12 stompers here no issue at all with 3 pedals but then I was a pro athlete nimble as a bumble bee

 

It's more feel than actual performance difference.

The spider kind of looks ugly from the side but looks very cool from the back. You get a true sense of being nakedly exposed to the elements with it. You can also hear the engine tune the best in a spider. Performance wise, to me it is very similar between all three but obviously the B feels stiffer.
The GTS gives you the best of all worlds and with the F1 top it's barely indistinguishable from the B.
The roof in my spider makes a hell of a noise but I do love that car. A spider is under appreciated by non owners. Mostly because it looks ugly from the side. But there are few experiences like it. It's a race car with no roof.

The drivers seat is 38mm closer to the center. The foot box in a three pedal car is even more close to the center. Regular shoes are ok unless you have wide feet . Work boots are a no go. At least for me.

 

I actually like all views of the spider EXCEPT when the top is up...

I would concur that there is probably not a huge difference between the three models on the road at sane lower speeds unless you a pulling a 90mph sweeper.

Robb

 

And according to the owner's manual, performance figures are the same for the GTB and GTS. Only Spiders' performance is decreased.

Kind regards,

Nuno.

 

According to? Every actual car weight I've seen puts the difference at 100-150lbs (spider).

 

I can't tell the difference in performance at all between the cars in terms of acceleration. The b however seems stiffer though. Even when compared to the GTS.

 

A high speed sweeper in a spider is exhilarating. Yes Robb, there isn't a bad view of a top down 355. Top up however, different story. As I said, the experience of the spider is another very special ferrari experience.

 

I would think that the only model with beneficial torsional stiffness would be a GTB which has no overhead joints

The targa top design only has the rear section as additional stiffener. The top connections with rubber joints and clamps would do nothing in terms of cross stabilization. That leaves the rear window and buttresses as a bracing feature and I doubt that assembly, again with rubber window joints and a large hole in the middle (rear window) add much in terms of rigidity.

 

The GTS certainly adds rigity with the top on but of course not to the level of a GTB