Is F1 any good? Or should I buy manual

Hi

I have had F355 Berlinetta in 2007 and the car was manual, I liked the car a lot had it for 5 years and sold it.

But now I have option to buy 355 F1 GTS in great color combination but the car is F1.

But is F1 on 355 any good?

The price of this 355 F1 GTS is high as manual car, but the color combination is great blue pozzi on Cuio + options like carbon fiorano seats, if I drop this car can buy manual rosso F355 Berlinetta.

What you guys think this 2x cars:

355 F1 GTS Pozzi blue + Cuio leather with carbon Fiorano seats + Fiorano handling pack

or

F355 Berlinetta manual gear + Rosso Corsa + tan leather.

 

I’d go the F1 GTS no question. You’ve had the manual, the F1 is great if setup right and you learn to drive it well and the spec is unbeatable that you have outlined.

 

Thanks Elliott for the feedback, yeah the F1 car have insane great spec. I keep hear from all that F1 is bad, I have been used to F1 from 458 and think that works good. But you guys think better go for the 355 F1 GTS?

 

It’s not bad, it’s just slow and different.
You will get used to it.
I prefer manual myself.


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Buy the car with great spec! You could convert if you really wanted to….but I have had two F1’s and love them. Sorry I sold my last one as it was a great spec. Sure it is early technology and people “poo-poo” them, but in reality it was world changing technology that was straight out of Formula 1! The seats, the colors and the options will mean way more in the future. Buy it! Then buy a manual too if you can. Win-Win, LOL


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Yeah you guys are right, better have good spec car I will in future also buy 550, so thats manual

 

F1 GTS are the rarest, having Fiorano pack and carbon seats makes it extremely rare. I prefer the manual but you could convert it to manual for a lot cheaper than it'd take to add the FHP and carbon seats to a gated car, if you could even find those parts (you can't).

 

One must consider the time frame when the 355 F1 came out and not compare a 355 F1 to a 360 / 430 / 458 etc etc etc since the technology got better.

Be in the mindset of the 90s when driving/shifting the F1 and you'll absolutely love it.

If you are in the mindset of the 2000s and beyond while driving a 355 F1, you will be counting the seconds between each shift.

 

The 355 F1 I drove in '98 did really not impress me at the time - the downshifts were barely acceptable and the upshifts were terrible. The F1 system looked like a work-in-progress technology even back then.
It never stopped to improve until its replacement by the dual-clutch though; from my experience the 575 F1 was far better than the 355 and the 599 F1 was even more so (btw I wonder if it's possible to "upgrade" the F1 system on a 355, if yes it would be a nice option).
On the other hand the dual clutch system was impressive from the start, I was blown away when I first drove a 458 in 2010.

 

There's a long thread here on somebody taking the time (and large $$) to improve the system as mechanically not much changed in the later systems. It's mostly the addition of drive-by-wire and other compute/software improvements over the years. Not really possible to retrofit the control electronics from later cars due to the lack of drive-by-wire on the 355, but if you check on here there's an EE attempting to work with the existing system to get it to a better place by reverse engineering the ecu and rebuilding it for faster response. No idea if that work will be available to other 355 owners, but it's worth a read.

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/hacking-the-f1-tcu.603531/

 

The decision really comes down to whether you prefer paddle-shifting or shifting through the gears yourself. I've had modern dual-clutch paddle shift cars and an F1 355, and while the newer tech is certainly better, the 355 F1 is also plenty of fun and works well. I converted my F1 to manual not because I think the F1 is bad, but because I prefer a clutch pedal and gear shifter. The nice thing about buying an F1 355 is that you can convert it to manual one day if you want.

 

Yeah you right do you have the parts list to convert the car to manual, did you change the ECU from manual car also?
also the big leather stuff behind the driver seat what you did with that?

 

I just bought the F1 car fixing the contract etc this week

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Beautiful - wonderful spec. Congratulations and drive her in good health.

 

Wow that is a special 355. Gorgeous. Congrats.

Re conversions, I will have a thread up soon documenting it in detail. Stay tuned.

 

Thanks I really like the spec on this

 

Center console and radio bezel is faux carbon in case you weren’t aware.

Steering wheel re-trimmed? Should have perforated handles.

Might be the first time seeing these seats in Cuiou.

 

I have not seen car in person, so this carbon parts not OEM? And they not carbon? I really dont know if steering wheel is re-trimmed, never seen steering wheel like this on 355.

Yeah the car have Fiorano handling pack from factory, so thought these carbon parts was OEM as the seat carbon looks same

 

The “carbon” on the center console and radio trim is not real. It is dipped carbon. Not OEM. Just take a closer look. The seats and radio/guage surround are real carbon.


I have a non-trimmed airbag steering wheel I can sell you, so that’s not a big issue .

Fiorano handling pack only refers to suspension, brake, and handling features. Nothing to do with interior carbon pieces. Plenty of FHP 355’s with no carbon sport seats.

 

The F1 paddles might be dipped carbon too.

 

Yeah looks like you are right, maybe this is good thing when/if I convert the car to manual so possible get the part under stick gear in "fake" carbon

Let me get the car if I think the steering wheel is bad then for sure will buy new, but looks like this steering wheel are thicker than normal

 

yeah they also look carbon dipped

 

The good thing is you can buy just the steering wheel to mate up with the airbag. Plenty of those around for cheap.

 

This car is a 99 car? Build date?

 

The car is 99 if check VIN number, but delivery date 16. June 1998