It's time, 348ers: let the 355 bashing begin!

Yes..undestandable..but I was using Ferrari prices as a base line. Not too many pepole outside of this site know about hill engineering and his excellent up grades to Ferrari's. Baseing the prices from the dealer network, the the prices are more expensive then the TR. Tensioner bearings being the main one and also the price of the timing belt has gone up to close to $200 CND

 

Not having owned or having driven either car, I cant give a real good opinion, except from what I have seen and read, and its the reading from what YOU people have written that I would probably hold more true than any magazine. But first is the looks of the two cars.

To me the 355 is a much better looking car. The back end of a 348 reminds me of a Fiero, not a Ferrari. I never liked the side strakes on the TR, and cheered when I seen a Koenig car with them removed, much more serious looking, IMO. Upgrade the 348 to 355 tail end and door skins, and then it boils down to the car.

Again, you guys have written your own epitaphs on both cars, but IMO the 355 is lacking a great deal of bang for the buck. While 5 valves per cylinder make good F1 engines, they dont appear to work so hot on street cars, and Ferrari abandoned it. They also have nagging header issues, that if I were choosing between the two cars, it would be a negative factor aginst the 355. Now add increased electronics in a make of car known for crappy electrics, and maybe I would just run. Power steering? Power seats? Why?

So its down to one of two directions. Take a 355 and put 348 heads and exhaust on it, rip out the power sterring, and the power seats, and anything else the car dont need, and you would have a decent car. Or...

Take a 348, fix the doors and the rear end, and go drive it.

 

The electric seats and power steering was ferraris first steps to try to capture other buyers of other marqes (merc,pocs ect),IMO, then the 360 took it further buy having a fully electric roof and TC. And now the 430 takes another step dare i say towards the plusher end of the market.
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OH and if ya put 348 heads and exhaust on the 355 (why??), then this 355 you are talking about converting will then have the power of an hair dryer just like the 348s any way,and the 348 exhaust on the 355 will still sound like the "kitten fart" that is made by the 348 exhaust already:
Lets face it, there is no chance for the 348 to be any good anyway, so ya might as well keep the "kitten farting power of a hair dryer" 348 as it is, but maybe change the rear lights;D
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And before anyone starts p*ssing and moaning about what i just wrote, take a look at the first post i am still keeping in the spirit, so chill

 

Wow, as I read through some of these, I can really sense the passion!!!

348 owners: I'll be honest, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the side slats nor the bars accross the tail lights. When I drove the car for the first time, it put a smile on my face. Would I have rather have gotten into a 355? Yes, but the difference in price at the time wasn't worth it to me (read, I couldn't afford it!) It has grown on me. The things I don't particularly like about the car don't matter when I'm behind the wheel and listening to the engine sing above 3000 rpms! I love the fact that it does not have power steering. I love the fact that the top is manual (you don't have to worry about the darned thing hanging up in one position or the other) I love the fact that it doesn't have power seats or airbags.

When people make comments to me about the lack of electronic gizmos, and the simplicity of the design of the top I just answer: "Well, they pretty much spent most of their time and energy on the important stuff, things that make it go fast!"

355 owners: 355's are definately a styling improvement over the 348s (Sorry 348 guys, that is just my opinion!) Hey, doesn't Barbie have a 355? Just kidding! Seriously, there are some Ferrari's that are more appreciated than others. For reasons that I won't get into here, 308 GT/4's and 348's seem to get the worst of it. To each their own. When all is said and done, they are all Ferraris!! We should all appreciate that everyone has their own opinion, and personal taste and leave it at that!!

And Jerrari, if you're reading this, it's not about the Horsepower!!!

 

I am not lucky enough (yet!) to own a 348 or a 355, being a lowly ("cheap") 308/Mondial owner. Nontheless, thanks to the generousity of a couple of Fchat friends, I have had the priviledge of driving a 348 spider and a 355GTB. I did not drive them back to back , so it is hard to make a good comparison. However, I can say for certain that each car blew me away, and both of them felt 10 times more modern and considerably more powerful than my beloved little 308. The 355 truly drives likes a BMW when you are just cruising along. It has a smooth as butter shifter, like a Honda or a Toyota, compliant suspension, easy to steer with power steering (although the power steering still has very good feedback) and it is comfortable. The A/C is ice cold. The clutch is smooth and easy, engages well, and the car is easy to drive. When you stomp the gas, it's like unleashing a demon. The flapper opens in the exhaust and the car just goes like nobody's business. The brakes are incredible. The car is awesome. Likewise, the 348 I drove was very similar. The gearbox was not quite as smooth, but very close. (It was tweaked by its owner, suggesting that the 348 CAN have a smooth shifter if the thing is adjusted right). The 348 is not as fast, but in 90% of real world driving scenarios, it's PLENTY fast and perhaps most importantly it FEELS fast. The 348 is not a slow car. The steering was harder in the parking lot but had incredible feel on the road. I think this is a matter of taste. Honestly, both cars are amazing. In the looks department, that's a very personal choice.

I used to think that the 348 was kind "Fiero" looking until I saw one in person. They are just SO much better looking in person than in pictures. You really can't get the feel for a 348 from a photograph for some reason. The 355 as well looks better in person. I do prefer the front and side views of the 348, but I prefer the 355 rear end. That being said, I would not change over the lights on the 348 because I think the slatted rear end goes with the cheese graters.

I think the reason there is increased interest in 348s recently is because the 308/328 crowd like me, are getting the the point that we can afford them because prices are dropping with the release of the F430. The 348 had a lot of initial negative press for some reason, and the 355 was hailed as the greatest car ever when it came out. Over time, the 348 has shown itself to be far better than people thought, and the 355 has shown itself to be a bit more problematic than people expected. 348 parts might be getting expensive, but I would bet money that 355s are going to continue to be more expensive to maintain just because there are more things to break, and part prices will climb on those as times goes on as well.

I would be DELIGHTED owning either of them. They are both beautiful, fast, and fun to drive.

Birdman

 

totally agree. He is a very badly dressed man, but I really like watching his show. Being a 348 owner I´ve been searching for his comments on the 348 for a long time.
I wonder if that video is available on-line. If so, could you please provide a link for it? Or at least the month/ year it was presented. Thanks!

Best regards

 

hey birdman, hows it going. was interested in your comments about your mate working the gearbox/shifter assembly so that it was smoother. can you help the rest of us out here as to what he might have done to it? can he get on the board and give us a brief description perhaps. i know with all these things it can be quite personal to each car what you have to do, but the thing that gives me the most trouble is the shifter and if hes fixed it id love to know how. anyway, just a thought. cheers

 

We all have own definition of what a true sports car should be.
For me a sports car should be “raw”. What I mean by raw is few
bells & whistles, but at the same time it should be fast, handle well, have style and most important be fun to drive. I know some of you are going to say the 348 isn’t fast nor does it handle well. Well, in my mind it is plenty fast enough. When anyone asks me how fast does your Ferrari go? And I say the factory listed top speed is 170 plus. They are always very impressed. As far as high-speed handling is concerned, my car does just fine and soon will handle even better. I don’t need power seats nor do I need or want power steering that’s a lot of what makes a 348 so fun to drive. I feel that is what is wrong with most, if not all of today’s sports cars. They just aren’t raw!

 

... and say what you will, I do believe that rear spacers between 15-25mm make a huge difference in 348 stability. The twitchy feeling mine used to develop around 110 is totally gone, with the addition of 25mm Hill spacers in my car.

 

Yo Kiwi!
He's on here. His user name is "spider348" and he is pretty active on the board, although he has been busy recently. I'll let him know to post something about this shifter. Anyway, I can tell you for absolute certain...I drove his car and thought that the shifter was totally amazing, and nearly as smooth as the 355. He told me it was just a matter of getting it adjusted right. Apparently, the cables are a little tricky to get right, but when you do, it feels wonderful....makes my 308 gearbox feel very notchy indeed!

Birdman

 

I've always been 100% F355 over 348, but I'm not a cannibal, I'd take a 348 over any other non Ferrari

 

I have Jermey Clarkson video at home when he was testing the all new 348 Spider and he was over the moon with it. No one bad thing said about it. He said the best ferrari yet !!!!!!!!!!Then comes out the 355 and his opinion changed.

The 348 has the real classic Ferrari look with side panels and the front looking more agressive then 355. The rear ights should have been round, but as they say in Italy it was the baby tessa. Funny why no ever complains and comments on the rear lights of the TR and 512TR.

The 348 is a susperb looking car and as good looking as the 355 no doubt whatsoever.

My 348 has the same power as the 355 maybe been slightly modified but hey it will keep up with a 355. The steering on the 348 is much better, has a better go-kart feel, its more raw meaning you have to drive the car.

Who needs power steering !!!!

A decatted Tubed 348 sounds as good as the 355 decatted tubed car, maybe not with a capristio on, but 348 is one of the best sounding ferrari around.

Oh hey every time your on the road and you see a ferrari, its either a 355 or 360 - mass produced no wonder the 355 has kitcar package for boy racers.

The 348 is a classic ferrari with modern looks and drives like ferrari should, back to basics with good performance.

I love all ferraris and the 348 is one of them.......

Enjoy your ferrari drive whatever it is. Theres nothing like a ferrari and never will be......

 

Any way you could post that? I wou ld l ove to see it.

 

I have it on CD. I will post on the site if someone can tell me how do it ?

 

I have always liked the looks of the 348 over the 355, although the 355 does perform better.

 

Chaa has sent me some videos which i'm going to try and upload on a server.

If I manage to get it working, you can send it to me and I'll upload that too.

 

Great, yes please, do put it online so we can all view it

 

I've never seen this Fiero that our American cousins often mention. Can someone post a pic up of it?

Does it really look like a 348?

Anyway, here in the UK (and Europe generally), there's nothing that looks like a 348 (other than Ferraris - Testarossa).

Personally, it was the side strakes that drove me to wanting a 348. The cheese graters are great too - as they are different to all other cars I wanted something different.

The lack of power steering and traction control are similarly plus points for me.

Jas

 

I am not going to bash a 355, I think they look great - but the 348 does look more exotic and its the side strakes that do it for me.

On several occasions now I have been asked by non Ferraristi on how much the car is worth. They are often surprised thinking the car is in the £70-80K range and can't believe its getting on for 15 years old.

Now I would be happy to sell it for that, but the point is it looks modern and has to me the typical styling of what a Ferrari is.

I saw a 360 on a trailer the other day and had to check twice to ensure it was a Ferrari, just a brief second glance mind you. You don't need that with a 348.

 

Wanna bet!!!!!

Someone thought my car was a Toyota MR2!!!!!!!!!


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Nah,that's a 355 with a bodykit on it

 

Must be Chaa's then!

 

You know, once you have posted them videos for me.....then its open sesson Mo Fo
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