348 or 355???

Moved to the appropriate sub-forum. I would also encourage you to search the archives, as this topic has been discussed many times before.

 

You just answered your own question. I would not suggest a Ferrari as a daily driver however unless you have very deep pockets.

 

348 supposedly have electrical problems quite often.

 

And 355s have head gasket and cracked head issues. If you are looking for a reliable, cheap to operate vehicle do not choose any Ferrari model.

 

That says it all.

 

If you go for a 355, make sure you check out all the potential problems, of which they are many and very expensive to fix, at least with dealer parts. And if you are looking at Spiders, do even more homework.

Frankly, even though you the prices may seem to overlap a little between 348 and 355, I think you'll find they are in very different leagues as far as service history and (potential) issues. You really should pay close to top $$ for a 355 with documented history and fixes to expensive things like valve guides, headers, f-1 clutches, etc where you can probably get my with a less-than-documented 348 and pray for the best

I'm not going to get into styling or performance issues as i will be flamed to a crisp- but the 355 is much more expensive (to maintain and keep "right") than a 348.

If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask....

eric

 

Thats new to me. I have not heard them problems come up be for. Its usualy headers and valves.

 

So many posts on these subjects, I agree to do an extensive search.

Anyway, the 348 and 355 are built on the same general platform, which Ferrari changes every ten years -- thus the 360 and 430 are on the same platform. Nevertheless, the 355 has always been regarded as a big leap over the 348 and never subject to the same disuasive comments that often apply to the 348. Moreover, though more costly, the 355 could well be a classic in the future, no way for the 348.

Having owned both an M3/M5 and 355, don't even think of using a 355 as a daily driver. Maintenance costs will be WAY higher for the 355 as will breakdown anxiety -- meaning getting stranded on trips w/o easy access to dealers to fix problems.

Again, go read the hundreds of posts on the subject.

Good luck. Paul
04/360 F1 Modena

 

I'm with you on the same issue. I was wondering what would happen if I rolled back to a nice 348, but reading what other members have posted, I just feel is not even worth considering.
I also have an M3 and a 355. Honestly.... and with all the pain in my heart can say it is a pain to worry about your dream car braking down. Being stranded all the way here in the south west, I can only really enjoy the cars that my local mechanic can fix. The M is sort of taken care of by the local BMW dealer and my P cars are also taken care by my mechanic that has the diagnostic equipment. All this said you can Imagine the closest Ferrari mechanic I have is 4 hours away. My 355 has been at the shop 4 months right now and it is just painful to see it there.
Ferraris are magnificent cars when they work, but if you want reliability think German or Japanese.
And most definitely I will consider the E90 M3 just for the simple fact that I don't have to think about what would happen if it breaks down.
Good luck on your decision.

 

Get what ever car you like, they both have their problems.

Some common problems for both:

Bad catalytic converter ecu's
Flywheel leaking grease
Bad triple clutch shaft seals
Bad throw out bearing
Pemature catalytic converter failure
Slow window operations

These are just a few. But don't be afraid of the car. If you are worried about maintiance cost, buy yourself a set of tools and do your own work.

 

I'm afraid I'm going to have to echo the first reply; this has been a hot recurring topic around here. When I first looked for my F355, I too had the same questions and concerns. However, this 3-page thread soon answered those questions in addition to questions I didn't think to ask:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86581

There's also a thread of pics (F355 and 348's):

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46121

But if you really want a daily driver, or something closer to your M3 in terms of practicality, maybe an NSX might be better? There's a thread on 348 vs NSX too ...

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=76981

 

Late in getting my 2 cents in but here it is. Agree with some ... this has been discussed MANY TIMES. I have a '99 355 GTS F1 ( about 11,*** miles)... contrary to all the suppossed problems my car has only had misc problems --- F1 indicator lites, speedo sensor, few other very little things. THANKFULLY none of the "will happen problems" -- cats, manifolds etc etc.
Do your homework & find the right F355 ('98 & above) and it will be a blast.
F cars: you pay to play regardless of model. FYI --- Fchat is a fantastic site but can have alot of Bullsh*t thrown around by people that don't even own an Fcar but write like they had several.

 

I have your car right now!!! Seriously, my car is perect with an extensive service history through Ferrari.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/ferrariads/showproduct.php?product=555&sort=1&cat=11&page=1

Make an offer!!

 

I have a 328 GTS and a F355 Spider. in my modest opinion, no Ferrari is a daily driver, at least not as often as you would use a P-car.
I think my cars are very reliable, but in order to keep them that way I follow three basic rules:

1) Just drive them over weekends, ie you must have a daily use car. (keep your M3)
2) When you use your F-car, use it properly. (respect her)
3) Have it properly looked after by an enthusiastic official F-dealer at least every six months and have it serviced every year (do not take for granted that every F-dealer works with passion. some of them look purely at the commercial side of their activity)

I love the 348, but the 355 is the best of old school V8 Ferraris. do your homework and buy an unmolested example with full history and have a proper PPI done (leak down and compression test highly reccomended)

 

Why an 98 & above. Did Ferrari make any changes to the typical problem areas?

 

Yes ... look in past FChat articles. ECU, Valve guides, etc. They made alot of little changes. I am not knocking anything under '98 (355's) but there is a big difference in the problem areas being lessened than with the older years.

 

Cant say i agree with that, especialy when ya got 288s,F40 and F50s in the mix. I would have one of these over the brandnew F430s any day of the week. And not forgetting the 250LMs,..