348 to take over as the 'entry-level' Ferrari??

What about the Mondial?

 

Ohhhh that was a cheap shot. Finally a thread about bad cars that does not include the Mondial and you had to go and type that...

 

I guess I don't know what a bad car is then. I just had a great day of driving my Mondial to play golf for work(double bonus!). It was THE car in the parking lot and I was asked a lot of questions by a lot of people, all of whom were impressed by the beauty of a Ferrari. Maybe I'm lucky, but I don't know that I'd put bad in any sentence with this car, unless it was bas a**.

 

+1 ... LOL

answer: its still a Ferrari...and its a toss up between the two

 

What's wrong with 348's being called starter Ferrari's? 246 Dino's were considered that for years. I don't see any stigma attached to it. It's just economic sense.

And, what a great car to be your first experience!

 

+1...you know what they call the guy who graduates last in his class in ROTC? "Sir"

You know what they call the 348 that I drive? "A Ferrari"

I don't care what you call it. Starter Ferrari or the last car before the hair gellers came in. I love it and those of us who have them have formed a "brotherhood" which goes to show how cool the entire 348 ownership group really is.

Viva 348!!!

MB

 

Any 348 that is relegated to the "entry price" will be a severely neglected or abused example. Afterwards, it'll cost you double that of a 308 or Mondial in similar condition.

That's my prediction

 

I know one thing: Would love to have a 348!

 

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

The thread is about "entry level" Ferraris, not BAD Ferraris. I don't have anything against the Mondial, I didn't say anything was wrong with Mondials. Don't throw any stones until I say "Jehovah".

 

Hey, you're in the wrong section here...

 

As were 330 2+2's for a long time...

 

To some extent, 348s are the entry level two-seater Ferrari right now. Given a pristine 308 GTS QV and a 348ts with 15K miles, which will sell for more?

Not sure performance matters. The Dino 246 isn't all that fast or well made, but it is beautiful. The 308/328 should see strong demand when the economy recovers. As far as which ones -- I don't know, but the safe bets are the fibreglass 308s (best of the carbs) and the 328s (best of the injected).

P.S. Anyone who takes this as investment advice is an idiot.

 

I strongly considered buying a 348 before buying the 328. Even over a year ago, I found a pristine example
that just had a major done for $50K. The body style, robo-build, and higher maintenance costs out-weighed
the increased performance.

I was also talked out of both the 348 and 355 by two independent Ferrari mechanics.

I still think 348s are great cars, but I ended up paying even more for a great 328.

 

I'm only talking the RHD Ferrari's here ........
348's and 355's in the UK (I'm in Australia) have taken a big dive lately. 2.5 years ago I bought a 2V GTSi and it was at what you would call entry level price , all the other 308's were about 15% dearer. A nice carb GTB was about 21,000 pounds (the currency , not the weight !). Today GTB's are going for 25,000 , , and there is plenty of 348's under that.
What appears to have happened is a lot of wanna-be's who for whatever reason prefered the 348 have gone broke and the market is flooded. There is an awful lot of them for sale in the UK right now. 308's seem to be much more scarce over there.

 

RHD here as well, but the situation is not quite the same as in the UK yet. 348's generally command a higher price than 308's here, but it is coming close. The lines will cross soon, I believe.

Don't laugh, in 10 or 15 years time the 348 will be more sought after than the 360.

History repeats itself.

 

Wow! and i just drove home my ''new'' red 82 GTSI 2V last night!

 

I can't believe no-one's mentioned the 308GT4 yet. That will remain the entry to Ferraridom for quite a while, IMHO. Nothing wrong with them, mind you! But you can buy a decent one under GBP15k/EUR20k. 348's are not near that level.


Onno

 

It is clearly cyclical from what I have studied now. The older a Ferrari gets (in general - NOT all models) the more expensive they become. Some swoon lower (see Testarossa and 348/355) for a while, but they will eventually come back up. The cool thing is, while we watch what happens we are getting to drive some of the coolest cars around.

Look at the models like the 308, 365GTC, 246 Dino - all of them were at some point berated and still are for various reasons, but they still wear the prancing horse, and will do ok in the long run. As BF said, don't buy them for an investment. I do, however, like to talk about the subject just for fun.

MB

 

Very well stated, and only time will tell [I hope you are right!! ]

 

My friend traded in his 1990 348 to Ferrari of Denver last year. It was red/tan 19K miles and extremely well cared for and had been pretty trouble free over the ten years he had it. They did a major service on it and put it out at 39,900. Certainly there are nasty cars out there priced in the 30's. They should be in the 20's IMHO.

Dave

 

This is crazy because I was just thinking this last night.

Those who have no issue footing the bills for 348 servicing regardless of if it is performed by a dealer or an independant I believe are NOT going to be purchasing a 348 in the near future. 360 prices are coming down enough to where a person in the market for a Ferrari who does not service their cars on their own will have no problem chosing the 360 over the 348 and I fear that the 348 will fall quite a bit due to service cost vs performance vs purchase price.

348s are fantastic cars and I love them to pieces, but I do not see a non-mechanic type person in the market to spend 30-40k on a Ferrari going for a 348 over a 308/328 specifically due to the substantially higher vet bills. I hope I am wrong for the sake of keeping 348s in good order though.

 

I would guess the 2+2 Ferraris will always be less expensive. Maybe this thread is about the entry-level two seaters.

It depends on where you draw the line between classic and modern, but I think you're right overall.

From what I have seen, the 308/328 are "destination" cars -- meaning they are often bought by guys with budgets that would allow them something more expensive, but they are bought specifically because they want **that** car. I think anyone who can afford a nice 328 can afford a nice 355 at this point (service/repair costs being a possible breaking point...)

There are obviously exceptions, but I haven't gotten the sense that 348s fall into that "destination" category for the majority of buyers. "Stepping stone" is probably closer to accurate (again, there are 348 guys here who would absolutely have no other model, but I'd bet there are more 308/328 guys in that category.)

So, I agree with you that rapidly depreciating 360s and F430s could have more effect on 348 prices than on 308/328 prices.

 

Also, correct me if I am wrong but aren't 360/430s less costly to maintain than that of a 348? This is assuming a F1 transmission pump does not go out of course!