Honest evaluation of 355 vs 360

Agree that they are two totally different animals...

Wife and I were at FCI in Greensboro Saturday looking at a 360 for my dad who lives in WA and is considering trading in his 328. The mrs turned to me and asked why I don't go for the 360s "they're beautiful"), but rather clamor over the 355s. I replied that it's kind of like the opera scene in "Pretty Woman." I appreciate the 360, with its stiffer frame, more power, etc...but the 355 just gets into my soul. :-D

Go with the one your heart says you'll love DRIVING more; buying a Ferrari is only partially a rational decision (and even that's debatable). If you buy a well sorted one, regardless of the model, maintenence costs will be a wash.

 

I wonder. If a red 360 Spider & a red 355 Spider are parked face to face (20' Min separation) near a crowd. Which car would gather a larger crowd? And more importantly, the "babes". That must factor into the equation.

 

Brunette chicks prefer the 355. I have conducted an extensive clinical trial. Blondes and red heads prefer the 360, but wtfc?

 

I only date supermodels so therefore the car has not hurt my game a bit. Chicks love my 355 they just always complain about how low it is to get in to.
My buddy has a triple black 430 and both seem to draw the same amount of scantly clad women.

 

The 355 is the very last of the old-school Ferraris.

360 or 355? You have to let your heart decide. It was never supposed to be logical.

 

+355

 

Get a 355 GTS. Easily removable and replaceable fiberglass top that stores behind the seats. You get the sweeping beauty and trackability of a Berlinetta and almost the same convertible treat as a Spider - without the Spider top and seat hassles.

There is no 360 GTS. The 355 was the last GTS made. Kind of a collector's item too.

 

Total 355 production was 4,915 355 Berlinettas, 2,577 355 GTSs and 3,714 355 Spiders.

I do (kind of) agree with you but at least you didn't say it was a "rare" collecor's item

 

I think you meant "parity". "Parody" is the relationship between your first 355 major service bill and your checking account.

If it was my cash, I'd go for the F430. That and the 328 were probably the best built of the V8 run so far. F430 is more performance than anyone can use on the street, and the maintenance and quality issues seem to be fewer than on the 360, and far fewer than on the 355. 328 is the last computer/electronics-free Ferrari, so very maintainable, but performance is about what you'd get a modern sedan, and you give up power seats, good a/c, airbags and other stuff we take for granted these days. Jury's out on the 458 Italia, but prices are still up on those as the latest toy.)

Interesting comparison, because both were troublesome from day one, but a lot of people like the looks of the 355.

On the "major firsts", I think the 355 F1 box and engine design were abandoned for better designs. Although it is fun to show off your aerodynamic undertray on dates.

The largest audience around any old Ferrari is always going to be 15 year old boys. Best reason to buy one is for yourself, not other people. There have been a couple of threads on this...

 

What is kind of rare are the F1 GTS's. Only 529 of the 2,577 GTS's have the F1 transmission. I have 1 of those.

 

That's not a fair comparison for this thread.
There's a big price difference between the 355/360 choice and getting into a 430.
$125k - $200k is a whole different game from $40k - $100k (all rough boundries)

 

I just drove a 360 for the first time...

Manual, not F1, like my 355.

What a difference!

Very short throw, IMHO as compared to the 355, tighter clutch (which reminds me, I may need to have my clutch life checked out).

But the BIG difference, in my opinion, was how I fit in the seat.

My shoulders simply would not fit between the bolsters on the 360 seat. Maybe they come in different sizes, and this was ordered in an extra small... I don't know.

I'm not a big guy (5' 8", 175 lbs), and my back barely touched the seat back, unless I scrunched my shoulders forward.

Really uncomfortable for the 25 or so miles I drove.

I'll keep my 355, thank you...

Mike

 

Wew, I thought you meant to show off "aerodynamic underwear on dates"

 

IIRC, my 360 had a big knob on the side of the seat that opened and closed the width of the bolsters. I think only the CF racing seats get ordered in various sizes...and I've heard only large for the US market.

 

They could be adjustable... I don't know.... I do know they were WAY misadjusted for me...

Mike

 

That settles it. It will have to be a 355. But what am I going to tell my blonde wife?

 

Tell her she will have to dye her hair brown

 

just got my 99 355 delivered last week
best sound of all time
just need a Cappy-3
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I personally prefer the looks of the 355, but the 360 has aged very well given how the newer ones look.
Am selling mine now and have done a rough estimate of running costs for those who are interested:
All in pound sterling
Value loss over c 2 year ownership: 5k
Consumables ex tyres ( annual service and cam belt service, clutch) 5.1k
Tyres: 2.1k
Tax, mot: 1.2k
Repairs (oil cooler, both manifolds, alternator, both rads, O2 sensors, bootkit): 7k
Insurance: 3.5k
Petrol: c 9k
Total: 33k
Per mile: 1.70 pounds

I loved every mile of it, but cheap it is not.
If I did not need money for day to day expenses I would keep it.

 

Insurance is so high because I did not have any driving experience for insurance benefits in the UK
Petrol is on the high side because I did a lot of city driving (also explains short clutch life)
Value loss partly due to mileage, partly due to selling at the end of summer and also due to buying from a dealer and selling privately
Service costs due to selling right after the cambelt service, could have sold before or it for close to the same money, but saved a few k

 

More pics please....other than these ones: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55200&highlight=Riverflyer

Anybody got pictures of the 2 cars side by side?

Thanks

 

Honestly, the guy I bought my 355 from had both and obviously chose to get rid of the 355. His comments were that the 360 was a better car in most respects except for the drive-by-wire throttle and sound, and he also preferred the looks of the 360, so a fairly easy choice for him. I prefer the looks of the 355 and felt the performance was close enough that it wasn't worth an extra 20k for a 360 so I didn't really consider it. The only other car I seriously considered was a 512TR - same performance as a 355 but I wanted a 12 cylinder and have always loved the looks, but again at 20k more (and with even higher maintenance) I went with a 355 when I found the exact color combo and options I wanted.

 

Dude...the 512TR looks a lot like the F355 from the front ...

I still would much rather take the 355 than the 360 anyday. Woof woof

 

A couple of pics as requested. My 355F1 GTS is on the left. I was surprised how much larger the 360 is.

Here's a few Fast Facts about the 355. Anything special about the 360?

The 355 is the only Ferrari with the number of valves per cylinder (5) in the designation.

The 355 was the last in the line of mid-engined Ferraris having the flying buttress roofline, which began with the 1965 Dino 206 Concept Car.

The 355 was the last Ferrari available as a GTS Targa top.

The 355 is the only V8 Ferrari with hidden outside door handles.

To celebrate Ferrari’s 50th Anniversary in 1997, an F355 GTB was driven on a 170 day World Tour, covering 26,000 miles through 25 countries.
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