Test drove F355...disappointed.

That was my point .......... a well sorted and well equipped F355 is a 'complete package' that does 'blow them away' .......... as you already know .... performance is only 'one' factor in what makes a car great ...... the F355 has so many balanced virtues, that other vehicles pale in comparison. From the body's clean, elegant simplicity of design, to the dual nature of the F1 inspired engine ..... amazingly with a reasonable cost tag ...... sure one can spend more and get a some super duper whiz bang monstrosity that screams 'look at me' from the mountain tops ...... but IMO there is something to be said about the timeless elegance, that a nicely sorted/equipped F355 brings to the table ............ IMO the F355 has positioned itself as the 'little black dress', in a sea of the trendy gimmicky efforts possible in some women's wardrobes ......

+1 .........

 

I have an F1 too. I don't shift below 4K RPM, usually much higher...

 

The best test of F355 performance is on a track or a twisty canyon road. Then performance can be judged as a combination of speed, brakes, and handling. The F355 strong point is not necessarily staight line acceleration but a combination of the above three performance ingredients which it has in spades.

 

So true! I'm about to hop in mine 5 minutes from now to hit the coast of Sunny California!
More power would just get me into trouble on the freeway, and in the twisties I don't see how anyone would want more or be able to use much more power...

Best car I've ever driven by far, but mine has had some attention over the years to get it
this way.

 

Bailed us out?
You were 4 years late mate = 9 million killed.

Without us there would be no you.
Without the Brits there would be no Europe as we know it....we held the nazis off for 5 years...twice.

Have some respect sonny... Yesterday was the 11th of the 11th.

 

I think you both forgot that the russians lost 27 million people

 

OK, this revisionist history is pretty funny.....WWI nazis....geesh

Pretty sure America would have been colonized by somebody....didn't have to be by a country that robbed us blind led by a whack-job (III)

 

Apparently you did not notice, John was joking...

 

Shall we move this to P&R?

 

I'm a newbie but as a 50 year old grew up with monster V8's. I bought my 1999 355 F1 as it was a great deal and was a life long dream! I had it shipped to Vancouver, my buddy took me down in his 2010 6 speed manual Vette he added a supercharger too!

My car was mistreated on the shipping to Canada,& they were supposed to have it in an enclosed trailer. But part was open, the car was dirty and they damaged the wire to the tranny sensor when loading so it would not shift to 2nd gear. 3200 dollars later the Ferrari/Lambo dealer in Vancouver had it fixed! 6 hours labour before they found a broken wire to a sensor is a rant for another day! Bottom line Was it was fixed, I drove it and acclimatized. Seemingly the throttle has two zones. Once I pushed a little harder I was amazed with the performance! Still grinning everytime I drive it! Key is don't expect the civility if a 2010 supercharged Vette, love it for what it is, a bone rattling performance machine that gets everyone's attention! Its my greatest pleasure driving and as I said before my GF says she doesn't mind being #2 because she loves how I smile when I drive it! Love it for what it is!

 

Heck, we threw you out over 200 years ago, and with the help of the French, no less! We've come a long way baby. We're rude, we're crude and we got attitude! But you did give use some pretty good humor.

YouTube

 

Don't own one, but after hearing a friends F355 shifting at high revs, can't say there's another car that sounds quite as good IMO!

 

Ive drive a a lot of cars, owned lots of fast cars. The 355 is one of the most rewarding I've ever driven/owned. Guys hype up the 911 2.7rs because it's light, high revving, looks good and sounds great.

The 355 betters the 2.7rs in every way but doesn't cost $250 000 yet.

The sports car market favours lightweight, manual, high revving vehicles, it's just a matter of time before the 355 is discovered.

e30 m3, over hyped.
2.7rs, over hyped.
ae86 corolla gts, over hyped

and yet all of these cars sell well beyond what they should.

 

I don't understand those saying an m3 is faster than a 355. Maybe an e92 m3 is about the same speed, but not significantly faster by any stretch. An e46 m3 is significantly slower. They're just too heavy, a solid 500-600lbs more than a 355 gtb. I've raced a few e46 m3's (on track and autox - even running the exact same brand and sized tires at the autox) and it wasn't remotely close. I was 2-3 seconds faster at the autox which is an eternity. I rode in two of them and they understeer quite a bit. An e92 on the same tires would be a close race, but it would come down to driver, not car.

The more I read people saying the 355 is slow, I just think they really don't know how to drive them. You cannot drive them like a muscle car and I don't know why you'd want to. They are not slow even in normal driving, at 80mph on the highway they're taching 3500+rpm in 6th so no need to downshift to pass anyone there, either. I've had and still have a muscle car. I love them, but they are completely different and while they have a lot of low end power, they are asthmatic on the top end. Fun for doing burnouts and cruising around, but if you want to take a twisty road or go to the track, the 355 is just more fun, vettes included. But, you have to drive them properly and get over the crazy aversion to revving it. It must come from the fact that if you take a muscle car much over 6k rpm more than a couple of times in a row it will explode, where you have to go somewhere over 10krpm and do it all day in a 355 to hurt it, which it won't even let you do without removing the rev limiter.

Even the c6 z06 does not have that much top end charge, it tops out at 7k and you can feel the power dropping before it gets there. The 355 pulls right to the rev limiter at 8750 and feels like it can keep going - which is why it's good there's a rev limiter as it's easy to hit if you're not looking at the tach. If you don't want to shift gears or rev the car, it's the wrong car for you. Buy a tractor motored muscle car with an automatic transmission and 20 cup holders, it'll be more your speed.

 

Coming from an E46 M3 owner and someone in the industry I will say that we are talking about two totally different levels of cars here. The only place an M3 might be able to keep up would be from a roll on the highway where gearing and gear selection play a big role (From a 65 mph roll my m3 in third gear pulls right next to our Fabspeed 360 starting in fourth gear, not a fair comparison but a point of reference)

Just descending the altitude necessary to open the door of a 355 tells you everything you need to know about how different it is from an M3 or any other sports coupe. The 355 is a purpose bread racer while the M3 and cars of its like are modified sedans. Many might outperform in a drag race but they will never convey the feeling of occasion of going for a drive in a 355. I think anyone who says a car capable of 330 whp, 9,000 RPM and weighing about 3,000 pounds is slow either has a very skewed view of street cars or just has no idea what a properly driven 355 is capable of.

 

Welcome to the brother hood..what color is your car? I'm from burnaby

 

About a week ago, I parked on a side street to let a friend drive and a middle aged woman walked by. She turns and says to my friend (who is in the driver's seat now), "You have the coolest car. That is the best sounding car ever."

I wouldn't have been so surprised if the comment came from a 14 year old boy or a guy my age but a woman in her early 50s? That was a first.

 

i could not agree with you more on the E30 M3, I had one for 2 years and for for me it was just "meh". I replaced it with a NSX which I kept for 7 years much more fun and a much better car. Biggest disappointment for me was Porsche 959, sometimes you you should not drive your heros. I still love my F355 going on 8 years now.

 

what was wrong with the 959?

 

It just felt like a typical Porsche, I just was not blown away like I was supposed to be, I was just underwhelmed, sorry. No special feeling or sound, it was just like a typical Porsche Turbo IMHO. Maybe I am just not much of a Porsche guy.

 

says the guy who probably JUST POSTS. This page is for people who drive, own & or love the 348/355... Since you probably don't and wont ever (or cant afford) with a post like that, why don't you just leave and allow the people who do like the car to enjoy it.. No one is commenting on your M-F four banger commuter car.. so let us idiots who seek to spend what money we have, do so on weedwackers and do so in peace..

PS--My weedwacker needs and oil change, and new "wacker string" as fall is here, since you know weedwackers when you see one, where can i get this stuff?

 

I just saw a 959 for the first time live, and i must say i was blown away, probably wouldn't buy one? (are they still 250k?) for that i'll get a 458 in a year.. but still a masteful engineering marvel of its time

 

It is ugly.

 

+1 ......... 959 looks to have gotten most of it's design cues from an ostrich egg ....

 

+1

Seriously ugly. Especially when placed next to an F40.