Upgrading from 308 to 355

You again with more nonsense!

The 355 drives like a BMW now!

You should learn how to operate a European sports car.
You cannot be driving your 355 anywhere near its potential if you compare it to a BM..on the street or off.

 

I actually agree with John. The 355 felt like someone took my 308 and crossed it with a Honda Accord. Yes, it was faster but it just felt too smooth. It was like my M3 only it sounded better and didn't have back seats.

I am not a 355 hater. I think they are beautiful. However, it was hard to justify adding a 355. I decided on a 512tr because it had more torque but had the raw feel of the 308/348.

 

When Luca took over hating the 348 he was about 50 y/o. Maybe he was ready for a 550 Marranello and should have left the V-8 series to young men. It is no surprise to me that the 355 became a softer driving car but with more horsepower. That suits an older man. That softness continued in the 360 until the F430's 500HP brought back some machismo into the Ferrari lineup. Is the 458 the last of the great NA V-8's like the V-10 F1 motor the last of the great NA F1 motors? I'm not happy about the 488 turbo or the current day Ferrari F1 prius hybrid motors.

 

I agree.....but I kept telling myself that the 488 is the new F40!

 

348 or 355 , at least were not driving ferraris that stop and restart the engines at traffic lights . Lol


1994 ferrari 348 spider , third owner purchased may 2013 w/ 27804 miles

 

Spent the day today at a european car show. , nothing but compliments and admirerers , and beautiful car compliments , maybe at an all ferrari show the 348 is not the greatest , but its far from a dont even consider car. , maybe the 355 is slighty more this or that , but the 348 is a fine car by any standard . F Luca .


1994 ferrari 348 spider , third owner purchased may 2013 w/ 27804 miles

 

I give up
Do you boys even know what you're talking about?

 

I do not find my 355 too smooth at all
With the power the sound the vibration thru my backside the scream when the valve opens the click clack of the gear lever the double declutching to get the smoothest gearchange the smell of leather and italian mechanical stuff the intake roar when the cams are in a certain position ...how can this be like a BMW or a Honda Accord/308?

Maybe these boys mean the steering which is a bit over powered
The ride is sublime...i do not want banging jolting and cluncking in any street car i drive
The 355's balance and handling are crazee good.
What a motor car
Ferrari hit the bullseye with this model
Ask anyone who knows the v8's which one in 30 years time will be the most revered

 

Most revered in 30 years , easy , F40. Lol


1994 ferrari 348 spider , third owner purchased may 2013 w/ 27804 miles

 

Don't forget the 288 GTO.

 

- The F40 has underperformed the 288 GTO in price, if not against most of the other F Hypercars. Caveat: Never owned one so can't comment.

- I have the 348 GTB and the 355 spider. Love both although I am more swayed by the 355 aesthetics.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Was going to say that also . Point is , each group will of course think their carwill be the one . A 430 giy will tell you the 430 will be remebered ss the most revered. , and so on. Imho , al of them , the 308 , 328 ,348 ,355 and 360 are just average cars , they look great , sound great , but theyre just mass profuced cars . I got used to the feel of my 348 , and have a customer with a 355 , drove it for a weekend , and was underwhelmed , only felt slightly different than my 348 , and to me felt , tamer , not slower but tamer . For me i would reserve terms like epic to maybe a veyron or zonda. And i dont mean to disparage any of the v8 ferraris , theyre nice cars , nice to look at , nice to drive and nice to be a seen in but imho , not epic.


1994 ferrari 348 spider , third owner purchased may 2013 w/ 27804 miles

 

I'll try to explain.

If you get in the 308 then steering is like a go kart. It just feels perfect (maybe a tad slow). The 355 you can drive w one hand.

You reach for the shifter and it is a bit notchy in the 308. Once you learn it (don't forget the dog leg 5 speed) you feel like it's something you master. The 355 is just simple to use.

The AC and heat control just work in the 355. Can you even run the AC and heat at the same time in a 355?

So, what I am trying to say is that the 355 just works. Just like a BMW or Honda. (With bigger repair bills). But as I have driven the 355 I immediately feel the same DNA as the 308. They sound very similar, both need to rev to produce power, and both lack torque. The only difference is that the 355 can actually compete with an M3, where the 308 gets crushed. I laugh sometimes at the amount of work it takes to make the 308 get to 55mph, but it's this work that makes it great. Today's cars are so fast, but there are fewer and fewer opportunities to use them.

 

Everyone's idea of what denotes greatness in a car is subjective. I find many things to like about all F-cars. I like the 348 just fine also, and its "raw" nature. The 308/328 also seems pretty "raw" to me. We love the F355 with 3 of them... Overkill no doubt but all different.

I'm not likely to own a Bugatti or pagani, so my comparison is from the 308/328 to the F355 which was my move and the OP's question. The changes WERE epic. In performance, and comfort. Both gains were very welcome and very noticeable. I think the F355 has the perfect amount of balance between performance and size. It is also listed as a "supercar" on all the top magazines model characterizations right next to Diablo, countach, TR, etc.

I never saw the 308 ever referred to as a "supercar" anywhere and I just don't look at it that way. Beautiful, timeless. But on a different level even though they both have 8 cylinders and come from the same lineage.

I fully encourage you to drive both back to back, and get back to me. You don't have to get an upper body workout on manual-only steering to qualify for "raw".

I will also agree that while my 328 was at my mechanics roughly the same amount of TIME as my F355 for small items, the F355 does cost more. It's like gravity - a known quantity.

All good. It's the cost of entry to owning most supercars...

Robb

 

The normal production v8's i meant
Not the million pound limited specials

 

I'll go a little further. Driving at legal speed limits of back country roads with a 308 is an adventure. Say your doing 45. You come to a turn with the yellow warning signs, "Curve ahead, 25mph". It's a warning sign, not speed limit, so it's not like you have to slow down. You enter the corner at 45 and the front end pushes out a bit. You gently lift a little off the throttle. The front end bites and the rear end kicks out a little. You carefully balance the car with the application of the throttle. With a 355, you just turn the wheel, like you would in a BMW. No drama. Maybe if you were going 70 or 80 you might have to "play" a little. I'm not even sure that the 355 throttle is sensitive enough that you could tickle it as you can in a 308. In any case, I don't want to do 70 or 80 round a blind bend on a public road when I have not idea who or what might be standing or crossing the road ahead. In the 355 I'm reduced to being an "active passenger" under such conditions.

There is just this disconnect with modern Ferraris, and many other so called sports cars, that take the fun out of every day driving. To really get the best out of them you have to be on a track. You have to drive at speeds that aren't acceptable on open roads. And for me, at 68, I don't find that appealing. I enjoy touring with my wife. My wife (and I) would quickly get bored circulating around a 1 or 2 mile track. "Hold on baby. Here comes turn 8 again" (for the 17th time). Besides, where would we stop for lunch, that little café at turn 5?.

There was an interesting article in the latest issue of Auto week about the new Mazda Miata (I've owned a couple) and how in its latest generation it still manages to retain the feel of a light weight sports car from the 60's. This were cars I loved to drive, TR4s, Fiat spiders..... Not about top speed, HP, 0-60, how many G's it can do. Not about needing to push it to the limit. About driving and having fun. About putting a smile on you face, not making the hair on the back of your neck stand straight.

Anyway, the point is that I can enjoy a 308 like an early sports car, at reasonable speeds. The 355, and lots of other high performance sports cars take that away, IMO. On such roads, at such speeds they have homogenized the driving experience to the point of being similar to a well design sports coupe, ...like a BMW. None of this means I don't like the 355. I do. I could make the same comparison between my old E30 3 series and my E36. The E30 was a tossable, fun to drive car. By comparison, the E36, took much of that away. Still a great car that I would have today had not some old lady totaled it for me. But the E30 - E36 comparison is much like the 308 - 355 comparison. No doubt that the later cars were better, but in becoming better they lost something. Or maybe it's just me.

 

It's just you

Sorry

 

Certainly I would not expect less than that from you. You seem to feel that if the car is not driven balls to the walls it's not being driven at all.

 

Pretty much nailed it.

I though I bought a 458 close to 20 times and still have not driven one home.
Now I am looking the other way, older is better.

People get way to caught up in the over dramatic press articles with the one-upizems, is that even a word? LOL
That they need the absolute mo-better-meaty-meat-burger to fuel the ego not paying any attention to the art of driving.
I blame this on cell phone companies, they push the absolute latest or your nothing if you don't have one.

Nothing like putting around in a vintage piece of machinery
The smells the sound the vibrations

 

Magnum PI and Christy Brinkley agree, too.

 

Nope
I do not push my 355 anywhere near its potential

Just defending the 355 from your continual knocks
She is nothing like a BMW nor a Honda Accord
The thought of it!!!

 

It's ok. We are all getting older.

One day you can call the 355 archaic and old school because...
1) it didn't have blind spot detection
2) no radar cruise control
3) no lane deviation warning
4) no Bluetooth for cell phone
5) no e diff

Pretty soon you can get a virtual Michael Schumacher to drive you around while you safely take selfies for snapchat and Instagram to prove to your friends that you have a Ferrari.
A sad series of statements; even worse that's it's probably true.

 

I have owned both 308 and 355. The 308 felt much more connected to the road and the steering was much better. 355 is much more powerful and faster, able to keep up with traffic. AC works in the 355 which makes it a lot more usable in the warmer climates. The extremely low nose of the 355 make it challenging to drive it on a regular basis -- all trips had to be planned accordingly , speed bumps forget it! Also the interior of the 308 aged much much better than the crappy bits they used on 355. Transmission felt better (to me) on the 355 although the 3rd gear rattle became an annoyance. The sound -- no question for the 355. Amazing sound that I still miss. Maintenance definite edge to 308 especially for the DIY. After you own anything in the 430 or later era you quickly realize that both cars are really old. 308 appealed to me more because you kinda feel like you are driving a Dino for a fraction of the price. The 355 is at an awkward phase -- old and not up to speed and yet too new to be "classic". I would keep the 308 and start saving for a 430 with a 6 speed manual or better yet make a move to V12 power -- will never look back