What Are 348 and 355 Spiders Going For These Days?

I just realized I have a 2nd data point. I'm currently considering adding a new Shelby GT350 to my garage. After the test drive, the dealer offered me low $50s for my grigio '98 355, 29k miles. Not that I'm considering it, he also gave me a trade-in value for my Boxster, but he was for real and trying hard to get me to close a deal on the Shelby when I said out loud I don't need 3 cars. The tax advantage in NYC would have been +.08875, which all-in on a trade I didn't think was too bad.

 

Anyone who wants to see several 348's and 355's side by side, come to the Stooge event on June 15th in So Cal. We have guys that drive in from the Bay area and San Diego with an occasional fly in too.

These are all guys that work on their cars (including some that design parts for them -Goth). Here is the chance to really get to know both of those cars up close from guys that really know about them. May be well worth the trip to LA for someone considering spending $40-$80+k for a used car.

 

Excellent post

 

It's worth mentioning that cars bought during a depression is a whole different thing. ALL cars were going absurdly cheap. 348's were 50% of today cost too. Used Mercedes and Porsches forget it could give them away back then.

 

LoL, for conversation purpose, you read somewhere and heard people talking about some “issues”. Is it possible if you don’t do something right the first time, you have to do it again. Hence, the problem is the “mechanic” not the car? And it is possible the person you heard the story from heard from another person who heard from another individual and each time, each person told ten other individuals? So one trouble cause by a mechanic became 100 isolated troubles?

I doubt DeMuro owns a 355 or had one for a length of time. He can not comment about the 355 “problems” in a credible manner without the experience of lengthy ownership. I suspect his opinion is based on Internet blogs that can be chased down to a few sources that has been regurgitated a thousand times making a mountain out of a mile hill. I see a positive to this. Over and out negative comments from non owners, early remorseful sellers and beauty, sound envy individuals steer the rift rafters away. I prefer these cars end up in the hands of real enthusiasts who know better. And I like the fact that these comments help keep the price down as I’m looking to add another one.


The 355 does not bring as much ooohs and ahhhs like the latest and greatest Ferrari. It’s silhouette, it’s styling however, can not be out done. And sound can not be matched. It’s the only model consistently ranked at the top in beauty and sound all times.


New rules, you can not comment on the 355 “issues” as though it’s your own without lengthy ownership experience. If you do, please site the Internet blogs you regurgitate it from so real knowledgeable folks can separate facts from fictions.

 

I did not say it has problems btw I was just saying where there is smoke... investigate perhaps DeMuro is the smoke is all. As far as having heads done twice that's not the problem. Probably a bad job first time around, we can agree there. The fact that it needed it done at all the first time wold be the salient point however.

There is a thread out here right now a week old with a 355 and 27% leak down getting heads redone. Perhaps an outlier as 355 do not actually have head problems.

I do not say 355 do or don't have issues fwiw but I suggested prospective buyers looking at this forum may have second thoughts is all and that may affect the price is to the comments earlier about prices not rising for what ever reason. I was offering some possible insight into buyer psyche is all.

Feel free to ignore.

 

New rules? LOL

 

OK sure, I never commented on one as if I owned it I was theorizing about prospective buyers thought process, I was one once so I have some insight. But I want to respect your wishes. These are but 2 of hundreds of searches I ran when I was looking for full disclosure, I hope this meet your requirements.

And yes you can do this for almost every car, 348's included, I am aware but you asked. I trust people can separate fact or fiction from this "blog". I will refrain from posting hundreds of links targeting guides, valves, rings, leak down, cel's and various other things and instead just post 2 broad ones if that's OK.

https://www.google.com/search?q=ferrari+355+failure++site:www.ferrarichat.com&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS846US846&ei=V-D-XJTUD62t_QaRwbL4Bw&start=10&sa=N&ved=0ahUKEwjU263VgeDiAhWtVt8KHZGgDH8Q8NMDCIkB&biw=1176&bih=672

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS846US846&biw=1176&bih=672&ei=ZeD-XOK4Oa6vgge2yrWYAg&q=ferrari+355+valve++failure++site:www.ferrarichat.com&oq=ferrari+355+valve++failure++site:www.ferrarichat.com&gs_l=psy-ab.3...331429.332916..333142...0.0..0.49.311.7......0....1..gws-wiz.S_jng9xMwqg

 

I quoted you but my statement was in general. I’ve seen DeMuro videos. He gives a summery of cars features and an opinion. He’s entertaining to watch.

 

Yes, I have a few New Rules. But first a disclaimer. The following is my opinion and my opinion only. Any truth in part or whole is purely coincidental.

1)No paraphrasing or quoting internet sources about any issue. Even if it exists, the Internet always blow it out of proportion portraying a little lizard as Godzilla. I’m done with Japanese classic reboot. I hear, read so many 355 costly horror stories and the real owner ends up being someone friend, uncle, father in law neighbor nephew cousin and never the person telling the story. If you paid $20,000 for an engine out service, I want to be your mechanic and it’s time for another engine out.


2)Three year engine out service is a dead horse. We beat it to death many many threads and lunar cycles ago. If anyone wants to debate about engine out every 3 years, show proofs your 355 racks at least 15,000 miles a year and videos of your 355 high strung ing around a race track weekly.


3)Valve guides engine meltdown. Most 355 came with these valves but given the first batch is over 20 years old, how many out there are ticking nuclear meltdown? I would say very few to non. If your 355 hasn’t melt yet then forget about it.


4)Models comparison. Every model belongs to an era and each one has a certain characteristic the others don’t. If your criteria is “this” and the other models aren’t “this” then buy “this” and not that. If you like hardtops, there’s no need to compare with the Spider by saying “it’s chasis is point 00001 stiffer. Five years ago my piggy bank accidentally broke. I realizes then I had enough change to get a Ferrari. I made a shopping list with 4 models. The first one I saw was a 355 Spider. When the owner stripped away the cover, it was all love. I didn’t bother looking further.


I apologize if I bored anyone. These talking points get more circulations than the New York Time and more than not, they are fake news. It doesn’t scared me anymore, Iv’e seen my girlfriend without makeup. And I’m not selling my 355 Spider F1 so the web chatteries is just internet noise. I hope to offend a lot of folks with my opinion. Sometimes I start a dumpster fire and watch people scramble for water.

 

Hey Mods...can we include this in the TOS?


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For those of us not here many threads/lunar cycles ago, can we conclude from this statement that the 3 year engine out service is not a requirement and that five years (or even more) is reasonable? Or am I reading this all wrong? Just looking for clarification. Thanks.

 

Seems so strange to me that the 348 was considered one of the worst Ferrari’s ever made and the F355 the best car in the world when it was released. There’s pluses to both. 348’s non-assisted steering is a gem. 355’s engine note is incredible and the styling to my eyes is slightly better. Performance-wise, the 355 is marginally better and these are not track toys anymore. No one is taking these cars to the limits on public roads to the point of snap oversteer(348 in particular). If you’re cruising slow, the 348 is the more involving drive. Pushing the 355 to redline is thrilling. Honestly, I’ve been happy with both but currently just have the 355.

 

With all that said above, I see 348 values to sit 10-20% below 355’s of similar condition. However, I could see the serie specials and 348 spiders surpass the average 355 as they’re much rarer.

 

And then there is the 348 Challenge.

 

Oh yes! The Challenge cars would sit at the top of the 348 range!

 

And the Competizione as well.

https://inventory.symbolicinternational.com/vehicles/103/1993-ferrari-348tb-competizione

 

Three year engine out cycles is just stupid. It's is constantly reported as necessary. It is not.
For those of us that own and drive (and fix) these cars, I don't think any of us do the engine out on three year cycles.
Five seems normal...Seven is the outer edge (Ernie comes to mind here)
Something else usually breaks first like the water pump.....

I bought my 355 the day I joined this forum....that was over 23,000miles ago.
BUT if people believe the rinky dink YouTubers and BAT experts...then they should do what they say.

 

It wasn't just depression. 348s were 30-45 grand since the mid 2000s (roughly 10 years during good and bad economic times). They only spiked up since 2014.

 

If not an open top 60s historic Porsche racer, I’d buy a 348 Challenge TS to pair with my 355 Challenge. Hopefully, 348 Challenge prices stay low until I have one. So yes, they’re crappy to drive and expensive to maintain. Timing belt needs replacement every two years. Lol. Don’t buy one.

Meanwhile, my 355 Challenge is on a 7-year timing belt and Hill Engineering tensioner bearing interval plan. So far, maintenance and operation have cost me $300 per month (including multi sets of tires, brakes, mechanical baseline of headers/valves/fluid changes/belts/tensioner/race car prep and other spare parts gathering) over a 5-year period with all work via independent mechanics. Affinity for this car and its driving experience for me remains strong. Worth the ownership IMHO (and if I hypothetically sell it now, there’s a good chance that I end up ahead TCO-wise. But no desire to sell at all).

 

So, Rifedriver, who has worked on countless 355s, and knows the model inside out, is not fit/not suitable/not qualified to comment on the 355 even if he doesn't own one?

 

of all the owners i know who have owned a f355, only one truly had a horrific experience - labman om this board. what he went through was crazy and mind blowing but i think it was unique. many miles have been put on f355s that are nothing like labman's experience.

 

There are horror stories with every car even new ones but that is not Representative of the norm. Both are great and amazing. I think the OP as waking about values, I think typical is about this if you throw out the high and lows. Maybe we should get back to that? Both are 5 year major intervals.
348 - $55K-$75K
355 - $60K-$80K

348 looks better in Spider and the 355 looks better in TB. So it's a wash.
Can't go wrong with either, both will sell well relatively speaking as far as used Ferrari's go.

 

So forget value for a second, can somebody explain to me what the 348 did to be labeled "worst Ferrari ever?" Whenever I challenge somebody on the label, I can't get much of a specific response. Is it the build quality? I've never driven one.

 

Market timing. 1) Economy crash, wait list dried up people lost money who were flipping them, dealer could not move them everyone was pissed blamed the car. 2) nsx came out and changed rules. 3) head of Ferrari made a stupid comment because a hot hatch out dragged him.

30 years on everyone forget the actual reason and the label stuck. Complete nonsense. These days there are clickbait articles with provocative titles like worst ever, that was never mentioned at the time that's a relatively new development.
Clickbait titles.

That's pretty much it. One of the best steering cars ever. When the economy recovered Ferrari released the spider and everyone absolutly gushed. Ya... It's the same car.

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