355 Handles like a modern supercar

I believe what the OP is saying is at more legal road speeds (not track speeds) the 355’s cornering speed compared to a modern sport car’s is not too far off, which is impressive in itself for a 30 year old car. All while being able to enjoy the analog feel and sound of the car.

 

Yep.. stock brakes. On some heavy looking 19’s too.

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/a-little-ear-candy-f355-like-it-should-be-driven.463293/

 

Here’s 992 911 Carrera doing 1:54. Probably a more fair comparison since a 355 was just a standard (non special edition) Ferrari.

 

991.2 GT3 (tracked in 2024). 1:53?

 

Here’s a different 458 Speciale from 10 years ago. I clocked 1:50 - 1:51.

 

Yeh , I am not sure why folks have started to go down the track day antics ?

On our recent Alps hoon my friend in his 488 GTB and myself in a 348 SP ( slightly softer springs and arguably not as stiff chassis than the tin top 348 variants ) ….. it was as you said opened this post , there was no real discernible difference between us on hairpin passes or even sweepers .

bcz unlike a track on public roads , you have others , cyclists , and cars etc in the other direction so you have to maintain good habits especially with blind corners and scary drops off edges down ravines etc .

On a track ( once you have a few sighting laps ) apart from the pit straight there’s no traffic coming the other way , no central white line , no pedestrians, cyclists , junctions , stop area or indeed speeding limits .

Add in every builders new modal wether a Ferrari around there home test track , Porsche around Nurnberg ring , McClaren around Silverstone , will alway rig the gear ratios , soft where and other electrotwackery to get a headline 0.2 sec quicker time than the preceding modal it replaced.
So what ?

But in real life with average punters on twisty public roads ……… i guess as long the new owner thinks it’s quicker…and punters take the bait that translates into a sale ….then job done from the manufacturer.

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Nobody got away from anybody.^ …….public roads not tracks .

 

This is a silly thread. No, a 355 can't "hang" with a 488. Every performance metric... the 355 is outgunned. On roads, it may seem like you're "keeping up," but you're on a public road, which by nature is very limiting for the newer car. Hopefully, everyone is smart enough not to expose the full potential of a supercar in that environment. Have you ever heard someone say about a newer Ferrari, McLaren, etc, that it's too fast for the road? That means you can't even come close to accessing its performance. So yes, you can have fun bombing around with a newer car on a street, but don't confuse that with a 25+ year old car being similar to a newer exotic.

This isn't in any way a dig on the 355. Enjoy it for what it is - don't make excuses, don't act like its performance is good enough to keep up with a newer car. In fact, I think many on this thread love 355s for the very reason that they're not newer cars. I barely beat a pickup truck off the line at a stoplight. Doesn't make the car anything less.

"It's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow" - the 355 hits this perfectly. It's not really slow, and you can actually use its performance on the road without going to jail. I think that's what the OP is referring to. A 355 screaming through some mountain roads is probably more fun than a 488 just coasting through.

 

My pickup truck is way way faster than any 355, until about 125mph. But dang, old Ferraris are fun to drive and own. I love mine and can’t wait to drive it today.

 

Lots of modern sport cars are overkill for the public/mountain roads. It has a muted feeling unless you get really long stretches. Most people use their exotics primarily on public roads. You can squeeze more sensation out of the 355 is really the point.

Even at the track, as evident in the videos I posted above, the 355’s slower track times still offer more sensation. The 992 Carrera’s (2025 car) 1:54 track time looks far more muted and boring than the 355’s 1:55. Nailing those rev matches in a gated shifter is the true reward.