348 BUYER ADVICE

You can start by running searches it is well covered and you can read questions and responses, you can learn a lot from this effort. The question is not a rare one. You can also read here http://www.my348.com/348PrePurchaseInspection.htm . If you can work on the cars your self and can xref parts it is not any worse than a Porsche to maintain. Dealer and indie shops labor rates will ill you if you need to go there, Lots and lots of 348's go 75K miles and more so they get used with little concern. Wheels spacers in the rear cure the nervousness but on the streets cruising it makes 0 difference.
As far as 1990 goes it did not lack power. Most 348 I have seen have had front ends and steering racks in need to rebuild but to time. Once you do that the steering and driving experience is second to none in my opinion. I have many original magazines from the time on the 348 and most liked it and many picked it, it developed a reputation when the economy crashed and people lost money flipping them. When the economy recovered and the Spider came out rags gushed over it. Buy the best one you can afford is my feeling. Hoovie just had an editorial on the 348 the other day.

 

https://www.autotrader.com/car-video/heres-why-ferrari-348-better-you-think-268470

 

355 has more power and 5v engine and sounds better than every Ferrari ever made. It is more refined but lacks the 348 feel. Is that bad? Its subjective. Is it "better"? it depends on the definition of better. They are different is all it's owner preference. I love the 355 from afar and admire the the out it but I would not own one. Every one has their own reasons for picking what they did there is not truth only your truth. It is why they make chocolate and vanilla. Preference.

Market values.... That's just a guess. One thing for certain, they are not investments. Super clean original low mile ones can end up in a collection perhaps but 99% of them, they are what they are. Younger folks want Tesla's and as more go electric including Ferrari the market will absolutely die.

I bought one because I wanted one since I saw one pull up in 1990. Always wanted that car not another one not a newer one.... the 348.

I spend a lot of money on it replacing everything simply due to age. When I'm done I plan on driving the hell out of it and never question reliability. Will I loose money... You bet but money is not the point. I refuse to look back in my final hours and say I wish I drove it more because in those final minutes they money simply wont matter, whether I smile or not will.

There are no guarantees. If you want one buy one because you want one, Who cares about the market and this is NOT coming from a wealthy guy. If your concerned about the market you're best steer clear perhaps and that's with any car. They are cars fhat wear out, not mutual funds

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I would say to buy a good, clean, lightly used 348 if the looks and driving experience wow you, or if you are just wanting the experience of owning a nearly classic Ferrari. I would not expect the values to change much up or down, so what you are buying is the ownership experience in exchange for the cost of maintenance and repair. That said, a car with somewhere between 15-50k miles would be the sweet spot for me. that would be a car with enough use to keep things working properly, but not where the finishes and mechanics are wearing out. The major service is a big ticket item (anywhere from $4,000-12,000), so if you get one with that recently done, you should be good for about 5 years without any big spending if the car is solid. Also, buy red!

 

If performance is what you are after, keep in mind that the 348 is over 25 years old now, so I hope you will be comparing the performance to vehicles from that era.

As far as the bad mouthing of the 348, that is old news and all (if not most) will have nothing but positive things to say about it. They are easy to work on if you are mechanically inclined, and a lot of good advice/support comes right from this forum. There are several step by step DIY threads that are priceless, and anytime you have a question or an issue you can simply start a thread here and every one will chime in.

 

Ohh yes we ALL agree. Don't plan on it is the point.

Funny quirk, the more I make mine showroom new the less I want to drive it. Don't get me wrong I will drive the nuts off it. But there is something to be said for owning a driver as opposed to a garage queen.

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Post one if you get one. Update alignment specs to later spec and put spacers in the read problem solved. All they did was mainly change the wheel offset and alignment spec to solve it.

Lots of guys track theirs as well as some who actually raced them.

Good luck and enjoy.

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The handling is not a big deal if you get either spacers on an early car, or a later car with revised geometry. Get some good modern tires (I like the Firestone Indy 500 for quality and value), and good driving skill / habits will be rewarded by this model car. In other words, don't be scared of the rumors about the handling. It is just an unassisted car that has the weight biased towards the back. Good habits and good tires, that is the key.

 

For anyone considering a 348 purchase, you need to get in touch with your expectations and your budget. If you can, buy one of the best examples to begin with. In the US, that means a Spider, 348 Challenge or 348 Serie Speciale. This means you are likely to pay more than for a main stream model because of the on-going refinements through the series. Then you have to decide between a TS or TB, but this is personal. If you don't care, then just see what comes up in the market. Mileage is not so much of an issue for these cars as is the maintenance and care of the car. You can easily find a 50K mile car that is a better buy than a 10K mile car because the former was actually driven and maintained versus parked as a garage ornament. Next consider upgrades that have been done as well as those you may wish to do. There are lots of fun projects for the 348 that really improve the car's performance. We have a huge section here all about them. On a basic car, you could spend about $10K in the most popular mods to improve the car - exhaust system (headers, cats and muffler), wheels/tires, front lip spoiler. These transform the car. You can swap out the drop gears on an older car to match the Spider which improves your acceleration slightly. Remember that majors cost about $5K so watch out for scheduling on that - when was it last done?

As far as driving feel, there is nothing like this car - ever - in my opinion. The 355 feels heavily insulated, and not in a good way, from the 348. Even a base car is a pretty neat ride. The twitchy handling is at speed especially in cross winds. Swapping in 355 or 360 wheels and tires alleviates this. The lip spoiler further keeps the front end stable. I look forward to hearing of your search and wish you well in finding the car that meets your desires.

 

Exactly yes the later cars have a different offset and a different wheel part number. For the longest time folks thought the track was different as in the control arms or hubs were different (even out here) but in fact it was just the wheel offset. They did lower the rear pick up point a few mm, its actually just a bracket but in the end the difference is wheels with less offset. Spacers on older wheels from Hill engineering give you the same thing. I have 360 wheels I am going to machine to my offset spec. As far as the year it happend with the Spiders. Again just put spacers on.

All covered to death, there is nothing about the car you can't fins out here including step by step instructions for just about everything by running run some searches. Also check out the stickies up top.

The Capristo drones from what I read, again while searching out here. Capristo for 355 Tubi for 348 but I like the Kreissieg the best on the 348 by far. Too many of them sound like a boat when idling. I like quiet then opens up.
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Early offset
Front 7.5J X 17 ET 49 mm
Rear 9J X 17 ET 68 mm

Later offset
Front 7.5J X 17 ET 49 mm
Rear 9J X 17 ET 43.05 mm

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When they brought out the 348 Specialé the upper rear A-arm was lowered about 3/4" at the chassis pick up point. For a while there was a Jig circulating that allowed the rear suspension to be disassembled and new pick up points drilled so that early 348s could have the new suspension geometry. The geometry change lowers the roll center at the back and was preserved in the F355 models. If you do this you will need to use F355 suspension alignments (except for caster up front stays at 5º instead of growing to 7º due to higher top speeds and power steering).

As far as I can tell, the wheel 'track' is essentially the same (with the F355 having wider rubber on the road).

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1 shows the lowering of the chassis side pick up point
2 shows the 348 original roll center
3 shows the new roll center

 

Theo, your statement “A potential good value classic car in the future”

I’ve owned multiple Ferraris for 18 years. Please realize that Ferrari ownership will most likely never involve a profit from a car. At best, you will be able to sell your Ferrari for what you paid for it, less your maintenance costs. And, this assumes you will own the car for many years. Good luck.

PS - If you factor in the time value of money, there is never a “good value” with sport/collector cars. Realize it’s a passion that requires money to be burned.

 

They changed the pickup point, it is a lower a arm bracket mount according to parts diagram, it looks like it can be switched. Again looking at parts diagram it bolts on, maybe there is more to it I'm no expert but the rest is the same part numbers. I would describe it as a tweak. No track change no.


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