355or360

hi there, i have a '03 M3 for daily driver too. i got a F355 1st then a CS. they are both 100% fine for daily driver. i personally would take 360 coupe over a 355 spider if i were to choose one.

 

I think the 360 will hold up better to daily driving but I would not want either for my only car. Not sure if that is your situation but there are times due to weather or other factors that it would be a chore to have to drive a Ferrari. Personally, I would worry about parking and leaving the car all day, with either model. Most people enjoy and appreciate but there are always some low brow haters out there and an unattended exotic could be a magnet.
Best of luck in your search. Heres a thread with some pics of both.
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55200&highlight=riverflyer

 

Leasing a pre-owned car generally doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I know the rules are slightly different with exotics, and while I am a youngster, I do know that the value of that car is going to depreciate (as you stated) and you would rather be able to have the car be an asset to you rather than borrowing it and giving it back to a dealer/company, or have some high, inflated price to buy it outright once your lease ran out if you chose to take that route. Buying a pre-owned car that is pretty new makes a lot of sense, because you knock off the initial first-second year depreciation.

Yes, your payments are lower, but your upfront costs are higher asuming you have to put down a nice large down payment and you have mileage restraints.

Again, and this is just my two cents, leasing only makes sense when you know you can meet the mileage restrictions, like having a new car every 3 years or less, and can write it off.

Your best bet is to search for a really good deal - I think you can find 355 spyder's for under $90K and '99 360 coupes for $110-115K. With the 430 recently out one would think that these prices will continue to go down as more 430's are put into production. Good luck man - Ferrari's are sweet sweet sweet

 

If your going to use a Ferrari as daily driver I would advise you to open a savings account and put $1000 in it every 500 miles you drive it. I got this idea from a buddy that owns planes and do this with the 355b I just bought that I drive almost everyday. It may sound a little extreme, but this is the only way you will be able to keep up with the maintenance, and depreciation when you do decide to sell. Also, I used to own a 355 spider that I didn't like to drive as much as my Berlinetta. It wasn't as solid and with the top up had bad visibility and was hot, with the top down the visibility improved but was even hotter. These aspects are fine if the car is a toy, not a daily driver. My advice would be to shop for a well maintained 6 speed 355b and use the extra money you would spend on the 360 to buy an additionall car you can use in your hurricane weather. Two cars are better than one anyway. Good luck man. -Colby

 

i daily drove my F355.
8500 miles in 8 months.
Total service/maintainese costs: $295 oil change.

Not a single thing broke.

 

Personally I think it's too risky. It seems like the cost of anything for an F-car is times ten, anything else. Some serious problems could wipe you out. If it's a weekend fun car, then that's a different story. And or, if you don't care then yea go for it.

 

By no means was I insuating that Ferraris are unrealiable, but anyone that has owned one of these cars knows the unexpected can happen. My car has a repair bill from a few years ago that totaled $18k. Granted this was an engine out 30K with a valve job, but a repair like this is a possibility. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

I agree. The bottom line is that *hit happens. It might be mechanical, it could be a deductible for vandalism, a broken front valance due to low clearance, etc. If these things never happen to you, then count yourself lucky. But if you hang out with Ferrari regulars, you will find more than a fair share of service related war stories - they tend to out number the "my has never caused a problem" stories.. Remember, if you lease the vehicle, you must return it with no more than what is considered wear and tear so be prepared to put some cash in to bring it up to par (the banks interpretation of the fine print) when it's time to turn it in.

When I purchased my 360, I asked the service advisor to pull the service records for three 360 modenas from the same year, similar mileage and tally up how much each had cost in service per year. They averaged $4500 per year - and that is thru an independent shop, not the dealer.

Service isn't as speedy as you are used to with your BMW and can be unpredictable depending upon the diagnosis so I would highly recommend a second car or keeping your M3.

I have owned 6 BMW's thus far, a couple of Porsches, Benz and the 360 - I consider the BMW's "the toyota" of all the sports cars I've owned. Very reliable and relatively low maintenance costs compared to the rest.

Best of luck in your search! I'm sure you will enjoy whatever you decide to buy. I chose the 360 over the 355 purely because of aesthetics.

 

of course, even for a BMW u can get a total lemon POS.
get a well driven car, one with service history, one has most of know issue taken care of. buy it, drive it, take care of it, and pray for the best.

 

You can do this but your lease isn't going to be close-ended like it is on a BMW, in other words the residual will be a balloon that you're responsible for paying or refinancing. It's good as a cash conversion tool and that's about it. As for the preference in cars drive both first, but from what I've seen the 360 will cost more in payments (by a good margin) but less in maintenance in the short term by virtue of having been through less aging hoses, electronics, seals, etc. 6 of one, half a dozen of the other, both will make your M3 look inexpensive very quickly...

 

Well said. Hopefully were not discouraging you from the mark, I think more people should own Ferraris. They are just like beautifull high maintenance woman, every man should try one at least once, and if your man enough, you'll always have at least one around.

 

I have a yellow 98 355 F1 spider with 16K miles and a 93 BMW metallic blue M5 with 26K miles. Read my post in the general area entitled 'Ferrari = breakdown anxiety'.

Like one of the replies above, my 30K belt service had to include a replaced exhaust manifold and a few other items for a total bill of $14K US. Less than a thousand miles after I had to replace a cat (under warranty) but new sensors, labor, and a bunch of other minor stuff cost me $2K US. The top leaks, both handles on the car have broken, the digital gear indicator has a element burnt out, the trip odometor won't go above 35 miles without going to zero. the hand-brake light flashes on and off and still does after replacement. The on-board computer informs me I've got 20% left on my clutch, and reading posts I conclude that replacing a clutch on an F1 every 10-12K miles isn't unusual.

My takes is the 355 is a joy to drive and a horror to own. The BMW is fun to drive and a complete pleasure to own. I'll park the BMW and go for a hike for 4 hours, never the 355. I'll drive in sunny weather as the 355 sparkles like a jewel, but take the BMW out in the rain. I'll angst about tumbling 355 prices, whereas the BMW just holds its value. I'll worry twice as much about dings on the side of the 355 as the M5, as well as adverse hooligan activity. I'll take the M5 on a 3000 mile trip and won't worry a tad about breakdown, whereas a much more likely breakdown in a 355 will likely leave me stranded in some small town for a week, trying to find parts, hauling the car to a certified dealer. Nevertheless, the 355 joy factor still outweighs the horror faction and thus the car will stay, pampered, in the stable.

My take is the 355 is a wonderful toy, to be enjoyed like a toy, to be driven hard in spurts and then buffed and serviced like an exotic toy. If you decide to use it as a daily driver, you'd be a brave soul in my books and I'd wish you the best of luck.

I hear the 360 is more reliable and the 430 even moreso. Can't wait until Ferrari fully gets it's act together and makes stellar performers that are also stellar in the reliability department.

Cheers, Paul

 

I agree with the 360 decision.

The newer the Ferrari the easier to maintain and live with.
I used to drive my 328GTS as a daily driver and had to stop because of the fact that parts are less available (in the area I mostly live in) and as they all said, anything could happen. So I wanted an everyday car and picked up a used Porsche (nothing special) and got the 993 for daily driving.
The 360 may be more expensive, but it wont require as much in the long run.

 

My 355 experience is the total opposite to your unfortunate experience. It has been 100% reliable in the 18 months of ownership, with no worry what so ever about long trips across europe. I think in the most respectfull way you may just be unlucky or have a lemmon.
Comparing a 93 M5 with the values of a 98 355 spider has lost me, are the US 355 realy loosing so much? Here in the UK they are not loosing much. IMO the 93 M5 is at its bottom price anyway being an old non exotic model.

 

Pick the 360, you won't be sorry.

 

This is all anecdotal of course but I've owned two 355 Spiders -- a 99 Fiorano and now a 97 -- and two 360 Spiders -- a 2001 and now a 2004 -- and my experience is it's the little things that tend to go wrong with the 355 whereas the 360 is slightly more reliable.

I was never afraid to drive my cars but I didn't use them as daily drivers. Just my two cents, of course.

 

agreed mike....the 360 is better built will be more reliable in most instances...still, the italians cant not built a car like the japanese or the germans iin terms of reliability....my biggest grip with my 355 was the horrible ergonomic, in which you still cock- eyes in the drivers seat with pedals way to close for anyone with man size feet...just a stupid design....i was never comfortable in the 355 cockpit....the 360 was much better in this regard...also, the 360 had a much stiffer chassis and was better built with a much nicer interior...the gauges in the 355 looked cheap to me...like a kit car, and not like a 140k exotic car....btw, both cars need a tubi or the like, as the engines sound wimpy with out it....

 

Happy hunting mate! An extremely enjoyable 'chore'...hehe..

 

i hope you are not insinuating that ferraris ARE realiable...because the preponderance of evidence show that they are not!!!! some people get lucky for a while and certain the newer cars with the manual trannys can last a while before any meltdowns

 

360 if you can swing it. If not, take the 355 and be happy. I kind of scrimped so I could have enough left over to get another Italian for my garage and went the 355 route. If I could only have one Italian, it would not be a 355 although an older 355 is good bang for the buck.