Considering not buying a 355...

Anders-
If you're agonizing that much, you probably shouldn't buy one. Every little problem will reinforce your negative feelings. It's got to be a passionate desire to own and drive one that transcends practical considerations. Good luck!

 

buy a 360

 

Yes i agree with both.

 

Ha ha, well said. A practical decision for me would be 993tt, but I agree that cars like this have nothing to do with practical anyway so 355 it is

 

My F355B has been more reliable and less expensive than my C4 Corvette GransSport.
It was essentially no more expensive than a regular automobile until I started taking it to race tracks and doing lap sessions--but I digress.

No, more like every 5 years, and/or just before you attempt to sell it.

There are enough things inside the engine (and the bay) that are SO MUCH more accessible with the engine out of the car, that in my opinion, you cannot do a proper major service with the engine in the bay. You can change the belts and plugs. But accessing the cams to change the seals, setting the cam timing, setting the belt tension, looking for hoses that are at the end of their life times, checking the radiators for early signs of leaks, just can't be done properly with the engine in the bay. You should also check all of the rubber boots, inside and outside and the transmisison shift boot, the exhaust system, the Cats. Look around for frayed wiring, clean up any rust, make sure the grounds are clean completely servicible.

The key word above is 'properly'

What you are tryinig to do is make the engine bulletproof for another 3-5 years, not just switch the belts. It will negatively impact your love affair in a big way, if you are driving home to the parents house and a little water hose inside the top of the engine blows and takes 5 hours of labor (at $100/hr) to get at a $0.50 part.

Also note, these cars ar between 15 and 11 years old at this point, so all rubber, hoses, and plastic inside the bay should be suspect until observed to be servicible.

In addition, during a major, you should clean (steam or pressure wash) the engine bay, redo the valve covers in crinkle finish, check the headers and the rest of the exhaust, clean the outsides of the engine, transmission, suspensioin arms, access the ABS timing mechanism and clean any brake dust from these areas, check the exhaust shields for deterioration; and renew anything that is not going to survive another 5 years. In short, return the engine bay to where it was when it left the factory. These are not gonna 'appen with the engine in the bay for a belt swap.

 

Having owned mine since new (99) I echo Mitch's findings.

It's really not as bad as some make it out to be.

Plus its one of the best looking, best sounding, and most fun to drive cars out there.

 

Research any car on an Internet forum and you will more often than not come up with a huge list of potential issues, that's the way it works, people come to these forums for help with a problem and that transcends into a huge amount of threads on issues and very few report the many positive experiences. Also tied in with this you have a lot of speculation regarding potential issues, people read that valve guides fail in these cars and repeat that over and over....often with no personal experence whatsoever.
The other side to that is, here we have a large group of very knowledgeable people including true Ferrari experts who distribute there knowledge and work to improve the fleet of cars around the world. There is huge value in that.

I love my car and I have had a great ownership experence so far.

 

Mitch:

I haven't heard this one before. Could you elaborate?

Thanks,

Scott

 

I love this. I am going to go out on a limb and guess that you cannot actually add ownership experience to the discussion?

My favorite rationalization is that of spending significantly more on a car in the hopes of spending less in maintenance. Let's see, I can spend 25 thousand more on a 360 in hopes of saving that over time? Good luck with that.

I love my 355, worth the money to own for certain. It has to be the best bargain in a true exotic car (no 911 is exotic).

 

James perfectly said

 

Ideally you bring an authorized Ferrari, and always make an annual review within 5 years or 50k km take the engine for maintenance. As I live in a country whose parts are a theft charge in which an F1 Complete Power Unit $ 50,000.00 (50 thousand dollars) and a flywheel $ 15K (15 thousand dollars) because of the taxes here, and yet have the courage to have a 355, I do not see any problem you venture in your country with this beautiful machine.

 

Parts 10 and 32 on
http://www.ricambiamerica.com/parts_catalogs.php?M=FE&P=&V=diag&I=1382

The compartments these sensors sit within can get clogged up with brake dust and this interferes with the sensors ability to read the speed of that wheel. This happens expecially when you track the car a lot. Just open up the compartment and brush and blow the crud out. Does not have to be surgically clean.

 

Very well put.

 

Don't think of it as a chore. Every 5 years you get to admire the drivetrain & make it look showroom again. I actually used to enjoy getting under my Ferrari in the garage & polishing up the underside of the engine compartment. A big part of the magic of these cars is what's under the hood. I would buy an F1 engine to display in my living room if I could! Actually I think I enjoy staring at engines more than porn these days...

 

Suggestions and recommendations..the rest is up to you..do service now, take risk or be "smart" or "safe"

 

Being the first and only owner, that is pretty incredible!

 

+ 1

 

Wow. That is so well said...

 

+ 100

The 355 is all passion and emotion. Test drive one and you will be hooked, my friend. You will really "love" this car when it treats you well. This trumps all of the heartache of the car if you have the money to support it and take care of it.

 

Look, there was a post a couple months ago from, I believe one of our Vegas brothers on his first two years of ownership.

I am on my second year of ownership like him and my costs thus far have eerily mirrored his.

First year was approximately $20,000 to make the car right.

I'm in my 4th month of my second year with ZERO out-of-pocket costs.

I will post a 2-year review in July 2010.

There are parts on the 355 that WILL need to be replaced. If those are replaced, it seems that most of the 355s on this site tend to be reliable. I do know that the 3 CELs I got my first year that cost over $2k in shop time to diagnose and "temporarily" repair were all related to my cats, headers, and O2 sensors. Guess who hasn't seen those pesky P1430 and P1190 CEL codes since...?

Buy the car. Drive the car. Drive the car. And, oh yeah, DRIVE THE CAR!

 

Yes, yes, yes....and YES!