Dear Ferrari Botherhood Since 2010 I am a very happy owner of the most beautiful 550 Maranello. A car in rosso corsa, tan leather, FHP and scuderia-shield the car in my teenage-dreams had and now I own exactly this combination. Now, since the US-Dollar compared to the Swiss Franc is basically at no charge I was planing to do one of those "resonable brain decisions" and buy myself a beautiful F355 Spider in America. I would combine the purchase with a US-trip, a bit like the Euro-Trip in the Maranello forum. Now some of my friends have told me that the 355 in the US is much different from the European version. They said it has less HP due to lower compression, due to lower octane fuel in the US. Can somebody tell me if that is true and if so, what other differences a US-model has compared to the EURO cars. Thank you for your help Marc
The only ones I can think of off-hand are the front/side marker lights and an ABS system cut-off switch on the center console in the Euro models. BS on compression and any real HP/torque differences,
I imagine Swiss compliance will be complex as their requirements are neither US nor Euro possibly new windows lights & exhaust
According to the October 1994 road test by Road & Track magazine, the European market F355 was/is rated at 380bhp (SAE), only 5hp more than the US model. This is most likely due to less restrictive catalysts and the better quality fuel available. Euro models had the same 11:1 compression ratio.
Thank you for the answers. A Friend of mine imported a 360 and he told me the US car has a special exhaust gas recirculation that the EU model does not have. I am not sure if he is correct and also I don't know if this makes any difference to the driving-sensation. would anybody happen to know what he means?
If anything, the Swiss car may be slower because of the more restrictive intakes hurt more than the less restrictive bypass cats help. . Image Unavailable, Please Login
