Ferrari 348 TB - Ways to lose money

Obviously written by a misinformed complete idiot than has never owned or driven a 348.

 

Let me save everyone the time:


Let me begin by saying there is no good reason to want a Ferrari 348. There are better, cheaper cars, and ones that don’t have the stigma of one of the world’s most embarrassing brands.


If you buy a ’90s Ferrari, your friends will think you’re an idiot, and generally shame you for spending too much money on the most greedy car of an already greedy decade. Nothing says poor judgement and ill-gotten gains like a 1990s Ferrari.

Old Ferraris like this live almost exclusively in air conditioned garages, getting a few free weekends a year to stretch their legs, chauffeuring their midlife crisis owners to a car show.

The 348 in particular is a terrible car to buy because the contemporary NSX, what with its more advanced design and more polished road manners, is less jarring on long drives, less difficult to drive fast, and less expensive to own. Compared to cars today, the 348 is slower than a new Porsche Boxster. Not even the Boxster S. The 348 is also about as heavy as a contemporary Volvo 240 station wagon.

Still, I can’t help but lust for the Ferrari.

It’s an old-school design, skittish, nervous, fatiguing to drive. Reviewers praised its completely manual steering as not only in comparison to its contemporary rivals, but to all of Ferrari’s V8 midengined cars. They said that it is uncomfortable to sit in and to drive for longer than a couple of hours.

It is a 300 horsepower Ferrari with a manual transmission, manual steering, and a complete lack of computer-controlled
systems.

It’s also gorgeous. The front overhang is too big and it has a fat waist with those ugly strakes, but it’s not even 14 feet long, it doesn’t have cliche’d round taillights and it has the beautiful curves of a neat, old Pininfarina design.

The 348 is a very poorly remembered Ferrari, for being replaced by the much-loved Ferrari 355 and for being beaten by the NSX, a car that is currently enjoying the warm glow of today’s Ayrton Senna-worship. I want to hear the Ferrari’s V8 wailing away, though, on some dark forested road, ideally one far, far away from any McMansions or car shows.

At least buying an maintaining an old Ferrari of any kind is so ruinously expensive that I’ll never really have to live with the pains of making this fantasy real.

________________________

Photo Credits: Jason V put up these pictures on his Flickr page, showing the 348 Challenge races at Mosport in 1994 and 1995.

For Reference:

If you share some curiosity for the Ferrari 348 and you want to read some reviews, here is a classic review from CAR Magazine in 1990 of the 348tb vs. a Porsche 911, an Esprit Turbo and an NSX.

Autocar tested the 348tb back in 1990, here.

CAR Magazine tested the updated 348 in 1993 against an updated Lotus Esprit, here.

And EVO Magazine tested the new 458 Italia against the 308, the 355, the 360, the 430, and the 348, here.

Jeremy Clarkson also tested the 348 back on Old Top Gear, here.

 

I consider myself lucky to have such a "bad" ferrari
I must be easy to impress , i love everything about it .

" serenity now "

 

Maybe that "journalist" should try to become a professional birdsucker: He could succed better than as a journalist...

( in italian bird means also what we all men have between our legs)

Ciao

 

Those who risk nothing gain nothing. This will be the one sitting on his deathbed and thinking "...I should have bought that Ferrari."

 

Well...he hasn't owned one, so I guess I can cut him some slack. I would guess he hasn't driven one either. Of course, the other side of that is, how can one have such strong ideas and escape criticism regarding said ideas with absolutely zero experience in the car in question?

I doubt many people read this stuff anyway.

 

Here is the deal with the 348.

Ferrari had the mentality of "build it and they will come". Which for the most part was true. So they where a bit sloppy with the 348. The steering was well designed, as was the engine, and the unibody. But it could have been better.

Then came the NSX and all of a sudden Ferrari realized that the "build it and they will come" philosophy was no longer any good. That they HAD to build a car that would perform to match the price tag.

So what did Ferrari do?

Did they design a completely brand new car? No because they that would some how invalidate their design and engineering of the 348. How would Ferrari prove that they were correct with the engineering of the 348? Why they would take a 348 and refined it into the 355. They put a better gearbox in it (6 speeds) to help with acceleration, improved the breathing of the engine and gave it 1000 more rpm to help with the power output, tweaked the suspesion just a little bit to help with handling, and put on slightly bigger wheels for better grip, oh yeah and some power steering to make it a little easier on the arms. Ferrari did this all while maintaining the basic core of the original design. And *presto* a Ferrari right off the show room floor that can out perform an NSX right off the show room floor. Oh, and lets not forget to mention THE best sounding stock V8 Ferrari has ever produced. I have NEVER heard ANY NSX that sounds like an F1 car, EVER, and seriously doubt I ever will.

Guess what? You can do the same thing to a 348?

Pull the suspension bits off a wrecked 355 and bolt them to a 348, take the wheels of a 355 and bolt them to a 348, get the shocks revalved, and *viola* the 348 handles just as well as a 355 and maybe even better. Get your throttle bodies ported, intake runners ported, put on some headers, high flow catalytic converters, free flow exhaust, maybe even some better injectors, get the edu tuned, and bingo, you have a 348 that makes more power under the curve than a 355.

If you don't want to fool with tweaking things on your own, then buy a 355, ready to go "off the shelf". But if you are like me, can do your own work and are a bit of a hotrodder at heart, then buy a 348 and have fun tuning it for more power. The 355 is a polished diamond, and the 348 is a diamond than needs polishing. Both still diamonds.

Ignorate articles like the one linked by the o.p. are what keep the 348 at sale prices. Better buy your 348 (diamond in the rough ) before they aren't so cheap anymore.

 

^^^^^^ bingo!!...

 

Seriously what is the point of this thread? It's just another fuel for the fire of 348 bashing that's very boring now. Make your own decisions and let it rest.

 

Your da man Ernie! Well stated.

 

The jealousy of success is growing.

Gone are the days when it was an accomplishment to attain the best of something.

All I read here was a poseur who had an opportunity to finally lash out the best way they could, since they couldn't afford it to begin with.

What a pity life this writer has.

 

Classic example of a guy who doesn't bother he's having it bad, what does bother him is that other people are having it so good.

I still believe people, especially journalists, should back their opinions with facts and experience. If you have the temptation of ranting on an issue you know little or nothing about, bite your tongue.

If someone asked me to write an article on nuclear physics, I'd make a mess and a fool out of myself. I know that, that's why I wouldn't embark on anysuch venture.

Kind regards,

Nuno.

 

This article is the same mentality that states that the Mustang GT is the best buy, and everyone is a fool to spend more if the performance "numbers" aren't as good. Of course driving a Mustang GT is as riveting as driving a Ford Taurus with more power, in my opinion.

 

My Taurus is better than a Mustang I can sit 5 people in it. I have said this before about my 355, its a waste of money. The more I drive it the less its worth and soon an engine out service is going to cost a fourth of the cars value. So what? I didnt buy it as an investment that would be stupid. Buying it because I love it love driving it and thats worth the cost of maint isnt stupid. I was cruising along the highway few weeks ago about 70 and a guy in a black hemi charger comes flying by at least 140mph..slows down I'm not changing speed mind you I pass him and cpl minutes later comes flying by at 140 again looking like he hit the lotto. I know your four door grocery getter is faster than my Ferrari. But its not a Ferrari. A Ferrari has a magic to it. A certain coolness or wow factor a Nissan or a Mustang GT or even a Corvette doesnt have..... This guy doesnt get it. But I doubt a guy with a mustang GT has strangers coming up asking if they can sit in it and get a picture taken..

 

Did none of you get the joke that he loves and lusts after the car but his practical side is trying to win out?

I read here every week owners saying exactly the same things far less elegantly written.


Did no one here grow up reading Mark Twain?

 

He may not get it but you are agreeing with him.

 

Mark Twain ? Is that a country musician ? Lol


" serenity now "

 

That's how I read it.

 

The whole article *IS* the joke.

What are the grounds for calling Ferrari the world's most embarrassing brands?

At least he has the decency of ackowledging he's whistling Dixie out of his @ss.

Kind regards,

Nuno.

 

As stated above, there is no "logic" in owning an Fcar...it is about passion. Logic is numbers, how fast and how much. How do you put numbers on those fabulous curves, the smell, sound and sensations. For me it is an addiction that I have tried to ignore thru logic. Logic dictated my 350Z was a better value....logic lost and I have never been happier!

 

I get the overall message of the article - it did not have to use a 348 as the object of the writer's passion vrs. logic dilemma. I don't like personally the use of the 348 as an example of the worst of the brand he so desires. I mean there's the Mondial (ducks and runs for cover) and the 400i, both of which have been largely ignored by the tifosi. The 308 GT4 is finally getting some recognition, deservedly so, but it was on that list until recently. I guess the 348 is an easy target, no thanks to the recently departed LdM.

Ernie's comments, nevertheless, are right on for making a case for 348 ownership. The car is actually the best model for tuning, if that's your thing. Works for me. I could never be satisfied with a 355 or higher model because of the trade-offs made for comfort, modern-ness and mass appeal. It's the rawness and the lack of refinement that draws me to the 348. It is difficult to describe, but my attitude stepping between a 348 and 355 changes substantially. So do my expectations. What do we like about older air cooled Porsches? What don't we get with the modern water cooled ones? Sure they're faster and better in every way, but they somehow do not satisfy our expectations of what a Porsche sports car should be. Same with the 348 vrs. a more model V-8 Ferrari. At least to me anyway. V-8 Ferraris should be like the new Alfa 4C - stripped for sports enthusiast driving and purposeful.

 

Except one problem I have with newer Ferrari V8s and the 4C... no manual. Now I know Ferrari argues that the F1 is more....well...F1 like (which I get) but as I am not racing, nor care about the extra second I gain in acceleration...I want my 3 pedals and stick shift. Is that wrong?

 

For a street car a true manual is the way to go, for a track car, or somthing like the 4C where it;s track oriented, an F1 is the way to go.
I have been converted after drivng a 430 scud. on a track. Just making it that much easier to shift, makes it that much easier to focus on going faster, at least for us mear mortals.

as for the 348 piece, psssfff, until you drive one, you dont know.

 

arent the 348 suspension arms the same as the 355? whats the difference?