Ferrari's V8 icons: new 488 GTB vs. classic 355

Love the article! Just recently acquired my first 355 and am admittedly biased, but it does my heart good to read. It was the sound of the car that got me. I was really looking for a 3x8 and begrudgingly accepted the offer of a drive in one (not that I needed my arm twisted that far) and that was the end of it.

 

Quick read, I enjoyed the article.

It could have easily been a single web page instead of 7 though.

 

Try driving a new super car without the electronic nannies. All the horsepower is unuseable without the computers.

 

You can switch off the ABS?

That's news to me .

 

F355 has it cornered from the sound and looks perspective, very hard to beat the 90's pininfarina styling.

 

In euro cars there's a button to shut it off, us cars you have to pull a fuse.

 

Right - it was in the same trim as the mirror control.

 

Thanks Pete. I thought that might be it after I posted that.

Do you pull that fuse when tracking?

 

Braking is probably where I have the least confidence in pushing the car at this point so it won't gain me anything until I get completely comfortable with them. Even then, the only time I've felt the abs kick in its when I knew I was going in too hot, so it's worth having.

 

Which is why F1 (and all those electronic driver aids) suck.

 

Agreed. I think F1 would be a lot better if they eliminated the electronics and limited the aero to one, single airfoil wing with flat endplates front and rear. Plus, the car would look better.

 

I've only ever felt the ABS intervene a handful of times. All have been at the track, hard braking for a 1st gear hairpin. Very unintrusive IMO.

 

Kinda like trying to fly an F15 without the computer.

In regards to Mitch's comment about F1 would it not be great if they gave extra horse power everytime you turned off a computer aid. Pretty soon nobody would use the computers.

 

Great article, a lot of good points.

I take corners on the street faster in my F355 than my 3 series, but only by a small margin.

Not that I don't think it's possible, just too many consequences.

I wouldn't attempt faster no matter how much more capable the car is.

Too much electronic intervention makes a car feel synthetic. I don't enjoy it, it's just not for me.

 

"Although it was the first Ferrari to feature a fully flat underfloor, the F355 was also the last to appear before aerodynamics overwhelmed aesthetics. It’s a beautiful, normally aspirated, mid-engined Ferrari with a manual gearbox."

Gotta add though that there are some of us Luddites who think that the 355 one step too far into the technologification of the marque.

 

It's not all about performance...the 355 is powerful enough to have a great time carving up the back roads in. It's an assault on your senses that the 488 comes nowhere close to replicating.

I'll just leave this video here...go ahead and compare it to the 488's exhaust (even with aftermarket options) and the 355 makes it sound like a dyson vacuum cleaner on steroids.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osqzb3J3Fic[/ame]

 

Yea, thats George in his 355 from many years back, he then bought a CS.
It did sound good, he also had the group M intake on it to.

 

Do you know the details of his exhaust setup? Was it a 95 or 96+?

I have a Gruppe M as well. Just a Tubi exhaust for now but would like to redo the whole system for a more aggressive F1 sound.

 

Heres his f355, i have been in it back in the day when we used to drive out together.. He also fitted 360 carbon fiber seats in.
Its a bit of a flash back because it was maybe 8 years ago
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Any real data on this gruppe M intake? Does it really make a difference?

 

Yes, it adds a bit of power (5?) and makes the engine bay look like butt.

There will be a much better option (producing more power and looking like it belongs there) soon.

 

Toda runs the stock intake setup after testing the Gruppe M saying that most of the gains are had in swapping out the paper filter with a K&N style filter. Big cost difference too. Id only run a Gruppe M on the 2.7 as it looks nice, the 5.2 one looks terrible and does not match the engine bay at all IMO.

 

That sounds exiting Looking forward to seeing that and the dyno sheet.
Can you tell us any more rob? Are you making it or a company?
I always thought the Group M 5.2 looked wrong my self, although the 2.7 version looks better.
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I sent you a PM.