long time Ferrari lover wants to be buyer

"use the power of the search feature you must"- Yoda

 

Welcome to fchat. You might fill out your profile, and also post the mechanic question in the regional forum for better responses.

For the goods and bads, check out the 348/355 forum and also probably the 328/308/Mondial forum on here. A lot of people aren't sure which one to get.

In general, the transverse V8 cars (308/328) are less expensive to maintain than the longitudinal V8 cars (348/355). All of the cars have their issues. A good web site for some ideas about costs is www.eugeniosferrariservice.com, because he's a reputable mechanic who lists his prices.

You might think about how much of your Ferrari lust is based on speed, overall driving enjoyment, and looks. The 308/328 aren't considered fast cars anymore, but a lot of people like the classic style. The 355 is quite a bit faster, but the service costs are pretty steep for a Ferrari V8.

 

Thanks for the tip. The service pricing is very informative. I am surprised at how close the service price for the 308/328 is to the 348. I am getting the major done on my 348 currently and was guessing what the cost would be.
BT

 

"now have the limited capability to buy one"

FWIW, if in fact your capability is "limited" wait a while until you can raise those limits.

Ferrari's are worse than women when it comes to expenses!

With limited purchasing power you'll suffer limited repair power, and the car's value and your enjoyment will be severly limited.

They are wonderful cars, but they do need attention at times.

 

love to do the work my self when possible. make sure you have great tools and don't hesitate to pull the trigger. for 90 % of us they are only going to be driven occasionally and not our everyday driver. when your everyday driver is a ferrari, that means you have too much damn money! enjoy it, use it and spend some of the best 2 hours every weekend cleaning it and always remember that there are 2 types of people in the world ferrari owners and those that wish they were. life is short, enjoy! my vote would be for a tr or 355 both similar as far as top speed. the tr is more manly and the 355 more everyday. and for what its worth when i had my tr and was in the fast lane everyone got out of my way, in the 355 no one does. makes you say hmm?

 

As Greg says, there's no luxury in owning a Ferrari if the first real issue is going to put a crunch in your finances. I had the "stretch budget" for an F355, but a nice margin to buy a 328/348 and not sweat 1 or 2 fairly major service visits right off the bat.

In general, the later years for a model are the best. Again, poke around this forum and you'll that '93-'94 348s are preferred to '89s, and '95 355s have different engine management electronics (Motronic 2.5) than the later ones (Motronic 2.7). The 348s are simpler cars (manual gearbox, manual tops, unassisted steering, etc.) so some of the big ticket items on 355s (F1 clutch, power top mechanism, etc.) aren't a factor.

 

I have only been on this site a little while, but I have been reading conflicting info re the F355 engine management system. Is the 2.5 or the 2.7 considered more reliable?

I think I read that the hp went down after 95 (but I could be wrong about that). I dont want to steal the thread; a simple answer would be great.

 

Actually I think the early 348 have Motronic 2.5, the later 348 have Motronic 2.7. The early 355 have Motronic 2.7 and the later 355 have Motronic 5.2. Most people as has been said here prefer the later year cars, but I have had very few problems with my early 348. Ingenere also has an early 89 348 and has had few problems. The build quality is supposed to be better on the later cars, but I am glad for the (relative) mechanical simplicity the earlier cars offer.

BT

 

As a fellow Indy resident who is enchanted by the F355, and someone who will own one by 2008, I can understand your plight. I was very close to getting a black F355 a couple of years ago because I could afford the car itself, but started to rethink if I could afford for the car to break. I determined that I was not ready yet and wanted to have more money in the bank for when something happened. With a Ferrari it is not an 'if', but is a 'when', with regards to repairs. So look at your finances and think about if you could afford to drop $10,000 right off the bat if something happened. Just a good reference point that I was told to use when I was looking for an F355.

 

I think you're right - I was confusing the Motronic (Moronic?) versions used on the 348 and 355.