Newbie with 348 Questions

How many of the non-348 owners have actually driven a 348? Are they just regergitating what was written 15 years ago?

Read some of the threads on this site of real 348 owners. I personally would not trade mine for a 328 or a 355. I have owned a 308, Porsche, and 2 corvettes. My 348 handles and brakes as well as the Porsche 993. Not as much torque as a C4 Corvette, but as fast and as easy to drive. Still there is something about a Ferrari. As far as 308/328 a 348 is miles ahead as far as handling and torque. Mine shifts just as well as my old 308. As far as a '89 vs '92 or later, there were several updates to the car. Some will claim that the '89 was just as good, but look for a later model or one that has had the updates.

You have to remember the 348 is getting to be 12 - 15 years old. It will not keep up in a staight line with most newer sports sedans from lexus, infinity, or bmw.

 

I've posted this before but its faster to put it up again - I was in the market for a 328 when I drove a 348ts. I had driven a 328 already - IMHO no comparison, loved I mean LOVED the 348 as soon as I sat in it (my head didn't hit the roof for starters) and it had gobs more torque (based on my butt-dyno). Finally the car I drove had a Tubi and the noise was spectacular compared to the 328. As a convertible guy, I just said the hell with it and found some more money to get a late 348 spider. Now I want some other f-cars but I just can't see not having my car.

I hear you on the joyrides, but once you are in the market you do owe it to yourself to try the cars you're interested in. I read all of the horror stories about the 348 - car wasn't even on my radar until I drove one. I've had a couple of the usual 348 issues and a couple unique to my car. Costs what it costs to fix, but since I drive my car a lot I am amortizing that expense over a lot of fun. I do think that all things being equal you should go for the later cars, however a lot of the early ones will have had at least some of the obvious upgrades done like spacers that really (should) narrow the difference.

FWIW I've also driven a couple of 355s, one quite some time ago and the other with some gusto around the track at Siracusa in Sicily last year. I absolutely will add a 355 GTS or maybe a '95 challenge car as some point, but in addition to and not in replacement of my 348 spider.

Cheers
Kev

 

I've driven one, and I think they are WAY underappreciated. This is coming from a 360 owner. I wouldn't mind owning one at all, especially like Andy's.

 

The 308's, 328's, Mondials, and 348's are ideal entry-level Ferraris. If you've owned (and used) a high performance boat or aircraft, then you already have a grasp of the maintenance/time/effort involved outside of just piloting the beasts, so you're ahead of the game.

These are the classic Ferrari V-8's (as opposed to vintage V-8's, modern V-8's, Supercar V-8's ala F-40, Ferrari flat-12 and V-12's, etc.). They are essentially hand-built, with all that entails, but which also means that everything hand-assembled can be hand-disassembled, making them dead easy for a novice mechanic to fix, tune, and tinker on.

There aren't any "deal-breaker" flaws with those V-8's. The same can't be said for all Ferrari flat/V-12's and modern V-8's...which shouldn't rule out the newer/bigger Ferraris, but in my opinion that isn't where you should *start* for your first F-car.

Get one of the above, drive it in your style (e.g. daily-driver or track car or street fighter or garage queen), and then you'll have a reasonable idea if that's the love of your F-car dreams or if you need to step up to a newer or bigger F-car.

The 308's, 328's, Mondials, and 348's are not going to depreciate enough to cause you concern, so trading up or out (Heaven forbid!) shouldn't be a problem.

To me, the catless Euro 308's, Mondial-T with clutchless Valeo system (but stick shift!), and all 348 variants (TS, TB, Spyder, GTS, GTB, Challenge, Competizione, SS, Competizione LM) are especially enticing for an Enthusiast.

They all drive very well. If you demand power steering and power adjustable shocks then the later Mondial's are really your only option, though.

 

Who wouldn't want Andy's. Amazing with new paint. I appreciate your comment and not bashing the 348.

 

I have owned my 348 for almost 18 years. Along the way there have been a TR, 308, Mondial t and an F40. The 348 has stayed.

 

I have a friend that drove my 348 after his 308 and he was amazed at the technological difference. The 348 is just so much more modern and better handling. 308's are now classic sports cars. You buy them for this reason. If you want performance, get a 348.

 

You are my new best friend I sold a "fast but blah" car & bought my 348.

People who bash the 348 haven't driven one. IF they have, it was a salvaged wreck with leaking head gaskets... or they only went up to 2500 RPMs! NO WAY can you drive these things & not smile at least once.

As a bonus, the car is basic & refined as a sports car should be. There aren't a ton of gadgets to become obsolete in two years (such as the $10,000 I threw away at Infiniti on their "tech package", only to obsoleted next year by the hard drive based mp3 system & touch screen).

 

The 348 makes a great entry Ferrari. I have one of the earliest, and have had little problems with it. The condition of the car and good maintenance and repair records are helpful. Shifting a 348 is no more difficult than the other Ferrari's I have driven (except for a 360). Once the engine is warmed up the shifting is very smooth and easy (to me). There are lots of changes to the model through the years, some good, some not. I was not aware of them when I was shopping, but to me the updates are not really an issue. The car looks much better to me in person than it ever did when I was looking at pictures online.
CAUTION: Only go to look at the car if you are ready to buy or you will spend many sleepless nights thinking about the purchase!
Obligatory 1989 348ts photo attached:

BT
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The 348 is a total package car: it won't be the best in any category, but it does very well in most! This is one of the real values of the 348. You get the brand, the visceral ride, the screaming 8000 RPM shifts, the exotic look-- all for a fraction of a new 430. And you are driving one of the few brands that STILL garners near religous zeal wherever you go.

Don't let all the negative press fool you. Unless you are a trained driver, you will probably never approach the limits of what this car can do, both in handling and performance. It is trite, but the 348 really does reward the driver that learns its nuances. Until you can take the car out and keep the RPMs over 4500 through each turn and straight, you can't begin to understand what the car is truly like. This is in contrast to many newer sports cars that you can pretty much stomp on the gas and get the same ride each time- nothing to learn, just sterlie "go fast."

One of the most frequent complaints I hear about the 348 is that its "underpowered." Keep in mind that's a relative term. Have you ever ridden in a go cart? Those only have 5 HP but you still feel like you are flying right? Same type of feeling in a 348.

Plenty of cars are faster, especially straight line. I could care less really; my days of street light racing are long gone. I learned long ago that you will NEVER be the fastest, so quit worrying about it and find a car that you enjoy. Consider that there are dozens of real, street cars (Ford, Chevy, imports) at the local dragstrip that would smoke most supercars in a 1/4 drag, so if speed is all you want, a Ferrari is a lousy choice.

Frankly, compared to track cars almost all street cars are underpowered.

The bottom line is that the 348 is a great all-around car for the money. Ferraris have a heritage and a mystique that outweighs numbers and metrics in a magazine.

I think much of the disdain toward the 348 is a result of missing the true beauty of the car: it is a rare exotic in that it is not (and was not ) the BEST at anything, but instead, it remains very good at everything- price, performance, styling, comfort, reliability, ease of maintenance, handling, tuning and depreciation by today's standards. Not bad for an 18 year old car.

 

Soooo well said whyte! Visit http://www.club348.com/technical/Tech/348.html DKHIGHPERF, No Doubt has created the definitive resource for 348s. Love mine.

 

I am also considering purchasing a 348 in the (hopefully) near future. Can anyone recommend a reliable garage/mechanic that does maintenance on these cars in the Ottawa, Ontario area?

 

The king of all 348's!
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166425
Check it out! Nitrous, velocity stacks, a 6 speed trans from a 355, custom everything!

BT

 

I agree with 100% of your sentiments. You have to own a 348 to appreciate one. It's not hard to see why 348 owners love their cars.

 

I considered the whole 308-328-348-355 range initially (360 was beyond my 'play money' budget at the time, although they've dropped a lot and I could probably do one now) and ended up going with the 328.

If you're set on a 348, just know what its quirks are. The 'skittish' handling is fixable with spacers, and the cheap interior can be fixed/redone (the recent Forza article had a 348 redone in Schedoni leather). The ones I've been in had the OEM interior and it's unimpressive, other than being in a Ferrari. A lot of people hate the styling, thus prices are low, but you have to decide what you like. The single timing belt design is, to put it kindly, suboptimal due to the catastrophic damage that can result from deferred maintenance or bad luck. All the V8 through the 360 have rubber timing belts, but the 348's design is more worrisome. C-pillars develop stress cracks (fixable with body filler/paint), cats need replacing with some frequency, early design engine electronics are fickle, etc. Deal breakers? Depends on your patience and how much you like the car. (Patience is something you'll need for any older Ferrari, btw...)

The 328 doesn't have the same roster of issues, and its looks are more widely admired, so prices are comparable or even higher. Given your description, I think you might find a 328 to deliver a pure, involving driving experience, with fewer headaches than any Ferrari other than a very recent one. The big (justified) complaints about the 328 are that its performance numbers are mediocre now and the cockpit can be cramped for taller drivers.

The happy 348 owners I know are pretty hands-on with their cars, meaning they can troubleshoot electrical gremlins and the usual 'old car stuff that goes wrong'. They are more complicated cars than the old 308-328, but simpler than the 355 (which can be a fast, beautiful money pit). Is the extra 40bhp worth it? Your call.

As far as character goes, all these Ferraris are great. 350Z, S2000, NSX, etc., are nice cars to bang around in, but there's a drama to any Ferrari that you simply don't get in Japanese cars. Porsches have their own appeal, but they are not exotics (for better and for worse).

I don't mean to sour you on the 348, because I actually like the exterior design, as you've read here some guys really enjoy them. But given the means to buy either I followed my heart and the recommendations of two Ferrari techs in SoCal and went with the 328. I do think it's a better car overall, although both are old cars now and will need much of same stuff renewed just due to age. I also have a hunch (take it with a grain of salt) that 328s will not be 'entry-level' cars 4-5 years from now, as they are sought after. It's also a somewhat famous car, and much loved by car buffs and even the average 14 year old kid who wasn't around when it was built.

Good luck either way, and definitely buy one if you have the itch. There's something about walking out to the garage and having a Ferrari sitting there, ready for a run, that just defies description.

 

That was exactly my point above. Alot of the negative comments are by someone who read something somewhere and just regurgitates it. They have never owned a 348. I have owned mine 3 years and have no issues.

I have no handling issues even on the track. No I don't run spacers! Interior looks great. Some sticky parts, but those were carried over to the 355, so issue on more than just 348's. Iterior is much more modern and user friendly compared to my old 308. Timing belts? Rarely do you read about a timing belt failure. It is catastrophic. I don't read about 348 failing anymore than other models. F-car owners are paranoid about that, but seems extremely rare on this chat site that anyone reparts failure. No stress crack in my c-pillars and no cat failure. I did have a cat failure in my 26K mile 308 though.

 

Richard, I don't know your car, or your driving style. My comments are based on friends' 348s (actual cars I've been in, seen and corresponded about), not FChat posts. These problems obviously do not occur on every car, except the sticky interior, but they are common enough in SoCal that I have seen them in person in a sample size of fewer than 10 cars (no Spiders). The cracking occurs at the base of the C-pillar where it joins the deck.

BTW, even the 360 has issues with sticky plastic on the vents. Incredibly, Ferrari used junk plastics even through that model.

I didn't know 308 cats were prone to early failure, but will keep an eye on the one in my 328 as it's closing in on 24K miles now. An F'Chat'er whose car I looked at when he bought it needed new cats at <20K miles and the mechanic doing the work, at Symbolic, explained to me that 348s tend to need them much sooner than 328s. He may have been wrong - he didn't personally own a 348, just worked on Ferraris in the shop.

I don't want to 'bash' the 348, but was a bit concerned that the OP was reading praise from the hardcore 348 faithful who are comfortable with some of the car's imperfections. Some of us looked, drove, researched and decided to buy other models.

 

You can prevent the cat failures by getting them tested. First remove the stock cats. Then put them in a cardboard box. Put test pipes on in place of the cats. Eventually you will get the stock cats tested, or sell the car in which case you wold reinstall them. In CA you would need the cats to pass inspections but here in FL you don't so you can get them tested anytime.

I think much of what is said about 348 should be taken with a grain of salt. No Ferrari is really cheap to own. A bad example of any Ferrari model will be really expensive to own. The average maintenance is cheapest on the 328 / 308 line. Then the 348, then the Mondial T, then the 355. We 348 owners get ticked because we often feel that the initial bad press (which is debatable) raised issues that have long been resolved, and we keep hearing about them. Twitchy handling? Maybe so, I have spun my car a few times when I first got it. I put the Hill Engineering spacers on and have not had the problem since then. I would not want to drive the car 150 MPH plus, but that is me. Bad electrical system? I had a mechanic rewire the through the door pin connector so there is no issue with that. It cost me $250. I also had the mechanic do some reqiring on the A/C blower. Another $250. A common upgrade for any 308 is to get new fuseblocks to replace the factory ones. Italian wiring in general is not the most robust, so chances are good you will have some electrical problems with any Ferrari that you might own. I kind of enjoy getting the car in really good condition, and then drive it for fun (not racing). Go see some of each model and see what floats your boat. If you are buying an early car, it is 18 years old. Any grmlins that have not been worked out indicate an uncared for car to me. Other than that, they are getting to be the age where the rubber window seals etc... are starting to dry out and will need replacing. The same goes for the 328 and 308 cars. Once you get past that, it is just another older car that someone either cares about or will thrash until it is not worth keeping. The funny thing is that when I drive the 348 I feel like it is a fairly new car.

BT

 

I think I have come to the conclusion that Bullfighter is not a fan of the 348

How can you not like it, what is there not to love?
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He likes it...he's just playing hard to get.

 

That is a great shot of your car Chris. I now see just how wide that rear rubber is.

But back to the topic. I'm a car freak. I've been in love with cars since I was a kidd. I've driven and owned lots of cars, but my favorite up till now is my '79 Corvette and my '73 914. The rubber bumper C3 Corvettes (74-82) is probably the least loved among Corvette enthusiasts. The 914 is called a NARP by Porsche enthusiasts (not a real Porsche). Now I own a 348, the only Ferrari I've seen dogged and treated badly by the press and some Ferrari enthusiasts. I take the top out, head up to Harris Grade, and take a couple of corners in second near red line. There is only one thing that feels better than that, and it is the most fun I can have by myself. I'm glad I made the least popular choices for my car collection. I couldn't be happier. If I didn't own a 348, I'd be figuring out a way to get one. I love it, my wife loves it, my kidds love it, all my friends and co-workers love it, and I'm very happy. Go for it.
Bee Jay

 

Well your 348 went from nice and clean.............. to fantastic when you did the new wheels ..........though if your car was nero, it would be even better !!!....................... right Bullfighter..... ??!!

The 348 is a solid f-car I actually pondered one... but my reservations at that time were tailights, wheels and horsepower........ .......

However, after spending time in this forum......I can honestly say the best part of the 348, are the owners !!!

 

Goth, you're gonna get a 348 to keep ur Spider company - you know u r. You cannot resist the Brotherhood. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile!