Proof the 360 is better looking than the F355

Both are beautiful and very different looking cars. I'll take either if offered for free!

 

Having owned both, it really is a tough one to call. The 355 was the final evolution IMHO of the 308 design, while the 360 is a total breakaway. They are both beautiful, but the 360 does look a bit more modern. My favorite the 360CS, best looking Ferrari since the 288 GTO.

 

+1

I also have owned both. 355 F1 GTS and 360 F1 Spider.

 

I was never a fan of the 308 or 328 much. The 348 is good looking, but the F355 is gorgeous. The 360 has grown on me, but still not as good looking as the F355 imo. The CS made it closer to the F355, too. Still not a huge of an the F430, but it's okay I guess.

 

Unless you need the approval of others, it is best to state what design/styling elements you prefer and be secure in the knowledge that you do not have to justify it. And the best way to state what you prefer is to just buy it and be quiet.

 

That wouldn't be much fun on an internet chat room.



Darrell.

 

Thats why I said another...

 

Need more reason.... I agree.

 

Seriously, A Ferrari is a Ferrari. Each one of us have different opinions, no one is right or wrong. What we all have in common (most of us) is that we own a Ferrari. 30 to 50 years from now, everyone will look back to the 360 that started the modern exotic car period of the 2000's.

 

either you get this off-wit analogy as a coorelation or I'm on my own on this one:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tommy: Let's think about this for a sec, Ted, why would somebody put a guarantee on a box? Hmmm, very interesting.
Ted Nelson, Customer: Go on, I'm listening.
Tommy: Here's the way I see it, Ted. guy puts a fancy guarantee on a box 'cause he wants you to fell all warm and toasty inside.
Ted Nelson, Customer: Yeah, makes a man feel good.
Tommy: 'Course it does. Why shouldn't it? Ya figure you put that little box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter, am I right, Ted?
Ted Nelson, Customer: What's your point?
Tommy: The point is, how do you know the fairy isn't a crazy glue sniffer? "Building model airplanes" says the little fairy, well, we're not buying it. He sneaks into your house once, that's all it takes. The next thing you know, there's money missing off the dresser and your daughter's knocked up, I seen it a hundred times.
Ted Nelson, Customer: But why do they put a guarantee on the box?
Tommy: Because they know all they solda ya was a guaranteed piece of ****. That's all it is, isn't it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer's sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me.
Ted Nelson, Customer: [pause] Okay, I'll buy from you

 

Ferrari is no different than any other company when it comes to new product development. They learn from their successes and failures when creating new designs and try not to hang on to successes too long. They know that change is needed in order to keep the product fresh and innovative. That is why they went to the more aerodynamic 360 style.

Does it work for everyone, no. But if they didn't change, they would get stale and not bring in new interest into their product.

 

Excellent analysis. As an industrial designer, I think they are both beautiful designs, but the 360 is clearly a step forward. Amazingly, the 430 took two steps back with its incoherent mix of stylistic features.

From looking at these forums, I've learned that no amount of discussion can change pre existing opinions. Most people prefer more conservative products, hence the 355 clearly has the majority vote.

 

The 360 has the technology over the 355.... the variable cam timing and the all aluminum chassis. If the 355 had that too, it would be better ALL the way around not just in the appearance arena.

 

Sort of like arguing that Rosie O'Donnell is better looking than Janet Reno....

jack

 

I'll take a 360 or 355 over Rosie or Janet any day. Preferably over their heads.

 

Doesn't get any better than that!!!! 355!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Designs that have an inherent cohesiveness and balance are pleasing to the human eye, thus become preferred and popular, thus become "conservative".

E.g., the round taillights are pleasing because we associate light with round sources. And four taillights take up the right amount of real estate on the tail profile (So I agree with your F430 comment - the rear view is less cohesive, and you don't like it. Like most, you prefer the conservative 360 tail.)

I think you've got the logic backwards, though. Things become "conservative" because they serve our preference for cohesiveness and balance. Thing like the 348's taillights behind bars, or the single-mirrored Testarossa, are dissonant and tend to call a distracting degree of attention to themselves. Those "radical" designs go away. (Think tail fins on old American cars.)

FWIW, the 360 evokes for me a bit of the late Porsche 968: generally a hatchback profile in the rear, with large headlights set in pontoon fenders. Pininfarina made a much better job of it than Stuttgart did, but there is a sense that the team designing the front of the car and the team that did the rear may have been in separate cubicles.

The 355 is more "conservative" than its 308/328 ancestors, but its proportions are spot on -- very much as we all have our idea of the perfect female shape (we're "conservative" there - don't want much variation, except maybe for Bernie...). I would suggest that there is a proper shape for a mid-engined sports car, and the 355 is either it or damned close to it. There's no nonsense about it - louvres where they must be, tight fenders, clean lines, low deck line, low hoodline. IMO, additional bulges and swelling on the 360 diminish the tautness of the design, and the "beltine" is too forced around the nose of it.

The 355 is the little black dress of mid-engined sports car design (at least in the post 308/328 era - or maybe those were the negligees).

Again, a 360 is a pretty car - I'm not bashing it. And you can't argue with the engineering. But it makes aesthetic compromises in the name of performance/safety/convenience ("must carry golf clubs") and ultimately for all the things it does well it feels like Pininfarina might have been trying too hard to add some new things.

 

I like the 360 better than the 355 or the 430. The 355 is a beautiful car, certainly follows the bloodline of the 348 and 328 before it. As one of the first mid engine Ferrari in post-BBQ grill era, the 355 certainly made its mark in Ferrari history. In terms of design statement though, the Modena takes the cake. From the molded hearlamps, return of the shoulder intake, hideaway convertible top to the 'showcase' engine cover. The Modena is truly a amalgam of technology, engineering and aesthetic design statement.


My favorite design from Ferrari has always been the Dino, (which is 'kind of' a Ferrari I suppose) and the Modena definitely inherited the spirit of the original Dino.

 

It's really a catch 22. If you design a new model after the 308/328/355 and keep the same basic shape you get ripped for not being unique and innovative.

If you break the mold and design something completely different the old school fans will hate it while the new progressive people will find it refreshing and creative.

Either direction you go in someone will not be happy. Ferrari chose the later so they will not be labeled as stale, unlike the Mustang, Corvette, etc. There are still some basic design features that Ferrari will always hold onto on every new model in order to make it their own (the front badge, circular taillights, emblem). Everything else though, is fair game.

Engineering will always improve the engine performance, realiability, quality, etc. in their new designs. That's a given.

 

I think the 355 looks better than the 360 when viewed from the side, but I've never been a fan of hidden headlight cars so I don't like the front.

Viewed from the front, the 360 is the best looking car I've ever seen - just a drop dead stunning exotic car look. After viewing the front, however, the view from the side is a huge disappointment. Someone said it looks like a slightly-squashed jellybean from the side and I have to agree. Pinninfarina could have done a lot better from that angle, but I'm guessing they were trying to keep the drag coefficient down.

 

Newer should be better. That does not mean the older is bad, just not up to today's standards. Of course, the new will become old shortly.



12 cylinders or 16 cylinders

 

I think they both look great, i know that is a indecisive answer, but i think they are both stunning, esp. when seen in person. I think the F355 is just classic ferrari, low, wide, big crazy vents.

 

Yes indeed!!!

 

Is there a 'subscribe to thread to receive notification once a definitive conclusion has been reached' option?

Rob needs to add this.

 

Older is the new new. Always was, always will be.

Now, off to read about cracked headers on F430s...