Excuse me if this is a duplication, but thought I should post this in all the specific forums. My search did not uncover what I was looking for so forgive me if this is covered elsewhere. Feel free to refer me to existing threads as appropriate...I have owned two, a 348 Targa and 355 Spider and now thinking about re-entering the Ferrari world but having trouble with the choice. My love is not top speed but performance, pushing the limits (safely of course) on challenging mountain roads. To do so you need a car that clings to the road in the hairpin turns with enough power to keep up the pace as you continue to climb when leaving the turn or taking advantage of the rare opportunity to overtake the tourist ahead. The 348's 300hp was just enough. It was beautiful and reliable (mostly) but the hard ride aggrevated my bad back, and no matter what they say about weight distribution, the manual steering below cruise speed was a pain. The 355 was almost as road loving, certainly more comfortable, power steering a blessing and the extra HP a joy. Unfortunately mine had more electrical problems then you could imagine and I swore never another one. Now I am almost back, but want to keep costs manageable. My considerations are the Mondial cabrio or the 328 Targa (It must be open air for max. appreciation of the mountains). I have yet to be able to put either through their paces, but I am sure you can guess my concerns...do they have sufficient power for my purposes, particularly the older ones...can they handle the turns (particularly the Mondial)...and are they reliable (is it true what they say about the Mondial electrical issues)? I realize these are different cars and you may find the choices unusual, but I find the Mondial a beautiful car. I enjoy the luxury part. I love a cabrio and the uniqueness of the 2+2 is a big appeal for me. Of course, it depends on how much performance I will be sacraficing. The 328 (I assume the 308 not enough power for me), well it seems to be one of the best cars they ever built. Price wise, in my area, the Mondial seems to be stable. The 328 huge swings and I honestly can not figure out why. In any event, what ever experiences you can share and comparisons you can make to the 348 or 355 would be of great help.
Well, I have already written this before so I try not to repeat myself but: basically, the lukewarm reaction to the arrival of the 348 on the market, in Europe at least (I do not have archives of US magazines) was that its performance in acceleration and pick-up under 100 miles per hour was exactly the same as the 328 it intended to replace, but no better; and that even below 60 miles per hour, the 328 accelerated a smidge better...only above 100 mph did the additional 30 hp of the 348 make some difference. This comes of course from the two cars having almost exactly the same power to weight ratio, as the 348 is indeed more powerful, but heavier. We had a discussion on a french forum, a few weeks ago, with a friend who has the two cars, and bought the two new (328 and 348) and he fully agrees, saying that, on twisties and small roads, as the 328 is lighter and a bit smaller, he prefers that one. Note that his 328 is an euro car, so does not have catalysator. So, provided that you are comparing the two same versions (i.e, 328 GTB to 348 TB; or 328 GTS to 348 TS), the 328, performance-wise, will not be too much of a backwards move. Of course, we are discussing cars that are now about 25 years old, so a tenth of a second here or there is relative... Compared to the 355, performance wise the 328 is of course not in the same league... Regards,
