This has probably been posted on here before but just in case.. makes a good read for any 355 owner! All the legend, the myth, the history and mystery in the world cannot distract from one single fact when it comes to Ferraris: they have to be pretty. Stat sheets can go on about power-to-weight ratios, structural stiffness, torsional rigidity and exotic materials all day long, but if the car looks like a moose, then it's a moose - an offence made all the worse if it's supposed to be a prancing horse. The 348 that preceded the 355 was not an especially ugly car, but it also wasn't especially pretty. The slats down the side echoed the Testarossa - not a good thing - so it looked dated even when it was brand new. And it certainly wasn't a hit, performance-wise. In fact, much was made of the news that Honda launched the NSX at the same time, and it appeared to be, in every single way, better than the Ferrari. The 355 was Ferrari's answer. Beauty and power came together and are still very much in evidence today. I'm not one for getting all gooey about Ferraris in general, but there is undeniably something that happens deep inside when you see that yellow badge on a V8 or a steering-wheel boss. Ferrari: the name carries so much weight, even to those who, like me, have never had - nor wanted - a hat with the brand on it. And, my God, the 355 is pretty. It shared almost every dimension with the 348, but the body was all-new and its sculpting had involved a rumoured 1,800 hours of wind-tunnel testing. But there's little sense of form following function here; it's too pretty for that. If anything, the 355 has somehow got more attractive in the 19 years since it arrived. Inside, I get a reminder that all Ferraris go through a phase when they are not classic - they're just old Fezzers. I'd say that the 355 is coming through that and entering the classic stage of its life. In true Ferrari form, the interior has dated well, but perhaps not aged so well. Scruffy leather and the patina of age works well in a classic luxury car - an old Bentley, say, or a Jag - but less so in a Ferrari. But the layout, the design and the feel of it all scream of their own time and, while not fooling anyone that they were drawn yesterday, still have something to say about their period in car design... almost the definition of a classic, in fact. The mid-mounted 380bhp V8 revs to 8,250rpm and sounds satisfyingly guttural and raucous when it does so. It's a Ferrari, so while it has to be pretty, it can't afford to be slow either. And it's quick, it really is. The headlines, 0-62mph in 4.7 seconds and a top speed of 183mph, are both perfectly acceptable, thank you. The way it delivers those is what it's all about. The bark and fizz of the V8, the click-clack through that iconic, shiny H-gate - it's all there. It's a Ferrari and feels it. The engine and suspension all received major updates to produce the 355, and the gearbox too, with a six-speed manual operated, of course, through that sculptural gear selector. It feels all those things a Ferrari needs to feel; it's a taut thoroughbred, and you get the sense too that, once you've overcome the inevitable nerves that can flutter at any encounter with any Ferrari, the thing is biddable and usable, with perhaps just a touch of fragility to keep things special. There's a huge amount of love for the F355, with some claiming it pretty much saved the company from the doldrums in the early Nineties, others that it was the car that finally shifted the old-fashioned and faintly stuffy conviction amongst the Ferraristi that the only proper' Ferraris were the V12s. Some, including F1 champion Phil Hill, named it as one of the 10 best Ferraris ever. A landmark car, then, in the story of a legendary carmaker. Not bad for around £55k now. Words: Richard Hammond
While on the subject, here's a column from Clarkson on his 355. (Clarkson on: his other half - BBC Top Gear) You may already know that I am running my fifth Jaguar. Except I'm not. Yesterday, it was put on to the back of a trailer and taken back to the factory so that engineers may determine why it is stuck in Park and why the computer has decided it's a goose. Or a cabbage. Certainly, it's forgotten it's supposed to be the engine's silicon heart and managed, in a nanosecond of savagery, to destroy every single function in the car. Even the speedo didn't work. It's a shame for two reasons. Firstly, it's the only time in three years that a Jag has let me down and secondly, it means I'm forced to using the mistress. The Jaguar, I see as a wife. It is racy at night when no-one's looking, intelligent in company and yet in a traffic jam, it's happy to sit there sewing name tags on the children's jumpers. Whereas the Ferrari is fantastic at swinging from the chandelier with red suspenders on, but it's not exactly an ideal companion when the painters are in and there's nothing on the telly. It would have no clue what to do with an iron, and consequently I only ever use it for high days and holidays. In the last four years, it's only done 6,000 miles. The thing is, though, that this week I've had to use it. And after a couple of runs to London and quick trips to Lincolnshire and Farnborough, something has occurred to me. It is not a mistress at all. It is, in fact, the most reliable car I have ever owned. Fair enough, the battery does have a habit of going flat, but only after the car has sat in its bedroom, powering its own burglar alarm, for a couple of months. And yes, the targa roof does squeak, but that's my fault for buying a GTS. It should have been the GTB. The thing is, though, that mechanically, it's up there with a wind-up radio. Every August it goes to a dealership in Egham where they top up the oil, change the plugs and peel away all the dirt I've accumulated over 12 months, and then it comes back again. On its third birthday, I admit, they had to remove the engine in order to change the belts. But while this was expensive, it was also routine. You're told about it when you buy the car and that's why you see so many 2.9-year-old 355s in the secondhand columns. Also, it gets noticeably out of tune. It isn't as fast just before a service as it is just afterwards. And the throttle pedal gets sticky if it isn't greased regularly. But you can offset this against tyre wear. My car has been thrashed round Castle Combe a couple of times. It went to the Nürburgring to show that upstart Skyline a thing or two and Tiff has donutted it around an airfield. And still the Bridgestones are legal. It just goes to show that with a well sorted chassis, the tyres grip rather than slide. And so they don't wear so fast. Excluding the price of fuel, but including insurance, I would say the 355 costs less than £1,200 a year to run, and that's pretty good value. Then we get to the thorny question of depreciation. Every time I see [former TG presenter] Quentin Wilson, he rabbits on and on about how I must sell soon because prices are plummeting, but that's the difference between him and me. He sees a car as an entry on his company's balance sheet. I see it as a family pet, and you don't put down the dog the first time it sneezes. Besides, what would I buy instead? I am adamant, and I now have a selection of racing drivers on my side, that the 360 is just too twitchy, which means I'd have to buy another 355. So, Quentin, go f*** yourself. I don't care that it's only worth £70,000 and that a £20,000 loss is unacceptable in just four years - I don't want to sell it. And I especially don't want to sell it after last night. Coming back from Hampshire up the A34, I lumbered up the Ridgeway behind a truck at 40mph, cursing our need to have fresh fruit in the supermarkets every morning. But then, he pulled over and as I crested the brow, all of England was laid before me, a patchwork of yellow and green turned orange by the setting sun. Best of all, though, I could see the road snaking off into the distance and there wasn't a thing on it. Nothing. So I'm sorry, but I whacked it into second, floored it and just kept right on going until I was flat-out in sixth. At this kind of speed, the Ferrari 355 becomes so much more than a collection of parts made by the lowest bidder. It becomes alive. The suspension automatically flicks into a hard setting, the wheel darts this way and that and you can't hear the roof squeaking above the tremendous howl of a 40-valve V8 at 7,000rpm. Sorry, Quentin, but if you think I'd part-exchange a moment like that for the silence and solidity of a Lexus just because it holds its value well, you're way, way wide of the mark. Back at home, I turned for a moment before walking though the front door and there it was, smeared in dirt and ticking gently as the engine cooled. And I wondered what life would be like if the Jag never came back, if I were forced to spend the rest of my days with the mistress. Not so bad, I reckon. Not so bad at all
must be me , but i've driven 'em both , i guess i'm not driving on a racetrack , but i just don't see that a 355 is light years ahead of a 348.Looking at them i see different plastic body parts and a different dash layout. not to say the 355 doesn't run better , but it's not that much different. without the 348 there would have been no 355.Are the side strakes really that dated? Ford put fake lines down the side of the flex and press called it fresh and modern.Thanks to LDM the 348 doesn't get the credit it deserves. the 355 is a nice evolution of a great car to begin with.
This sounds like the moral of the story is: The 348/355 is just a wonderful car to drive & enjoy! The smile on your face after coming in from a spirited drive is priceless. The sound generated by the flat 8 boxer engine at high revs is an absolute symphony to my ears. I acquired my Ferrari to drive/play/enjoy, not worry about cost of ownership or depreciation(sp?)! Now I am getting ready to acquire a 2nd Ferrari to my garage: 3 choices are: 1) 456GT 6 speed 2) California 3) F430 Spider 6-speed. Ferrari's are about pure driving passion!
+1 +1 +1 Thank you to the last three respondents! I laughed out loud when I read the original post with Richard Hammond's description about how much better looking the 355 is than the 348. The designs are so similar that it seems kind of silly to attach such enormous aesthetic weight to the differences. That'd be like me telling my twin brother that I'm vastly better looking than he is because he parts his hair to the left while I part mine to the right.
The 348 and 355 are not twins, twins are identical in appearance. A beautiful looking person and an ugly looking person is basically the same design in that they have a face, Body, arms legs ect ect. However a naturaly beautiful looking person is just that, classically beautiful. No matter how much an ugly person try's to convince themselves in the mirror that they look just as good as the beautiful person. No matter how many of there ugly freinds have tea partys complementing each other on how beautiful looking they are. There not But if that makes them feel better telling themselvs that then good for them How ever I am not saying for one minute that something ugly or flawed can't be made into a classical beauty with some work. It worked for the 348.
