What Are 348 and 355 Spiders Going For These Days?

I've seen lower mileage and no story 348s as low as the 50s and 355s in the 60s.

The 355s seem to be in particular facing downward pressure from what I call the Du Muro affect. I think he scared a lot of people away with maintenance cost fears for the 355. The 348s however seem to have some upward movement, which Du Muro did give a positive review.

If I may ask, what were the things that drew you to the 348 over the 355?

Cheers

 

It is mechanical, no power steering. Top is mechanical, no electric BS. And it looks just as svelte as the 355 spider, with none of the 355 spider issues. It is also much more rare of a car.

 

Check Bat and Hemmings you can look as sales data and get a sense of price trends.

DeMuro effect... Well I can say I checked and rechecked and as near as I can tell 355s don't have a 100% valve train failure as deMuro reported. He clearly mis-spoke he was confusing valves with headers.

Let me tell you my personal experience. I found enough chatter out HERE to know the number of conversations I read where people had 355 heads done and sometimes redone again was notable. Not all of them are a threads mind you just guys talking. Talk to so and so he redid my 355 heads last year, that kind of thing. All the way up to newer ones too not just the order ones. Assuming people do research not rely on a video they will likely arrive at a similar conclusion right or wrong. It's not just DeMuro, it's information and it's out here for one. He may be the ignition source sending people researching though. Anecdotal perhaps yes but a bit too much for me to ignore. Ymmv.

Both are great in thier own way, there is no better just different. I do think the 348 will out pace the 355 over time. After all the 80s ruled and those cheese graters ohh my.

Best of luck.

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I would not laugh at all. In fact, I think this was the intention of Ferrari since people liked the NSX so much. Along with the performance increase, they improved everyday livability.

I agree with you wholeheartedly, I think the 348 is more 'raw' and provides a more visceral experience, albeit slower and I would subjectively say with not as sweet exhaust note.

I think the owner appreciates how special the 348 is, and that the F355 is not always the 'best' choice for everyone.

Thanks for sharing.

 

Preaching to the choir my friend. I think Doug's review scare the bejusus out of people and is largely overplayed. People tend to amplify Ferrari critiques.

 

I don't know who Doug is or his review but I've had my '98 355 for 6+ years. No valve issues, no header issues. The two items that I replaced are the cats (after 6 months of ownership - one was completely burned out) and the bypass valve (Worked but the rattle annoyed me). I've had as many issues with my Mercedes or Toyota - though maybe less expensive to fix. Everyone likes to write or repeat the horror stories. My experience so far is that it has been reasonably reliable.

 

Doug DeMuro is one of the most popular youtube car reviewers and he write a column on autotrader. He filmed and wrote extensive horror stories of the F355 header/valve guide issues. I believe it's a contributing factor for downward pressure today. I liken it to the negative things said about the 348 being overplayed.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love my 993 911 and adore my 575...but after not having driven my 348 for a while, I realized just how special a car it is. It has taken a while for people to see, but it is a pure Ferrari. The improvements of the 355 are, in my opinion, now so far in the past that they make little difference. Not hating on 355s, I truly love and respect all Ferraris. I'm just a go-kart feel kind of person, and the 348 does that soooooo well.

 

It's nice to see the 348 getting the respect it deserves. It's cliche' but I never understood the hate. I really don't. It was always an odd thing.

I'm convinced it's people repeating what they heard a friend said about their uncle reading in a magazine about why it's a bad Ferrari.

 

Close its a variant of that but basically that it in REAL broad strokes though. The question of why it was "bad' is the question but that's a story tied to market collapse and people holding Ferrari and flipping them when the 9 month wait list vanished and people lost their ass etc etc. It was never bad and 4 years later then the spider came out the same rags that bashed echoing market sentiments gushed over it. It's the same f'in car....

 

True, and if one digs deep enough, the reality is that even when it came out the majority of reviews were favorable.

 

“Alex, I’ll take 55-60k for the daily double...”

Robb

 

To add, the 348 Spider looks spectacular, top up or down, both in photos and in person.

 

Yessir. That wide, flat rear end...just screams "exotic"!

 

I love the 348 personally. I recently picked up a 94 Spider with 26K miles for $50K

 

I know, I can personally attest to this. I read many of those positive reviews. It's interesting how some cars become very underrated. I also remember when it came out, I thought it was beautiful, still do. Another odd thing to me is how so many people say the F355 is design perfection and the 348 isn't.

I respect some folks can like one design over the other, but to have good/bad aesthetic applied to both cars was always very illogical to me.

Have these folks ever seen these cars in the flesh side by side? All that really separates the two are the graters, which on a TR is genius and iconic, but on the younger brother not?

Lot of cognitive dissonance in my opinion.

 

Lots of good points- only reason I don’t like the 348 is because I like the TR better and media and society make the 348 pass for the cheap man Ferrari and therefore less desirable. Fully agree with u on the psychological reasons there.


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A few data points, certainly not the whole picture...

https://bringatrailer.com/ferrari/348-2/

https://bringatrailer.com/ferrari/f355/

 

It just seems that bad news always gets more attention than good news. I would like to see what an owners survey would find about the true cost of owning a 355. And more importantly, the dynamic of the owners. ie; do you do your own work, or do you take it to a dealer, when you replaced your valve guides what was the symptoms, and so on. I think it would paint a different picture. Because I think if there is one thing most can agree on, is that if you drive one you will want one. But those damn maintenance costs.....

 

I have 1 data point to offer: The dealer that sold me my 355 about 5.5 years ago, currently has the exact same color 355, manual like mine, with about 7k miles more and a year older than the one I bought from them, for about 37% more than my transaction in 2014. And at the time, I really didn't think I got anything more than a fair deal.

My own personal bias says the upside is with the 355, I don't believe Demuro has any effect on anyone except on wan-a-bees looking for excuses not to get in because they can't.

 

I agree
I have had my 355 for 5 plus years, it is coming up on 44,000 miles, I bought it with 28,000 miles on it.
I am the 3rd owner, both my Indy mechanic and the dealer stated (when I brought up valve guide issues) if they have not failed by now you are safe.
I actually watch for a puff of smoke at startup, nothing yet.
........finding some wood to knock my knuckles on right now .........
It had Fabspeed headers, and Nouvalri cats and exhaust when I bought it.
Last year with the engine out service I replaced the cats, guess I fried the passenger side one.

 

To the OP, the real value is in everything EXCEPT the model. I sold a 348 for $38,000 and one for $70,000. The 355 spiders I have sold as low as $50k and as high as $80k in the last year. The big difference in price? Last engine out, overall miles, number of owners, records, books, covers, interior sticky and leather condition, etc, etc, etc. They are both a tough sell at the moment, but well represented and transparent there is always a "right" price.