Why shouldn't I get a 355 Spider

There is no reason.
You work hard, right? You deserve one... now go buy one!

 

If you do get a F355 then 6 speed is the right choice. The pump for the F1 system in the F355s costs about $16,000 I think.

 

You shouldn't get one if you are not educated about everything that it takes to properly maintain it. That's right, arm yourself with knowledge. Spend months looking and learning about the common problems so that maybe you can avoid a self inflicted wound once you "pull the trigger". Your off to a great start by being here.
Steven

 

I agree with Steven, I think I have read about 2,500 posts on this site before purchasing my F355.

 

prepare yourself for the on-going costs. i've owned a 355 and a 360, the 360 is a great car, if you can afford it, maybe drive both.

 

Wholeheartedly agree with what Mike says...

 

The 355 even a 99 is still a 6 + year old car. The 30K service is going to kill you, they say it is $4K or $6K, but the reality is once the mechanic gets in there you need to change the water pump, you need this you need that next thing you know it is $10K +. Then you have headers at $4K that could pop up at anytime, bearings etc. Why put yourself through the misery. I had a 355 and it was beautiful, but the 360 I have now I have driven for a year and spent $0 in repairs in 6K miles.

Take it for what it is worth..

-A

 

Agree 100% I have a 355 Spider love the car you will enjoy it

 

2nd. Mine is coming (well, GTS). I also have read many, many posts. Including many that say just DO it!

 

Go for it ! The maitainance costs of a 355 are not as high as reading this forum would lead you to believe , horror stories give people something to talk about .
You only live ONCE .

 

www.the355.com gives great background - developed by an English owner so just imagine every price is UK£ is US$ - the sentiments are unchanged - tonyh will probably post his (& ricard's) mega check-list soon too - or look for it elsewhere on this site - very helpful

 

My experience with the 355 exactly mirrors the above and that's why I now have a 04-360 under warranty. It's not the initial outlay that gets you because you work up to it and it's done. What gets you are the jaw dropping bills when you get it serviced -- like when my drivers side manifold went, then the passenger side one, then the driver side cat, then the digital gear changer, then the door handle, then a bunch of electrical problems. Being advised the 355 won't cost you is like telling a teenager he'll make it through w/o pimples. Sure a few do, but the rest of us -- the majority -- experience life as it really is.

Havings said the above, the 355 spider is a wonder to behold.

 

Double dog Paul....that sucks! I feel for ya man, that is a bunch of dough that you will not be able to spend on more important things like beer and broads.

 

On the other hand I've put 21,000 on my 99 without the slightest problem. Go figure???

 

I would have liked the idea of a warranty on my 355, like the 360 has, but I just simply like the looks of the 355 better. I too have had my problems with the car but most of them were picked up by a dealer because they were smog related. Now that these repairs have been done the car is flawless, well today anyway.

Face the facts, when we buy a Ferrari regardless of model we also brace ourselves for the worst but then prepare for the best. I've had many sports cars over the last 20 years and this is by far the best one yet! If you can aford it and it won't break the bank when that big 10k bill comes do it!

To some extent I think it is the luck of the draw but if you do your homework and know what to look for you will probably be fine.

Good Luck and Happy Shopping
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Both manifolds from NAP = US$3000, one off payment - lifetime warranty

Cat = US$480
Digital gear changer = US$0 (you want a manual)
Door handle = hmmm depends on how many bits
Electrical = usually bad earths etc

I had full service on mine last year, cam belts etc, replaced cats with pipes, new water pump bearing kit, new tensioner bearings, cat ecu repair, total US$3200.

If you want a 355 I would say budget for $8000 a year for maintenance if you shop sensibly and do simple stuff yourself. Then you will end up with some change. You wont spend $8000 in year but what you save over a few years will pay for anything big that comes along. Then if it dosnt happen you have a nice pile of savings to go towards that 360

Read up on the subject, see as many cars as you can and buy wisely - you only live once.

 

get one...if i had the means it be in my garage NOW....

 

==== By tonyh

The Ferrari F355 has two different engine packages (OBDIO-I=95 and OBDIO-II=96-99), and three different brake packages (95, 96-97, and 98-99). In street braking, there is not much difference in the braking setup and response; and for track use all brake packages should have a set of pads that are more tollerent of heat.
When F1 became available in ?96 or 97? it arrived with an uprated slave cylinder in the clutch throwout system. Like the F348s the clutch (and associated parts) is easy to change even if the parts are expensive. If you have to change anything in the clutch, do the whole thing and use the uprated slave cylinder. Its smoother, lighter, and ever so slightly faster.

The 95 engine has a little more HP and TQ (5 HP and 2-3 lb-ft) from a slightly richer mixture allowed by the OBDIO-I emissions specification. All engines will have header issues if tracked regularly, and the 95 modle year is more affected than later. There is a uprated materials specification if/when header replacement is required. Even with the uprated materials, challenge cars replace the headers yearly. With indifferent street use headers have gone as far as 103,000 miles without failure. The hydraulic pump of the F1 cars saps some power from the engine but performance improves through the faster gear changes available through computer controlled timing of the events. The 360 F1 system is miles ahead in smoothness especially after 2001.

Engines up through the 98 model year can be affected by a valve guide issue detected in 95 based on the 94 348 Challenge cars where the factory changed the vavle guide specification from <some> bronze to sintered steel. In general, if the engine has not run into the valve guide issue by the time it has 20,000 miles it will likely not run into the issue.

The suspension system is excellent, with minor issues relating to the computer controlled shoch absorbers (connector corrosion). The oversteer/understeer relationship is easily manipulated with rear ride height (Google on: Ride couple distribution). The factory specs are just fine for street and even agressive track driving on street tires. I get 9 K miles on a set of max performance street tires where 1,500 of those miles occur on a race track with factory specs. Both front tires and both rear tires turn from treaded tires to slicks within 100 miles of each other. Adding camber speeds up the chassis but beware of making the car faster than the driver. Adding toe calms the car under steady state straight line operation and under braking. Running toe-out is only for track use. The suspension is easily dialed into the driver preference as long as the driver known which direction he want the cars response to move towards. If you lower the car be aware of a high speed heavy braking issue at the front suspension. Staying at the <already> factory ride heights (4.2" of ground clearance) is a good bet and prevents this high speed braking issue.

If you want to use r-compound tires or racing slicks, find the challenge specifications for alignment, but don't lower the car unless you also add the challenge spring and shock package. For noon-agressive track use, r-compounds and slicks work pretty well with the factory alignments.

The alignment system (shims) works so well that if you like agressive track driving and calm street driving, get the car sorted on the track first, and them get it aligned back to factory specs on an alignment gig. The difference between the shim thickness can be measured, and when you get to the trank, loosen a bolt, insert the required shims (8 times) and go to town. At the end of the day remove the shims, and presto you are back at street alignment. You will also get most of the toe change desired (out at track and in on the street) with this change as a side bonus.

I dislike the power assist for the steering and prefer the 348 feel of the steering wheel, but I rate this as a very minor issue.

Cars that are used hard over irregular surfaces will see minor paint spider webbing on the rear flying butress (C-piller) as evidence of hard use.

The plastic parts in the interior need to be kept away from Armoural and similar plastic protectants--it turns the plastic parts into a gooy mess.

The leather <especially> needs to be protected from drying out. Feeding the leather once every couple of months or every time you drive for any distance with the windows down; and avoiding letting the car sit in sunlight help a lot. The leather is higher in quality than <say> a C5 Vette, but less tollerant of lack of care.

Overall, the engine internals, the transmission, suspensions and brakes are basically unbreakable. There are no long term issues with the paint and exterior materials.

With the age of these cars approaching 10 years (95) and only the 98s and 99s still under the 8-year emissions warentee, the potential buyer is ever more dependent upon a high quality PPI than before. These are wonderful high performance machines that can take a lot of abuse (or designed for use) without fail. The engine has a big broad torque curve that is readily accessible and the sound at RedLine is simply out of this world. When the tail drifts out in a 100 MPH sweeper, you dial in a touch of steering and add throttle, and grin all the way to the next braking zone. However, like an Italian mistress, they are demanding upon your time and wallet. Choose wisely.

==== By Ricard

0) Get a HPi check and make sure there is a history that makes sense. There are independent service places that are better than main Ferrari so a factory history isn't everything. My car hadn't been serviced for 4 years (but hadn't done any miles either) and I just got it back from belt/change major service and its fine.

1) Run your finger along all panel gaps to see if they are relatively equal and panels are mounted at the same level. There is usually some rust on the foot plates under the doors, its a pain to clean up as they are bonded and removing usually bends them. Can be replaced with carbon fibre panels (see eBay). There is usually cracks/ripples in the paint where the C pillar meets the rear wing. This is normal and is something that needs attention every now and again.

2) White powder in the tail pipes = new catalytic convertors. These are &#163;400 each (x2) or can be replaced with pipes (&#163;200 total) but they are loud and due to emissions require a friendly MOT chap. The standard cats do fail (ceramic). Fuchs in Germany will take your old Cat bodies and replace inner with metal matrix which lasts forever (&#163;1000 I think - but one off payment). Note that if the Cats need replacing, either with other cats or pipes then each has 3 sensors (2 Oxygen and 1 temperature) and they sometimes cannot be removed so you need new ones (&#163;160/&#163;60/&#163;100 each).

3) Interior black rubber dash covering cracks in centre console and breaks up. Starts on the ashtray - again carbon panels can be bought on eBay.

4) There should be NO oil leaks, no blobs under it at all. So dont accept the "Ferrari's always leak a little" argument.

5) When/if you check the engine oil level DO WITH THE ENGINE VERY HOT! ie not cold, if you check when cold (like I did) you could end up draining 14L out of the sump (holds 9.5) been there etc...

6) Rub your finger around the top of the dampers on the black rubber bushes, if there is any oil / damp then the damper is on its way. &#163;600 each or about &#163;200 as a recon from Bilstein. Also if rear dampers gone then you will see high wear on inside of rear tyres.

7) Gears selection should be heavy when oil cold (miss 2nd out to save the synchros) once hot the shift should be quick and smooth for all gears.

The paint should be even all over and a bit orange peally (normal Ferrari) if the paint finish is mega (no orange peel) then its either been professionally rubbed down and polished or its a re-spray. Look everywhere for overspray, lift the window rubbers etc.

9) Make sure wheels are not damaged, magnesium leaks air if it has hairline fractures and an impact can cause this. They are about &#163;850 each to replace.

10) Exhaust manifolds crack and need welding / replacing at some point. Check for blowing in the exhaust system and adjust price as required. Ferrari manifolds are about &#163;1650 each but there are alternatives that are probably better made (eBay again, .com, I love eBay ).

11) When you remove the petrol cap (make sure it dosnt stick when pressing button on dash, show lack of care) there should be a rush of air OUT (tank pressureised).

12) Check all the electrics work OK, and I mean all of them.

13) I have never seen a car with more than 30,000m on it that hasnt got signs of wear / cracking on the leather interior (seat sides etc) so if you see wear and the mileage is low be suspicious.

14) Throttle sticks a little bit on initial pickup (needs more pressure initially when pulling away then jolts as the pedal moves) this is caused by the throttle cable run not be properly adjusted/lubricated. Its a good indicator of how recently and how well its been serviced. After a service there should be no jolt, but it gets gradually worse the closer you get to the next service.

 

I had all the same questions and issues, so I found a 98, yellow/black spider, 28k, full service history, all books and tool kit etc, body looks great, interior looks like a 8 year old car with 28k on it. Had 30k service and clutch just over a year ago, so I bought it. Had a PPI done prior to purchase, compression all good, everything works, few small things nothing to bad, I feel I have done all I can to find a good one, if it costs me, oh well the price you pay to have a Ferrari in the garage. Don,t stretch your self so much that if it needs a costly repair you can't afford it. I had a 2004 Gallardo for six months, put 9k miles on it, cost me $600 for a 7.5K service, I sold it as its warrenty was running out, 200 miles later it cost the new owner $6.4k for a new clutch! Good luck.

 

make sure you get some seat time in the spider. they had to do a bunch of magic on the spider to make the automatic top work with the seats. as a result, the seats are of a different design than the seats in the GTB and GTS. you may or may not find them comfortable/adequate.

i thought they were a bit tough for longer trips, though i'm sure many would disagree.

fwiw,
doody.

 

F355's are slow and dated. Not to mention the maintainence issues if you plan to put any kind of substaintial mileage on one.

If you're a collector it's a different story, but it's not a good model to buy if you simply trying to reward yourself with a sports car. An alternative would be a 993 Turbo S, better performance and its still has good heritage.

Eitheway make sure the serives are up to date on the F355, the valve guides if it needed them, belt services, and header/car recall, otherwise you're looking at a $15K service bill on a $60K car.

 

I can't believe the great info given.

But "Bif" you need to do a little homework. Try filling out your profile for starters.
If you have some questions of a recent 355 spider 98 owner (bought in 05), then fill free to pm me. I'll be happy to share the ups and downs.

 

I shouldn't ask any details on the 355 in your showroom?

 

buy a 348 spider if you must have a full convertable Ferrari.

They are a better car over all then the 355 spider. May not have as much power or the six speed, but the pleasure of ownership will be far better. There are too many issues to list for the 355 spider problems