vraa

How do you (and the others) like the Ferrari F355?

I've been eyeing one to get in half a year or so and I just want to know if it is a real drive or not. If possible, I'd love to hear opinions of real world stuff as if it slides around during rain or keeps it's tail in check and things like that.

Juice it

I have a 355 spider and although it is a nice car it isn't even close to a daily driver for me. It has issues like it needs to be warmed up before driving it or the gears won't change smoothly, it is sometimes a pain to park and the interior has problems shrinking and melting in the sun. It is however a great handling pretty quick car. Great bang for the buck but the service prices are insane. Well worth the extra $$ for the 360. I am thinking about replacing mine with a much more usable SL55.

vraa

Hm, that really puts a damper on my feelings of the car. I knew of Ferrari's to be money hogs when it comes to servicing, but I never knew that they had issues of quality control inside in the sun. I think that alone crosses the car off my list

Pity, I really wanted a great handling car and I didn't want to spring for the 360 because, to be frank I can't afford it cash wise nor paparazzi wise.

I can't go for the SL55 because for two main reasons.
1) It's way out of my budget (I was thinking of under 60K$)
2) Show up my dad, I will never do that. (He has the X5 4.4i and the SL500.)

op355

Hi
Just thought I could help you a bit deciding.
I have owned F355 GTS F1 and F355 Spider F1 and I loved it. I replaced my 355 with 360s, however IMO, 355 sounds better than 360. While I owned my first 355 which was GTS, since it was the first year production car for F1 (1998), I had some issues with tranny, other than that, I did not have any problems with the car. I do agree that it is not quite a daily driver, however if you are after fun of driving, I think 355 is definitely the car you should consider. I had driven in the rain only once and I did not notice any problem with serious sliding even with oily surface since it was first rain for the year.
If your budget allows, I do recommend 355.
Just make sure you dont drive it like you stole it when it rains.

Hope my opinion helps.

nlpamg

how much exactly is the maintenance for a ferarri? I was just wondering. Thanks!

blueSL

My F355 is a joy to own and to drive and it sets the benchmark for me for driving experience. Everytime I go out in it, I come back with a smile on my face thanks to the sensitivity of handling, the sound, the performance, the manual gear-change through that stainless steel gate, the back to basics concentration on what's essential and what's not. I sit in my garage and savour the smell of the hot car and listen to the ping ping as it cools down. It's not a daily driver and all the more special for not being so.

This is the car which makes the SL55 something of a driving disappointment even though it will always be the preferred choice for a long trip, or a drive into the city or if I cannot be sure where I'm going to leave it. The SL55 is better made of course but reliability of my F355 has been better than my SL55. It's never left me stranded by the roadside as the SL55 has and the only time it's been on a trailer was when I crashed it in the rain.

The F355 is not good in the wet. There are no electronic driving aids to get you out of trouble and when the tyres let go, the car spins like a top, so caution is required if the car might acquaplane. The only traction control in the car is your right foot.

As for servicing costs, yes they are high if you put a lot of miles on the car, the biggest routine maintenance item being to replace the cam belts every 3 years. Ferrari will tell you this is an engine out job, call it $3000+. I take my car to an after market specialist who can do it just by removing the fuel tank which sits in front of the engine, leaving the engine in place and avoiding the hassles of reconnecting all the pipework, electronics, hydraulics and air con. And it costs about $1000, so much more reasonable.

blueSL

In answer to nlpamg, in the UK, I pay about $800 for an annual inspection/oil change - most Ferraris have this instead of mileage related services because they do not cover enough miles to meet a mileage threshold. The cam belt service I've mentioned in my previous post. Other than that, tyres, pads and discs/rotors are the most likely to need replacing; they are expensive but not outrageous.

What is big money is anything to do with trim. I replaced the triangular window guides at the backs of the doors because the finish was corroding. The 4 parts - the guides and the rubber seals were $350 a side (see picture)

Twinturbo

Very nice, I think that the shape of the 355 is more classic than the 360. What happened in the accident you had? I would imagine that the repair expense is much higher than the SL or most other cars?

blueSL

I spun it in the wet on a motorway/freeway after it acquaplaned and it ended up wedged under the barrier having hit it on the drivers side rear. I was very lucky that something else did not run into me as the road was busy at the time (for UK readers, M1 southbound, inside the M25) $40k damage, 6 months (mostly waiting for parts) but the paint job is much better than it ever was - the car had a complete re-spray.

Not a happy blueSL, an even less happy insurance company.

The picture was a couple of years after the accident. You can see from the difference in the panel gap ahead of and behind the door that the repair is not perfect... Also means the car is completely unsaleable. Nobody wants a car which has been stuffed as hard as mine was, even though it drives perfectly.

vraa

Darn, there goes that option. I really don't want a car that even has a remote chance of aqua-planing (yes I know all cars do, but some tend to more then others).

The <60K$ was really appealing to me and I was almost pretty sure that I could get my dad to go for one to replace the LS.

And my quest continues, thanks to all who replied!