[onboost]

I've owned several and have had access to a number of different Ferraris models over the years, along with numerous Porsches.. so my thoughts below are not based on what I've read or heard, nor am I trying to be "the" authority;

1. It’s very hard to beat the air-cooled Porsches with regard to usability and bang for the buck/dollars spent for maintenance

2. If you are adverse to people pointing, and taking pictures of you, or asking lots of questions.. not the car for you! And yes, you have to worry/be more cautious with your Ferrari, than with your Porsche in traffic or parking as body reapair will usually be a lot more painful than with your Porsche…

3. The used parts network for Ferrari is nothing like what you see with Porsche.. hell this goes for new parts too depending on what you need!

4. As others have stated, there are some well documented issues out there with the 348. However, a number of the cars of course have been fixed, and are now very usable, but then there are enough of them that haven’t been sorted as they were not used enough by the various owners.

5. Everyone wants a super low mile car.. most of these cars don’t have true miles shown. Personally I prefer one that has miles on it as you know its been used, and records should show service with that mileage.. and hey, it may even be sorted.

6. So you want to DIY? You will need to get yourself a lift. The engine sits North/South, it has timing belts, and no way to access them from the interior. It requires you to remove the engine/trans/rear suspension as a unit.. as does the 355, and the TR. Where-as on the 308, 328, and Mondials, 308GT etc.. the engine is transverse and a number of your repairs can be manipulated on jack-stands.

7. There were only a couple of models before the 348 that used EFI (we won’t talk about those cause most of us clearly can’t afford them at this point), so I like to consider the 348 as the one where the switch was made to Motronics, and the cars began to get more complex, not so much because of the this, but because of the direction that the company was headed in with the newer models coming down the pike.

Granted, the 348 is a sexy car, it has aged well.. but if I were moving toward anything newer, like others have stated it would be a 355 or 360. Early 355s (95)had valve-guide issues, and some had header issues. Again, some have been sorted, others have not.. you need to check.

Lastly, see if there is some way to get the wife to make some concession.. in essence get your Ferrari too! I like the fact that she in for adding storage.. sounds like a nice garage edition to me.

I mean even a kid knows you can never have too many toys!

Good luck on your decision!