Test drove an F355 today
 

Gated shifter. Berlinetta, red and tan.
Gorgeous car.

I was hoping to dislike something about. Instead I spent the rest of the day day-dreaming about it.

Why? Why must you post things like this? *sigh*

Wait! All that you're giving us is "I liked it"? Come on, you've got to give us more than that.

OK - it was freaking amazing! Gorgeous. Fit like a glove, The seat was perfectly supportive, the steering wheel the absolute right size and thickness, perfect response. A beautiful deep burble. Actually easy to jump in and drive.

The shifter took a few glances down (2nd to 3rd took some mental effort to move it over) but the snick sound and faint click was so sweet. The clutch picked up so quickly (I managed not to stall her though). But much easier to shift than a 915 and the clutch wasn't heavy.

I was worried about doing something stupid and ending up on Jalopnik or something so I took it really easy, almost too easy so when I shifted into 3rd it wanted more throttle. No stereo, didn't care.

I really really want her.

That's funny you should mention the shifting.......

I drove one too several years ago - an friend who is an architect owns one and 'forced' me to take it for a spin. I was really worried about screwing something up while shifting. His wasn't gated either.

That car turned so sweetly around corners....whew......

I was expecting a post about Mikes car lol!

Exhaust manifolds are made of pasta!!

Cool car though..

Haha I meant Ferrari 355 (not F355) of course. Oops.

Beautiful car, my favourite mid engine Ferrari. Budget plenty for maintenance though... :)

Awesome cars. The time to buy one was 2-3 years ago, they are going up in a hurry.

Yep. Three years ago there were plenty of 355's for sale in the $70 range, with only a few over six-futures. Now, 30K mile shaky maintenance history cars are $70K, with most nice ones over six figures (always a day late and a dollar short :confused:).

I owned a 360 for a short time a decade ago. Went to an Orange County Ferrari Owners Club meeting with my wife. We stayed about 20 minutes. My wife made a great observation..."Yuk, sell this thing. Porsche owners buy Porsches because the love driving them. Ferrari owners buy Ferraris for the impression it makes on others".

Hey its Italian, what can I say! Fantastico!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1481814205.jpgNow when you drive the mighty 288 gto, let me know!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1481814288.jpgCiao!

Yep, true. The flappy paddle ones and 'verts can still be had for $70s around here.
I'm more scared of the maintenance than the initial price. Need a lot of appreciation to cover engine out services.

A lot of the Ferrari guys around here race or track them. I'm sure plenty buy them for show, but they've also got yachts and jets for that, not "cheap" old cars. ;)

Regardless, I'm smitten.

Step up to a 360. Bit more initial buy in, but far reduced maintenance costs.... Better car, though not as pretty (IMO).

Cheers

5k A YEAR for maintenance. Ferrari F355 Buyer's Guide: What You Need to Know – Feature – Car and Driver | Car and Driver Blog

I drove an Audi RS6 as a daily driver for about four years. I WISH it cost only $5,000 a year in maintenance. It was so expensive I finally dumped it on a trade in for a BMW 535. It was such a maintenance hog that it completely spoiled me to the entire Audi brand. That and the dealership constantly treating me like I was stupid. Which I guess I was for suffering through owning an RS6. But I'll never own another Audi and I feel prepared to own a Ferrari when the time comes.

The really sad part is...

The 355 is a really nice car to drive.
I dont like the engine out maintenance cost, but it is a really nice driving car!

You do know that u are fk ing insane.

Right, better but with age certainly not as pretty. Why must the expensive, high maintenance things be so beautiful?

It is what it is... as they say.

To me , the 355 is one of my Fave Ferrari designs. The 360 is more about function over form. Technically, it is a great design. Full undertray aero etc, but it leaves something to be desired. Ferrari is an emotional brand, but it took them a very long time to marry the emotion with the technical requirements. Hence why you have a beautiful car like a F355 that maintenance wise is a disaster and borderline joke...

Well yes. Either that or extremely dense with a high pain threshold. Either way I'm prepared for Ferrari ownership when the time comes.

The flat plane V8 has a really awesome sound to it.

I have known some very happy Ferrari owners. We have several on this board.

A large percentage of Porsche owners bought them for the impression they make, don't kid yourself. When I sold them back in the '80s, maybe one out of 3 or 4 owners really knew anything about the cars and probably fewer really knew how
to drive one.

Without a doubt, plenty of tools buy Ferraris but I'd love to own one. They are the ultimate driver's car with a racing heritage that rivals Porsche all day long. I have friends who drive the schit out of theirs, one went by me on Mulholland last weekend in his 50 year old 265 w V-12 screaming. What a sight and sound! :)

^there is no doubt. However, in my experience some Ferrari owners really go above and beyond to earn the stereotype. There is a cars 'n coffee locally that attracts a lot of very high end machines, not my scene but I went once. There was an Enzo there, attracting a crowd, with the vanity license plate: "TAX DR", or "TAX MD", something like that. Nearby I discovered the owner, wearing custom printed t-shirt with the same "TAX DR" brand emblazoned across his chest. Must have been a high-end tax attorney...might as well have been wearing an "I'm the guy with the Enzo" t-shirt.

Vanity plates. That pretty much sums it up. The same people who claim to
"not care what anybody thinks" spend (even more) money on a license plate in order to manage others' impressions.

sorry for the thread drift. Ferrari has made some beautiful cars.

That's horse ****. I owned a couple Ferraris for a long time and I probably averaged less than $1000 per year in maintenance costs on them. There's nothing too expensive about a 355 unless you have to replace the exhaust manifolds or valve guides. Nobody I know with one has had to do either of those things on their cars.

I bought one new and kept it for 7 years and never had anything more expensive than an oil change. Your experience might not be typical.

JR

I think the running/start up cycle that owners use could have a piece of it. A lot of Ferrari's get cold started, and immediately someone revs the ever living piss out of the engine without allowing oil temps to get in range. That has gotta be harsh on the moving components.

The part of a F355, may not be what goes wrong, but the cost/risk of what it takes when something does need major work. If you can't afford that, its best to leave it alone. If you can and want to, why not. :)

A nice little protection feature some modern cars have, is a lower rev limit in neutral. Prevents clueless from cold starting and revving to red line.

My wife has bought me a drive a Ferrari gift a couple times. After the last time I told her thanks but let's not do that again since you're paying too much money to drive around in a parking lot.

I did enjoy myself though. The first time was a drive in a 360 and a Lamborghini Gallardo. The Lambo was like a truck, terrible turn in, plowed like a FWD car and awful off the turns. The 360 drove like a dream and seemed very similar to my Cayman. The instructor in the Ferrari asked me about my experience and after a quick resume rundown he turned the steering wheel to 'race' and asked me to remind him to put it back to normal and not tell anyone. On the second lap I apologized when I almost looped it and he said he was grateful to actually has someone drive it fast for once. On the other hand, the Lambo instructor thought I was trying to kill him :D

The last time was in a 430. Very similar in feel to the 360 but the instructor wouldn't let me turn off the traction control so it was a dog off every turn. Handling was still great though. They warned us about the huge risks and costs we'd incur if we hit a cone but I think the instructor was happy when we clipped one and sent it flying.

I just don't see how you use a car that you'd be worried about parking anywhere but home, car events and maybe work.

This particular beauty had the headers replaced, the valve guides changed, and the sticky plastics fixed. Recent belt out, so unless something fails needs nothing for 5 yrs.

He moved it to the front window. I drove by tonight and saw it sitting there, giving me "come hither" looks.

JR,

You never did a belt service in the 7 years you owned your F355?

You can run 7 years between belt services. Belt services are not $35k....

Like I said, about a grand a year is enough.

JR

I realize belt services are not 35K...

7 years is a fair while between belt services, but to each their own. Yours obviously lasted.

Let's think about it for a minute. Most owners think belts need to be changed every 5 years. Ferrari will likely tell you 3 years. This fits into their philosophy of continually caring for your car, at a price. It makes them a lot of money; the dealer I used even had a separate part of their building devoted to storing their customer's cars for them.

I called Gates (a company that makes millions of rubber cam belts every year) and talked to an engineer. His opinion was that 9 years was a reasonable lifespan, provided the belts weren't damaged by an outside influence. So I went with 7.

Then there's the water pump, rollers, etc. that some change with every belt service. Given the low mileage these cars accrue, you can skip those things for a while. Check them, but don't automatically change them, if there's no evidence of a problem.

The first Ferrari water pump I bought was for a 328 and cost $900. It conststed of 4 main parts; a casting, an impeller, a bearing and a seal. If you elect to just change the bearing and seal, which is all you need to do, you're outlay is maybe $50, not $900.

Cars up through the 328 were a pain in the ass to work on. Cars from the Testarossa onwards were designed to have their engines dropped out of the bottom fairly quickly, which makes cam belt changes pretty simple by comparison to the earlier cars.

So, add an annual oil change. $100-150, depending on the oil you use. Change the brake fluid every couple years, or go 3-4 years between changes (probably makes little difference) and you'll spend another $150, or so. Change the coolant every belt change. You have to drain it anyway, so your expense is limited to the cost of the coolant.

Throw a set of tires on it every 5 years, give or take. Change things like the gearbox fluid, spark plugs, air filter every 15k, or 30k. Probably makes little difference...

This isn't to say that you might find something along the way that needs a little work but the routine maintenance isn't all that big of a deal, if you think about it. The notion that you have to do a $10k "major" every three years, or whatever, is just horse pooey.

What bites you in the ass with a Ferrari is if your car suffers from one of the major failures that can afflict most of the models. If you have an early TR and your differential lets go, it's a big bill. Have an early 355 and have bad valve guides? Hate to be you... Got a 456 and your windows don't roll up right? Bummer.

Etc.

JR