micheal2e is right on it. you can get to the plugs and belts in 308 (albeit you have to pull off the wheels and inner fender liner), but modial/348/355 your dropping engine/rear suspension, they are also horribly uncomfortable and interiors are ancient.

all that said ferraris will always have the carnal appeal that porsches lack. vice versa porsches will have the intellectual appeal that ferraris lack. i would love a 348 challenge and am a F40 junkie.

 

Eyal - we are considering it (if I change one more water pump I may have ALL air cooled cars). However, the 993 is older, costs the same and has a somewhat dated dash. I.e. you can buy a 99-00 996 with aerokit for about the same as a 993. It is especially true in our case because we want a coupe with a 6 speed (there are loads of tips and loads of verts). This is made worse by the fact that as it is my wife's car I want it to be a color of her choosing. That would be Alpine White, Arena Red, Baltic Blue, or Black.
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If you'd ever look at the wiring harness on a Ferrari, it might change your mind about wanting to work on it. They're freakin' rat's nests.

Not to mention availability and cost of parts. We're spoiled with porsches. Sometimes we take for granted the ease in which we can get parts, from the mundane to some of the more obscure. The support network for Ferraris isn't as extensive as we're used to.

I don't dislike them. I just don't think there's a rennlist for Ferraris. So why would you get one?

 

There is a rennlist for ferrari's, it is called forza. Not nearly as good but there are lot of owners there. Far less of them do their own work however.
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i'll probably convince my "father in-law"to bring his 308 to a matro pca autocross sometime next year, he needs to drive it more and thats as good a place as any to bring it, i already know he wont participate though because its his mint garage queen

 

Awsome...cant wait to run this next season...

 

Hi fty,

I was once also thinking about a 308, and also a mondial. Its true they are good cars, but from my financial research they cost big $$$$$ to run.

I did however reach a good comparison car, I ended up buying a Maserati shamal.

It was much cheaper to run, insure, and was in my opinion a better drive. It was super quick and a real buzz to get into.

I know a feww people with Ferrari's and they drove my Mazzer and said it was better than a 308.

However for anyone who watched Tom Sellick in MAGNUM, then there really is no other car but a 308.

To try to help you look at a comparison car then see the links below for specs on my old Mazzer.

Good luck in whatever you end up buying, just rember that when it's running right, enjoy it .

For specs on the old car......

http://www.maserati.org.au/gallery/...hamal_spec.html

for some pictures of ones the same as my old car.....

http://www.alltheweb.com/search?_sb...&avkw=fogg&o=24

 

I TOTALLY hear ya

 

A buddy of mine bought a 308GT4 this summer. Fun car! I've ridden in it several times:



And there was this 360 Modena F1 that showed up at our autocross this summer:

The lady in the picture is the owner/driver. I instructed her, and she let me drive it for a run. That car is simply amazing! It's a go-kart with a luxury interior and a rocket ship strapped on the back!

-Z.

 

if you have the italian bug you may want to consider a detomaso

you can pick up a decent pantera for 35k, becareful for rust tho.... i think this guys a lil' off his rocker saying its appraised at a quarter million. didnt the real GTS come out in the mid/late 80s?

 

That car is insane why would you sell such a gorgous car?

 

The 308s are fairly slow, the best ones are the 308QV made in the last couple of years of production. The 328 is better and still looks very similar, but the handling has been said to be very poor compared to the 348, which I've over heard described as awful compared to the 355. I have been in the 355 Spyder to well over 100mph and it was AWESOME. I was very comfortable in the car and it was pure joy to hear that engine shriek and watch the gawks of passersby, even moreso than my Porsche gets. I've not driven or ridden in a car that got more looks. That said, the owner of the car was unhappy with the interior quality after trading in his 993 for the Ferrari. The leather in several places was already coming unstitched and the wires hung out from under the dash in places. If you want to read more about someone who owns and drives a 355 and talks about the problems with it, check out http://www.nsxfiles.com and read about Doug and Wayne's adventures with their Ferraris, NSX's, S2Ks, and Wayne's 944 Turbo (which is on 2 wheels in some pics from the OTC last year! Wowza!!).

Pantera's are quite sweet and can be VERY, VERY fast with that 351 Ford motor back there. My brother knows a woman with one who got stopped for going about 150 and didn't get a ticket. The cop couldn't figure out what the heck kind of car it was and after she told him, he admired it and let her go.

Now, the car I'd love to have in the garage down the road would be a Countach QV from the mid/late 80s (although NOT the 89). Friend of mine has a couple (never gotten to drive/ride in one yet....) and we worked on one of them once when I was there. They are VERY simple cars under the hatch, even with the fuel injection. Crude almost in places. But they are still cars and have fuel/spark requirements and so forth. I don't think doing a lot on that car would be too difficult at all....but changing plugs/wires would take a while.... If not that, a 355 GTS would be a great one to have.....

 

Why not the 89 countach? Arent the best ones the last ones?

 

Andrew - you are right the 348 is awful compared to the 355. Much more raw and really not refined at all. A hell of a lot of fun though!
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I just can't stand the side sills and new intakes and such they did to it...don't like the wheels that came on them either. The seats on the inside were supposed to be better as you could control the angle of the seatback a bit as the others were all a single piece bucket. The 88 1/2 Countach had the side sill, but otherwise looked like the others. I just really like the lines of the earlier pre-88 1/2 cars, wing or no wing, they are just nicer looking. Kind of like the 512M Ferrari. It was supposed to be better than the 512, but the too busy looking wheels and other little changes with the non-flip up headlights just didn't work for me. The Testarossa/512TR was much prettier to me.