You have to take some of the horror stories you hear with a grain of salt. A lot of the time you are dealing with people who..let's be honest.. might not really be true to the core car people. This can cause all kinds of issues with service repair costs and normal dealer shenenigans but above all else the biggest problem with the 355 is the PEOPLE DON"T DRIVE THEM ENOUGH!

Seriously, the 355 is a high strung Italian, she was never designed to sit in a garage to only accumulate 8K miles in 20 years. This does all kinds of funky things to these Italians.. I would feel much more comfortable buying a car with decent mileage that has been serviced accordingly than a car with low miles.

I have seen time and time again where the cars that are driven as intended have been the stronger running and more reliable of the bunch. The 355 isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Yes, the headers will fail ( I offer replacements ) yes the engine needs to come out for the belt service, yes the valve guides could become an issues (obviously a leak down is necessary to avoid this before buying) and YES it is worth it if you want a car that offers an experience that can't be equaled.

It's not the fastest car in the world by any means, but driving this car in it's power band through multiple gears on a twisty road.. more often than not the car will out perform the driver and conditions.

Last thing.. The sound... oh the sound... (yes I posted a car with Capristo :P I don't hate on any exhaust company and I love this video!!)

 

Man, that sounds just like an F1 car. Very seductive.

 

That sounds like me, except I'm not burned out. I still love my car, though my wife isn't real happy with it. This last set of repairs is the culmination of about four years of steady improvements to get it back to good and reliable condition. Now, fingers crossed, only scheduled maintenance. Unfortunately, I'm not a great mechanic, so I've had to do repairs as I/we could afford them.

 

People don't drive them because it's a ticking time bomb. Imagine knowing you have one of the high strung cars sitting in your garage. You could go out, and drive it gently and hope to get a nice ride out of it. You could go drive it hard and fast after warm up and hope it doesn't blow up. You could leave it in the garage, never start it and know that one of these days, one of these trips you WILL get that burble and clank when the valve guide drops into the port well.

Will it force the valve open? Will it hole the piston? Will it destroy the head chamber? It's the catch 22 of all time. Drive it a lot, and eventually Jack will pop out of the box. When he does, bend over and lube up.

 

Interesting discussion. So, the conclusion seems to be that if you're thinking about buying one of these cars, you'd better go in with your eyes wide open, and with a very fat bank account balance waiting in the wings. From what I've read of the OP's posts, on this and other forums, he sounds like a very skilled DIY'er, so if anyone could handle owning one of these cars, it would be him, but even so, as Doc points out, there are a number of potentially very expensive issues lurking just around the next turn of the key, thus the need to be financially prepared.

Given all that, it make me wonder whether it wouldn't be worth paying the extra up front for a newer, presumably more reliable model, like an F430, on which Ferrari appears to have addressed many, if not most, of the weaknesses of the earlier cars.

 

F430 still has the crappy engine mounts I believe, which lead to the engine needing to come out due to too much vibration. But it's much better than a 355.

F355 was the Ferrari to have when I was 16 and thus it will always have a special place in my heart. I'll never forget seeing my first one in person, the local dealer always bought yellow cab's for himself. He was driving up to a stop light and downshifted, letting the rev's jump up. God the sound was awesome.

I vowed to myself that one day I'd own a Ferrari at that moment. Need another 10 years or so to do it right. Can't wait. Haha.

 

Ah, the seduction of the flat-plane crank V8...

 

If you gotta have a prancing horse, I respectfully recommend a 348 Challenge or Speciale. The Challenge will be about 85% of the F355 fun scale, a little less to buy-in and no time bomb. Or, go big and get the 430 I guess.

If you could find a 348 Competizione, that's the cats meow, but pricey.

If you don't want a prancing horse, I'd get a Lotus Elise.

 

seems like about 4/5ths of the cars have a story like the above.

 

Doc,

Curious about your recommendation of a Lotus Elise as an alternative to a Ferrari. A phenomenal track weapon to be sure, but the driving experience seems like it would be worlds different from a Ferrari. But I've never driven either, so I'm definitely no authority.

I would think a BMW Z8 might be something of an alternative to a Ferrari, at least in terms of sheer sexiness, if not performance, and certainly not handling. But if I were in the market for an uber-high performance car, I think I would go with a brand new Corvette C7. I've never been a Vette person, but from everything I've read about the new one, it really seems like a phenomenal car regardless of price, and when you factor in its price, it's pretty much unbeatable. Gets good gas mileage, too, and comes with a warrantee

 

I am always looking around at these as well...still out of my budget at the moment. One day!

 

Oops. I meant to write Lotus Esprit. But, the functional similarities still exist. The three are all tightly sprung, have a very low polar moment of inertia. this leads to a 'point and shoot' kind of driving style. The mid-engine corner entry is somewhat different than a front engine. I learned it way back with the low powered Fiat X-1/9. Before that I had a Triumph GT-6 which is a Spitfire coupe body with a straight 6 up front.

The Lotus Esprit is also turbocharged and later ones are intercooled, so it has the kind of torque pull that the flat plane crank engines deliver. There's plenty of issues with the early Lotus as well, but fixes are usually nothing compared to dropping a 355 engine and doing a rebuild.

 

You guys really ought to get some proper perspective from someone who owns or has owned a Ferrari, especially a 355 and stop all the conjecture, listening to here say etc.
Ok, Doc has a Mondial, but that's one mans opinion and he owns one of the least loved F cars ever made. (Sorry Doc, not in my eyes).

Ferrari's can be expensive to run, but that can be the same with a Porsche too.
You should not consider buying one know the possible expense, if you know you will not be able to run the car if you can't really afford to.

 

No need to apologize for the Mondial. It is the poor red headed step child of the family, I freely admitted it. But - it keeps me around a fair number of real Ferrari owners and having heard, and seen the real world I stand by everything I wrote.

There are two design defects in the F355. There are other serious faults with the car that will come around eventually. If someone wants a F335, and that all that will do, then go in with your eyes open. I offered what I consider reasonable alternatives and I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, cause I'm in the market for a 348 Challenge or Speciale now. I have a buyer for my Mondial and since my kids are out of the house, I no longer need a 2+2.

YMMV, don't try this at home, objects in mirror are closer, and may cause **** leakage.

 

I'm enjoying this thread as well. There are a number of Ferrari models I have liked to look at. Even been able to drive some. I like Paul's 355 choice. It's a good looking car.
Sure it has a couple of issues, but can you say "cam timing belt"?
As one who's had to pull a 968 engine 4 or 5 times, I can't say I'd be too concerned about pulling the motor to change belts, exhaust, engine mounts or whatever.
If you're a serious DIYer and, as Cloud says look at it as a hobby, why not?