F355 for sale with parts and labor rates
 

This car was the bull market 1990's...

15k miles
I guess you could call this the 964/993 of Ferraris. The last of the old school.
Ferrari 355 Spider | eBay

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and you thought Porsche parts and service was expensive??? :rolleyes:

^ Well at least you'd already be used to paying for 10 quarts every time you took it to jiffy lube.
You'd just have to budget for the two extra spark plugs.:)

I spent this morning looking at Ferrari's and most of the people that I talked to were of the opinion that the 348/355 style are viewed within Ferrari circles much like the 996 is viewed within some Porsche circles (as somewhat of a low point in the history of the marque).

The 308/328's are picking up quite a bit of steam by collectors (this is the 964 equivalent) but the future classic seems to be the 360/430 (the next 993).

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Ferrari 360 Spider F1 | eBay 19K miles $65K

...oh and replace the clutch every third oil change!!! :eek:

And what service is due? Engine out service?

15k miles and new valve guides and clutch????

The 360 is a beautiful car .
The 355 is an awesome car a definite future classic , but the 360 just blew it out of the water looks wise .
I'd be driving one as my daily if I didn't do so many miles a week for work .
And my credit history was a bit longer :D
The front trunk is a similar size to a 997 too , so my fishing gear will fit in no problem .

That's funny that they look down at the 348/355. I see those as the last of the analog era like the last of the air-cooled Carreras. The 360 seemed to me like a re-invention of Ferrari during the Montemozolo era. I remember an article where he said the first thing that struck him when he took over was that the quality control wing at the factory (ie. where they fixed molto errors) was almost as big as the actual assembly department! The era of the bullet proof F2000 F1 cars under Jean Todt coinciding with the arrival of the 360 and all its technological, power-boosting techological improvements seem more like the onset of the water-cooled era for Porsche. I guess the 348/355 didn't win over the purists while still being heavy, mushy cars... Not really the case with the water-cooled Carreras. I mean the idea that a weekend warrior in a 996 could get within mere seconds of a factory driver was big.

I think of 430 as the future 997.2 GT3. The last modern cars you could still get without the XBOX paddles.


p.s.
Where's Johny Danger
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My wife's brother recently bought -and then sold about 9 months later- a 355. Maintenance on it was *insane*. And this is me knowing that Ferrari is an expensive 'investment'. In the nine months he had it I think he dropped just under $20K on consumables. Nothing broke. Just fluids, brakes, clutch...that kind of stuff.....absolutely stunned me. He makes bank....but sold it simply because it was so ridiculous to keep up.

(My wife spent a week driving it and was a big fan. For some reason, she wasn't nearly as impressed with the '02 Boxster then she returned....LOL).

One autox club guy here has a F430 Scuderia -- he drives it a lot. First time he took into service for brake pads they told him "mmm nope. Rotors have to go now too, that'll be $10K please". :p

Then he drove the wheels off it some more and apparently caused a head-scratcher repair that took a month to figure out, one that they'd only seen once before on raced car. Needed some new bonisimo unit... damage: $30K. You better have some caysh ready to drive those cars to anything beyond cars and coffee every Sunday!

I don't know about you but the 1990's vintage seems to have more full bodied flavor to me than the 2000's.

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At least if you wanted to do your own plugs and wires, its available on Ebay

Ferrari F355 GTS 3 5 Cambiare Ignition Cable Kit Genuine OE Spec Car Engine Part | eBay

Where's the amazon link to THAT book ?

After reading the ad I was a bit confused. Have the valve guides been replaced? I've heard somewhere that's an issue with these cars.

There was one parked a couple streets down from me, outside a house, in the driveway a mist a bunch of other cars, car cover blown off weeks if not months prior, with what looked like a thick layer of dust on it with the tires going flat. Wonder if something major, or even minor happened to it causing it to be put aside like that. Wonder if there are other 355 like that just sitting because of repair costs.

I wouldn't agree that the 355 is viewed as a low point. Yes, the major service is engine out, so that is a negative. But the performance of the car has it considered by many to the first of the modern era Ferrari's, by journalists at the time and since. The 348 on the other hand is a very poor design and has been discussed in published articles as being one of the most unreliable Ferrari's of all time. Many suffer from deferred maintenance as the entry cost is low, yet the engine out service and maintenance costs are high.

The challenge with purchasing any Ferrari is to make sure that it has not had maintenance deferred. Service records and a very thorough PPI help to minimize the risks. When a well maintained Ferrari is purchased, the annual costs are usually much more reasonable.

I am in the same boat with thinking the 355 as equivalent to the 993, last of the Mohicans. There are some pretty big horror stories with those cars though, including the $10k exhaust manifolds that crack. Do your due diligence with any Italian (F-cars, Lambo, Masers).

I personally view the 360 and 430 as more mechanical than art. Collectible? Maybe not imo, except for the Stradale and Scuderia.

Then the cylinders run lean since the O2 sensors get confused and your burn up a piston leading to a HUGE rebuild cost.

There is also the issue with valve guide problems.

Fix these two (or find one that has) you have a much more solid car.

Ironically I was looking a year ago -- but the wife said you can have all the Porsches you want -- but the first Ferrari you buy will cost you 1/2 -- as in 'the 1/2'

And yes I do have my share and (then some) of P-cars.

mike

^didn't know about running lean and burning a piston from cracked manifolds...a time bomb waiting to happen!

Great info seningen!