[flash]

the 360 was the last one i liked. after that, they just got too big and bloated

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[vliegwielolaf1234]

For me , and just did an oil change on a 308 last week .



I will not ever buy one , since i still have to find a ferrari , lambo , aston , i can actually fit behind the wheel being 2mtr's tall .

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[wildcat]

Got to add my two cents on this one... the F-355, its the closest cousin to the 968 in terms of style and litreage (like that word?...) I'm comparing it with the Cabriolet of course. Its interesting in the similarity of evolution of Porsche and Ferrari... it was the first Ferrari to change its designation of numbering, F for Ferrari, 3.5 for litres and a 5 value per cylinder, and a V-8 etc. It was the 968 of the Ferrari family at the time and sold quite well.

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[Chris Vais]

Anyone of these would do nicely for me

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[94SilverCab]

This is my one and only choice...



Jay

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[ds968]

Wow Jay, that's one car you could not pay me to have. Drive it once or twice, yes - absolutely. But somewhere in the desert, because I refuse to be seen in public stepping out of something as tacky. Now, any of the cars Chris posted...I'd sell my sister ( if I had one ) into slavery for one of those. In the meantime, I'll stick with the 968. JMHO.

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[Cloud9...68]

There was cool article in Grassroots Motorsports a few months ago (I think it was November 2013) about a guy who bought a 1981 two-valve 308 (so the least-loved, and least expensive of the 308 models), and then had the car thoroughly updated mechanically, including having the engine enlarged to 3.5 liters and adding about 100 hp, new coil-over suspension, larger brakes, wider (288 GTO-style) wheels and tires, Euro bumpers, etc. And he had it painted black, thus avoiding too much of the Magnun PI image. To me, the 308 is still the best-looking of the post-246 Dino Ferrari's (the 360 is a fairly close second), so this would pretty much be my dream street car. Although it still has that goofy near-horizontal steering wheel that 308's were afflicted with. And even with the low starting price, the guy probably still has close to $80K into it. But he ended up with a gorgeous car that drives like a modern high-end GT, and makes those incredible Ferrari sounds.

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[wildcat]

Don't think you'll get much argument... "anyone of these will do.." but here's another for the collection:





   

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[flash]

yup - sexy car. but for the maintenance, i'd own one.

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[ds968]

[quote name='flash' timestamp='1395440462' post='156151']

but for the maintenance, i'd own one.

[/quote]



it's not just the cost of maintenance , but the frustration of driving it one day, having it in the shop four days, driving it another day and then right back to the shop for the following four days, again and again rinse, repeat <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/happy.png" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[flash]

lol - yeah - it might as well be a gen 3 rx-7

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[Cloud9...68]

[quote name='flash' timestamp='1395441736' post='156154']

lol - yeah - it might as well be a gen 3 rx-7

[/quote]

Hmmm... I had one of those, and it was very reliable, although from what I'd read, mine appeared to be the exception. I only had it for about 40,000 miles, though.



After hearing the sounds clip of a few F355's, I started playing clips of other V8 Ferrari's, and was surprised at how much of a difference in exhaust tone there was from model to model. To my ear, the F355 sounds best, as it comes closest to the Formula 1 (prior to this year, anyway) shriek.



Speaking of V8 Ferrari's, I had always thought the 288 GTO was a pretty cool car, so out of curiosity, I did a check of what they're selling for these days. I knew if was a very limited production car, so I expected it to be in the multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars. Oh so wrong, Maranello breath - the most recent sales have been around $1.4 million!

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[Chris Vais]

I wonder if the frequency of maintenance on the old guys, whose pictures I posted, is as bad as the newer ones. They probably have to have their oil changed more often but they don't have a all the electronic stuff the new ones have. Not much can go wrong with a manual gearbox unless you are inept at driving with one, but I wonder about the "flappy paddle" electronic boxes on the newer cars. Carbs probably more problematic than fuel injection, but then you don't need a computer to tune the car either.



I have a friend who has a 308 4 valve that is his daily driver. He'll tell you the best thing he ever did for that car was start driving it on a daily basis. Fewer, non-routine maintenance issues than before when it was a weekend only car.

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[Cloud9...68]

Hard to say. One issue with the V8 cars from the 308 on is their mid-engine design, requiring the engine to be removed for a lot of the semi-routine maintenance. Also, from what I've read, the F355 had a few specific, very serious problems. Their exhaust manifolds could be counted on cracking, and the replacements are, as you'd expect, knee-weakeningly expensive. Even worse, their valve guides tended to snap, often leading to complete and catastrophic engine destruction. I saw a copy online of one unfortunate F355 owner's bill after he had taken the car to the dealer because. "...it's running a little rough") - a nice itemized bill totaling $45K!



My guess is that you're right that the older models are more reliable, largely because they didn't produce the specific output of the modern engines, so they were a lot less stressed. But any way you slice it, you'd better have pretty deep pockets if you want to own a Ferrari.

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[94SilverCab]

I was kidding about the FXX (Though I'd like to have the bucks, that one is the only FXX in the world not stored at a dealership)...actually, I wouldn't own a Ferrari at any price. I like to drive my cars and it would Piss me off if I had the time to drive one of my toys and it wouldn't start. I visited a friend in Boston a few yeatrs ago and NEITHER of his Ferraris would turn over. The dealership brought him an Alfa to drive while they flat-bedded both of his cars away.



Jay

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[flash]

i'm the perfect candidate for a ferrari. i already have a german car that i've spent a mint on, and never drive. why not have an italian one?

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[zms968]

Spending the weekend with a 550 in the garage. It's the nicest driving gt car I have had for an extended period.

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[timmerrifield]

I live in a small city so the idea of a Ferrari is out of the question because reliable mechanics are 100 miles away. Plus aren't they pretentious? Who drives these cars?

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[ds968]

[quote name='timmerrifield' timestamp='1395503073' post='156180'] Who drives these cars?[/quote]



Several categories :



1. Absolute auto enthusiasts.

2. Absolute brand loyalists

3 . Masochists

4. Posers with more money than brains

5. People with a lot of money and a fleet of alternative cars they can use while tne Ferrari is in tne shop .



(# 3 is a prerequisite to any and all of the listed categories )

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[Cloud9...68]

I have a co-worker who must have a lot of money in the family, because I know from personal experience that my company doesn't pay its engineers that well, who has owned Ferrari's for years, starting with a 355, I think. Overall, he's been happy with them. I'm not aware that one has ever left him stranded, or caused him a huge financial crisis. So, I'm not sure I agree with the masochist requirement. But I definitely agree with #5!



To me, Ferrari's are intoxicating machines. Nothing quite looks like them (even though I don't care for the styling of all of them), or, maybe more importantly, sounds like them. I'm in no position to even think about owning one anytime soon, but owning one is on my bucket list.

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