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So much for the 355! 360

4K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  Night Life 
#1 ·
I came here a while back looking for comments and suggestions on the 355, and got a lot of great information. Since then I've been doing a lot of reading and asking questions, and the basic long and short is that a 355 is simply not a good buy here in Canada.

Basically Ferrari North America decided that the 355 no longer meets the Canadian bumper regs, and pulled them from the import list. Yes, BUMPER REGS. So basically if you want a 355 you have to buy one that started life here in Canada. There's a premium of at least 50% for such a beast -- a 355 hardtop recently sold here for $125k CDN IIRC. I can get a 360F1 ragtop for that amount in the US, and keep in mind that the Canadian dollar is now worth more than the US one. I do like the 360, don't get me wrong, but the sticker shock is a killer. $85k and my brain says "yeah, ok, I can do that", $125 and I see blackness.

But I do have a few questions:

For one, everyone at the dealers seems to suggest that the 360 is simply a better car than the 355, and that as a result they are somewhat less expensive to keep on the road. I'd also assume that since they are newer, there's less wear-n-tear and that should have an effect too. For those of you that have owned both, can you comment on this?

The other question is about carrying value and depreciation. From what I can see all of these cars hold their value surprisingly well after a few years. 2002 and 2004 360's are listed at about the same price on eBay, for what that's worth. If these can be used to gauge the selling prices, it seems that the overall depreciation if I held one for a couple of years would be on the same sort of order as a new BMW ragtop, on the order of 5-10k a year. Is this a reasonable estimate?

If so, then the overall cost actually doesn't seem that much different. Sure there's more up front cash and higher interest payments, but the difference between buying and selling price with the maint added on doesn't seem that much different at all.

Any comments?

Maury
 
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#2 ·
I biased...Did you consider a 348. It has depreciated a little more, is far more affordable, and is a very similar car to the 355 in performance. Unless you want the F1 Tranny, a Later model 348 is a great car and can be picked up for $45 to $50 making it a very sensible alternative.
 
#4 ·
I have owned both. The F355 is a more emotional ownership experience and the 360 more rational. The 360 is definitely the better choice if you are going to use it on a daily basis. Replacing the manifolds and the cambelt service are major costs associated with the F355. If you opt for the F1 gearbox, plan on investing in a new clutch every 10-20k miles depending on the way you drive.
 
#6 ·
What sort of costs are involved in the clutch job? I'm kind of curious about this because the 6-spd is far less expensive than the F1, and I'm perfectly happy with a stick (never owned a slip-clutch auto, never will). But I have to admit, launch control kinda turns me on.

Maury
 
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