Worst Ferrari at “The Drive” is the 348 and I disagree | FerrariChat

Worst Ferrari at “The Drive” is the 348 and I disagree

Discussion in '348/355' started by Robb, Jan 19, 2019.

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  1. Robb

    Robb Moderator
    Moderator Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Feb 28, 2004
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    Robb
    I don’t really agree with their take on the 348 and would love one in the garage over their other nominees...

    I don’t think they have driven one - just regurgitating old articles or wive’s tales.

    I would def take one over a 328 and as a past owner that should carry some extra emphasis.

    Robb

    http://www.thedrive.com/supercars/4387/what-is-the-worst-ferrari-ever-made
     
  2. Wade

    Wade Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Mar 31, 2006
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    Wade O.
    I thought The Drive was better than that. Just relying on clickbait, like most all of the rest. Sad.
     
  3. Robb

    Robb Moderator
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    Feb 28, 2004
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    Wade likes this.
  4. QSA

    QSA Formula Junior
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    Jun 3, 2011
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    Quinn
    “Worst Ferrari” is like “worst member of the Swedish Bikini Team.”
     
    thorn, vdettore, Federal man and 6 others like this.
  5. AceMaster

    AceMaster Three Time F1 World Champ

    Feb 6, 2009
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    Mike
    Lol
     
  6. Ferrarium

    Ferrarium F1 Veteran
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    Jul 28, 2018
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    Funny other magazines of the time liker Autocar named the 348 the best handling one even besting the NSX according to them if I recall they called it exquisite.
    All this rag is doing is echoing what people remember which is not accurate the 348 reputation was killed by flippers who could not make a buck buying and flipping because market crashed leaving cars in dealerships further contributing to no one want them. For decades all you had to do was get on waiting list, buy then sell for 20K more. That dried up in 89-90, people "lost" money and all people remember is the car sucked not because the nsx but because it was not blue chip. Memory haze has clouded exactly what happened. Memory is recalling the wrong reasons and this magazine article is nothing more than click bait journalism....

    Ohh, few years later rags gushed over the 348 spider, guess what... the market returned. Its not a 348 issue its peoples recall in notoriously unreliable issue.
     
    vinny and LVP488 like this.
  7. boxcarracer

    boxcarracer Formula Junior

    Jul 29, 2005
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    Luigi
    Trash 2 year old article. I believe people’s opinions of the 348 have been changing considerably over the last 2+ years.
     
    Robb likes this.
  8. ernie

    ernie Two Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Nov 19, 2001
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    I have said it before and I’ll say it again.

    When you buy a 348 you get an uncut, unpolished, dull, “ugly” little raw stone, a diamond in the rough. Ferrari did NOTHING to make the 348 the gem of a car that it can be. That is why so many of the truely uninformed put down the 348. They do not know what truely lies in their hands. That dull little “ugly” stone is actually a genuine diamond. The problem is because it is not a refined “jewel” out of the box they piss on it. The “ugly duckling” of the Ferrari world remains the best kept little secret among those of us in the know.

    The F119 is a potent little engine. It is my opinion that Ferrari deliberately detuned the F119 so that the 348 wouldn’t show up it’s bigger brother, the Testarossa. The throttle bodies are tiny, the intake valves are tiny, the plenums are too small, the intake runners too small, the ID of the MAFs are small, the tubing from the MAF to the TB gets smaller, the cams are ground way too conservative, the rpm limit is too low, the exhaust system (especially the dual cans) is restrictive, and the airbox design is restricting. Why? Because had Ferrari made the F119 to it’s full potential it would have been a 400hp+ engine all day long, and it would have laided the smack down with it’s track times vs the Testarossa. So the F119 got choked off big time. But that is just my opinion.

    Want a raw diamond that you don’t pay jewelry store prices for, that is what you get with a 348. It is not jem quality ready to be mounted to a wedding ring, but it is none the less a legit diamond. It is up to you, the owner, to turn it into the jewel of a Ferrari it can, and should be.

    *mic drop*
     
    vinny, vdettore, gaw111 and 6 others like this.
  9. TheMayor

    TheMayor Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Its the Mondial 8 and everyone knows it. But that's just easy pickings that no one will care about. So they go for clickbait.

    I had a 246 Dino GT for 15 years and all I ever heard is how terrible it was in car reviews and even from other Ferrari owners.

    Now what do they say?
     
  10. LVP488

    LVP488 F1 Rookie

    Jan 21, 2017
    4,839
    France
    As far as I remember from my brief ownership the 348 was far from bad compared to contemporary standards; it was a step forward from the 308 / 328 which began to be really dated at the time the 348 was introduced.
    The gearbox (with cable command) lacked reliability but that was about the only major flaw.
    As mentioned above, it entered a market suffering a significant turnaround - and its successor, the 355, would be far more accomplished and be facing a recovered market. Both explaining (but not excusing) the disdain for the 348.
    As a car, I really think the 348 was better than the original testarossa, which had undersized brakes and a poor roadholding - the testarossa had a fantastic engine though, but that was all (I replaced my 348 by a testarossa, so I have experience of both cars - it allows me to have an opinion, right or wrong ;) )
     
    albert328gts likes this.
  11. 348steve

    348steve Karting

    Jul 18, 2018
    149
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    Stephen G
    All I know is that the misinformed persons writing retro-trash articles about the 348 have allowed me to have one in my garage. I recently bought a really great example of a TS, it shines like the gem it should and brings serious smiles wherever I go. I also get to work on the car myself, given its extreme simplicity. The road ahead looks equally shiny, just read the December 2018 Hagerty article that had it listed as the #1 investment potential in a series of classic cars and trucks reviewed at the year end. Sometimes is takes an ill deserved reputation to spark the sharpest changes in classic car value and adoration. I'm going to hold onto my car, drive it, love it, and watch it grow!
     
    kandi, vdettore, ATLdoghouse and 2 others like this.
  12. malex

    malex Formula 3
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    Dec 5, 2007
    1,245
    FL
    I owned my former '94 348 for 6 years. It's the only car that I've ever owned and sold then deeply regretted selling it. I really wish that it was still in my garage. My car was well-sorted and drove fantastic. Poor ergonomics? Huh? The car was fine for the period in which it was designed (keep in mind that it was a late '80s design). It fit me just fine. I actually found the interior to be refreshingly simple.

    I now own a 355, but never understood the hate for the 348. Yes, it could've been better when released. But Ferrari corrected many of the issues over the 3 subsequent years. And the NSX was an appropriate wake up call. Still, that doesn't make the 348 a bad car.
     
    ernie and Chupacabra like this.
  13. Chupacabra

    Chupacabra F1 Rookie
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    Sep 30, 2005
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    I was scratching my head on the interior thing as well...it's mostly quite comfortable and everything falls to hand pretty easily.
     
  14. NoSpeedLimit

    NoSpeedLimit Karting

    Sep 6, 2013
    185

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