1992 Ferrari 348 TS from North America - All Comments

Poor design on the seals around the top of the windows... they leak furiously... always carry towels in the rainy season. The Ferrari mechanic tells me that all Targa-top 348's leak this way. The Berlinetta is a better design and does not do this.

The rubberized coating used on the dash/center console/door handles deteriorates and gets sticky after five or eight years. It comes off on your hands and clothes.

This is a beautiful car, and is a lot of fun to drive. It will not accelerate as fast as any of the later Vettes, and is not as comfortable inside. If you are over 5' 10", you will have to recline the seat to have headroom.

Mileage is better than you think... about 22 MPG on the highway. This is hardly enough to make up for the ridiculous maintenance costs.

You cannot drive this car without scraping the front valence on the pavement. Anytime you encounter a swale you must turn at an angle to avoid destroying it.

This guy put 3,000 miles on his 348 in 4 years? I am thinking he is a 'poser'. I've only put 15,000 on mine in the past 2 years, and if was home more, I would drive it more. Yeah, the parts are a pain to get, and the interior plastic is crap (soak in hot water and sand the coating off for a smooth, nice finish), but it handles way better than my Porsche on the track (this guy has probably never seen a track) and it's easier to work on. I wonder how much his Corvette has depreciated? My 348 is holding firm.

This is directed to the writer of the original message. Dude, it's a Ferrari. You DO NOT drive a Ferrari in the rain. The people at Ferrari designed for if you "accidentally" got caught in the rain. I cannot believe you are complaining about the repair costs. IT'S A FERRARI!!! Of course it is going to be expensive. Most people who can afford to buy one don't care about repair costs or gas mileage or things like that. If your that up-tight about it, learn how to work on it yourself. Same thing goes with Porsche and all the other expensive sports cars. My God...

I can see a Ferrari 348 ts from my window as I speak, its on my drive. This car ia not made for driving in the rain - Its based on an F1 car, a Ferrari is the closet thing to 1!!! High maintence costs??? Why would you even buy a Ferrari if you don't have money?!?!?! It's a stunning car and as fast as any other car. If you don't like it go buy a Porsche or a Ford Focus!!!

The 348 is nothing like an F1 car, not one bit of it. That is frankly a ridiculous statement. If you read reviews the 348 is, and never was, a good car.

I have owned a 348ts for the past 6 years. Have not driven it as much as would have liked to because of various problems. Soon after I bought it the battery went dead and it took me awhile to find a jack low enough to get the rear wheel off to change the battery. Then the door handle broke or came loose somewhere inside the drivers door so you have to crawl over to the passenger seat to get out of the car. Wouldn't be so bad except the drivers window stopped working as well. More recently the left headlight will not come up so I am not able to get it inspected. Finally called the dealer who was willing to pick the car up for about 600.00 and give me an estimate to repair all the above and then I learned that every three years the car need to have its belts changed which will cost an additional 8,000.00. For some people that may not be much - but for me I'll have to wait.

Still love the car. There are no words to describe the wonderful feeling of driving this car, the great sound and the way it looks even if just sitting still.

I appreciated the comment about the sticky rubber, can anything be done to treat this. I thought that someone had just used a bad cleaner on it which started to eat into the rubber.

BH.

I have a 1990 Ferrari 348 ts. It is a fantastic car and a thrill to drive. The only negative thing is the sticky components, vents on the dash. How can I fix this?

How do you fix the sticky vents, any suggestions.

Just buy the vents for the 355 they fit perfectly and will only put you back about $500.00 (new finish look) Go to Ricambiamerica.com to buy them.

I own a 92 Ferrari 348 Speciale # 19 of 35 coupes built.I've owned it for 2 years now and it's a blast to drive. The Speciale is a limited editon and has a wider rear track, F40 stle front bumper, kevlar racing seats, and a tuned spider free flow exhaust system from the factory. The spider exhaust system really makes the car scream when going through the gears... what a freakin great sound - it will bring a smile to your face. The stock exhaust on the regular 348 model sounds terrible when you hear the differance to a spider exhaust.

Try to find an independent shop for your service needs... dealers are all a rip-off!If you get the service manual - you can do a lot of it yourself! It only takes about 4 hours to drop the engine and maintenance is pretty straight forward.

The dealers tell you major service at 5 years or 15K, but if your car only travels under 2000 miles a year... you can stretch the service to at least around 7 years. How do I know this... well when my last service was performed the car traveled 7,000 miles & it was 7 years since the last major and guess what... the timing belt still looked perfect and had no cracks in it!Change the oil at least once a year, trans fluid every 2 years and brake fluid either every year or two.Don't let your Ferrari sit for months without driving it... the seals will dry up. Drive it at least once every 2 weeks... let the engine warm up to operating temperature... then at least take it around the block. Don't baby your car...it's meant to be driven hard my friends... these 348's are pretty much bullet proof and just love to be pushed.

Always have a PPI (PRE-PURCHASE INSPECTION DONE WHEN BUYING THESE CARS). As for the sticky console and interior parts - take them out and strip off the old surface... I used plain old gasoline, but you can soak them in hot water and sand them too. Buy a can of Plasti Dip by Performix and respray your interior parts. Plasti Dip is a rubberized coating they dip or spray on basically tool handles. This new rubberized surface will look like the stock console when it was new... on the door handles just use a black satin spray paint and that will look pretty much new... I sprayed mine without removing them... just cover and mask everything.

I've owned Aston Martins, Corvettes, Alphas, Lotus, Mercedes, still own a rare 84 Porsche Carrea Slantnose - but out of all the cars on the planet... I just love my Ferrari 348 Speciale... I will never - ever sell this car. I'm leaving it to my 17 year old son who goes to Ferrari shows & rallies with me... Join the FerrariClub of North America and go on a spring or fall Ferrari drive with 15 to 25 cars in the pack...it's just amazing when you travel down the highway with a pack of Ferraris... of course we usually let her rip... the fast & furious... I have the need for speed!

Get out and enoy yourself with your car on a great spring morning... you deserve it my friends. Do you want to be on your deathbed and say then...would-a. should-a could-a...it'll be too late then...can't go back... Buy the freakin Ferrari you love... Do the research... go to shows... talk with owners of these cars... they are really pretty much friendly... Enoy yourself...you ownly live once!

Go for it... Lifes too short...

Need more info cal me...R.J. Scheurer, 201-568-9785 or

bluesky7@optonline.net.

P.S. Don't buy the earlier 348's they have too many problems... buy 92 onwards.