Ferrari F355 Berlinetta Review

The F355 was a heavily revised 348, and the revisions were the point. Ferrari set out to make its mid-engined V8 faster and easier to drive in town, fixed the transmission problems that had dogged the older car, fitted power steering (a manual rack remained a special order), and spent more than 1,300 hours in the wind tunnel on a Pininfarina body that makes its downforce from a shaped underbody and a small lip on the tail rather than a wing. It was the last of the mid-engined Ferraris with a flying buttress rear window, a line that ran back to the 1965 Dino 206 GT, and at 11,273 cars across all versions it was the most-produced Ferrari to that point.

The engine carries the reputation. Stroking the 348's V8 to 3.5 liters mattered less than the new five-valve cylinder heads, titanium connecting rods and dry sump, and the result, designed by Paolo Martinelli, was 375 hp at 8,250 rpm, about 107 hp per liter. The name spells it out: 3.5 liters, five valves. Ferrari quotes 4.7 seconds to 62 mph and 183 mph for the Berlinetta, which weighs 1,350 kg.

Most Berlinettas, 3,829 of 4,871, left the factory with the six-speed manual. The F1 paddle-shift automated manual arrived in 1997, the first on a Ferrari road car; Auto Express finds it old-fashioned beside modern dual-clutch gearboxes, and Classic & Sports Car warns that hard use can wear out its clutch in 1,500 miles.

This is the Ferrari that made the engine-out service famous. Classic & Sports Car's buyer's guide says the engine officially has to come out every three years for new cam belts, whatever the mileage. Early cars wear their valve guides and burn oil, the thin stainless exhaust manifolds split, and specialists rebuild failed F1 actuators for about £2,500. Ferrari also recalled about 2,400 US cars in 2009 because badly placed clamps could damage the fuel lines and let fuel leak into the engine bay. The EPA rates it at 11 mpg combined. It listed at about $120,000 in 1995, and good manual Berlinettas are now advertised for well above that.

The F355 is where the modern V8 Ferrari begins: an engine that revs like a racing unit, a chassis that no longer punishes slow driving, the first paddle-shift gearbox and one of Pininfarina's best shapes. It also demands a disciplined, well-funded owner. Bought with a complete service file, it remains one of the most rewarding Ferraris of the last forty years; bought without one, it is a lesson in why the file matters.