As you stare at the picture above of a gorgeous mid-engined V8 Ferrari, and then the title of this series—our guilty pleasures—you’ll no doubt be thinking, ‘Jack you turnip, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. These are supposed to be sheds and s***boxes for which you harbor secret desires, not obviously-attractive Italian supercars.’ And you’d be right, but let me define guilty.
You see, for as long as I can remember, the Ferrari 355 has been the one. The car that, even as the relentless march of technology piled more power and tech into supercars, I’ve lusted after, from a spotty 15-year-old to the editor of Top Gear, nothing surpassed it for desirability or attainability. I watched, wide-eyed, as prices fell steadily—salivated as they bottomed out around £45k (around P3.57 million and still too steep for a junior car journo) then wept as they swept upwards—now cresting £150k (around P11.89 million) for a good one with a manual ‘box.
As a result, my eyes have been wandering to the next V8 Ferrari in the depreciation queue. I feel terribly guilty, but I’ve now seen so much praise heaped on the 355 that my love has waned. I’ve got the hots for the one that, for so long, left me cold.
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The 360 Modena was the first Ferrari I ever drove. One of those pre-packaged supercar experiences allowed me to sample an Impreza STI, a 996 Carrera, and a dog-eared 360. I remember being blown away by how low, raw, and unfiltered the Ferrari felt. I was knocked sideways by the noise and speed, but not by the curvy body. It always felt characterless next to the sharper and perfectly scalloped 355.
But times change, used prices rearrange, and now it’s a solid manual 360 you can have for £75k (around P5.94 million) or a really scrappy one for as low as £50k (around P3.96 million). The design has grown on me, too—what was once amorphous has now clicked into retro-cool. Hard to believe when you look at my day job, but I struggle with what modern supercars say about you. I adore the engineering, the boundary-pushing, and the sheer absurdity of it all, but do I want to be the guy pulling up in the flip-paint Revuelto? Probably not. Rocking up in a scruffy 360 though, with too many kilometers on the clock, a car that’s been driven hard, as intended. That, I can get on board with.
As electrification engulfs the mainstream car market, and supercars become ever more expensive, complicated, and ridiculously fast, I sense a movement towards a simplification of the driving experience. Embracing cars that capture driving purity, effortlessly. And what describes that better than wringing out a naturally aspirated V8, click-clacking your way through the gears, and parking it wherever the hell you like.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
