The unveiling of Ferrari's 'budget' £140,000 California got us thinking: is there such a thing as a cheap Ferrari? After some head-scratching, we came up with these...
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The punisher: Ferrari F355 (1994-1999) (page 2 of 10)
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The desire for revenge often focuses the mind and the 355 was Ferrari's response to the Honda NSX.
The Honda was a stonking car and Maranello had been dealt a deadly blow. Ferrari realised it had been complacent and set out to make the best possible car it could to reclaim the supercar crown.
Gone were the mini-Testarossa looks, in were contemporary curves. Under the bonnet was a glorious 3.5-litre V8 that screamed itself to its 8,800rpm while posting a 0-62mph time of 4.6 seconds and a top speed of 183mph. Engineers also put together a totally new suspension arrangement to avoid a repeat of the problems in the 348.
As a result the F355 was a roaring success for the brand and hunting around in the classifieds it shows. So many were sold that now it is easy to unearth examples, for less than £30,000 - that's BMW 3-Series Coupe territory.
Budget again for £1,000 for the annual check-up and the timing belts must be changed every 12,000 miles or three years to avoid a catastrophic five-figure repair bill. Steer clear of suspiciously cheap race school hacks and the horrid F1 transmission that is prone to catastrophic failure.
