Reception
The Ferrari 348 made its debut in September 1989 at the Frankfurt Auto Show to positive reviews, cited as "Best in Show" by Road & Track and AutoWeek coverage. In a later 1991 comparison against the NSX, Road & Track inquired, “Has Honda bettered Ferrari?” The magazine concluded the Ferrari 348 was “the better exotic” and would later name it “one of the ten best cars in the world.” Auto journalists described the 348 as, "something quite special," and the engine being the formative element in defining the car's character, rising in an "operatic crescendo," having the "power to raise goose bumps as Pavarotti climbing to that note in Nessun Dorma."[21]
Gavin Green reviewed the 348 against contemporaries in Car Magazine, Oct 1990: “There is nothing like it. It communicates so richly, involves you so completely. And, when you have finished driving it – cocooned in that exquisite cockpit – you can get out and feast your eyes on one of the loveliest cars ever designed.”[22]
LA Times staff writer Paul Dean described the car in July 1990: “Ferrari builds motor cars in much the same way Claude Monet painted landscapes—not to please the populace, but more to satisfy self, a technique and a coterie,” with the 348 as a “better looking, stronger, faster” successor to the “enormously successful” 308/328 series, and “thoroughly irresistible.” Revising the longitudinal V8 layout in the way of the 288 GTO and F40, with a dry sump and transversely mounted “new gearbox and transmission (actually a carry-over from a Ferrari Formula 1 racing car),” the center of gravity is lower “by about 2 inches. Ergo flatter handling, and better steering response.”[23]
Autocar Magazine featured a comparison of the 348tb, Honda NSX, Porsche 911 Turbo, and Lotus Esprit in the July 1993 article, “Lord of the Fliers,” by Stephen Sutcliffe. Through the road test that extended from Paris to Le Mans, the 348 was lauded for its styling and presence, “Crawling out of Paris in the thick of the densest French traffic jam any of us can ever recall, three things about our convoy were already becoming apparent. The First – how much more attention and affection the French public had in reserve for the Ferrari – was perhaps predictable, especially since the 348 had already blown the others into the water at Dover when it came to impressing the locals. Even so, the crowds that gathered like bees to honey wherever and whenever we parked it, and the comparative lack of enthusiasm for the other three, still came as something of a shock.”[24] On the Le Mans race circuit, the 348s control and steering garnered praise over the NSX, “It's the Honda's body control and its meaty yet beautifully positive steering that allows it to feel so natural through the Esses of Le Mans; both seem peerless. Until you try the Ferrari. In the 348 you've got the same degree of body control, the same iron tautness through the corners, but the steering – lighter than the Honda's but with much more feedback – lifts it clear of even the mighty NSX at La Sarthe.”[24] Critique found the 348 difficult in traffic due to heavy steering and controls, though transformative on open road, “the further we traveled and the harder we drove in France, the more special, the more unique the Ferrari felt. We argued long and hard over which of the two made the best noise under full throttle, although no one disputed the fact that the NSX was more refined overall and had vastly superior gearchange. But ultimately this is as much the Honda's problem as it is its strength. Because it is so well honed as an all-rounder, so easy to live with, it misses out on that last 10 per cent of pure, raw thoroughbred sports car appeal that makes the Ferrari such a deliciously rich experience.
Peter Dron of Motor Trend gave the car a negative review, criticising its acceleration by saying "For some manufacturers, it might be hard to go to market when competitors are offering cars with demonstrably better performance for tens of thousands of dollars less. Ferrari, however, seems blessed with such cache that the numbers gleaned from mere fifth wheels don't seem to make much of a difference. Take the Ferrari 348, for example. Its 0-60-mph time of about 6 seconds can be bested by such lesser-priced machinery as an L98 Corvette. Its slalom speed of a little over 63 mph is flat blown away by the humbly priced Nissan 300ZX Turbo." The engine note was criticised as well with the publication noting "It doesn't sound like a V-8; in fact, the noise it makes is more like a high-pitched turbine than anything else, the characteristic whine of the flat-plane crank. It doesn't have the hard edge of Lamborghini's V-8 (similar to the old Cosworth DFV) or the deep, throaty rumble of the high-performance domestic engines. It isn't an unpleasant noise, but it won't make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on edge. It's simply an efficient device, to be used to the fullest." The exterior design, especially the fake front grille received a negative reception as well, with the publication remarking "Least flattering is the full frontal view, and that dummy grille is a copout: If you don't need a grille, why have one? An innovative aerodynamic approach would have made more sense. In the press handout (referring to the Testarossa-style side strakes) is the following remark: 'On a Ferrari a technical requirement becomes a stylistic theme and nothing is simply there for decoration.' Oh, really?"[11]
In a 2015 retrospective, Evo Magazine compared the 458 Italia against its 308, 348, F355, 360 and F430 ancestors, where Henry Catchpole noted the primary highlight of the day being the 348's steering, describing it as, “instantly obvious this car has some of the best steering, possibly the best, that I have ever sat behind.” He expounded on the car's analogue character, describing the steering as, “coming alive in my hands. It literally starts wriggling around, talking excitedly about all the bumps in the road and sometimes making a bigger gesture as a camber attracts its attention. Despite the lack of assistance and the wheel’s relatively small diameter, it’s not heavy in any way, there’s just perfect weight and no slack to add to the constant communication.”[25]
Some areas of critique focused around the long-established topic of Ferrari gearboxes, typically stiff and balky when cold. The 348 did not break from tradition in this area, requiring careful adjustment and lubricating considerations, as well as full warm up, and was found to perform best with quick and aggressive driving. "It's only when you allow the engine full voice that the 348's drivetrain really works," mentioned Mike McCarthy of May 1994's Wheels Magazine.[21] "Only then does this drivetrain achieve harmony," with the gear lever "moving fast and fluidly," leaving "no surprise to anyone who knows why Ferrari has the reputation it does," summarizing it to be, "very much like what you imagine a Ferrari might be." Paul Dean described, “Gears are given up smoothly only when the moment, the engine, the clutch and shift are in concert. But finding that moment, being the conductor of a coordinated downshift, earning some respect from a benchmark machine that rises above the best of our abilities. . . ah, there's the defiance but also the satisfaction of Ferrari.”[23] Though lauded for its capability on a race circuit, oversteer characteristics at the limit in early 348s became a point of concern for the buying public due to the sensitive nature of the chassis setup, leading to updated mounting points in the rear combined with revised alignment specifications in later cars.
The 348 was particularly despised by former Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. According to him, back in 1991 he purchased a yellow 348, and while driving around Rome he stopped at a traffic light and, when the light turned green, for a few dozens meters the 348 was out-accelerated by a Volkswagen Golf Mk2 GTI driven by a young man, who recognized Montezemolo and jokingly remarked that his car run much better than the Ferrari. Afterwards Montezemolo held a meeting at Ferrari where he scolded his engineers, declaring that the 348 was "a shitty car, that makes noise and doesn't move". Then he called former Formula One driver Niki Lauda for a test drive, who later confirmed Montezemolo's harsh opinion.[26]
