Happiness: (noun) - the feeling one gets when going full throttle in a hand-built Italian supercar. That all-important feeling is now more attainable than ever, with examples like this clean black Ferrari F355 GTS selling for the price of a lightly used, moderately-equipped, hum-drum SUV.
This 1995 Ferrari F355 GTS is the real-deal embodiment of having your cake and eating it too. Its high-revving 375-horsepower 3.5 liter, 5 valve per cylinder V8 was the best of Ferrari's road car technology in the '90s, and it holds up well nearly two decades later, especially with its manual 6-speed gearbox. The F355's chassis is also considered one of the most neutral and easily handled of any Ferrari ever made. This car is a performance powerhouse.
This car in particular is an imported European model, with mileage that is about average for the year. The seller has quite a history on the car, and has documentation of the clutch and engine-out service performed, not to mention the great-looking 2-piece wheels that complement the car's striking looks.
The car isn't perfect and would require a few bucks to make 100 percent. No warranty is included, but don't be scared by large repair bills, especially if simple mechanical work is something you can handle on your own. There are plenty of reasonably-priced independent shops and dealers to give you good price quotes on parts and labor, and the layout of the car is such that any confident weekend warrior could potentially fix any and all issues the car has in a garage or driveway. It's the perfect starter Ferrari, and at this price, you can't go wrong.
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Tavarish is the founder of APiDA Online and writes about buying and selling cool cars on the internet. He owns the world's cheapest Mercedes S-Class, a graffiti-bombed Lexus, and he's the only Jalopnik author that has never driven a Miata. He also has a real name that he didn't feel was journalist-y enough so he used a pen name and this was the best he could do.