Is a 308 an inexpensive car to maintain?

Not that difficult. Pride and joy outlives owner perhaps, is one scenario.
Think the trouble is you're not sure ever if you do have that car or not. Look at George's experience recently.
My base line is you may wind up rebuilding an engine but then you'd have it for sure.
Can't afford the car and an engine rebuild, you can't afford that model Ferrari.
I applied that rule to myself and have accepted reluctantly that my Ferrari ambitions will have to wait a little longer.

 

As a daily driver I would buy the cheapest one I could find and drive the wheels off it.

Fix it as it breaks.......IF it breaks!

 

Its one of those situations where there is no real answer. If you don't buy one you'll never know and if you do buy one, anything can happen.
Buy it, drive it and if it beaks...fix it. The older cars are pretty robust and don't cost a fortune to maintain, preventative maintenance is better than anything I've found.
Just do it

 

Its actually GREAT advice!

Pay $20K less for a ****ter and drive it!

EVERY Ferrari doesnt have to be as smick as your cars etc..etc. You should see my 348.

 

Its good to be back!

 

Great pictures PP. Inspiration for me to put the 412 back together.

2 questions - why was the windscreen removed ? i'm guessing to make the access to the dash easier ?
And it looks like the original liners were re-bored in the block to suit the new pistons ?

The reason why you haven't had any trouble is because most of the bit's on the car that might wear out, leak or are likely to stop the car have been rebuilt.
Your approach was to get a thorough job done as soon as you bought the car and then enjoy driving it. Other people buy cars and fix things as they need to be done. Either approach works.

I'd expect your ongoing "repair" costs to be low for some time, because of the amount of work done / money spent at the beginning.

Anyway, back to GT 4's, they are the cheapest / simplest Ferrari to maintain, and one of the cheapest to buy, so overall the best "entry" point for someone on a budget. With regard to running costs, as you know it depends on many factors - how good the car is to start off with, how much it' driven, how many stuff ups from previous "mechanics" need to be corrected, and how much work you can do yourself.

I'd allow 4-6k at the start for a major service and other stuff that needs to be done (which there invariably will be ), and then put aside 2-3k per year for maintenance, which will average out over a few years.

Sometimes the reason for the sale of a car is unplanned and beyond the owners control: - a father cutting the son's line of credit, divorce, bankruptcy, ill health and of course death come to mind. So it is possible to pick up a car that has lot's of money spent on it and needs nothing.


M

 

yep, 308s are the bulletproof model if there is one

my GT4 had done god knows how many miles before I got it and then it really had a lot of miles put on it for a measley sum to maintain.

First couple of years was catching up on defered maintenance and then was running fine for about the last of it's 118K kms before going to the ballerina school.

I had the Ferrari dealer do a lot of work on it and in hindsight I'd have been better off doing a lot of it myself or getting Marc to do the 'specialist' parts.

Anyway, if you're earning good money they are very low in maintenance compared to the modern cars and have very little to go wrong and provide lots of enjoyment, the QV is running like a Swiss clock and starts from outside the car every time, idles at 1500 rpm until warm and then settles at 1000 rpm as steady as a rock, gets good mileage if you travel at the speed limit (like I always do ) and handles better than any HSV, FPV, etc taxi

Just need to put away about $2-5k per year for maintenance or it will come back to bite you

 

Wow, and all in 6-7 weeks.

Good effort. So your 308 is an Aussie car. For some reason I thought it was a UK car.

 

Yeah, perhaps you should have taken your 308 to those guys!

Great effort. I have only seen a few other GT4's in person and PP's is a very nice example.

 

I'm sure most of you have followed Newmans restoration of his 308GTB. He's selling it after all the work. Going to start on his BOxer next.

Not sure what he's selling it for but it's basically brand new.

 

Already in talks with him. *wink wink*

 

it'll be LHD

 

Lol, I know mate. I have seen the thread. An amazing job and a beautiful car.

I was only kidding. Although 30 yr old can be driven here, it could be a thought. If his were 30 yr old.

I dont remember what year model his is actually.

 

very nice. If you want to sell it when I get my garage done let me know

 

Did you fix the crooked passenger seat?

 

that covers a multitude of sins .... you forgot his guide dog

 

"DTPH" ROFL

I think my garage will be a definite DTPH. Heritage listing in Kuringai Council = long painful process

 

just put up a 4 storey you-beaut garage and say "that's what they would have done if they had the money in the old days"

 

I was hoping for a six car garage, but looks like the best I can hope for is 3 maybe 4 tandem style