Maintenance of a Ferrari

I always likened it to the gross ignorance of the public. I hate to sound arrogant, but let's face it. Most of us on here own F-cars. We're in the likely .01% of the population (Or something to that effect) who owns one. So most people out there think they are impossible to maintain.

Let's see... yes, routine maintinence is expensive, but ya know what? Price a 30k on, say, an S500 at the dealer, that's a grand easily, oftentimes more. And with an F-car you're buying a car that's built like a race car.

I used to love it when I had the 550 as a primary driver, people used to see it dirty when I was gettin gas, etc.. and asked if I drove it a lot. When I told them 1,500+ miles a month I used to get laughed at "Oh man, I bet youre always calling tow trucks"

Uhh, no. The car was far more reliable than the Volvo and the BMW it shared a garage with. I used to use the 550 for long trips because I trusted it more than my ancient 740iL. It just sucked in the snow...

 

Excellent post. All newbies should have to read it before they can post.

 

I would not use a 348 as a daily driver. You'll end up hickhiking at some point. A 355 or 360 might make a good commute car, but there will be maintenance problems with them. The 30k costs on a 355 start at 5k and go up from there.

These are not inexpensive cars to operate. I've owned 4, and getting read to buy a 5th, and I spent as much as 8k on one service.

However, the fun involved in driving them, and using them, more than makes up for the cost. It is penny wise and pound foolish to believe that you can avoid service, because you then end up with a very expensive repair bill if you don't follow the service manual.

Don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but these are an expensive habit.

Art

 

Reliablity and required maintence are two different things. I believe that if you do the research you will find that the Ferraris of the 50s and 60s were more "reliable" that the more modern Ferraris of the 70s forward; although the older cars did require more maintenance.

 

I don't own a Ferrari, but I do own a 1972 Lotus. Reliability is a huge issue with my car, but after 4 years of attending to what needed attending, and a weekly once-over, I feel confident to use it all the time, weather permitting. It's a "reliable" car.

I think a 70's era Ferrari will be much the same. Once it's got all the known issues fixed, it should only need "routine" maintainence to keep running strongly. Keep in mind things you wouldn't normally think of become routine for a 30 year old car like: wheel bearings, suspension bushings, springs, shocks, master cylinder...heck, pretty much everything! These cars are not over engineered...

These things aren't too expensive for my Lotus but can cost a small mint for a Ferrari. Hence, they don't get done and you're left with an "unreliable" car. Of course, any 30 year old car that's neglected will have problems!

I have a hunch, as cars go, a Ferrari will have more issues than a Ford, but less than my Lotus albeit at 10x the cost for parts.

Ken

 

When the maintenance costs of my 308 passed the purchase price I dumped it. I was not in a possition where I could do most of the work on it myself (1 car gearage in a 'upper class' complex where ANY work on your car was Verboten)....labor costs killed my F car ownership, it got to the point where cost vs. pleasure just wasn't worth it any more (I'm one of the rare Ferrari owners whose Ego wasn't tied in with my car).

Had I been able to do my own work it still would have been costly but well within reason.

I had to replace flywheel, clutch, timing gears, timing cover bearings, rear wheel bearings, tires, voltage regulator, both fuse boxes, thermo time switch, rebuilt calipers, radiator leaks, heater hose blew, the list goes on and on........

I do believe the more you drive these cars the less work they will need...a lot of issues develoup as a result of just sitting...but I have NEVER seen ANY car that needed some of the mentioned items in less than 80k miles ..and mine only had 32k miles.

I now have a go-kart on wheels (VW 914 with heavily modified suspension) that is as much fun to drive as the 308 (but no where near as strong engine)...and - this is the strange part - gets almost the same amount of attention and comments as the 308 (go figure....)

 

Make this a sticky.

I don't own a Ferrari, I've been in love with Ferrari's since I saw a neighbor drive by in his new Testarossa when I was 3. That one moment started my sick infatuation of exotic cars. The way I look at maintanence on a Ferrari, or any exotic, is that it is all relative to cost.

I don't find anyone on here to be snob. And now I don't feel so bad about being a future trust fund baby. Will always have wierd feelings about that.

 

About a month ago I was flipping through a Dupont Registry. I began to notice that 90% of the F-cars advertised included in the text of the ad "serviced" or "just servivced."

There were only like 2 porsche ad's which included anything about the car being serviced or service up to date out of all the rest.

Service is a cost of ownership...it's a cost of ownership for any car but it's become such a catch phrase for ferrari it's almost funny.

I also think that (among other things) the service angle is an easy way out for people who are looking to buy or are "pretending" to buy... "Oh I would have bought it if the service was up to date." "I would have bought it but you know the service is unreal..." etc.

 

I DIY as much as I can on my old carb'd 308, to the point where I'm thinking about buying an engine hoist and a lift. The Countach is a different story, but I'm still working on getting the references and manuals together. I'd love to be able to work on something as late as a 355 and have the same amount of info available to 3x8 tinkerers. It's part of the cost of the hobby, and I might add, that I get to drive EACH and EVERY ONE of the cars MORE OFTEN then my neighbors get to play with their jet skis, boats or other toys that cost nearly as much. BTW, I'd notice a VW 914 too. If i saw one /w/ lowered suspension in a pkg lot, i'd go check it out!

 

While $5k to $7k is a lot of money for me, it is only every 5 years/30kmiles for the 355. Since most Ferrari owners have other cars, it may take 5 years to hit 30k miles. So driving around in a $100K car and spending(putting away) on average 1% to 2% per year is not really so bad considering all of the joy we get. We can all get lemons and get a huge repair bill, even if we follow the service manual.

When I first got my 355 I drove it on weekends only and washed/dried and covered it in the garage for the next weekend. Then a wise man on F-chat wrote something like: "Treat a Ferrari like a good wife, respect them, love them, service them, but don't save them for the next guy". That was the single most helpful advice I found on F-chat. I took the car to my mechanic to get another check-up, it got a clean bill of health and I started drive the 355 all of the time. I was always happy to wake up in the morning and could not wait to drive to work ..................... and then the siren went .... and then the Cats went ......... and then I starting scraping the bottom......then I got rock chips......:-(

I fixed the problems and I never stopped loving or driving her.
--tony

 

Much of this argument depends on your definition of maintenance. If by that you mean "routine maintenance" or "scheduled maintenance", then you should have an idea what you're in for before you buy. The maintenance that really burns me are the periodic, intermittent glitches of which these cars seem to have more than their share. I really can't depend that my 88TR will get me where I am going or start again when I'm ready to come back - and I don't think my experience is unique. It hasn't been abused or neglected either. I'm not sure the devotees of other marques would tolerate this.

My car is fun, but it's frustrating

 

I guess if Toyota or Honda made our cam belts, we wouldn't have to replace them every 3-5 either.

I have owned a 308 for 7 years and I have no nightmare maintenance stories. I have had the belts swapped twice now. Total cost per month of ownership is now around $60 for that service. I can live with that.

 

Two years, six months into ownership of my 330 2+2. After doing the mechanical reconditioning necessary to bring it back from a 20-year state of indifferently cared for but not totally neglected disuse, it's a very reliable car within the parameters of what it is. The $1,000.00 fried starter rebuild in fall '03, a couple of vapor lock incidents (one last night), and a finicky startup procedure are ongoing reminders. I guess I'm a sucker for the mystique: out of the choice handful of sports and muscle cars I've owned over a nearly forty-year period, the Ferrari has far and away delivered the most in personal enjoyment and satisfaction.

 

I hear you. There was a period of time where I wasn't enjoying my Lotus because it had a spate of breakdowns and every time I went out I was anticipating a problem. I was NOT having fun with the car and I was thinking if it's not fun, why do I have it?

Well, I took the time and expense to deal with the issues, and I also took the attitude that with a cell phone and AAA, I could deal with it. I am having a lot more fun now and haven't been stranded in over a year. I hope to keep it that way!

Ken

 

Steve, are you trying to say that Ferraris don't deserve the reputation
that it has for being poorly engineered and requiring inordinate amount
of maintenance when you compare bhp to bhp ?

 

MarkG - You have a PORSCHE 914, not a VW. Calling it a VW is just like perpetuating the myth that a Ferrari will kill you in maintenance costs If anyone disagrees's with me, please see my buddies over at www.914club.com. And spare me the history lessons about the 914, I have all the books.

Steve R - Excellent and concise post! Sorry, mine won't be as good...

I'm on my second 914 and have two air-cooled VW's. They all require routine maintenance -- oil change and valve adjustment being the major ones every 3k miles (and from what I've read about the 3x8 valve adjustment, it's CAKE and free to do!). I do as much of the work on my cars as possible, mainly because I can't afford to pay someone labor and I know I'll do a better job; plus they are pretty simple However, we're lucky in the fact that the cars can be severly abused and still run...I've seen many abused/neglected cars come through our shop and they still get driven daily without the owners worrying about becoming stranded. So, for me, routine maintenace makes perfect, logical sense to keep a vehicle running well and reliably. None of my cars give me worries about long-distance driving because I keep on top of their care, personally, so I can only blame myself if something goes wrong.

I figure ROUTINE maintenance is normal so I just have to know what needs to be done at what time/mileage, for example, every three months or 3k miles. This is where having the shop manual(s) for the car bought is an ESSENTIAL TOOL, especially for anyone who plans on doing their own work! From what I've read I'm lucky that I like the classic Ferrari 3x8's because I have the the skills to perform many of the routine maintenance tasks -- it's just that they are more involved than your typical car

Like any other car, if it's been neglected and service isn't up to date (like my last aquisition) then you gotta put in the equity to get it up to date. Because Ferrari parts are ridiculously priced* the cars naturally will end up with some neglect by those who can't do their own work and can barely afford the part prices. Thus the next owner has to deal with all these new costs to get the car back up to snuff and there's where the horror stories originate.

Like everyone says, know what you're getting into and it will be less of a horror story and more like a drive into the sunset


*I've read the thread about Ferrari parts prices but I still think they are insanely high priced. Whoever could reproduce better parts for significantly less money would be a Godsend and likely stay in business.

 

Well thank you for deigning to spend time with the rest of us on this board.

I've met more Ferrari owners than I can count and I've yet to meet one whos ego was tied in with his car.

 

As much as I love my 355, I have to admit it is ridiculously expensive to maintain.

Just before I took delivery it had its belts changed, valve guides replaced, and 15K service at FOA for about $11k (invoice price, seller paid bill). A couple of months later my TO bearing went, $2100 at Norwoods. Last month marked my 1 year of ownership and it went to F of Dallas (Boardwalk) for 2 new cats (warranty repair), 1 new exhaust manifold, new rear tires (killed my Pirelli P Zeros after 5700 miles of spirited driving), and an oil change. Bill came out to $4700. So in 1 year the car has received $17,800 worth of maintenance and repair. Only the TO bearing is unusual for a 355, so the rest most would consider 'maintenance'.

I'm not sure I can think of another car that would need this kind of attention after only 18K miles on the odometer. I have absolutely no regrets, but I think potential owners should go in with their eyes open and expect the worst. In my opinion, the high cost of ownership is not a myth. If you aren't ready to handle this fact financially and emotionally, this is not the car for you.

What is Ferrari's warranty up to these days? 3 years? I know it was 2 years when the 355 came out. Even the factory doesn't have the confidence to stand behind the car. Lucky for them, we are suckers and accept this fact so there is no reason for them to extend the coverage.

Now excuse me while I go for a drive. I need to lower my cost per mile ....

 

Read in some auto mag last month saying that VW and Mercedes have the worst maintenance reports, worse than Hyundai.
Being in the biz and selling quite a few Mercedes, EVERYTHING breaks down on those stupid things. Compared to Lamborghini, Mercedes, and Porsche, I've had a better experience with my 360 than those cars...

 

I will agree to that statment! Many new cars are getting way up there in terms of maintenance costs. Take any newer BMW, Benz, Toyota(Lexus), Mazda etc..they are all quite expensive to repair. I have seen some warrenty service bills for the BMW 745iL and it would put a 355 to shame! One bill I saw was 27k! Thank goodnees that was covered under warrenty.

Ferrari are expensive play toys..but in the grand sceam of things when being comapired to the newer cars out there on the market..they are not that far out of wack. But they are expensive for a toy..and a car that is not driven as much as say the Benzo would be. When you consider that the Benz will acutally see 30k in a years worth of use, where as the Ferrari would see less then half of that in 2 years..then this is were the cost per mile gets way up there.

 

Why did the valve guides need replacing so soon? Is that a 355 thing in general or for the particular year 355 you have?

 

Agreed. We have an E55 and it is a tinker toy. Nice to drive but I hate that POS.