2009 599 GTB - Advice Needed

If there's a reasonable choice try for one with a slightly better history - if you are set on this one you need to ask yourself would someone else see this as a red flag if I come to sell in a short period of time - if you intend to keep it for years it might be worth a chance - lots of car miss the occasional service

This thread may have some relevant local advice http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/612-599/477919-anyone-know-612-dubai.html

And there are various other general 599 buying advice threads

 

I would check if the service was made perhaps outside of the official dealer network. If not, I would stay away as this is telling a lot about how much the previous owner took care of the car ... Ferrari's are relatively reliable as long as service is religious ...

 

If the car is from Dubai, just get a PPI from either Al Tayer, or ARM to give you some peace of mind and deduct the service needed from the purchase price if everything else checks out. Also, as od911 mentioned, the car could have had service elsewhere other than Al Tayer. Normally, most owners use Al Tayer, or ARM for service if the car is from Dubai.

 

Take it to a dealer, ask them the cost of bringing it up to top condition and factor that cost into your price and then get it completely serviced once you buy it. I would much rather do that and have the peace of mind rather than buying a car that is supposedly up to date in service with no idea as to how it was serviced in the past.
The additional benefit of going through the buy and service route is that you will spend a decent amount of money at your dealer or interdependent, which will help establish a relationship.

 

Exactly. It is a single clutch system just like in any manual car you use; and it is a dry clutch as well. Since the computer only knows your speed, throttle position, and gear it has to make a lot of guesses. The hard coupling combined with the guesses can lead to more harsh shifts. BUT, you will get used to it over time and it will be pretty smooth. NOTE: you shouldn't let off when you shift, it tends to confuse the computer. At most, go to neutral throttle, then shift.

 

Alex- Like any new skill, it takes time to learn to drive an F1 Ferrari smoothly. 599s came with Superfast 1 software, which is actually quite good. Full throttle upshifts near redline only take 100 ms. Very quick compared to a 360 or F430 at 150 ms or my 575M at 220 ms. On low speed, partial throttle upshifts, you man find that lifting slightly on upshifts will smooth out the shifts. Less necessary further up the gearbox or when driving hard with a warm gearbox. Shifting will tend to smooth as the gearbox gets warm, too, so if your test drive was short, take that into account.

The 599 has a really tough, dry, twin disc clutch that should last a long time.

If she drives fine, as someone suggested, you can bring all the service up to date and probably not have any issues. Make sure they change the F1 fluid, too, and bleed the system. No service records does not mean no service was done. Record keeping is not important in some markets.

An 09 599 for $85K? Hard to see how you could go wrong unless she had big problems. If worried about that, have a compression and bleed-down check done. A dealer with an SD3 can also tell you clutch life remaining. The CCM brakes will last a long, long time.

 

Since you say the car looks well cared for, I would bet that the previous owner had the oil changed, just not at the dealer. Even if the oil, gearbox and differential fluids were in there for 4 years it's not likely any damage was done since the mileage was still in line. The same holds true for the coolant, and brake and power steering fluid. You should also need new air and cabin filters.