pizzadude, As you can see, reports of the 458 being reliable above average and expectation far outweigh bombastic reports of catastrophic failures, many of which we’ll never know for certain the root cause and thus of it was avoidable and preventable or not. I’d advise performing a thorough PPI and check maintenance history. A zealous owner in the very least should have all maintenance invoices and receipts since day one. I do, and I’m no one. A warranty extension is also a nice thing to have. Those three things imvho should make for a trouble free buy and ownership. One is never safe from bad luck and the unforeseeable, but that’s about as safe as an owner can ever get from mechanical trouble in his/her Ferrari(s). Hope everything turns out ok for you. Kind regards, Nuno.
To add, also multiple owners for short periods of time concerns me. That reads to me folks who want to drive the car to the limits (without respect) to have the "Ferrari experience" and then trade or move on before anything may go wrong that may cost them. I'm looking at a 2014 458 that has 7200 miles on it and three previous owners. That concerns me. Maybe it shouldn't but... When I bought my 360 the last owner had the car for over 10 years. It was well kept and maintained with a lot of things done that the average owner would probably just have traded the car in rather than invest in doing. So far 5000 miles of trouble free fun.
Number of owners really don't matter. The real history and service of the car is important. And a trough inspection.
Thanks for that Nuno Definitely good advice and it makes sense. I’ve done a LOT of reading about the cars and you really don’t see much negative on them and it seems that pretty much everyone just has positives about these cars and raves about them ( rightfully so ). I opened up a can of worms test driving those two cars last week..... Still having trouble parting with my Alfa and 328.
I don't know about that. Can you tell if someone has down shifted the hell out of the car? Drove it to the redline before the oil temp has reached operating temp? Downshifted into first gear at 30MPH or worse. Not the kind of things most folks who are appreciating the ownership and want to continue to do so would probably do. And I'm sure there's not going to be much evidence revealed in a PPI that would disclose such treatment-- especially if it's not a very high mileage car. As why, IMHO, folks bemoan that their cars have had a long list of costly repairs despite passing the PPI with flying colors. Not saying that is always the case, just worth considering.
I agree with the above. Although a mere indication, in general the more the number of owners goes up, the more the chances the car being loved and properly taken care of go down. Kind regards, Nuno.
Mine had 5 or 6 owners in its first 7,900 miles. What could they have done that I don't do daily (except I always warm up before 'spirited use'). I can't remember the last day I didn't have it drifting sideways banging off the limiter a half dozen times or more. It is a Ferrari after all, that is why I bought it!
What happens on the 458 if you downshift and the engine is spinning to fast? My 4C won’t let you downshift if the engine is to fast for the next gear down.
A one owner car can be damaged in 10 miles if horrible treated. Engine and suspension can be abused. My opinion is simple. When I was doing my search, I saw one owner cars with less than 2,000mi, in bad shape.
The ECU will prevent over-revving. I’ve heard that McLarens have a bad habit of engine fires! I’d pick a Ferrari over the Macca
Not sure I understand your point. Buying a used car is risky? Buying a sports car is risky? Or buying a Used Ferrari is risky? But what if you bought a new Ferrari. Would it be ruined after 2000 miles? Then the issue isn’t the car but the driver.
that is exactly my point..Read 10 posts before. I'm trying to explain that number of owners is not as important as the actual condition of the car. Service records, history, etc.
On a Porsche you can have the computer "interrogated". I assume the same can be done on a Ferrari. It will tell you about over-revs. In regards to the ECU preventing the over-revving, this is my understanding: It is much easier on the upshift than the downshift to prevent this. The computer shuts off the gas flow to stop the revs. On downshifts, if the motor is spinning near, but not over, maximum RPM, the transmission can downshift. At that point, sometimes inertia cannot be stopped. This can lead to the over-revving. Not saying any car had this, just that I was told possible. Best
The Getrag DCT is controlled by the DCT ECU. You cannot force a shift by pulling the paddle. The paddle is an electrical switch. The software determines if the gears are changed. Damage to the engine occurs with valve float and piston heads hitting the valves.
Getrag employ 6000 engineers who design their transmissions. One reason why their top of the line DCTs are so expensive is due to the complexity and sophistication.
If a person wantS to buy a used Ferrari, I’d suggest buying from a dealer who will be able to provide some kind of warranty to the new owner. But having said that, the 458 is probably the most reliable and desirable used Ferrari’s you can buy. In the end, if you are too worried, then maybe look at a different car which has a cheaper transmission. How about an old school manual box? I’d get an older 360. I owned that car and drove it for 67000 miles. Original clutch—F1 too which was supposed to be a nightmare. But I always warmed up the car and only had to replace the F1 pump once. ButThe manual is much cheaper to maintain and fix
I did my search, and found what I wanted. I don't regret buying my 458 for one second. And as I said before, the quality and reliability is great.
Ferrari should do as some other companies are doing, instead of just showing blue or green engine indicator on the left TFT screen when the engine is fully warmed up and ready to go, it should also have a rev limiter that does not allow the the driver to rev it past 4K rpm before oil and water temps are appropiate. My tech told me ever since this was implemented on the Lambos and R8:s the engine issues decreased as one of the worst thing you can do is drive hard before the engine is fully warmed up. And who knows if you buy second hand how much this was done by the previous owner(s)
you've kind of proven my point... I have tracked my 911s. I can tell you there is a difference between driving a car as it was intended to the limits and simply abusing it. Abusive drivers break their cars, as in, DNF.
I don't consider my use as abuse. Rev limiters are there for a reason. They stop the engine from revving to a point that they can hurt themselves. I also don't consider spinning the tires as abuse. Yes, it wears them out faster, but doesn't hurt the car any.
Says the guy who has probably never snapped anything in his drivetrain Ferraris are very robust for sure, and are designed to handle a lot of HP, so it usually doesn't hurt the car too much (and also because the friction on the road is the weak link). However, it does stress all the internal components more than if you weren't doing that. I've destroyed 4 clutches (not Ferrari clutches, but other cars) with nothing more than smoking tires. True, they were single disc clutches and maybe not designed for the HP I was putting through them. However, it does illustrate the point that abusing a car can break things. Whatever the weak link is, if you keep smoking your tires, you'll eventually discover it. Ask anyone with a lot of HP on a street car and usually they have snapped a center differential or something along those lines. I've seen more than one friend pull their gearbox open only to have teeth fall out, so stuff does break after a while. As far as hitting the rev limiter a lot, I'm sure your main bearings aren't amused haha :-D Ray
The Getrag DCT also includes an E Diff. The technology is superior to what Ferrari was using before in the 355/360/F430 The replacement costs for the old F1 system and diff is probably about the same cost as the Getrag DCT! The repair costs for the Getrag DCT depend on what needS to be replaced. There are various kits. The wet clutches are virtually indestructible though.
