Ferrari FF - 2012/2013 - what signs/problems to watch out for?

Although I ended up buying new my dealer told me that if I chose a used example I should go for as late a one as I could afford.
Some used ones have had a hard life being used as demos to show off their capabilities. And issues get resolved with each model year. 2013 onwards are not known to have common issues in the UK.

 

As with all second hand cars, buy the best you can afford.

Buy from a main dealer, make sure you have plenty of warranty, get out there and drive it!

 

Agree, probably shoot for a 2013 vs, a 2012 if you can, but primarily for economics

1) many 2012's were highly optioned (expensive) demo models, so lots of miles, lots of drivers, and a lot of options you may not want to pay for; higher MSRPs.

2) in 2013, at least in some markets, Ferrari made $14K of options "standard" at the same base MSRP, so essentially you got more for same price

mechanically the FF's have had a few campaigns, which are easily checked and/or updated.

Advice? buy the best you can afford, but the best value car at that price you can find. 2013's likely to be more that case, but don't look past a 2012 that suits you. Also factor in up front and get the extended warranty as part of the transaction.

 

I agree with all of the advice above.

I would add that the FF market is pretty thin--these cars tend to move slowly off of the dealers' lots. Finding the right spec in the right condition might take some searching, but when you find the right car, the dealer will be pretty motivated to move it.

There is a floor to the absolute price that will be accepted, but heavily optioned cars with high MSRP's will be steeply discounted.

 

I mostly agree with all the advice above. Specifically, buy the best you can find, and test drive a few to see how they differ. The differences in specific cars will be subtle if all is well, obvious if a car has issues. The early dealer cars are actually a good deal in my opinion (I had one and got it for a song and loved that car, except it didn't have the glass roof). Yes, they got a bunch of miles at the hands of test drivers. But the car is pretty much bullet-proof, and more to the point, idiot-proof. Its not like someone can bake the clutch on one of these.

And has been said in other threads here, all those options almost never factor into the end sale price on resale. So a car that maybe listed for $400K is going to be worth no more than one that listed for "only" $350K. Those options just don't add resale value to a car, so if you get one of those demo models, you get rear seat video monitors, special paint, passenger display, soft leather, and a host of other goodies for "free." Biggest hit on resale seems to be mileage, which I find unfortuante, as miles just seem to make the car better, not worse (and one day I might want to trade up and would love it if I wasn't so harshly hit with the mileage depreciation)

As for your intial queries regarding battery: Issues as I recall come down to batteries just not being what they used to be. Batteries nowadays have a high amount of recycled lead in them, and have a higher rate of failure as a result. Not much any of us can do about that. When it dies, its covered under warranty, and is replaced by the dealer. Not an issue unique to Ferrarir. Check out forums about the new BMWs and batteries. They replace batteries at every oil change i've heard.

As for gearbox issues: When one is wonky or problematic, the fix has often been to yank out the box and put in a new one. I suspect as much so that the problem box can go back to Maranello so they can figure out what went wrong and figure out if it's a systemic issue or one-off. I've had no issue with the gearboxes in either of the FFfs we've owned and put over 50K miles on the two combined.

In any event, i'd highly recommend you buy from a Ferrari dealer, get all the warranty you can, and form a good relationship with that dealer. They'll be invaulable if something goes wrong, which mostly won't. The few issues people report here are the outliers in my opinion. FFs have tons of miles on them and most of us are happily driving them without issue.

 

What is your ideal colour combo?

 

I absolutely LOVE our FF. If I could only have 1 car.. it would easily be the FF. I love my 458 for different reasons but in a hypothetical world where I could only have 1 car.. it would be the FF hands down.

good luck in finding the right car for you and your wife.

 

I'd suggest going for something with a reasonable amount of miles on it, maybe 10K+. That way a lot of factory kinks should have worked their way out. Things like check engine lights, gear or 4x4 mechanism gremlins.

Check that the seat belt handover works (it's not foolproof, but the mechanism should function). The air conditioning should work (the grill is relatively protected from flying road gravel)

Mechanically, I find that the switchgear is pretty solid. I'm not sure if the 2012-13 age would result in any suspension wear, so I'd mostly be looking out for electrical issues.

 

You mention battery issues. I am not aware of battery issues more than any other Ferrari. If you don't drive it frequently you need to have it on the tender, which will greatly prolong battery life.

Re gearboxes, a few early FFs inherited the problems of the DCT when it first came out in 2010 in the California and 458. The likelihood of this happening with an FF is very small to begin with and decreases with model year.

As a whole I agree with the above advice to opt for as late a model year as you can muster. It will cost you more up front but over the years and when you sell, you will get most of the additional $$$$ back, if not all of it.

 

Not sure about Blue Nettuno on an FF, not only will it cost you at least 10k for non standard colour but is imo too light. On the other hand I saw in Belgium a Pozzy Blue FF with dark tan interior and I was smitten.

I'm glad I chose Silverstone with light beige but if I were to spec another ????????

 

Same for me. The FF is just so wonderful.

 

I think you are right- changed my 458 spider for an FF 4 months ago -the 458 is an awesome car but it spent a lot of time sitting unused in my garage.
FF is my daily driver and I don't regret the trade one little bit :0)

 

Why not F12 as the 'one' ?

 

Tour de France blue with Crema or Sabia, very classic

 

I like the red headrest horsies...nice contrast w interior, nice combo w calipers