Hello everyone, I am considering buying a 1984 308 GTSI QV. I found one that looks loved with the past 10 years of maintenence records. It is evident that the car was truly cared for. I am hesitant due to Ferrari's questionable repair costs. Everyone is telling me that the car will "eat me alive" in the cost of mx. I am really a nut when it comes to keeping my "toys" in order. When I had my Porsche, I would tell my mechanic (the best mechanic I have ever had, but he only works on Porsche) "Just fix it... Pretend that my car is yours for the day and make it right". He was/is FANTASTIC. But a Porsche is not a Ferrari! I look at a Ferrari & my heart goes faster. So, my question is this... What can I expect (I know that anything can happen) typically in the true cost of owning something like this. Any help would be just Fantastic! Many thanks in advance, Warren
Warren, If your a do it yourself kinda guy, you can defer some of the costs. I have a 79 308gts and I love it. I've put almost 5k miles on it in the few months that I've been able to drive it. I think the car is pretty solid. If the car you're looking at has been taken car of, then you may not have to do anything to it, other than the yearly fluid changes, and 15k mile valve adjustments/5 year belt changes. These are expensive, but can become rediculous if you're not careful on who you take the car to to have the work done. A dealer charges probably anywhere from 3-6k for a major 308 service. That would include belts, valve adjustment, water pump, and fluid changes and clutch adjustment, and the dealer labor rates. Jim
If you look at those last 10 years of maintenance records you mentioned that should give you a good idea on what it will cost to own a 308.
I think you'll find with Ferraris when they are serviced that owners do alot of while you are in there repairs as far as preventative maintenance on Ferraris, to prevent a catastrophic expensive failure from happening,so some shops sell fear as a way to fix things that may not need to be replaced,with Porsches you usually just fix what the problems are as a catastrophic engine failure from not doing a preventative repair is rare.
There has been some discussion on this topic in the past and I seem to remember several members saying that the cost averaged from 1.00 to 1.50 per driven mile.
Ehhh.....a dollar a mile sounds way too high to me. I'm not spending half that. More like $0.25-$0.50 a mile, and most of that is preventive maintenance. Folks I know who turn their own wrenches probably spend less than $700/year, and rack up more than 4k annual miles. Their rule of thumb - the more you drive the car, the less you have to spend on it.
Well..........if you've owned a lot of P-cars...........it's like owning a 928...............probably $3-4K a year average about over 4-5 years of regular use.
Well- remember these are 20 year old cars now. Anything can happen. I bought a very well maintained QV with records from new, compression/leakdown test good, good inspection, etc. In 18 months, I have spent about 7K (fuel tank leak, warm-up regulator went bad, timing gear bearings failed {engine out} which is still being repaired by myself and some friends, fluid changes myself, etc. None of these things could have been noticed during the pre-purchase inspection I love the car, and it's absolutely worth it- but even after all these things are done- it MIGHT still need suspension work, valve work, electrical work, a/c work- who knows? I guess my point is this: As you said,you never know. Obviously- these are just my opinions. 308s are wonderful cars and are worth the time and potential expense- buy one and try it out. They are pretty much done depreciating- at least that's what I'm telling the better half!! Good luck
I agree with jwise... I bought a US 84 QV just over a year ago... passed PPI with flying colors, all records from new. Less that 1 month into ownership arrived a combined bill of over 1K for electrical gremlins. then came flunking the emissions test here in good ol' Crook County... that was almost 1.8K (rebuilt cat not new). Various other stuff, and I'm at 4K for a year. I think she is well sorted out now... drive, drive, drive! I have a separate bank account for the 308. I plan on 3K per year (I'm over), let the money build up so that when something big happens, just write a check. I'd never trade her, plan on keeping her forever.... not to say another Ferrari may join her.
I also have an '84 308. And thats about right, about 4K a year give or take.I drive my car every weekend all day long, put 20k miles in 2 years, never run better.Major service about $3200 just did the steering rack the other day w/ an oil change,$1000. Or like the commercial says, the feeling you get driving a Ferrari....Priceless.
I have owned a couple of QV's in the past and as noted by those above, stuff goes wrong, partly because of age, partly because of not so good engineering in the 1st place. If you can do some things yourself, you can greatly decrease costs of ownership. But it's better to just accept it will be costly to own up front and avoid disappointment. BTW, I still think QV's are one of the all time great cars. I also used to own an 87 328 and now an 89 328. They have proven to be less costly to own even though the initial price is higher (especially the 89). General maintenance is about the same, but way fewer overall problems. Dave
I expect that your "true" cost of ownership will be within a few dollars of what you spend on the car, plus costs for insurance, repairs, and maintenance. It ain't cheap!
The biggest cost , as with most cars will be labor. If you can do the work yourself it drastically reduces the overall cost. by the way these are not magical mythical beasts, just machines as was my first car ,a 66 MGB-GT. I could not afford to have it shop maintained so I learned car maitenance from one mechanical malady to the next. Also many components can be rebuilt often better than originally produced. You can do the belts yourself ,hoses, filters, etc. if you really want to.The actual cost per year can be very low.
