Why such low mileage on many F-cars?

Theres also a lack of time due to work and travel, not to mention rain or snow here in the northeast. When you work a full time job and manage your own investments many weekends are spent running errands.

 

Lack of time and lousy weather are what keeps the mileage low on mine. That and when I have recreation time I like to include the children in whatever I do and the car only seats two. I did drive the Packard a lot this summer though, load up the whole family and take them for ice cream in the evening.

 

I think it is the acute awareness of the relationship between sale price and mileage. While the newer cars are not investments, I think most people still make some effort to preserve the capital they have tied up in the car.

I would say there are very few people that go into ownership with the mindset that they are never going to get a penny of the money back and intending to "use up" the car.

It comes down to how much money each of us is willing to throw away for driving fun. Obviously that number is different for everyone, but I think the lowish average mileage is a result of everyone making that basic analysis (subconsciously or otherwise).

 

I use my 308 as often as possible. It was my daily driver for 8 months this year - only stopped driving it a few weeks ago as I have to replace the thermostat and just havent found time to do that - yet.

Once I do - then its back to DD duty again - just because I can.


PDG
85 GTS QV - 77,000 miles

 

+246 and as it should be when possible and the weather allows

 

Catch22.....Everyone tells you how refreshing it is to see an owner that actually drives their Ferrari's and puts real miles on them. Then somewhere down the line you decide to sell it and you end up getting bent over bigtime on the sale price. Why? because its been USED! So unless you plan to keep it until the wheels fall off. I've learned the hard way that the best resale on newer Ferrari's is to average no more than 1,500 miles a year. Sad but true.

 

Perhaps some Fcar owners has few sport cars so they take turn driving them...

 

Owning a great car and not driving it is like marrying Miss America and not having sex with her so that she will still be a virgin for her next husband. It's like that stupid Audi ad where the guy says "take care of my car," and the owner says, "who are you?" and the guy says "I'm the second owner, I'll own this car after you."

I agree with PJ, that there is a major gap between owners and buyers. Owners want to enjoy their cars, take them out and drive them as much as possible. Buyers seem to shun cars that have high mileage and want the pristine, low mileage cars. Well, you can't have both. If you want you car to be a pristine, garage queen that will sell at top dollar, and that's what you bought it for, fine. But if you bought it to drive it, don't worry about what it will sell for. Just drive it like you stole it, and when the time comes to sell it, it will sell for whatever you get. But you've had the joy of driving it and enjoying it and not just having it sit as an ornament in your garage.

My $.02. YMMV.

 

That's why you buy them used to begin with

 

I try to drive my C/4 weekly. Usually put 2-3,000 miles on it each year. One year I drove it almost 5,000 miles. I don't really care what the odometer says..... the car is not a garage queen and never will be. I live out in the country and stay out of town to avoid the usual hazards associated with city driving.

 

Too many of them spend their lives in the shop being fixed. We all know the quality of ferrari parts.Why do timing belts last 3 years? Throw out bearings 20,000 miles? Fan belt bearing disitegrate? Transmission reverse gears fall off? Switches are sticky? Not what you would expect from a formula 1 winning manufacturer. Am I the only one that feels this way?

 

But why are those errands not spent in the Ferrari, it goes downtown to run errands just fine.

 

Nope.

 

I do use it for weekends at the gym but if in going to shady areas the car stays home. For its own protection and mine!

 

its a car people, a great and fantastic car but a car and its meant to be used. It wont melt in the rain and the F1 really sucks in the snow (dont know about 3 pedal in the snow) but its a car.

I actually bought it to be my second car and planned to not drive it much but I have put less than 1,000 miles on my S2000 in the 18months that I have had my 360 and even less miles on my motorcycle. Before buying the 360, my motorcycle was my primary and my S my rainy day car. Now my 360 is my primary even in the rain, its too great a car to be parked.

Yes, the value is dropping but if you can't afford the depreciation, you probably should not own a Ferrari. That is not elitist or snobbish, I have said it before that I probably make less a year then 90% of the people here on this forum, I just set a priority that I would own a Ferrari and keep it as long as I could afford it but i would live the dream for a while, I thought maybe a year, now I am thinking much longer.

 

I agreee whole heartedly with Zanny1. They need to be driven. I have avaraged 4k miles a year on my C/4 since 2006, my odometer is passing 94k, and since I live in a city it negotiates traffic too. This summer I made a 2900 miles trip out to the midwest with no problems other than a couple of quarts of oil. I suppose if I owned a 250 GTO I might be more circumspect (judging by today's news a $52m car) but then again, if I could afford one I could certainly cover any dents, dings, engine work and insurance premiums.

Sad that vintage racing is in decline and so many great cars are becoming garage queens rather than rolling thunder.

 

Most people have multiple cars and possibly multiple sports cars which makes it difficult to drive them all the time. Throw in work, family resposibilities, weather time constaints, etc and you can start to see why there are a lot of low mileage Ferrari's.

 

+1. Bought mine a little over 5 years ago with 32K; it now has 55K, so about 370 miles a month on average; less in winter and more in summer.

 

As I get older I realize you cant take it with you.
The first Porsche 911 I bought cost me about $10/mile.... I seldom drove it and once you figure in depreciation, payments, insurance, taxes, etc. that's what the car cost for the few miles I put on it.

Never again....

Cars are meant to be driven. I drive all my cars (even "collector" cars) on a regular basis.

 

My biggest problem with using any of my classic / exotic cars for mundane tasks is leaving it alone in a parking lot unattended with people that just don't care about your car or worst are jealous enough to cause damage (door dings, keying etc.) voluntary or other wise. I drove my queen mother many years ago to Costco. I parked it what seemed miles away from any other cars. When I returned I saw a shopping cart had rolled down hill and hit the quarter panel. Paint was maybe 6 months old. That was the first and last time I left any of my cars unattended. lesson learned for me.

 

Like everyone else, I'll get those who look at it like a UFO, those who want to take photos, those who respectfully ask questions (what is it, how did you get enough money to pay for it, etc.) and then those who are general buttheads who have one more opportunity to demonstrate to the world how dumb they might be. They are the ones who need to touch it, lean on it to take a selfie, or park next to it, even though I've taken pains to park waaay out at the edge of the lot to avoid just that. These folks are in a very small minority, but there are enough of them to induce me not to park it where I can't see it. I know it's stupid to worry like that about a car, but I find it almost incredible how little respect some people have for the property of others. I've enjoyed almost all of my conversations with people about the car, but tend to drive it less than more just to avoid the knuckleheads.

 

While it's not my daily driver I do try to drive it daily. Ten years ago I just wouldn't have had the time.

The nice thing about having an older ferrari is that the mileage ceases to be a huge concern. The car benefits from use. The more you use it and the harder you use it the better it gets.

 

exactly.

i have driven my ferraris nearly 100k miles - ok i have a few to spread the miles around. but to not drive these cars is pointless.

i got news for you guys.....whether you drive them or not, you will get bent over come selling time. these cars lose 50% of their value in the first 3-5 years, and thats just the way it is.

 

timing belts actually last nearly forever - most of the time. i can show you 17 year old belts with 30k miles on them that are pristine.

throw out bearings are usually made by vaneo or other manufacturer so the issue is with them and not necessarily ferrari. why they fail early i dont know. maybe more in town driving with poor skills?

etcetc

anyway, have you ever seen the inside of a formula 1 car? its pretty bodged up. but i digress.

you cannot expect cars made in batches of hundreds to a few thousand to be perfect. its just not possible at this price point. (for perfection see pagani but be prepared to pay the price)

and as a further note, i would say that all ferraris run better when used regularly. so driving it more will make it drive better.