Quote:
Originally Posted by motion
Yes, Ferrari owners are all douchebags, not car enthusiasts like the rest of us.
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My apologies for possibly adding my two bits to that impression - I didn't mean it that way at all (maybe some did, I dunno...).
I guess the same things I said about Ferrari owners in general would also apply to guys with the spare change to buy, say, brand new GT2's and the like. I think it's fair to say most guys in that end of the pool are not DIY-ers (a broad generalization, and there certainly are exceptions), and are left to bring their car to a dealer for service. Not knowing any better (and frankly caring even less), they happily pay what the dealer charges to keep their pride and joy on the road. Maybe the dealers are a bit less than honest at times, but that's another story.
Myself, I would love to get into a 10-15 year old Ferrari. Buying it is entirely do-able, but maintaining it not so much. Ferrari simply does not cater to DIY-ers, nor is there an aftermarket that does. Kind of a "chicken or the egg" question, in that is this situation a result of no DIY-ers being attracted to the car, or are the DIY-ers not attracted because of the lack of support. I suspect both contribute, but more of the latter.
Ferrari appears to very much want to maintain a certain image, and having guys like me crawling out of them in a pair of Chuck's, baggy shorts, and a greasy tee shirt with grease under my nails probably wouldn't please them in the least. They very much want to keep an air of elitist snobbery surrounding their cars. Part of that is keeping ownership costs high enough to weed out the riff-raff, including DIY-ers. Some owners, unfortunately, are attracted to that image and are more than happy to prop it up. Nothing more fun, though, than running into a real car guy with a Ferrari - they are as enthusiastic and knowledgeable as anyone else, if not a bit more scarce than in Porsche circles.