Test drove an F355 today

[MRM]

Originally Posted by tabs

You do know that u are fk ing insane.

Well yes. Either that or extremely dense with a high pain threshold. Either way I'm prepared for Ferrari ownership when the time comes.

[Tervuren]

The flat plane V8 has a really awesome sound to it.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by MRM

Well yes. Either that or extremely dense with a high pain threshold. Either way I'm prepared for Ferrari ownership when the time comes.

I have known some very happy Ferrari owners. We have several on this board.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Craig T

Yep. Three years ago there were plenty of 355's for sale in the $70 range, with only a few over six-futures. Now, 30K mile shaky maintenance history cars are $70K, with most nice ones over six figures (always a day late and a dollar short ).

I owned a 360 for a short time a decade ago. Went to an Orange County Ferrari Owners Club meeting with my wife. We stayed about 20 minutes. My wife made a great observation..."Yuk, sell this thing. Porsche owners buy Porsches because the love driving them. Ferrari owners buy Ferraris for the impression it makes on others".

A large percentage of Porsche owners bought them for the impression they make, don't kid yourself. When I sold them back in the '80s, maybe one out of 3 or 4 owners really knew anything about the cars and probably fewer really knew how
to drive one.

Without a doubt, plenty of tools buy Ferraris but I'd love to own one. They are the ultimate driver's car with a racing heritage that rivals Porsche all day long. I have friends who drive the schit out of theirs, one went by me on Mulholland last weekend in his 50 year old 265 w V-12 screaming. What a sight and sound!

[jwasbury]

Originally Posted by speeder

A large percentage of Porsche owners bought them for the impression they make, don't kid yourself.

^there is no doubt. However, in my experience some Ferrari owners really go above and beyond to earn the stereotype. There is a cars 'n coffee locally that attracts a lot of very high end machines, not my scene but I went once. There was an Enzo there, attracting a crowd, with the vanity license plate: "TAX DR", or "TAX MD", something like that. Nearby I discovered the owner, wearing custom printed t-shirt with the same "TAX DR" brand emblazoned across his chest. Must have been a high-end tax attorney...might as well have been wearing an "I'm the guy with the Enzo" t-shirt.

[pavulon]

Vanity plates. That pretty much sums it up. The same people who claim to
"not care what anybody thinks" spend (even more) money on a license plate in order to manage others' impressions.

sorry for the thread drift. Ferrari has made some beautiful cars.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by patz

5k A YEAR for maintenance.

That's horse ****. I owned a couple Ferraris for a long time and I probably averaged less than $1000 per year in maintenance costs on them. There's nothing too expensive about a 355 unless you have to replace the exhaust manifolds or valve guides. Nobody I know with one has had to do either of those things on their cars.

Originally Posted by MRM

I drove an Audi RS6 as a daily driver for about four years. I WISH it cost only $5,000 a year in maintenance.

I bought one new and kept it for 7 years and never had anything more expensive than an oil change. Your experience might not be typical.

JR

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by javadog

That's horse ****. I owned a couple Ferraris for a long time and I probably averaged less than $1000 per year in maintenance costs on them. There's nothing too expensive about a 355 unless you have to replace the exhaust manifolds or valve guides. Nobody I know with one has had to do either of those things on their cars.



I bought one new and kept it for 7 years and never had anything more expensive than an oil change. Your experience might not be typical.

JR

I think the running/start up cycle that owners use could have a piece of it. A lot of Ferrari's get cold started, and immediately someone revs the ever living piss out of the engine without allowing oil temps to get in range. That has gotta be harsh on the moving components.

The part of a F355, may not be what goes wrong, but the cost/risk of what it takes when something does need major work. If you can't afford that, its best to leave it alone. If you can and want to, why not.

A nice little protection feature some modern cars have, is a lower rev limit in neutral. Prevents clueless from cold starting and revving to red line.

[David]

My wife has bought me a drive a Ferrari gift a couple times. After the last time I told her thanks but let's not do that again since you're paying too much money to drive around in a parking lot.

I did enjoy myself though. The first time was a drive in a 360 and a Lamborghini Gallardo. The Lambo was like a truck, terrible turn in, plowed like a FWD car and awful off the turns. The 360 drove like a dream and seemed very similar to my Cayman. The instructor in the Ferrari asked me about my experience and after a quick resume rundown he turned the steering wheel to 'race' and asked me to remind him to put it back to normal and not tell anyone. On the second lap I apologized when I almost looped it and he said he was grateful to actually has someone drive it fast for once. On the other hand, the Lambo instructor thought I was trying to kill him

The last time was in a 430. Very similar in feel to the 360 but the instructor wouldn't let me turn off the traction control so it was a dog off every turn. Handling was still great though. They warned us about the huge risks and costs we'd incur if we hit a cone but I think the instructor was happy when we clipped one and sent it flying.

I just don't see how you use a car that you'd be worried about parking anywhere but home, car events and maybe work.

[Soren Lorenson]

This particular beauty had the headers replaced, the valve guides changed, and the sticky plastics fixed. Recent belt out, so unless something fails needs nothing for 5 yrs.

He moved it to the front window. I drove by tonight and saw it sitting there, giving me "come hither" looks.

[Jeff Alton]

JR,

You never did a belt service in the 7 years you owned your F355?

[javadog]

You can run 7 years between belt services. Belt services are not $35k....

Like I said, about a grand a year is enough.

JR

[Jeff Alton]

I realize belt services are not 35K...

7 years is a fair while between belt services, but to each their own. Yours obviously lasted.

[javadog]

Let's think about it for a minute. Most owners think belts need to be changed every 5 years. Ferrari will likely tell you 3 years. This fits into their philosophy of continually caring for your car, at a price. It makes them a lot of money; the dealer I used even had a separate part of their building devoted to storing their customer's cars for them.

I called Gates (a company that makes millions of rubber cam belts every year) and talked to an engineer. His opinion was that 9 years was a reasonable lifespan, provided the belts weren't damaged by an outside influence. So I went with 7.

Then there's the water pump, rollers, etc. that some change with every belt service. Given the low mileage these cars accrue, you can skip those things for a while. Check them, but don't automatically change them, if there's no evidence of a problem.

The first Ferrari water pump I bought was for a 328 and cost $900. It conststed of 4 main parts; a casting, an impeller, a bearing and a seal. If you elect to just change the bearing and seal, which is all you need to do, you're outlay is maybe $50, not $900.

Cars up through the 328 were a pain in the ass to work on. Cars from the Testarossa onwards were designed to have their engines dropped out of the bottom fairly quickly, which makes cam belt changes pretty simple by comparison to the earlier cars.

So, add an annual oil change. $100-150, depending on the oil you use. Change the brake fluid every couple years, or go 3-4 years between changes (probably makes little difference) and you'll spend another $150, or so. Change the coolant every belt change. You have to drain it anyway, so your expense is limited to the cost of the coolant.

Throw a set of tires on it every 5 years, give or take. Change things like the gearbox fluid, spark plugs, air filter every 15k, or 30k. Probably makes little difference...

This isn't to say that you might find something along the way that needs a little work but the routine maintenance isn't all that big of a deal, if you think about it. The notion that you have to do a $10k "major" every three years, or whatever, is just horse pooey.

What bites you in the ass with a Ferrari is if your car suffers from one of the major failures that can afflict most of the models. If you have an early TR and your differential lets go, it's a big bill. Have an early 355 and have bad valve guides? Hate to be you... Got a 456 and your windows don't roll up right? Bummer.

Etc.

JR