hawkgfr

Meh..if you can pay 250k for a used car, you're not getting oil changes at jiffy lube and paint upgrades at Earl Schieb...

rjsmith169

There is a huge difference between being able to afford to buy a car, and the ability to afford to maintain it.

I had no choice but to do all the maintenance on my F430 myself. An engine oil change at Ferrari of Newport Beach costs $850. That's not a typo. $850 USD. Replacing the F1 system hydraulic fluid costs even more, as does the transaxle (gearbox) oil. Replacing the F1 accumulator (must replace every three years) cost $695 for the part and $1,000 for the labor. The steel brake rotors must be replaced every third pad change because they are drilled and resurfacing them is not possible (one of the reasons the C8 has plain rotors). Replacing the clutch costs $7,500 with $3,500 of that for the parts.

Even had the car been under the Ferrari factory warranty, none of these costs would have been covered. By searching for east cost Ferrari dealers who charge much less for parts than California dealers, and by doing the labor myself, I was just able to adequately maintain it. But a serious powertrain failure would have been impossible to absorb.

You need to be truly rich to afford to maintain these cars by tossing the keys to the pool boy and having him take it to the dealer.

Ray

Joefab

======================================== ====
i was at our local ferrari concours event. IF your uncle gave you one of these beauties from Modena Italy……no loan all paid off would you drive it for a while and check it out as your a a car enthusiast …….or simply immediately sell it ……dispose of the Euro trash. Come on its automotive art as its very highest level.

Ferrari makes good solid reliable sports cars . Check these out who knows the models?






Bella macchina

hawkgfr

My original statement stands....You are just confirming a chivolet will never ever be any where near a Ferrari...except in fantasy island...and even then its a maybe...

2006m5

Ferrari is a ferrari they don’t sell cars they sell dreams.

2slow2speed

From what I can recall about F-cars.

Daytona? (Yellow car behind the yellow F430) in the classic car section
Dino (red car partially visible behind the yellow Daytona)

F308 GTS(s)

F348 (red car behind the F458 speciale)

F355 Spider(s)

F360 Spider (yellow car in the background behind the F458 Speciale)

F430 (s)
F430 Spider(s)

F458 Spider(s)
F458 Speciale Spider

F488 GTB(s)
F488 Pista

F512 Testarossa(s)

F550? (Red car in the background partially blocked)
F575? Yellow car in the back
(Hard to tell a F550/F575 just by looking at the front end)

F599 GTB(s)

GTC(s) (4 seater) (silver car in the background behind the white covered brick fence along with the Classic F-cars), (also black car in the background all by itself by the black F599)

There was one car that I have zero clue on what it was, the red car parked next to the 512 Testarossa. Can't recall ever seeing that rear end/roofline.



Given a choice from all the cars pictured I would take the F488 Pista for looks and the F458 Speciale Spider for the engine

Rapid Z

I believe it has already.

TTRotary

If we distil the entire Ferrari ethos into the 458, then yes, the C8 outferraris the 458 because it is 12 years newer and is better in every respect. But that is a point in time. Ferrari has long moved on from the 458, and its newest cars... the SF90, the upcoming 296 GTB and most of their other offerings, are much more complex and advanced than the 458 ever was. Ferrari is a company that is constantly under pressure to demonstrate that it's technology represents the pinnacle of automotive science, because Ferrari's identity is still completely tied up in F1 racing. They still live, eat and breathe the "win races on sunday and sell it on monday". The latest focus is to commercialize the regen technology into the consumer vehicles.

A Corvette will never be a Ferrari because it lacks the exclusivity and the cachet (and the outrageous price). The bottom line is that Ferraris are drop dead gorgeous and nobody makes a more beautiful or timelessly classic car. It is art on wheels. Frankly, that - not performance or quality - is what distinguishes Ferrari above all else. It is certainly not performance, because Corvettes have been outperforming Ferraris on the racetrack for years now. That is nothing new.

I just sold a 458 - the 3rd Ferrari I have owned. The other 2 were a California and a F355 F1 back in the early 2,000s. The 458 is by far the best car of the 3 but it is still a beast to own and maintain. I sold it because the transmission was on the way out and I was sick of dealing with all the little stuff. And of course, I sold it for as much as I bought it for years ago.

The guys above who posted about the ownership experience are dead-on. Let's clarify a few things:

Ferraris are hand-built, but that does not mean they are well-built. They frequently are not well built, in fact, and the interiors in particular do not hold up any better than that of a mass-produced car, and that includes Corvettes. My 458's build quality was on par with that of my C7 Z06 and is in many respects, not as good. Mechanically, they can be an absolute disaster and nobody in their right mind owns one out of warranty.

Buying a Ferrari is the easy part of owning one. Maintenance is prohibitive and even then, stuff breaks anyway. You also cannot drive your Ferrari more than 1,500 miles a year if you want resale value to hold up at all. Drive a Ferrari 4,500 miles a year and you will lose multiple tens of thousands. You may as well set your money on fire. Ferrari miles are like dog years. No one expects a Ferrari engine to last beyond 75,000 miles. Let that sink in for a minute. This means you do not take your Ferrari on a road trip, which also means you never get to use the car to full enjoyment or potential. You wind up showing off around town, wiping drool off the doors everywhere you go, and every idiot in a sports car wants to race you.

What this means in the end is that owning a Ferrari is not as much fun as owning a Corvette. Which is why I still have my C7 Z06 and sold the 458.

rjsmith169

I was not worried about loss of resale value. I was worried about taking the car beyond AAA towing range.

We bought a 92 LT1 six-speed coupe in '92 and the next day drove it to Banff, in Alberta. We wandered back through several western states and never had an issue. 5,000 miles total. I would never dream of doing that with my F430. Not because of the miles involved, but you never know when they will throw an electronic hussy-fit and refuse to start, or go into gear because the battery voltage dropped below a fairly high level. Leaving you stranded hundreds of miles from a dealer. Even putting in an Anti-Gravity Li-Ion battery ($895 plus a special CTEK charger) did not help much.

The interior was entirely leather, even the headliner and the area behind the Daytona seats. Unlike the C8 which offers only "leather seat inserts". But the Ferrari had dumb **** in the interior. Like the window buttons located on either side of the HVAC controls in the middle of the cockpit. The stock Becker radio was little better than a 1918 Marconi wireless and almost impossible to operate.

Mine had the infamous 'sticky button' issue fixed before I bought it. But every Ferrari had the issue.

The 430, the 458, and the new 296 GTB are rolling works of art. So much so that you're worried that you're driving a Monet around with the concomitant fear of damaging it.

I bought a 2001 Z06 and as it was a late build had the 2002 rings and pistons so it never burned a drop of oil in the 19 years I used it as a daily driver. We took that car on extensive road trips with no issues.

I look at my C8 Z51 as a upgrade from my 430. Nowhere near as beautiful, but more reliable, with an extended warranty and a 10 year service agreement. They do all the grunt work. It has the same power and a flatter torque curve and gets much better fuel mileage. And the C8 has a much better transmission.

I don't regret buying the Ferrari. It was fun for two years. But the Corvette is a better option IMHO.

Ray

Houston Z33

Preach.

To the F car lust crowd, 3 words.....COST. OF. OWNERSHIP.

With the LT6 I'm sure it'll be as much as a German to keep the C8Z running but it'll still be pennies compared to the Italians and far more reliable.

vtknight

Great post!

jivor

I agree with the art/prestige description of Ferraris; no one really drives them, maybe there's that 1 or 2% of owners who either wrench their own cars, or have actually accepted that they own a sports car and not an asset that needs to minimize its depreciation. All the used exotics have at least 4-5 owners, each skimming off a few hundred miles of driving before selling the car on so as not to have to suffer repairs, services, and the aforementioned loss in value. I don't get that; how is that even fun? I understand the standing around a parking lot talking about them, but then we are back to art pieces, it's just that the museum is made of asphalt and concrete.

range96

It was quite a sight of watching 50 or so Ferraris driving up on A1A, headed to Palm Beach. The last car in the convoy was a police cruiser. Most Ferraris are destined to this type of use, not hard track abuse. The speed limit on this stretch of A1A is 35 mph. I love Ferraris, but cruising to car shows is not my cup of tea.

hawkgfr

As a total number...a lot more people owning Corvettes are doing exactly that...looking at it sitting under a car cover in their garage sitting and waiting for the next owner......Heck even Mustang peeps do that. So we're definitely not talking about this being exclusive to Ferrari.

jivor

Fair point.

Joefab

Ain’t nothing wrong with that……when I want to go fast on a roadcourse I break out the cheaper IRON ……..lots of my friends and customers have Ferrari and GT3RS cars and Huracans…….they take outr Camaros and older 911s and Caymans for race track duty.That way you protect the Italian and German exotics from stone chips, and wrecks. Its logical.

I have one customer that has a GT2RS, GT3RS and a AMS Twin Turbocharged 1200HP Lamborghini Huracan ……..for RaceTrack DUTY he has a $70,000 Chevy Camaro ZL1 (not sure of correct ID) he can afford to run exotics…..but says WHY?

HE says ……I have a RED NECK Camaro……if I wreck and write it off im out $70 to 80grand. Makes sense and its rare to see Big Exotics being driven hard regularly on roadcourses ………any late model GT3 CUP cars will disappear and “check out” from any exotics on CUP 2 R tires or Trofeo R tires so go buy a PORCH and run down Ferraris and 765LTs all day long!!

range96

You're right, most people don't track their expensive fast cars anymore. I ran at Pocono with my C4 ZR-1 in the 90's along with quite a few Ferraris. The one I vividly remember was a million dollar retired Ferrari race car. The owner brought it in an 18-wheeler setup with tools and spare parts. His Ferrari mechanic was also on site, he replaced a broken tail shaft between sessions. A F40 was also trailered in and ran a few laps by itself during our lunch brake.

2slow2speed

I used to track with the San Francisco Ferrari Owner's Club back in the early to mid 2000's. The owners would bring out their new toys as well as classics, their new toys would be pushed to about 7/10's or 8/10's max in the sessions.

The classics would be driven for a few laps in their own run group or on parade laps after lunch.

The fastest guy running in the advanced group used to be a gentleman driving a light blue metallic C5 with a super charger on Hoosiers, you could hear the distinct whine of the supercharger coming from way back at either Laguna Seca or Sears Point.

Remember getting passed on the outside going through Turn 9 Rainey Corner while going about 72~73 mph on my NSX (no aero at that time on the car) with street tires. So the C5 was probably doing 78~79 mph easy .

The Ferrari Owner's Club members were a great set of folks to track with, they also had the best catered lunch for their events .

Tripjammer

I actually like the 296 GTS it would be the current latest Ferrari that I would buy! Congrats bro it’s gonna be epic! It’s amazing that the 296 GTS sounds better than a f8 and with 819 HP it’s gonna smoke a lot of cars! Hopefully they make a pista/speciale versión in a few years! I am glad they kept it RWD!

Tripjammer

Most of the corvette people don’t understand that Chevy is gonna build like 44k C8’s a year and that C8’s won’t have the crazy resale value after we get past this inflated car pricing era. The only thing that will help is when EV cars take over in 5-10 years….which will probably make perfect spec C8 Z06’s worth a lot of money.

But in 2029 that mint Ferrari 458 will be worth close to $1 million and a 458 speciale probably $1.5 million. The $20k cost every 3 years for maintenance on these bad boys don’t really matter when the car is worth so much! You got to factor that in.