| Author | Message | ||
| 1989 328 GTS (Vilamoura2002)
Member Username: Vilamoura2002 Post Number: 311 Registered: 9-2001 |
I have been talking to 328 owners and I think this car never gives a problem. I bought mine with +- 20.000 Km, I made the major service and no problems at all. Just drives and sounds beautifully. | ||
| magoo (Magoo)
Intermediate Member Username: Magoo Post Number: 2260 Registered: 2-2001 |
Hey Martin, Most of his stuff doesn't look that good. So he may be a player. | ||
| Martin (Miami348ts)
Intermediate Member Username: Miami348ts Post Number: 1767 Registered: 5-2001 |
How did you know Bob ?  | ||
| BobD (Bobd)
Member Username: Bobd Post Number: 349 Registered: 3-2001 |
Martin, you're the second owner and the car only has 4,700 original miles, right? That's a dandy! :-) | ||
| Martin (Miami348ts)
Intermediate Member Username: Miami348ts Post Number: 1763 Registered: 5-2001 |
HEY MAgoo, maybe I can sell your frined my 308GT4 ?  fits right in his line of cars  | ||
| Martin (Miami348ts)
Intermediate Member Username: Miami348ts Post Number: 1762 Registered: 5-2001 |
double post sorry | ||
| Dave328GTB (Hardtop)
Junior Member Username: Hardtop Post Number: 68 Registered: 1-2002 |
I have bought 6 used Ferraris so far ranging from 77 to 94 with a mileage range of 1500 to 33,000. Here is what I have learned. The 1500 mile 94 348 TB challenge was 4 years old when I bought it and I was nervous about the low mileage. I like to see a car get driven enough when new to get the bugs from the factory fixed under warranty. My mechanic knew the car well and recommended it. The only problem I had was the seal between the gas tank and filler tube which I got fixed under warranty. I drove it 14K and sold it 3 years later. Perhaps I was lucky. My worst experience was the 85 308 GTB currently in my garage. It had a reasonable 31K miles when I got it 2.5 years ago. I bought it from the 2nd owner and it had full documentation but needed full service. I ended up spending about 20K sorting the car instead of the 5K I planned. It developed leaks, ignition system glitches, sticky calipers and on and on. In retrospect, I think just about all the miles were put on it in the 1st 5-6 years, then no driving, no maintenance for many years. I put about 5K on it the last year and now it runs, drives beautifully. The more I drive it, the better it has gotten. I have concluded that cars that sit for a long time, even if they have a fair number of miles can be a bad experience, especially on older cars. However, low mileage cars can be just fine if the owners made the effort to keep up the maintenance. I recently bought a 89 328 GTB with 7300 miles. It had the 30K just before I bought it but more importantly I have records for 2 7500 mile services with fluid flushes, including brakes, etc. This tells me previous owners really cared for the car. I haven't driven this car enough yet to evaluate problems from sitting, etc. It runs/drives fabulous, so hopefully problems will be minor and few. Dave | ||
| Dave L (Davel)
Junior Member Username: Davel Post Number: 99 Registered: 7-2001 |
Well said Mr Hart. Thats probably the best formula for ownership there is for most vehicles | ||
| magoo (Magoo)
Intermediate Member Username: Magoo Post Number: 2257 Registered: 2-2001 |
Wm, I do the same with my cars. They all are up scale original examples of what they were when new. Not junk, just to say I have one. I have a friend who has many collector cars which all are rust buckets and run down junk. But he likes to say he has them, regardless of what they look like. However I do agree that many cars are really not low mileage cars and one has to be careful about the documentation if that is what you are paying for. BRGDS, Magoo | ||
| wm hart (Whart)
Junior Member Username: Whart Post Number: 193 Registered: 12-2001 |
Martin: the reason i have purchased low mileage cars and then had a complete number done on them (rather than buying a well-worn horse on the cheap and doing the same) is that i like pristine cars, with nice paint (always a tough one on ferraris), with unblemished interiors, and that time capsule quality. Then, i drive them, which makes them worth less, but its fun to have a "new" old car if it is really original.Also, some of these cars with miles have been driven hard and put up wet, so despite the fact that the queen has been sitting, which is a downside, there is a downside to buying one that had the •••• beat out of it too. | ||
| magoo (Magoo)
Intermediate Member Username: Magoo Post Number: 2255 Registered: 2-2001 |
Martin I agree with you in that documentation has to be basiclly flawless to erase doubts about low mileage vehicles because the real ones are very rare. | ||
| Ken (Allyn)
Member Username: Allyn Post Number: 282 Registered: 10-2001 |
One important point. A garage queen may have a lot of potential problems lurking that only use will bring out, like bad chips, badly adjusted something or other...a car that's been driven by a loving owner will have had all the bugs worked out. Lambos and Loti are probably more prone to need these bugs fixed than Ferraris, but besides replacing all the old stuff on a garage queen, don't be surprised if you also need to upgrade stuff that owners who drove their cars regularly would have already done. I'll be forever in debt to the PO of my car who upgraded all the important and usual things on my car, saving me thousands in restoration costs. | ||
| Martin (Miami348ts)
Intermediate Member Username: Miami348ts Post Number: 1760 Registered: 5-2001 |
But if you buy a 20 year old car and recommend to replace all the rubbers and ahave a full service done and put all that extra money into the car to basically get the engine back to new, why bother buying a 10,000 Mile car then? Why pay a premium if you buy a 50,000 Mile car for way less and at the end of the day end up with thesame, a car that had all its belts and hoses and rubbers replaced? Just to claim you have a low mileage car? If a 20 year old car claims to have less than 30K Miles and it can not be proven that the car was sitting in a collection for years at a time, I would doubt the true mileage. | ||
| Mitchel DeFrancis (4re308)
Member Username: 4re308 Post Number: 469 Registered: 6-2001 |
My 308 QV had 42,000 miles on it when I bought her last Memorial Day. I have not had it a year and I put over 6000 miles on the car. I drive it several times a week, but not if the weather is bad. That car amazes me everytime I drive it, it runs better than ever before. I swear the car LOVES to be driven, it tells me so! | ||
| BobD (Bobd)
Member Username: Bobd Post Number: 346 Registered: 3-2001 |
I think Edward Gault hit the nail on the head (and Ed has worked on quite a few cars over the years). This is Ed's exact quote from another thread a couple of days ago: "Cars do not have nerves or feelings nor do they need rest. If you park it broken, it will still be broken the next day or a year from now. They age mostly from use and not from sitting as some people believe. If a seal leaks on a 10 year old car that has been sitting then it would have probably leaked much earlier had it been driven. The only thing that can be damaged from not using is the fuel system and that is from moisture causing rust. A seal will not dry out from sitting in an engine anymore than one will sitting on a parts shelf. I hate to dispell all the beliefs about garage queens but I had rather have a 20 year old car with 10,000 miles than one with 80,000." | ||
| magoo (Magoo)
Intermediate Member Username: Magoo Post Number: 2251 Registered: 2-2001 |
ALBERTO, 10/4 on that. | ||
| Alberto (Aabreu)
New member Username: Aabreu Post Number: 46 Registered: 9-2001 |
I recently bought a 1987 328 GTS, had 9000 miles on it. Had it delivered directly to the mechanic for a full 30k service. I have put 600 miles on it in about two months without a single mechanical problem. Have had some ticky tacky stuff which I cannot attribute to low mileage: intermitent operation of passenger side window switch on driver's side and passenger side door locks would not lock (needed lubrication). No other problems. Was recently told by the dealership that detailed the car last month that they had a buyer for my car if I wanted to sell (guy saw it being detailed). Told them it's not for sale. They insisted, so I told them sure, for $80k cash I'd think about it (!) I believe criticism of low mileage cars is way overblown. Just be sure to inspect the car and have the proper service done to it. If a car is 15 years old, the hoses are 15 years old and it does not matter that the car was driven 9000 miles or 90,000 miles; replace 'em regardless. | ||
| magoo (Magoo)
Intermediate Member Username: Magoo Post Number: 2241 Registered: 2-2001 |
You wanted to hear it so here it is. I have a 79 308 GTS with 7,200 miles on it. You asked I give you the facts. People who tried to buy the car in the early 80's wanted to buy it from me and verified the mileage, plus records, orig. tires were still on the car, and well preserved. The car set for 18 yrs in a de-humidified garage with other collector pieces. I have driven it approx. 2000 miles since I got it 2 yrs ago. No oil leaks, car runs great. Only problem I have is the plugs carboning up from lack of use. | ||
| Marq J Ruben (Qferrari)
New member Username: Qferrari Post Number: 11 Registered: 2-2002 |
Last year I bought my late 1988 328GTS with only 7,000 miles on it. That's 'bout 538 driven miles per year by the previous owner. Before I took delivery on the car, the dealer did a complete service,including belts. I drive the car fairly hard and have put 4,000 miles on it since taking delivery. Not a single problem so far. | ||
| Ken (Allyn)
Member Username: Allyn Post Number: 278 Registered: 10-2001 |
Not a Ferrari, but my Lotus had been driven 250 miles in the seven years before I bought it. The PO replaced all the rubber bits (except tires!) and rebuilt the carbs before I bought it. The front suspension was shot (but not from sitting), it had transmission oil leaks from worn out gaskets and there were virtually no brakes. I changed all the fluids, cleaned the brakes and bled them, rebuilt the front end and low and behold it ran well. 2500 miles later it runs like new. So some things go bad from sitting but these can be delt with. Interetingly, lots and lots of trim parts, mostly plastic, have broken from age and constant use by me. They have been fun to source and replace and they probably would have broken faster had the PO ever driven the car. | ||
| Edward Gault (Irfgt)
Member Username: Irfgt Post Number: 953 Registered: 2-2001 |
If you have problems with a low mileage car then the problems would have probably occured anyway if it were driven only quicker. Cars wear out by driving them. Some fuel system problems can be caused by lack of use but the rest of the car will last longer if it is not used. | ||
| wm hart (Whart)
Junior Member Username: Whart Post Number: 187 Registered: 12-2001 |
When i bought my '83 boxer in 1999, it had 13k kilometres on the dial. I had everything done to it before i drove it: engine out,belt service, new injector jets, hoses, shocks, rubber, etc. Nary a problem with the car and I put 10 k miles on it in a year, including a drive to florida from new york. When i bought my first 550, a'97 with about 6k miles on it in 2000, the car had obviously been sitting. Within the first 3 weeks, a fan belt snapped, a coolant hose blew, and various and sundry other things went wrong with it, including an ECU failure worth about $2200. The dealer stood behind the car fully(at that point, they did a big service on the car and went over it with a fine tooth comb, which they should have done before i took it), but it just goes to show that these things should be sorted out in advance of putting the car on the road. I also bought a 328 ('89) with 3k miles on it in 1999. Nothing major wrong with it, but only drove it a few thousand miles before i resold it.(Can't remember how much pre-purchase work was done to the car; it was in Frank Beard's collection, and to my knowledge, had not been driven much at the time i bought it.)My friend, Eddie Karem, specializes in finding low mileage ferraris: he has a late boxer now with, i think, 700 miles. I don't think he would ever sell a car without urging the buyer to have it gone over fully, without sparing expense, if the car is to be a driver. | ||
| Martin (Miami348ts)
Intermediate Member Username: Miami348ts Post Number: 1743 Registered: 5-2001 |
I had a 308GTS 1982 back in 1990. The car had 5000 Miles and was in storage for the past year before I bought it. Dried seals and rubbers on the suspension, dried seals in the windows (although that is more wear and tear than mechanical), the starter gone bad within 100 Miles, the waterpump was shot from the begining. Heard similar stories from others with those cars. If you run your car every week for 10 Miles you will get low miles as well but the seal will be flushed at least once a week. So the low miles depend on how the car was driven. In my 308 case the car was not driven for a year prior to purchase and possible even longer before that. I think the risk is just too high on finding a car that is driven religiously once a week. BTW it is not just a Ferrari problem. It is with ALL cars or machinery. You don't use it, it will go bad if it is lubricated. | ||
| BobD (Bobd)
Member Username: Bobd Post Number: 341 Registered: 3-2001 |
For a year now, we've been reading about all these low mileage cars which are prone to dried seals, water pump failures, starter failures and all kinds of problems. There are several of you out there that think the only good car is one driven at least 5,000 miles per year. Mine is an '89... it had almost 14K when I bought it three years ago. It has 17K now (average 1300 miles per yr). Is that considered low mileage? If so, I have not had even one single problem since the day it came off Peterson's Transport three years ago. Zero. If you have a low mileage car (10+ years old with less than 10,000 miles), please step up and identify yourself!!! Please tell us about the problems you've experienced. Is this real or a bunch of BS? |