Info on purchase

Hi Ron... I'd read through all the Cali threads. Ask questions of people in the local and online community. Talk to local dealers to get an idea of prices and options for service. Go to local exotic car events and chat up owners. Download the owner's manual and study it. Make a list of must-have options that you won't compromise on. Keep searching cars.com, Ferrari.com, etc. for your unicorn. Then, assuming the finances are right for you, go all in! This is what I did. Of course, I'm still in the honeymoon period, having only owned my Cali for 3 weeks. But, thus far, it's been awesome...T

 

There are a few 'must have' equipment threads. Read those at a minimum. Car guru will list a ton of Cali's, and that can give you a sense of what is available. The car can have so many variations on options that it is worthwhile to get a feel for them. Lastly, test drive more than one, it will be an easy car to fall in love with.

 

i also recommend test drive each car you are considering, do not assume they are all the same. well cared for cars will drive much better.

 

I have a 2010 and did a long search before buying. Cali's 2010 -2011 are reliable cars and the main problematic areas might be the gearbox and the roof. Gearbox wise there are several threads in this forum about cars with low mileage from this period who had failures. In the first years Ferrari solution for this problem was to change the gear box but more recently they are repairing them. All that is fine if the car is under warranty or has an extended warranty otherwise we are talking of a repair which can as much as $30k. In my opinion this is a very important point to take into consideration while selecting a Cali.

Roof wise there are Calis with different issues and the last thing you want is to
end up like vjd3 (read his thread in the Cali section). This is another area you should check with time because problems sometimes are difficult to diagnose and could end up driving back and forth to the dealer instead of enjoying this magnificent car.

 

I personally wanted a newer car, 2015. I search all California T's in North America. I found 50 vehicles, then filter down to options I wanted. that made it 6 to 8. I then wanted to know if the asking price was the selling price. I found that most cars would take $10K to $20K less than asking price. My guess is there are multiple cars that will meet your requirements. Good luck.

 

Good advice, that is exactly how to buy a nearly new car in a large single market.

 

i also went in to buy a 2010 california, test drove 2 2014's, the test drove the 2010. The 2014 drove much better, more power and just felt more solid overall. also free maintenance, and 13 months left on factory warranty. kinda of sealed the deal for me. Price was about 40 k more, but taking into cosideration 5 year a maintenance 15k to 20 k) i felt it was worth it. it is almost always preferable to buy the newest and best taken car of car you can afford.