New Cali owner - need advice - lots of ?

Congratulations. I would say nothing moves fast with Ferrari, but that is just my experience. I don't have little kids, so I don't worry about protecting the interior. I wash my car often and keep the inside vacuumed and wiped down.

Don't worry too much just have fun with it.

 

Congrats on the car. It can take a long time for seldom-needed parts to emerge from Ferrari ... and if there is some rivalry between Reeves Maserati and Ferrari of Tampa it would not surprise me if it took even longer, if that is where they are sourcing their parts from. I wouldn't want to wait for the car, it's driving season now.

Honestly, I don't know who would even want to use cruise control on a Ferrari in the first place, so if it were me, I would pocket the $3k and have it fixed at your closest Ferrari dealer later if you even think you would use it. I think it costs like $2k to retrofit cruise control to a California, so $4k to repair it seems a little expensive to me. I also would not be too excited about having a Maserati dealership trying to fix the electronics on a Ferrari -- even removing the radio seems to require the entire dashboard to be disassembled.

i think the mirror thing is a common quirk, would not be worried about that.

Regarding the interior, some of the "coatings" like CQuartz that are very popular for the paint on the car are also formulated for leather, so I would talk to a well-regarded local detailer about what might be best to protect the interior. And don't let the kids eat the ice cream in the car ; )

Finally, you may want to spend that $3k toward a Ferrari warranty on the car. I would check to make sure the free annual maintenances have been performed on time, as it's a requirement to extend the warranty. Lots of information about that on here. How is the service history on the car? I would say take it to whichever dealer is closest. There is a gentleman on this forum named Rick Lederman, he has had multiple Californias (and an FF) and has put on a lot of miles, I believe he uses Midwestern in Columbus, so sending him a PM might yield some information. I would think the dealers in Chicago would be busier, so you might get more attention from Ohio, but that's just a guess.

 

I have been using Lake Forest Sports Cars for years and they have always been great.

 

I use the "Pit Speed" when I'm on long drives. My wife and I drive 3 hours north for the weekend and I set the "Pit Speed" to make long haul smoother.

 

The driver mirror will slowly move. My 2010 did it, my 2012 did it, my 2016 T does not, so far. With my 2010 they even changed the mirror assy, it too slowly moved, left side way more than the right side.

I am VERY happy with MAG in Columbus except for their no CCW policy. Their Ferrari mechanic Dan is very well qualified and has worked on all 3 Cails and 2 FFs. I drive there from Toledo.

I have WeatherTech floor trays and drive both cars all winter too with no trouble. My '16T has over 16,000 miles already, my FF a few more .

 

I use cruise control on my Cali more than I would have presumed when I first got it. Even though it's mostly a weekend fun-mobile. Long distances to cover here in Texas, and it doesn't take a lot of right foot pressure before you're doing "go to jail" speeds, and many of the small towns here are notorious speed traps. That being said, I find the interface for engaging cruise control on the Cali to be the most confounding on any car I've owned.

Post some pics of your new ride!

T

 

Hey we should meet up I'm in Indiana as well and am about to get into my second cali a 13 cal30 w 9k on it from palm beach Ferrari. If the cruise doesn't turn off but otherwise functions properly who cares? Spend the 3k on warranty, unless the tranmision sensors have already been changed (call all the Ferrari dealers the car has been serviced). If it has you may want to "risk" it wout the warranty but understand roof repairs can b costly and would b covered under the new power warranty along w the towing expesnses.

 

I think mechanics at MAG are good, but dealership eexperience is poor. Speaking as owner of audis, multiple porsches and my cali....my car was damaged in their possession and they did not own up nor step up...congrats on your cali

 

I second the warranty suggestion - little things can cost a lot and it's nice to have the peace of mind. Regarding the lack of a service history (others on this forum please chime in), but IF all the prior work on the car has been done at an authorized Ferrari dealership, shouldn't that be recorded in Ferrari's database and tracked through the VIN?

 

The cruise control is very useful if you have zones on your route that are routinely radar-monitored (speed traps).

I simply put and keep my car on cruise as I approach the areas and I don't have to worry about getting a ticket. It also acts as a good reminder. Otherwise, getting demerit points on your insurance policy, something which can cover a large number of expensive cars could get extremely painful come renewal time so IMO, the cruise (pit speed) control feature is very handy and not only for long distance boring highway cruising.

You do not want a speeding ticket affecting your insurance policy.

 

It's a common issue. If you search the forums you'll find many earlier references.

Please use the SEARCH function to avoid multiple threads rehashing the same subjects.

It's normal, just like for many foreign cars or "luxury" items. Some parts can take weeks or months to source. You should always ask what the expect arrival time is when you place an order that involve parts.

There are aftermarket service places but unless your guy has already experimented (successfully) for some years with other peoples' cars of the same/very similar models I would stay with Ferrari dealer service for any service that is specific to the car. Like anything in life, your first attempts at doing something unfamiliar will ALWAYS be problematic... the least of which is that it will take longer than it should. The worst...?

Ice cream runs are antithetical with an Fcar unless you are prepared to be very forgiving and just have fun. Shouldn't be a problem if you don't mind cleanups ...and plan to keep the car anyway.

 

Btw, OP, I find F-chat thread searching better with Google than the built in search functionality on tapatalk or the F-chat Web interface.

I go to Google, then search with

"site:ferrarichat.com ?????"

where ????? is/are my keyword(s) of interest

Downloading the owner's manual to your phone and tablet has also proven very helpful to me, as it's also keyword searchable. Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale has the manuals available online in PDF format.

Best of luck. Hope it all turns out well.

T

 

Concerning cruise control, I use it all the time, meaning ALL the time. The Cali loves going fast, way faster than any speed limit. I like to pick the places that I will exceed the speed limit, the rest of the time doing 2-3 mph over the limit with cruise. Doing that, with now well over 100,000 miles in a Cali & FF of daily driving, I've not had a single speeding ticket. And holding those speeds 98% of the time is easy since I've also had the Cali 160 and the FF 160 on a road, FF 180 on a runway. When you've gone that fast a few times there really is no need to exceed the speed limit when normal driving The Cali T easily does 0-150-0 in way less than a mile, the FF 0-160-0 in about 4,200 feet.