Considering 1999 360 at Automotove Excellence near San Diego, Thoughts?

The '99 IMO was a great year car, no pre-cats!

This one seems to be in great shape, low miles, I would be interested and move on to a PPI.

Good luck.

 

+1

 

I have seen some posts here with folks saying to avoid the earlier cars, from having owned a 99 and researched quite a bit, I think it comes down to just finding a good, well maintained car that checks all the right boxes for you.

Make sure to have a thorough PPI. Even though these cars are generally reliable, ball joints, trans mounts, motor mounts seem to be failure prone and add up pretty quickly due to the high cost of parts. Also since these cars don't tend to see many miles, make sure the tires aren't dry rotting even if they have good tread.

If there are records, check to see when clutch \ f1 pump have been replaced if it all. My 99 which I purchased used at 13k miles had a clutch replacement at 12k miles, including a new flywheel and F1 pump. This was prior to my purchase so I have no idea how well or poorly the trans was treated. When I sold the car with 21k miles the clutch was about 25%.

I know that a lot of folks prefer the newer F1 TCU and while it is better, after getting used to the 99 TCU and how to get the car going smoothly and also lifting slightly on shifts, it operated well and many folks whom I gave test rides to were impressed with how smoothly it shifted having read negative reviews.

Enjoy! Having owned a variety of BMW, Porsche, Audi over the years, there is nothing like the experience of the Ferrari and I think the 360 is one of the best automotive values in it's price range as long as you don't mind the higher upkeep.

 

The F1 pump is used to manipulate the clutch and gear selection via computer instead of your foot and hand. You may hear reference to 2 and 3 pedal cars. Cars with F1 transmissions only have a throttle and a brake pedal. Cars with a manual shifter or course have a clutch pedal, hence a 3 pedal car.

 

Good luck - best part is no precats on the '99, although I would opt for a 3-pedal over an F1. Make sure to review all service records and get an independent PPI. All the best to you!


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Good buy at that price -- and one owner and low miles to boot. No pre-cats and looks to be in excellent condition. As all have said -- get a PPI and make sure they give you the clutch wear (if possible have PPI done elsewhere to ensure honesty) then buy it and enjoy it.
Alan

 

A few things to think about when purchasing a ’99 (yes I have owned one) It was the first production year, it shifts different than later years, no pre-cats, etc etc. I purchased mine with 13,800 miles, 72% clutch wear and paid 72k from an authorized F dealer.

I was told “drive it, have a great summer” and replace the clutch next year. The cost of a new clutch would be $4.5k. Three months later it was banging into gear and making a bit of racket. Sure enough the transmission mount was / went bad. $2.6k to replace. I was told the smart thing to do was a clutch service at the same time.

Because it was a 99 I was now informed it would need an upgrade starter ring, new flywheel, and some other whiz bang parts that were upgraded in later production cars. Total cost $11,900 including the transmission mount.

It was the middle of summer and the service department was about 3 weeks behind, so I should figure the car will be returned in a month. The good news is the car was back in only 29 days.

BOTTOM LINE:

Subscribe to this forum. Read everything. Look to see if the person posting information owns a Ferrari or just likes talking / typing Ferrari. After you read about a million posts here you will start to find a pattern:

A) Get a proper Pre-Purchase-Inspection (PPI)
B) Have a $15,000 to $20,000 reserve of cash or credit ready (just in case)
C) Buy the best car you car afford (you will never regret it, it’s only money)
D) There is nothing like owning / driving a FERRARI

As my story stands now I did get rid of the 1999, then purchased a 2004 Spyder.

Of course this is just my personal report... hope it helps.

 

Wow $2,600 for a tranny mount that costs $350 and probably 3 or 4 hours labor -- what a rip off. I wondered why they replaced the starter ring when they did the clutch and now I know why as they owner had not indicated any problems -- perhaps the original ones were liable to crack or something so they replaced it while doing the clutch. Flywheel was not replaced so I'm assuming the reason was not to upgrade to a better one. I did install the CS TCU as the 99 was self adjusting and was more prone to wear as a result.
$15-20K reserve is very high IMO. I would never have purchased mine if that was the case. Sure you need some reserve.
Alan

 

I bought a car from Automotive Excellence a year ago. Car was sold with 2 keys. I didn't use the second key until I had it shipped back to VA. When I tried it, I found it was for another car. Dealer told me to go F... myself. A new key from my local dealer cost me $985.

Bottom line, don't trust anything they tell you. Get a PPI and verify everything.

 

Car is tightly parked against a wall for the specific reason of not allowing you to see something they don't want you to see.

Sorry but I don't trust any sales person...let alone a used card dealer.

 

if yellow is your color and it is in your budget buy it just have some reserve cash for misc. items.

 

WOW that is practically brand new, motor is not even broken in yet.

go for a PPI and do it.

Make sure all the monitors are off for smog, the 99's have issues passing calif. smog without a ECU reflash, once the reflash is done they seem to pass easily (at least mind did).

 

given selling prices these days that car looks like a steal. i love the yellow. if it were a 6 speed (and i wanted a second 360) i wouldn't even negotiate too much on the asking price i'd call and leave a deposit asap.

 

Agreed. Killer price. If you like it, put down a deposit and get a PPI done.

 

Sounds about right.

 

+360

 

this...^^

 

It sucks when people don't play ball like we expect. Maybe they are waiting you out a little. You could always call back a week from now and ask if they did any thinking about your last offer.

 

I just put the second key issue on ripoffreport. I filed a complaint with the CA DMV at the time. They claimed there was nothing they could do. Stefan is the guy who blew me off. I actually bought the car from Cornelius. He immediately handed me off to Stefan when the problem arose.

It took me several weeks of negotiating with gaps of 3-4 days in between to get them off their asking price. I don't really recall, but I think I ended up paying $3-4k less than the listed price. I was also told the line about owning vs. financing.

Good luck. Hope you find a nice car somewhere else. It has been almost a year since I bought mine and the smile has never left my face. Even an unscrupulous dealer can't take that away!

 

a key is $4 at any key shop, nothing special. Unless you want the Cavalino on the key.

Sounds like that dealer is not 100% above board, so be careful in your dealings with them, get a really GOOD PPI at a shop of your choosing, one that knows the 99 issues.

By the way, the 99 issues are fairly minor, didn't mean to make it sound like they are bad. The TCU's can be updated for better shifting and clutch life. The ECU's can be reflashed to pass smog. And that is about all there is to a 99.

Of course this is the oldest of the 360's so parts are getting worn on them even on a brand new one like this one. The tranny mount is still worn out (good educated guess) just from sitting, shock bushings are dried up and squeaky also from sitting. None of that is major.

 

Try that and see how it works for you. It won't do anything without the transceiver built into the key and the key coded to the car. I searched everywhere for another solution before paying stupid money for a key.