Hi All, For the most part, I see lots of positive feedback and rave about F cars. I want to know if there are current or previous F car owners that have had extremely terrible experiences with them to the point where they would not even touch another one with a 10 ft pole. I'm asking because I am highly considering the purchase of one in the near future (2-3 years realistically) and would like to hear extremes on both ends. The positive is a given, it's the negative I want to attempt to swallow. Thanks!
I think you are in the wrong place for that type of info. For the most part except for the trolls people that come here do so because they like the cars. You should look for www.disaffectedformerferrariowners.com or maybe a Corvette or Lambo forum.
Oh wow, sorry i didn't realize it would come off that way. The post was strictly for informational purposes on my part. Admins please delete...sorry
Do a search.......im sure its been brought up here more than once before. I have read about 'ex-owners' saying they had bad experiences with owning Ferrari's. But they were probably narrow minded people who got their 1st Ferrari service bill, got scared at the cost of ownership, then sold the car complaining that they will never own another Ferrari again knowing full what they cost to maintain ect before they bought the Ferrari in the 1st place.....I like to call them posers!! You will probably never hear of any bad Ferrari driving experiences, because driving a Ferrari is a magical experience.
Well, at least one automotive journalist says that a particular model "sucks." http://blogs.automobilemag.com/1002756/car-ramblings-reviews/hey-you-yeah-you-your-ferrari-sucks/index.html
It seems that you are not a fan of the newer Ferrari's either..... http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=136053861&postcount=15
You are not an idiot. Starting threads like this will never get many sensible responses anytime soon. Do a search. Im sure ive seen something similar to this thread a while ago now.
You know if you dig deep enough you'll find detractors for almost anything... Rifledriver's right though for the most part everyone here admires the mark. I'd suggest a pragmatic approach. Go drive a model that interests you and ask the folks that work on them what issues exist. That'll get you more response than asking what terrible experiences someone has had. Besides that's a subjective question. What one person will tolerate another may find downright unreasonable. Good luck! Additionally I love my Ferrari.... warts and all!!
No your not an idiot. Though the context of your question seems that an important reason for buying one, is minimal "bad experiences". Most of the owners here own them because they endear the marque and driving/ownership brings enjoyment. The "issues" are merely part of the price of admission. I would agree with what pap said above driving an f-car is "magical" experience. To most owners here, the "magical" outweighs the "bad" experiences.
Probably true. I think a sizeable portion of the used cars on the market fit into this category. I've heard quite a few horror stories about particular Ferrari dealerships, but not many about the cars themselves. Certainly none that were so bad that someone swore they'd never buy another. I have to agree with one of the wrenchers on the board who said in a different thread that incompetent mechanics are the biggest contributor to disgruntled owners, not the cars themselves... -R
Well, you could be an idiot, but it's way too soon to make any conclusions. Anyway, as the others said, you can spend days searching this site for the different models and learn alot. I posted a thread a while ago asking why people had bought a Ferrari only to sell it soon afterward - my interpretation of "bad experience." Some of the reasons given were that people were blinded by the Ferrari mystique and forgot they were buying an actual car with actual expensive parts. Also, in the Age of Lexus, any car that has more than 2 problems in five years is a "problem car" to a lot of people, and any exotic is going to be more temperamental than what we're all used to now. What that means is if you have a $2K repair on a Ferrari, some guys are going to post "horror stories" while those of us who knew what we were signing up for will log on here and joke about it. The worst-case scenarios are usually something like a timing belt failure and grenaded engine or, on the flat-12s, a differential failure. Oddly, though, some guys on here who have had those uncommon-but-catastrophic issues have had them repaired and kept their cars. There really isn't another car like a Ferrari, so you have to open your wallet wide once in a while to reap the joys. Lambos have their own, different appeal, but I'm sure guys who have spent $10K on a new clutch have posted horror stories as well.
Take a read of Sheehan's article in this month's Sports Car Market; he details the maintenance costs of a dealer maintained 550, titled: "Can You Afford $10.27 per Mile?". There's also horror stories of people buying, ahh, "misrepresented" cars that weren't fully researched before the cheque was written. They're all shiny in the pictures There's some great advice here - pick a model and start researching!