Why are Ferraris so much trouble ?

too bad you get influenced so much by what other people say. Youre a grown man with his own mind, take the leap if you want to and makes sense to you, if not just dont buy the car.

drive a ferrari, then you can rationalize if its worth it to you or not, its that simple.

there have been many more ferrari free stories here than horror stories, thats a fact.

ferrari's are like other european cars, yes all other euro cars including german.

" Reliability and maintenace are two very different things"!!!!!!!!!!

maintenance is needed to keep them reliable, so if u can absorb that, youll have almost toyota reliability!!!i gaurantee you that

 

Don't forget that dealers could not stay in business selling the few new cars they get their hands on. Maybe they are engineered to keep the company profitable well after the sale.
You have a very valid point that these cars should be extremely resiliant when used for normal driving. They are hand built but none of the components you or anyone else has discussed is hand built. I think Ferrari is so far ahead of every other manufacturers technology that they just don't do enough testing on "minor" components from their subcontractors. There is a price to be paid for being the leader and coming out with cars that are ahead of their time. Porsche is probably the best balance of exotic and reliability.Its a good value and makes sense but its not nearly as fun.

 

My 328 is 16 years old. Got it in Dec. '02. Since that time, I've had 1 door lock mechanism, a small radiator, & aircon leak repaired. That's not too bad for an "old" car, right? Never been stranded (although it is not a daily driver).
The car has exceeded my expectations. Don't really care if a Subaru or Supra is faster or more reliable.

Your point (re: Fcar reliability) is well taken. This is probably the reason I am holding on to my car instead of "upgrading" to another model. But it's all up to the individual. Whatever makes you happy. Life is too short. If you don't think you can "put up" with the "flaws," then it is not for you. We all have passionate hobbies that we are willing to spend for. To me, this is one and it is worth it. My experience has been great.

By the way, I advise you to test-drive one. The day a dealership had me test drove one just changed everything. You currently own a Fiat. Then it shouldn't be hard for you to "understand" Italian cars. The Fiats are not one of the most reliable machines on earth, too, right? Why are you keeping yours? .

 

I can't believe I'm reading this thread.

In general, all cars are trouble. It's a damn internal combustion engine with lots of junk hanging off it and wired into it. Crap breaks, crap wears out. Running a Ferrari at 7000rpm is going to wear things out much faster than running a Lexus at 2000rpm. Who drives Ferrari at 2000rpm? What a waste...

Most of us hacks can only afford "old Ferraris", and by definition, they've got more stuff wearing out.

No Lexus or Porsche I've ever driven (and I've driven PLENTY) has anywhere near the sensory experience of my 348. Yes, the handling sucks. Yes, the styling is controversial. Yes, parts are expensive. Yes, it only has 8 cylinders (thus, it's not "real"). Big whoop. On the track yesterday, I had a screaming engine, smooth-as-butter gearbox, rock solid brakes, and a great time with Ferrari loving friends.

Again, I can't believe I'm reading this thread.

 

I just got back from a nice drive thru the northern Atlanta suburbs with the roof off in 70-75 degree weather.

Even though I've spent about $5k on the car since I bought it--replacing 18-19-year-old parts which wore out through normal aging--I was reminded again why I bought a Ferrari.

There have been no true "reliability" issues with the car--I don't consider parts wearing out at a reasonable age to be unreliable, and the car has never left me stranded. Trouble? Yes, to a point, but even a hypothetical 19-year-old Honda or Toyota with similar mileage would have similar trouble.

 

good points. But I think this thread is geared more towards the new cars. The 308/328 will be the Ferrari's too own in the near future. The demand for these cars is already on the way up. Why? because of the insane cost of mantinance of the new models 348 on up. At this point the quality of the cars seemed to fall aswell. The 308/328 cars are the most reliable f-cars ever built bar none. These little machines will go along way without major issues. Yes the electrical system in them is a bit on the wankie side..but not as bad as it seems. Once the 348 was introduced, you couldsee that Ferrari changed it tune towards there production cars. The have cut many corners in the name of money..and it shows.

The cars are beautiful no doubt..but they can no longer be considered the speacial cars they once truely were. They have become more like the expensive fashion acsseory then a real spoting car that they used to be knowen as. They are normal production vehicals now, with Ferrari seeming to be gearing up for 20 thousand plus cars per year. They are getting close to Corvete production numbers for crying out loud!

To be hounest..I get more excited about seeing the older Ferrari's comming into the shop the the newer ones. I like the newer cars..they are wonderous machines..but there is something "missing" in them that the older cars seem to have..

 

Many of the earlier posts on this thread assume that buying a Ferrari is a normal, rational decision like buying an everyday commuting car. If that is the way one approaches the issue, then a Ferrari is probably not the car for that person. Ferrari is indeed a super high-end exotic luxury good that targets only those people that want to pay for the experience. If it doesn't make sense to you, then Ferrari is probably not for you. Ferrari does seem to understand their market, though, since they are in the enviable position of continually producing some of the most sought after cars in the world and, more recently, the F430 has a 3-plus year waiting list. To those people who speak so highly of the NSXs and Impreza WTis relative to Ferraris, maybe that is what you should buy. There is no right or wrong; this is simply a matter of preference. My point is, if anyone is seriously concerned about Ferrari reliability, service costs, performance, etc. just don't buy one. You will probably be happier with something else.

 

can't believe i read this entire thread. but am forced to relay my opinion and experience. i 've owned over thirty cars in my life porsches (3) beemers (2) also several 60's hot rods (mostly mopar) and two toyotas. now i drive pretty hard i should tell you, but the least reliable two cars i've had were the toyotas, they may be good for normal driving but if you get on it every time you get in it IMHO toyotas are crap. my 308 on the other hand loves to be driven hard and quite frankly seems to run better when driven that way. ALL cars need to be maintained properly, but if you do that virtually any car will be reliable. i broke more stuff on my mopars than my ferrari (3 motors and 4 trannies in one calendar year in my 68 coronet RT), and i never fell out of love with it. not to mention the fastest 0 to 60 and 0 to 100 times of any car i have ever driven. having said that i still prefer driving my old 308 to any car i have ever owned it really is about more than just numbers. if youve never driven one don't, because if you and you truly love cars you will be done for. nothing else even comes close. i often joke that i drove mopars in my youth because i couldn't afford a ferrari and now i drive a ferrari because i can't afford an old mopar. but the truth is i've been a gearhead since the age of five, an f-1 fan since twelve and no other car manufacturer has ferraris history where it counts. plus enzo told ford to go screw himself, gotta admire that. anyway, thats my 2 cents, i'm out.

 

Very well said.....

Then again Ferrari spares prices in Malaysia are astronomical, not to mention the cars themselves. A '95 355 Berlinetta hovers around the USD 100k+ and when you factor in the maintenance aspects...it can be a very scary prospect even for a true-blue enthusiast.

In my experience, I could have gone the route of a newer model, the 360M..but I have to make a deal with the bank...i.e financing. IMO ..buy the best that you can pay in CASH. That's the reason I went for the 355 and the monthly budget for car repayment can be used towards maintaining the car so that it will perform as intended and doing it as reliably as it can get by its makers.


If you are serious about Ferrari ownership, may I suggest to you to sell the Coupe and start looking for a 328GTB, there's one in KL, 27kkm on the clock and going for about RM250k. It's a pre-ABS '86 and IMHO is one of the if not THE best looking Ferrari there is. Maintenance-wise, it's in the same ballpark as your 20V Turbo, as long as you stay away from Next Cars!! You're in Johore, and that's a plus because Singapore's indy garages are very familiar with these cars and parts are readily available...

The second week upon getting the car, I was caught in a gridlock, the infamous lunch-time Jalan Ampang/Tun Razak Intersection. 45mins. in the jam, the temperature outside was like 33/34deg Celcius, air-con running at medium speed...and....the temperature stays put..going slightly above half and settles back when the fans cut in. Suffice to say I was well and truly chuffed and took her on a blast all the way to KLIA and back via Damansara. Just to clear the plugs..hehe..

That's dependability/reliability in my books. As long as the car do not leave me stranded by the roadside..(never had the experience)..it is a very good car. In summary, the ability to afford maintenance is the crux in having a relationship with a Ferrari. JMHO.

 

you've got a PM.




Cheers!

 

BRAVISSSIMMMO! Right you are Excelsior! You are a true Ferrarista amigo. With the mythical Enzo gone, it appears that the company is being run by a bunch of ignorant non-passionate bean counters. What can only be worse, of course, is the well meaning buyer of modern so called Ferraris and getting designs that are so moronic as to be borderline criminal. And what about the quality of some key parts being of less than expected quality. Unforgivable. May the mighty name of Ferrari be once again said out loud in wonder, respect and amazement. 308 GTB/GTS, GTO288, 512 BB, testarossa.

 

why wont these kinds of threads just rest in peace? i give up...

 

At least he's using the search engine.

 

the thread was from '05, friggin' 2005!!! why dig it up....jeebers!

 

If you wanna car that wont cause you trouble then buy a Toyota.Part of the fun of owning a Ferrari is that unknown quality.

 

ok I do not own my ferrari yet hopefully I soon will. I would recommend due to the reasearch youve done on it that you buy the ferrari and love it even if it has problems. all car manufacters are having huge quality problems, and volkswagon and ford top the list of big time mondo problems one german car one from the USA.

I have a mercedes and consumer reports rips mercedes apart each and every day and recomends buying toyota lexus, and hondas and guess what its all biased. my trackrat mercedes that I also commute 102 miles in per day has 134,000 miles on it. I redline the car on each and every shift, and regularly go at speeds that are unprudent, I absulutly rip around corners, and between track days I go downt he local twisty roads fast enough to drift on pavement the c230coupe which is what I have is a 2002 it is the first year they made this particular car, and you know how folks say oh its the first year trouble !, well it still all comes down to what you buy how you treat it and so on. my mercedes still has its original clutch, its a 6 speed manual, and I drive the everloving crap out of it, i do know how to shift though. the only mechanical failure that left me sit was the rear differential which shredded around 110k miles. I have broken both sway bar end links once, my fault i cought some air during one driving event, everyone looks at me like im nutty for driving a "benz" like i do. I willl drive a ferrari the same way. cars are meant to be driven and i have "experienced" the hell out of my mercedes.

a car is just a car, it is what you make of it I suppose the mercedes marque is alot more expensive to maintain, I have been thru a small fortune in tires and brakes, but the car has continually astounded me. from what ive seen if you drive a car right ie you shift properly and dont bounce it off the revlimiter every time you move it (redline is ok in my book, just let off before the limiter hits) the stuff that really breaks cars is the big smoky burnouts the 6k rpm clutch dumps to start the big smokey burnouts, fyi if your tires are spinning your not going, use that traction to move the car and dont overwork the tires or your driveline. also my differential failure was partially due to a catastrophe on a dyno which damaged the pinion gear, but i decided to just drive it till the diff went nuclear.

at the end of the day buy the ferrari, yes it makes more of a splash than a honda yes you will like it, yes it will cost more to maintain. but at the end of the day that big grin on your face will stick around, also the thread talked about cars like the NSX i plan to own one of those too, along with my ferrari, along with my lambo, etc..etc..

buy the car based on the feeling it gives you. if it scratches that itch in the car loving part of your soul then its the right car for you. and even if the engine go's thermo nuclear on you some day the smile on your face in the 60k miles in between will be worth the expense.

to put that in some form of perspective, I got to drive an NSX not to long ago and one 40 minute session behind the wheel of that car put a smile on my face for 2 weeks, 2 whole weeks! imagine what a ferrari will do for you. the folks around here know what they are talking about when they say they see the car in the garage and just cannot believe they own it, your mitsubishi, or wrx will never give you that feeling. its hard to put into words but the presence a ferrari has is an intangible asset that few cars in the world have.

one more for the road the NSX is a great drivers car i hate how they look but the feeling behind the wheel is outstanding by all the accounts ive heard the ferrari outshines the NSX big time in the driver experience depeartment.

the car gods have spoken everyone go out and buy a ferrari do not worry at all about the rest the details will work themselves out.

 

Reliability can be quantified, but how does one measure passion?

Is there a formula which could calculate one's readiness to own a Ferrari, or should ownership simply be a joie de vie's "You only live once!"?

 

This was worth resurrecting the thread.

You bought a 328. The OP, who's probably long since retired and moved off to a rest home where they monitor BuickChat, was looking at early 355s and 348s. Then someone (Rifledriver I think) mentioned $1300 ignition wire sets, junk manifolds, etc, and confirmed these years/models can drain your bank account with startling speed.

The point is, you can't just go by model year with Ferraris. The OP assumed a '95 355 would be better than a 308 or 328 because it's newer, but in terms of durability/dependability and cost of ownership it isn't better and could be much worse.

You don't need to study Lexus to know that a 2006 is better than a 2002, or a 2001 beats a 1998, etc. Ferrari's reputation suffers more than it should because people shop based on what's affordable, and assume newer is better. Often it isn't.

Someone was going to ask again anyway. And parts of it are a good read.

 

From my perspective, owning a Ferrari is like dating a really hot stripper. She is beautiful to look at, makes you do almost anything to continue the relationship and you just go weak in the knees whenever you see her. Unfortunately, she may occasionally have fits of rage where she pulls out a Glock and puts a few rounds in the ceiling. She will be very needy and constantly require positive reassurance that she is pretty. It will be a lot of work and stress to be with her, but you will do it. Finally, she will only look like she does now for a very short time until finally needing a thorough restoration.

You can drive something less exciting and date the average looking girl with minimal fuss, but where's the passion, the thrill? I know that I wouldn't want to be an old man and think "I could have had a Ferrari and dated a hot stripper, but I did the rational thing all my life". No regrets here!!

 

Thanks for putting it into terms we can all relate to!

 

Some malcontent troll that wants to be on a rant. He worships BB's for their quality while slamming 360's. He's clueless. I was around for both. No comparison. He's also decided that since Ferrari gets a lot of money for a car they should be perfect. Somebody needs to school him in a few things. He really does not have a basic understanding of how the world works.

 

- "Why are women so much trouble ?..."

Pretty expensive to service too...