Just got my California

very nice and congratulations on your new acquisition; this will be fun as heck

 

That colour works perfectly with the Cali! Congrats

 

Well, about 2 months into my California experiment here is the status:
For those who just tuned in, I decided that since I am not driving all that much since I retired (less than 6,000 miles per year) I was going to sell the 360 and the Lexus LS460L and get a Ferrari California to serve the role as my drop top fun car and as my daily driver. I really like the Cali, even more than the 360 (although the 360 is way more beautiful) and it is comfortable enough, but obviously nothing like the Lexus which was as comfortable as driving around in your easy chair except much more quiet. Of course it was also just about as engaging but they are meant for different things after all.
Anyway, we are now a 2 car family (OK, 4 counting the 2 trucks at the farm in Montana but that doesn't help when you are in Seattle) so when the California roof decided to act up, the convenience of having 3 cars started to reveal itself. Now that it has been 2 weeks with the car in the shop trying to get the issue resolved I am seeing the problem with having a limited edition (basically hand made) car with the parts supply in Italy and the experts in Italy while the car is in the US. The local dealer and Ferrari have been doing fine at working the problem but distance and time zones make a difference and of course nobody has seen this particular problem before. Fortunately I am an aircraft owner too so I have experienced parts delays, etc when trying to get an airplane back in the air (although if you say AOG, whisper the magic words and prepare yourself to pay a lot you can get an airplane fixed amazingly quickly although, with this recent experiment I would never buy an aircraft that wasn't built and supported from the country I was using it in).
I may have to modify my experiment and get some sort of basic transportation as a spare car, maybe something like the Scion iQ, they look kind of cute and they are small enough to tuck over in a corner until I need it. For this episode my third car is an Enterprise rental.
gene

 

I wonder what the real maintenance cost of this car is going to be .

 

That will be interesting to see. Of course, Ferraris in general are not cheap cars to own anyway. Even routine maintenance is pretty pricey. If something breaks it can really get out of hand.

 

Gene,

I'm sorry for your troubles. It is unfortunate that you don't have the level of reliability that is needed for daily driving use. I don't want to take this too far off topic...but I also like the Scion...but also suggest you look into a Mini Cooper S. They have that "cute and small" factor...but are also a lot of fun to drive and I was shocked at the amount of room inside. Just an idea.

Cheers.

 

Thanks, I'll go take a look at one.

 

What is AOG?

 

I presume "Aircraft On Ground". Same as the term "VOR" (Vehicle Off the Road) in the auto business.

 

Yes, Aircraft On Ground, the implication being that someone needs to use that aircraft real soon so the parts should get priority. They will even pull parts of an aircraft on the assembly line to expedite if needed, which incidentally Ferrari has done in an effort to get my top working correctly. (Sorry to whoever's California is now delayed by a few days...)
Cessna and Gulfstream will even use one of their jets to fly the parts and mechanics to you if needed.

 

Gene,

what's the problem with the roof?

 

Love your car. Too bad about the roof. Couldn't the Ferrari dealership loan you a Maserati or something out of their family of dealerships?

 

When I raise the top after it is all done it pops open the trunk, which means I then need to get out of the car to close the trunk. It is not supposed to work that way. I didn't think it was going to be that big of a deal to fix it but there must be more to the problem than just the trunk coming open.

 

does it pop open at the anterior area closet to the rear window or posterior at the trunk locking mechanism?

 

I talked to my Ferrari guy, he said you should adjust the "striker" at the trunk pull-down latch. Try that, you may solve you problem in no time.

 

The posterior area just as if you had pressed the button to open the trunk. I was assuming that the fix would be an easy adjustment but since they are swapping out the controller module I assume they found more problems that just the trunk popping open. I will mention the striker plate to them though.

 

Today i saw one in grey,really awsome.
so this one is also amazing.In red the car doesn't look that great,for me.
but this grey,silver and black are really powerful colours for the california.
Be happy with it.

 

Really? I kinda like this one.
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IMO, Rosso Corsa does nothing for the California. I saw one in December and, to be honest, it left me cold.

The Cali is slowly (but surely) growing on me. I think more neutral, understated colors like Grigio Silverstone and Grigio Titanio suit the car perfectly. I think brighter colors like red and yellow make the car look too "cartoon-ish". However, I saw a picture of the car in Rosso Fuoco the other day and I literally stopped what I was doing and stared at it for a couple of minutes. That color could make any car look good.

 

It looks good in that red, rosso barchetta?

I really think it's a matter of what wheels are on the car, if you haven't noticed, the wheels posted above look amazing compared to these:

*not my image
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I couldn't agree more about the wheels making a huge difference, especially the optional 20" wheels...

 

I agree, the 20s look best on this car by far. I agree as well about the phenomenon on this car of the potential for cartoonishness with rosso corsa. This car needs muted/neutral color on it, at least for the body. Although to contradict myself, it looks nice in yellow and gunmetal wheels.

The other rossos can look good however, like rosso fuoco and the metallics like that. White looks great on it also.

 

For those who are curious about the sate of my top (or rather my car's top) I got the California back today and all seems well although it is raining here today so a full workout of the top will have to wait for another day. Notes: when they couldn't figure it out Ferrari's initial suggestion was to replace the entire top assembly! Fortunately the dealer talked them out of that and they just had to replace a harness that has the sensors wired into it. Even that was a big job and Ferrari initially was not inclined since apparently they thought it was too hard or something. Anyway, job is done and although after waiting 3 weeks I was starting to wonder if I had made the wrong decision to get the California, getting back into it, driving it and seeing it made me fall in love with it all over again. It really does help to be able to see it sitting in the garage when doing mundane things like taking the trash out to remind one what a nice looking car it is and what fun it is to have one. Another note: There was a service campaign for an update to the shock software so they did that while it was in (magnetic shocks on mine). Also, I had the dealer install a third party back up camera. It bolts on to the top of the license plate holder and just pugs into the wiring harness so it is all easily removed if some future owner does not want it. It costs half what the Ferrari one does. I would liked to have the Ferrari one but they said it involves replacing the rear bumper. Not sure why an engineer would design it that way but then who am I to say.
gene

 

Very nice!! Congrats!

 

That is one beautiful car. Good luck! My Aston Vantage is the exact colors but yours is much hotter looking.