The ongoing saga of an 06 430

Ok, I finally have rejoined the ranks of the Ferrari owners by today completing the purchase and pick up of a Nero 2006 430 (f1). Previous ownership experience was a 1985 308QV which I wish I still had. Anyway, had finally saved up enough to make a purchase a reality. I live in San Antonio, TX and had looked at a couple of 430s at the local dealer which weren't quite what I was fishing for and let go. Found the one I ended up purchasing about a week later at Ferrari of Houston. I flew out there last week to look at the car and drive it. Car was in better condition than I had hoped for and negotiations were completed. This car will serve as my daily driver and my goal is to be one of the first to have a 200,000 mile 430. Foolish, you say! Damnable insanity, you say! So much for any resale value, you say! Probably correct on all three counts but to hell with it, I'm doing it anyway. For the benefit of other potential buyers of one of these cars, I intend this thread to be an ongoing log of my ownership experience, warts and all, in the hopes that someone else here may find it useful in their own considerations. I will try to add on a brief update each Monday regarding current mileage and anything of note that happened to the car. So here's the first installment, with a couple of attached poor quality cellphone pics of the vehicle in my garage. I will add better pics in the next couple of days.

Initial condition:
10515 miles
- car qualified for factory CPO and comes with a 1 year power warranty so I have at least some protection from catastrophically expensive repairs (like ChampIII faced).
- paint and leather were very good with no damage to driver side outboard bolster to my considerable surprise
- car was initially equipped with the standard wheels, three of which had significant road rash/damage. All wheels replaced by previous owner (car was on consignment) with brand new scuderia wheels which look great on the black car.
- car received brand new mk II exhaust headers two weeks prior to my purchase
- prior to pickup in Houston today I had a brand new battery installed and a four wheel alignment done; car was otherwise up to date on all services.

Initial impression: What a hoot to drive. Car is pretty easy to get used to and even relatively comfortable on the drive from Houston back to San Antonio. I had been under the incorrect impression that you couldn't really stall out the F1 trannys but I guarantee it is possible since I managed it twice at traffic lights on the way home today, to my great chagrin.

More on Monday after its first trip to work with me.
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Based on my driving so far this year I may put on as much as 20-25k miles (I have to go to some out of town hospitals a few times a month). As for the stalls, I was surprised too. In sport mode when I take off from a stop the car chirps the rear tires and so in an effort to smooth out my take offs I have been trying to ease onto the gas a bit more. When it stalled I think I backed off the gas too fast when the wheels started chirping and the car stalled. It starts right back up but in the meantime I look like a full-blown ****** that can't operate his vehicle properly. As I drive it more in town and get used to the car I expect that to stop happening.

 

I'll definitely check with the dealer about that. The dealer in Houston checked all the f1 parameters before I picked it up. Clutch wear reading is 15%.

 

mileage at end of today: 10840

No problems or stalls today. It was probably something I was doing but will have dealer check the tranny settings to make sure they are set right. Biggest problems I've faced so far are people trying to drive and take cell phone pics of the car at the same time. I have a 20 mile each way commute on freeways with some added short highway trips so I'm fortunate to be able to let it loose a bit. 35 mph is not a great speed for these things.

 

Mileage: 11120

Had a couple of things come up this week (first real week of any significant usage):

1) TPMS system seems to be malfunctioning as I have continuous check tire and No Cal warnings despite 4 calibration attempts. Tires are great with no loss of pressure so far. I'm not a big fan of tpms systems in general as they tend to be pretty balky in my experience. The best TPMS as far as I am concerned is my analog tire pressure gauge.

2) Air conditioner doesn't work correctly and cuts on and off intermittently and randomly on all settings, including those where the fan should blow constantly. Makes me wonder about a bad switch or connection.

3) While driving home today CEL came on. Car drove perfectly well otherwise. I don't currently have an OBD II reader but may have to go and fetch one presently.

Generally the car has been great and I am unsurprised to find at least a couple of things that need attention in a five year old used car. I'll be taking it in later this week or early next week for some service at the local dealer and will report back on findings, cost of services, and whether the Power warranty covers any of this. I'll ask them to check the transmission settings regarding the stalls I had the first day I drove the car (have had no stalls since).

 

This is about what I expect will be found on mine as well.