FF as a daily driver

Hi. I'm taking delivery of the FF this april as my daily driver and only car in the UK. Is there any kind of problems I might face? What worries me most is how it runs during the winter, how it copes with speed bumps, multi-storey parkings and big milage, and is satnav any good since I drive quite a lot not only in one town (on my 911 I've managed to do 7500 miles in just half a year and it is not going to be different for the FF). If you could share ownership experience, would be much appreciated.

Roman

 

Roman, you will LOVE the FF as a daily driver! I would only suggest that you get SottoZeros if you will ever get into snow! I have the lift system in mine so the large speed bumps are no worry. I have over 13,000 miles since last October, most of which are local miles. If you hit a very bumpy road use the snow mode and the bumps totally go away. Enjoy it, I sure enjoy every moment in mine.

Rick

 

Thanks Rick, sounds very encouraging. Any reliability problems?

Roman

 

Hey Roman,

I've used my FF in London as a daily driver since November. No problems whatsoever, runs like a dream. The car has the same footprint as a Range Rover, or thereabouts, so that'll tell you how you are with car parks etc.

Only slight downside of poodling around town is that the car is quite thirsty, but that's V12 territory.

Enjoy it and post pictures.

Cheers,
John

 

Hi Roman, likewise, I have used my FF as a daily since last June. I live in the country and have had no issues with any type of driving, it just takes it all in its stride. I don't have the lift system on my car and have never had a problem with speed bumps, etc. It's been 100% reliable and a lot of fun! I can't imagine ever having anything else. The more you drive it, the better it gets! The satnav is ok. Not brilliant as you cannot input a complete postcode, only the first 5 characters, which is annoying, but it never has any difficulty in locating the address once you input the city, street and number. That really is the only area of the car that could be better! I haven't used mine in the snow, but with a set of winter tyres many people do. Although so far, I've only seen maybe 3 days of snow since I've owned it so has not really been a problem! You'll love it!

 

While not my DD, I have almost 7000 mile on our demo FF , to date, no issues!

Long distance drives are the best, but back country roads work well too.

I usually drive in Sport mode, and touch the " bumpy road " button on the steering wheel
if the roads get a little rough.

You're going to really enjoy yours!

S

 

Ours is a "frequent driver"....

The car is phenomenal as a driver and really good as well for "real life use".

6K miles, zero reliability issues or quality/fit-and-finish quirks. It has stood up to 2 young kids very well.

We have been diligent about getting it into the dealer for checkups, there have been several non-critical campaigns and software updates. We mounted Sottozeros for winter and they are great tires, but looking forward to getting back on the Pzeros.

You will love the car, though you may get fatigued with the endless criticism of the design or the price/depreciation.

 

No problems. I sent it to the dealer Monday because of a hot oil smell but it appears they do that, see the oil smell thread. 11 MPG around town, 19 MPG on long expressway run. I would check the oil every 3,000 miles as mine used 1.5 quarts in 11,500 miles. Remember PZeros are dangerous in the slightest amount of snow. Be prepared for an AMAZING amount of power!!!!!! It is WAY fun! And the sound!!!!!!!

Rick

 

Never a truer word spoken............

 

I don't get it, to be honest. How can the FF which is only about £20k over the last 612s can be considered overpriced given it is a much better executed car in terms of built quality and with a 120hp power boost? I'm not even mentioning unique 4wd system and the fact that there is nothing like the FF on the market at all at the moment.

And depreciation... well, I'm selling my extremely heavily specced 7month old 991 C2S taking £40-45k depreciation hit (it was supposed to be a keeper but then I test drove the FF ). So now I'm immune to depreciation.

 

Thanks for your posts. I was actually was just about to get some german back up option to share routine with the FF but now I think it will be a waste of money since I won't drive it anyway having the FF in the garage

 

I have driven new 911's with the new PDK, same as the DCT transmission, the FF is way more fun, way more responsive, and if the 911 is a turbo it makes a vacuum cleaner sound, the FF sounds like a F1 car.

I have been a Porsche club of America member for 27+ years and regularly go on local drives with the club and EVERY time I get comments from most of the other drivers on how they can hear my Ferrari over any of the 911's, even their own. (I do seem to 'launch' it from every stop, not with launch button, just getting on it hard) And last year that was with my California! The FF sounds far better so this summer's drives will be even more fun ... unless it is a 80 degree day then I will drive the California with the top down and still sound great/

Who cares about resale value is what I tell them. I am having fun now and will sell it for whatever when it is time to move to a new FF. Even a house might not be a good investment now, and if you are investing in a car you are quite silly.

Rick

 

Small update and an answer to my own questions after 4 weeks of ownership and 1300 miles:

FF really works as a daily driver and makes you a bit of a hooligan on a daily basis. This car pushes you to drive more than you have to (e.g. wake up at 5 on Sunday and drive 100 miles to London to have a breakfast and then back taking as much B-roads as possible ). I can't really think of a better car to drive on a daily basis if you need decent size boot and four seats to accommodate people with legs. Makes everyday of your life that little bit better. There will be a list of issues just to make people aware. But anybody hesitating to buy the FF because of them, don't! On a scale of emotions that this car will give you those are simply nothing, especially given that really important stuff works really well.

Ride height is reasonable. Actually, I don't scratch the front lip, where I used to with my 991 Carrera S. For steep multi-storey parkings you might still need a front lifter but only when going down.

Satnav is perfectly fine on the motorway and bearable in town when you drive slowly and very fluidly. Couple of sharp turns with reasonable acceleration out of the corner in Mayfair (nothing extreme though) and satnav suddenly thinks you are two blocks away from where you actually are.

Parking sensors are rubbish. In fact, when they work, they work ok but sometimes you can be 2 inches away from a brick wall and they are completely silent. However, if you are used to big cars and have a rear view camera, you don't really need them at all. At least I don't.

Another couple of minor issues is that safety belt handover stopped working on driver's side and infotainment unit is slightly dated. I don't care about graphics much but it doesn't really work well with an iPhone 5 in terms of music. Constantly losing half of a playlist and I cannot switch between playlists unless I do it on the phone. On a bright side, JBL Professional sounds ok, still not quite there after you own a car with Burmester though. On even brighter side, unless you are on a long motorway trip, you don't want music. You want windows down and manettino in Sport

 

RomanD'

On my 2012 FF (Feb 2012 build) I had similar gremlins with the seatbelt handover failing to extend or getting stuck in fully extended mode. Went to dealer several times for troubleshooting (initially trying reprogramming and adjustments) but bottom line is that there is a service campaign which is supposed to help out with this issue. I ended up with replacement mounting brackets, new mechanical arms and eventually the seat ECU being swapped on both sides since the programmable controller would lose it's memory. Fingers crossed that it's resolved now (had it back for several days and without issue). I was insistent to get it resolved and my dealership followed up.

Dave

 

Jesus..how did you manage 45k depreciation on a 991? Isnt that half the MSRP? Someone got a bargain.

 

Thanks for letting me know that it want be an easy fix I'm taking my car to dealer on Monday, will make sure they take it seriously.

Roman

 

MSRP for base 911 C2S in the UK is £83.5k. However, as I said I didn't intend to sell my 911 any soon because I didn't expect I would need back seats and a big boot, so I've specced it really generously. In fact with 911s, as soon as you add double clutch transmission, power-kit (+30hp and different intake), ceramic brakes and proper seats, price rockets up to £103.5. And with various nice bits and pieces like audio-system, additional leather here and there and some chassis toys, price went up to £120k. I've part exchanged it for £80k with about 7000 miles which makes sense since I don't think that there are many buyers for a 7000 mile car which costs more than new, even if it's very well specced.

Roman

 

I accidentally looked at an FF yesterday at Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale-awsome car fully optioned, only 900 miles, one of the drop dead beautiful metallic reds, non standard brown - beige interiors - listed at $409,000 but could be had for a lot less - could not get the wife onboard unless I sold a car and didn't want to so not for me at the moment - great car for someone

 

Do NOT drive it! ...... If you do you will sell everything to get it

Rick

 

My wife thinks the FF is cool. She would love to have one.

I think it's just too much of a hassle when I would have to take two Fcars to Denver (3.5 hrs away) for service when our other cars are 30 minutes away and you don't have to rent a room to stay overnight. Otherwise I would be tempted.

 

Im sure you could work a deal with your dealer to have them flatbed it back and forth (For the FF) since they are not exactly flying off the showroom floor.

 

I agree it a fantastic drive but at the high level of cost I expect to be able to listen to the radio channel of choice and have a reasonable sat nav, oh and I also have a seat belt that won't be passed out by the arm.

The FF is undoubtedly the best car Ferrari have built but for the sake of a small amount of effort is very annoying to use everyday?

 

You definitely have a point that it probably shouldn't be like this in a car worth north of £230k. But as for me, I don't care. I would still prefer the FF as a daily driver to Continental GT or Panamera without even thinking. Things you are complaining about don't really compromise usability heavily. At least for me. I don't listen to radio, I'm fit to grab a belt myself and satnav works when you don't drive in overly enthusiastic manner in some built-up area with multi-storey buildings (at least in my car). My point is that once you focus on overall experience rather than moan to yourself about something not working in a way it should, the FF is a wonderful car and provides great comfort and usability even with all those flaws you have mentioned.

By no means I defend Ferrari, they have to sort those issues out, it's out of the question. I just think that once you have blown quarter million pounds, don't let tiny non-critical issues ruin your ownership experience, just look at a bigger picture and enjoy

And then, I don't get the point of buying the FF as a weekend toy. In my view, if you don't drive it every day, just buy F12, 458 etc. They are even more fun. That's the whole point of the FF: huge grin on your face on a daily basis (once you stop complaining about belt handover and satnav)

Roman

 

You got that right - I am afraid of that - the sales manager knows that to - he walked by me in the parking lot and said "John, why don't you take it for a couple days and try it out". I am still thinking about it - but my wife insists one car would have to go - so I figure the 612 if I were to do it. The 612 is perfect but I know totally different worlds

 

you can use it as company car
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