Which is the most reliable Ferrari ever built?

Don't you think it's just a touch early to be making such a sweeping statement, given that the car has been on the road all of two months?

 

This is the answer. The most reliable Ferrari is the one with the most miles.

LOL...!!!

 

I'm just going from the reports and articles that discuss the car.. true I have no clue.. I remember reading an article that stated how the california was the cheapest to own/drive/maintain ferrari ever.. could be wrong dunno..

but it does stand to reason the newer cars are becoming more and mroe reliable.. from the 360 on.. you can really say the ferrari's are reasonably cheap to run.. the major/minor services are cheaper than ever.

 

[. Never forget first time saw Chressman's in Lauderdale-- Hole in the wall with a service bay that looked like Luigi parked the garbage truck there at night. Service however was impeckable. Ferrari ownership was a far different than what it is now. Street cars to the old man was a necessary evil as racing was his fortay, unlike Fiat/Ferrari today. Though I didn't own 275GTB/4 or Daytona drove many of them at Daytona and Sebring in the 70's. Once drove Pete Coltrin's 250 GTO at Miami car show.
Docf[/QUOTE]


Funny..I remember pulling into Cressman's upon a recommendation, to have my oil changed in my Daytona in the 70's, having tired of the jokesters at Orange Motors in Miami.. After finally finding the place I took a look around and almost drove away. He and his guys wer masters though.

 

Exactly. And I think the original post was more focused on, as you said, the bad design aspect of (un)reliability. And you are right, the more complicated the design is, the more likely it is to break. But that isn't necessarily a bad design, but the potential for more things to break. Then again, is having too complex of a product a design flaw within itself?

 

That's a great philosophical question, and how you answer it says a lot about what kind of cars you're likely to buy.

 

I have heard this also, that the 3x8 family is the most reliable.

 

308/328 series for sure. Yes they have there little inexpensive issues, but for the most part, probably the best car Ferrari has ever built to date. With the 550 come a close second.

 

Yes, I would agree. But the 328 just a bit more than the 308. I've not owned a 550 but everything I hear about the 550 from the dealer service techs says the same thing -- good reliability.

I think it's too early to tell but the Cali/ 458 may be close once they got the gearbox issues out of the way. It's up there but not on par with the older and more simpler 308/328.

Then again, you have to over look things like poor AC, rust, overheating issues, and easy to break switchgear in the older cars.

For all the talk about F cars not being "reliable", I know of one 612 that has almost 100K miles on it and it's had basically nothing but routine service. It's just rare to see that many do that many miles to really judge it.

 

I saw a guy trade in a long nose, steel, 3c tube 275GTB with 180/190,000 MILES...he drove this thing everywhere...painted it when it needed it, serviced it regular-at the dealer-and did major driveline stuff as neede or required...but it was a staggeringly reliable car...

 

I want to believe the 612 is going to be all that. It feels like a very well put together car. The upside to not having bleeding edge tech is everything is tried and true. It's sad for me that my car is 9 years old and had only seen 14k miles. Has it's whole life ahead of it, and I wouldn't be surprised if they do turn out to be one of the most reliable models ever built. The uphill battle is love. People love their 308's and 328's. The 612 hasn't, and likely won't, get that kind of following though it is richly deserving. I wonder though if the departure from the more traditional styling to the aggressive shooting brake won't inspire a revival of sorts for the 456's and 612's that survive the neglect of low mileage. The number of 308/328's still on the road with 70,000 miles is statistically relevant. Remains to be seen if the 100k 612 remains a rarity. Hope not.

 

The problem is today thought that people lump "reliability" with a lot of things we didn't consider back then.

If a car ran on 11 cylinders for a few miles and then cleaned up, we would not call that "defective". It's just a fouled plug. No biggie. Today even one small misfire is a "check engine light" even if it only happens once.

If the window didn't roll up all the way and their was wind noise, eh --- who cares. Today we go back to the dealer for a new microswitch costing $500 +

Also, today we put into that category paint, leather, and rust proofing. Let's face it... Italian cars of that era weren't even close to being state of the art at the time when it came to paint and rust prevention.

And it's not just F cars. Jag E types are exactly the same yet people accepted things then we would not accept today.

So, it's not the same. Today we view reliability in a whole new manner than the 60's.

 

I can't speaks for others but, my 84 308 QV has 81K miles on the clock, I drive it two to three times a month, I owned it seven years and the only major I've done are, timing belts, tensioner bearing, and had the injectors cleaned. Pretty soon it's going to need the shift shaft seal replacement I think it's still the original.

 

With the exception of a few models that have known problem areas, I would say all of them. If they are driven regularly and welll maintained, they are very reliable. It seems like the engines on most models are bulletproof. A few models like the mondial 8 had overtaxed electrical systems, but other than that i think most well maintained models are very reliable. The early cars have very simple electrics - the electric windows on the 330, for example, are lightning fast.

Age takes its toll on components, so that can account for reliability issues now, but it seems like most are inherently reliable if used. The early v12's seemed to need rebuilds around 50k miles, but metallurgy has come a long way so a rebuild with modern components should be good for a very long time.

 

The reason being is the standard level has increased. We expect more these days.

We expect perfection on ever corner.

The reality is the old ferrari's were more reliable than a competing counter part of the same year. All you have to do is compare any of the 80s cars...they were horrid in build quality, yet, the bb, the 308 and Testarossa were a very high standard for 3x the price.

Today, is the 458 of the same high quality at 3x the price of its counter part, the answer is no it's not. A 100k corvette , Nissan GTR is ever bit as good as a 458 in build quality.

Therein lies the problem for Ferrari in the future.

 

There has to be something said for the earliest cars that could be driven to the track, raced and driven home. (provided you survived the race...)

Sure they required intensive maintenance, but few automakers could match Ferrari's success in the 1950s.

 

That's why they had to separate ignition systems. If one went out, you can limp home and still win or finish the race. It was used in many other road cars too, including the modern Testarossa.

 

What about F430 stick shift, and 599's. I have not heard negatives about these.

 

My BB512i has been the most reliable Ferrari I have ever owned. Other than routine maintenance, an occasional a/c issue and a split radiator hose about ten years ago, it been problem free.

 

You revived a four year old thread for this contribution?
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Reliability is linked to regular maintenance, whether you're talking about a Ferrari, an airliner, or a bicycle.

 

What about the ignition or some other repair you did when you first bought the car it was like 5K, as I recall - remember only because I was interested in Boxers back then. Yes, once everything is sorted they are quite reliable for a car driven 1-3 K per year. It's the maitenance which is expensive on all Ferraris.

The most reliable Ferrari is the one someone is always selling. Yep, this is the most reliable car I own (Inside the thought bubble - If I don't sell it soon I will need to remorgage my house)

I have 3 cars(Jag XKE, TVR Vixen, 308QV) which have horrid reputations and all of them are the most reliable cars I own. Why, because they were not abused, serviced and driven.

 

Well.. I contend that my Mini has the just as good "build quality" as the Boxster it replaced. However, how do you define "Build quality"? Is it the way the parts fit together on the assembly line? Is it the components used? The materials? On some level you do get what you pay for. Margins and profit.. that's another issue.

For example, the braking system in the mini and Boxster both have the same Plastic quick fit connections on the line. Great for the first 5 years.. but if they brake (pun intended) it not as durable a union as the prior brass fitting. No better "component quality". The plastic dash in a C5 vette may vibrate less than the leather in my 360.. but is it less quality? If corvette used the same leather and methods, would the car still be as cheap? They're cutting their margins to 5% because they make 50,000 cars versus 16-20k of Ferrari.

GTR build quality? In the first 5 years everything works. Japanese interiors, at least from what I've seen, do not age as well as a German Interior. Exactly how do we define build quality? You can't make a Rolex for 3 dollars the way you can a timex.