456 what should you expect to spend

Assuming the car has under 30k miles an was serviced, what should you expect to spend on this to keep her rolling?

 

You never know. There are lots of known weaknesses, some of which will afflict a particular car and some won't. Some may have been taken care of and some haven't. It may also depend on the climate, the year of manufacture and just the plain old luck-of-the-draw. During the past 12 months, I spent less than $500. During the previous 12 months, I spent $13,000. I have replaced valves and valve guides, alarm siren, HVAC controls, leather headliner and rear parcel shelf, motor mounts, rotors, pads, tires, wheels (upgrade) and had a host of repairs, including the infamous window gap fix. I have not had to replace the dash leather, shock actuators, and various electrical gremlins that others have. I've probably had more than the average number of issues but my car is not a statistical outlier.

 

As stated, their are many, many variables. Not the least of which is simple luck of the draw. I have just completed a repair that started as a simple ignition wiring fault. That one, simple(inexpensive) to repair issue started a snowball effect which resulted in not just a few dollars spent. 1-6 wiring harness, coil(Thanks, Scott), ignition control module, plug wires, plugs, catalytic converter, and the requisite stuff you "should" do once you get into things. I caught the problem almost instantly as far as I can tell so I can't look back and kick myself for sitting on it hoping it would magically fix itself. I bought the car straight from a repair facility where a similar issue had just been "completely repaired" so imagine my surprise when the meltdown occurred. What obviously happened did so because the repair tech fixed all the symptoms but not the root. This simply rolled the snowball back to the top of the mountain and reset the system for a full repeat. All is well now and I'm still happy with the purchase. If you want an idea of the actual cost; head over to Ricambiamerica.com and hold onto your hat.

As far as the "low" mileage and service history goes; that can bite as well. There are so many serviceable systems on a 456 you will certainly be into something even if it was well taken care of. Exactly what goes back to luck of the draw. Enter into any purchase situation with as much knowledge as possible...not just with the particular car in question; but about 456's in general. Grab your favorite beverage and set about reading every thread on ferrarichat in the 456/550/575 section. Get all the documentation possible from Ricambi(pay) and ferraridatabase.com(free) and actually read it. If you are looking at an early 456; get the 355 WSM as it has better documentation on the Motronic 2.7 ECUs.

This will get you half way there...maybe. The rest can be garnered from the fantastic, helpful Tifosi here on ferrarichat. You won't find better!



Sam

 

I believe that higher mileage cars will be more reliable over the long haul because, properly serviced, using them often is far better than using them sporadically and just having them sit on a battery tender. The market over-rewards low mileage cars. You should take advantage of the price differential.

 

+1

 

As others have said there are many variables. I purchased my 456M in Jan and just spent about £2000 on a major service, unplanned. I was going to do a major in the summer but my car overheated and decided to do the job early. Also the cost would have been about £5000 but decided to do the job myself (with the help of a Ferrari mechanic friend) so kept the cost down.

I still have jobs outstanding. This weekend will have the MOT done (annual inspection) as well has change the brake fluid.

Having done all that work will mean I should avoid a big bill for 3 years. Annual service will be much cheaper.

It will depend how much you use it. I use mine everyday and my experience of cars will mean I should have less problems. If you park it, it will fail, hence bigger bills.

I still have jobs I need to do but unlike many owners I will live with problems. I'm not looking for perfection. I am also willing to do jobs myself so again cost kept down. For example I need to change wipers, adjust windows, replace weather seal on both doors, find fault for rear demister. Etc. these things I will do.

My tyres are fine for now. May replace towards winter. May change the alloys at the same time.

My experience has been each car will have its own things to consider. I expected mine to require work. If your budget stretches you will find a better sorted car.

Not trying to put you off at all. What I will say is each journey is special. And just looking at it in the drive is a thing of beauty.

 

From my experience I think it also depends whether you plan to use the car a lot or not so much.

There are people who do 500miles a year, I suppose that type of owner might "keep it rolling" on a small budget, on the other hand he wouldn't have the confidence to take it to a cross-continent trip.

 

My advice is buy the car and use it. Its what it was intended for!

 

+1. Now at 56,000 miles +. The more you drive it, the lower the cost of ownership/mile. And the driving experience is what it should be about. It's a Ferrari, not a Monet.