So what doe sit cost to maintain a 3x8?

I'm not going to add it up. It's not that I don't want to know, it's that I have plausible deniability when my wife asks questions about the fleet in the garage. But there's no way it's a three digit number.

 

+1

 

when you open a discussion about "3x8 mantaining costs" you cannot write that it's 15 k for 32 years, as it's less than the cheapest car in the world.

here the (estimate) cost for a 308 carbed born with TRX tires for 32 years and 2,5 k miles per year (means 80 k miles today).

steering gears (1, one time): 1 k
shock adsorbers (4, one time): 2 k
suspension joints (4, one time): 2 k
cilynders barrels valves and pistons (at 60 k they are gone): 15 k
carbs: (4, one time): 2 k
brake pads: (2 times): 2 k
brake rotors tubes and calipers (all4, one time): 3 k
fuel lines (all, one time): 2 k
muffler (1): 2 k
spark cables and so on (2 times): 2 k.
TRX tires (three times, one every 10 years): 4,5 k
belts and waterpump (three times, every 10 years): 6 k
interiors redying (one time): 2 k
oil changes (16, every two years): 3,2 k
minor things (electrical, fuse box): 3 k

total: 51,7 k USD, or Euro

Please notes that they are cheap prices, not Ferrari services prices.
This is what you AT LEAST need to have your 308 in very good effciency and well working, more or less at the same level when it was new.

 

yes, if you can stand that your 308 has a compression ratio of 9 instead of 12, it spits, doesn't go straight anymore, it rattles like a snake when the road is not perfect, smells of gasoline, starts at five cilynders and cannot pass the 100 mph, you need one mile to stop the car and the whistle it produces when braking can be heard at one mile, turn signals and lights don't work anymore or work just when they want, the A/c doesn't work, the interiors are destroyed, the engine is full of oil like your box floor, you cannot shift anymore in second gear, when it rains the cabin wil be flooded, then yes, you will save a lot of money, but you don't own a Ferrari: you own just a wreck

ciao

 

Best answer. I don't mean to be rude but it really does vary. I owned an F355 and ignoring profit and looking purely at maintenance. About £12k over 5 years but because I bought it cheap I had to spend about £5k up front to bring it to average condition so you might say £7k.

There are two young Youtubers with one and they have quoted some $20k I think in one year.
Go and figure.

 

I got my wife 348 from a very particular owner here: he didn't start the car for 21 years (1994-2015). Mantaining cost were zero for 21 years. But the car didn't work anymore, of course. We put 10 k euro in the car to make it running, in 2015.

That doesn't mean that the 348 maintenance cost is zero nor that is 10/21= 476 euro per year!

ciao

 

Again, what's considered maintenance?

The previous owner of my Mondial QV (308) spent about 6k over 10 years with the car, including a $3k clutch rebuild, which sounds pretty cheap overall. But when I bought it the car basically needed a full mechanical restoration. The reason it was cheap for him is that he'd done the bare minimum to keep it "sort of" running. My fixes include - Rust remediation, plating, powdercoating, splitting and resealing engine/tranny, full strip down of engine, steering rack, suspension, rebuilding shocks, all hoses, fuse box, tires, etc etc. The list goes on and on, and that's on top of a major service. So I'm over $20k in at under the 2 year mark. Do I hope the money spent restoring the car will be less than ongoing costs? You bet. We'll see.

By comparison, my first Ferrari, also a Mondial QV, cost next to nothing to maintain. It was an '84 that we bought used from a Ferrari dealer in '87 and kept until '95.

Your mileage may vary.

More abstractly - I've been told to expect 10% of purchase cost for yearly maintenance, as a general rule.

 

That breaks down to about 1615 USD/euro per year, which sounds pretty cheap to me.

 

Yes, very low cost. I forgot two clutch services, some rust fixing. So you have to add 10 k. More or less 2 k per year, if you have a cheap shop and never send the car to an official assistance: The only time I did it, it was 6 k for a standard belt service and valve play adjustment.

Ciao

 

I've always considered maintenance costs to include everything done to the car with the exception of fuel and accident damage.

 

IF you DIY the costs will be 1/3 or less of "shop-maintained." I'm not saying either is better, just that your own labor - which is the expensive part of most service/repair - is "free" if you have the time and willingness to do it.

For example, if you have shop do the cam belts, the price will probably be at least 1000 USD (at least in the area where I live); if you do it yourself, the parts are a couple hundred bucks. If your ignition switch fails, a new BMW switch (same unit) is about 100 bucks. Removing/taking apart/cleaning/lubing the old switch costs about 25 cents in some cleaning spray you probably already have and some silicone grease that you probably already have. If you don't have them - 10 bucks.

I agree that in general it's difficult to come up with a figure. As noted, if you buy a car in excellent shape, the maint will NOT include a bunch of money to get the car running. In the 8 years I have owned my 328, my total maintenance/repair expenses for the car have been less than 5k. It will need new tires this year which will be the biggest expense in several years.

We are talking maintenance here, NOT something you buy because you want it - different pedals, shift knob, radio, etc.... Obviously, as pointed out, older 3x8s typically need more maint/repairs simply because they were less robust to start with. A good example is the lack of sheet metal rust protection and the known marginal cooling/electricsl systems.

 

Have to agree, many of us here like to renew or tackle something like for example waterpump, wheel bearings, thermostat etc. Not that there anything wrong with it on the car, items gets old even if we drive little km per year we go ahead and replace/renew, that is simply counted on its own, if all of us used our cars as daily drivers it would be so much easier to answer this question.

Cheers.

 

I could comment a little on these fees, but just who charges $1000 to R&R brake pads???

A squirrel and do this in a driveway with the car jack from the trunk. Even flushing the fluid only adds 10 minutes if you already have that wheel off.

 

yes, you are right: too much. But I forgot to add one brake booster full rebuilt (mine are all gone and last year I had to redo all the brake booster in the 30+ years car: 700 euro each including labor cost). Brake fluid should be changed every five years (at least) so add 50 k for six times.

So, more or less, 2 k for brakes pads, brake fluids labor AND a brake booster.

Of course if you don't count your cost, it will cost much less, but usually the time (also your one) has a cost.

I'm sure I overstimate some cost, but I'm sure I forgot many things too, as a 30 + years car needs work everywhere (I had to change the AC compressor, service the starter motor and the alternator too).

Or maybe I'm not lucky and just my cars break down

ciao

 

That's a once a year thing with me.

 

50 Euro, not 50 k, sorry,,,

ciao

 

johnk: Can you really not see that there is no single answer this question?

You're talking about cars that range in age from 27 years old (328 GTB/GTS), to 43 years old (308 GT4), cars that live in all manner of different environments and in different parts of the World, cars that get driven in all kinds of different ways, and have all kinds of different owners (some of whom are fastidious about originality, some of whom replace everything possible regardless, some of whom simply do the bare minimum to keep the car on the road, etc., etc., etc.)

Added to all of that, with cars of this age (not just Ferraris!), you also have to allow for a certain element of luck when it comes to ownership costs. Some owners will own their car for decades and never have a serious issue with their car, whilst another owner may own their car for a year and then suffer a major failure through no fault of their own, due to a fatigued component.

The number of parameters that can affect the cost of ownership is almost endless!

Asking how much does it cost to maintain a 3x8 is pretty much like asking how long does a Nike trainer last? - No one can give you a definitive answer.

 

Perhaps the question would have been better worded as "So what has it cost YOU to maintain YOUR 3x8?" That way it would simply be asking for figures without implying that it was going to try to derive an answer or conclusion from them.

In my case I've spent about $2500 in my first three months but that's mostly upgrades and preventative, the only thing I really needed to replace were the spark plug wires.

 

Well, at least prospective owners are getting a list of what they might need to expect from this exercise.

 

Yes... a load of bickering and arguing on fchat [emoji3]

 

Owned a 328 for almost 12 years ('02-'14). 24k+ miles when I bought it, 42k when sold. My record shows average of $2,838 a year (for the most part dealer-serviced). Included 2 majors ($5600 each), clutch replacement (i just decided i wanted new clutch, not because it "broke."), 2 sets of tires, etc).

 

+308

The average cost for me is at least double what have been posted here due to my location. Won't go into details, just that my car was and is still running perfectly and it had nothing catastrophic but all routine works done.

 

Don't worry: if you want to keep in good shape (and good looking) a 35 years old Ferrari, it's expensive, everywhere. Also here, that is the best place in the world to have a vintage Ferrari serviced/restored, you need a lot of money.

My drysump restore costed me 80 k euro (including this last engine rebuilding not completed yet, so I just have an estimate and not the real final cost...). It's a nut and bolt bare metal restore, the most expensive restore you can do, but it's a lot of money.

I think the same restore, if done in Hong Kong, would have been much more expensive.

My mechanic told me this: the servicing, fixing and restoring costs are more or less the same for a 308 and for a 250 GTO, even if they have a very different value. But both are Ferrari...

ciao