Soon to be first time Ferrari owner. Have questions

So I've been looking at getting a Ferrari but need something with back seats. I hear a lot of people saying the FF is the way to go. I personally love the design and the v12. But i was considering a California 30 cause i felt like it would be more reliable as a semi-daily driver. A local man is selling his 2012 FF with 27k miles on it. He is the second owner and I'm going to look at it in a week or so. Car looks very good and clean. Are there any known problems with the 2012 ff that i should be aware of? Any small quirks about the cars that go wrong. Also and lastly, the car is out of warranty so what are the service cost and service intervals of the car. I've had a Bentley that cost a lot to maintain cause apparently mine was almost a lemon so i know these types of cars can be expensive. And im sire with the v12 its going to be more than the Cali. Are these cars known to have any like 10k or 20k problems just happen all of a sudden like? Thank you for any info. I look forward to purchasing my first Ferrari which ever model i decide to get.

 

They are pretty darn solid. Mine is a daily driver. No issues except the buttons are becoming sticky‍♂️


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Lusso has the only "real" back seats. Buy a late model and get 7 years service included.

 

I support as well getting a late model to have some years left of free service. Known issues for FF were PTUs and suspension lifter. You can check if there's already been work in this area. I believe the PTUs were just replaced with the same thing, but the suspension lifters were replaced with a new unit from a different supplier, much more reliable. I havent heard yet of some issues on Lussos (it's still pretty young though). The only issues that really arise with Lussos are the eternal Ferrari electrical gremlins (limp mode etc, most of the time linked to a depleted battery or similar).

 

My first Ferrari was a 2013 used FF. It's an amazing car.

Owned mine for 18 months and it was fault free. Keep the car on the battery tender when not in use and if you can try and have a new battery fitted at purchase.

Of course don't purchase without warranty as repairs will be very expensive.

As mentioned buy the latest car you can as the cars were updated (not visually) over the production years.

No disrespect to the Cali as it is a very different car but the FF with V12, all year usability and 4 proper seats is an amazing car and very good value these days.

Do it!

 

What is the ptu? First timeniv heard of that.

 

That powers the front wheels.

 

So the ptu is what makes it awd. Just curious and dont get mad at me. But is it possible to just do away with it and make it rwd? Whether ita good or bad. Is a rwd conversion possible? Well i know anything is possible for the right price. I just mean like can you just disconnect it?

 

"Just disconnect" seems unlikely to me... The Lusso V8 turbo does not have front wheel drive, but it's a different engine; in the FF / Lusso V12 the engine is installed from the start to accommodate the front gearbox.

 

I have a 2014 FF, second owner for 1.5 years now and it's been amazing. No issues at all and backseat is great. I also was torn between the California and FF, much different cars but once I drove the FF my decision was made up rather quickly. Good luck and pm me if you have any specific questions.

 

How do i pm you on here? I was wondering about service cost. Rough estimate for the yearly service's and such.

 

Here you go:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/ff-ownership-after-6-years.583771/

PTU= power transfer unit

I don't think you can simply disconnect it. I think that would result in the car shutting down- there are all sorts of computers in these cars. Thus the advice on battery tender is good advice. If the battery is the original, I would replace it. I would also get a better tender than comes as stock. I like the cTek 7002

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ferrari-CTEK-MUS-7002-Battery-Charger-Adapter-360-F430-458-California-599-612/192365458849?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Df159a534bae746b2904919a5b5a72134%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D223047207789%26itm%3D192365458849&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A0e124c0e-c8c6-11e8-8734-74dbd1804d89%7Cparentrq%3A455302241660aa121bae07f7fff38250%7Ciid%3A1

I've heard radiators can take a beating on these cars if you live in an area with a lot of snow and thus road salts/ chemicals. I'm not sure how to really check on this aside from a mechanic inspecting the car in question.

I would budget something like $3k a year for annual service plus another $1,500 a year for replacing tires and wheels. There can always be a gotcha, maybe one of the digital screens goes bad- I don't think I've seen that with FFs, but it happened with my 599. That can cost some money. In my case we found a specialist who was able to bring it back to life for like $2k. So, I'd add $2k a year for a "ohhh no!!!" fund... likely you won't need this annually, but every 5 years or so there could be a medium ticket item that wants attention.

Aside from that I hope it all works and we can welcome you to the family!

 

^ This is one great post!!!!

 

Excellent, post. So i should be good budgeting around 6k a year to cover maintenance and few suprises. Thats not too bad, im not a disposable income kind of guy so i like to know estimates. I can work with those. Also is 28k miles high for one of these cars? And qhat are the service intervals? Are there still major services done every 5 years or so like other models?

 

I own a 2013 Ferrari F12 and a 2012 Maserati GranTurismo. The Maserati has nice sized back seats, so that my grown children do not complain when sitting there. There is a lot of room and it is a 2 door coupe. You will save a boatload of money if you buy the Maserati. I bought mine new and now have 25,000 miles on it. Nothing has broken after all these years. Very reliable car.

I have had my F12 for 6 months and all is well so far. So powerful! I love it too.

Good luck with your choice.

 

I think it has something to do with Rookie or first post needing to be approved by moderator. Anyhow, My '14 has a bit shy of 16k miles and is still under the free annual service till '20 so 2 services down and 0 issues. I'm the second owner and talked to the first owner and he had similar experience. No lift to worry about but so far it's been amazing, just wish I got to drive it more! Good luck and let us know how it works out.

 

Ptu is a *****!

 

looks like ur intrested in the same car as well from destin fl ...... lol seriously from cars.com the cheapest one u advised me not to buy... yet u s

seriously u advised me not to buy the cheapest ff on cars.com on my post yet i see u fishing for service cost, etc.. for the same car... LOL from cars.com

 

This was posted a week before I went. You noticed I havent posted any more right?

 

Don’t forget transmission issues on the early models

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/ff-transmission-problems-i-am-hearing-this-is-an-issue.561476/

 

Yes, that was one of the things that made me worry about the car. It's got a lot of owners and they all seem to get it and dump it fast. Especially ever since it went out of warranty. Yea it's like 15k cheaper than a few others. But if it's not a good buy then it could cost you 10x as much in the long run. But to each their own, I may just be overly precautious

 

Also I was told second owner then come to find out it was 4th owner. So I would have been the 5th. I had a lemon Bentley one time and I was the 5th owner and it cost me a fortune, car fxx ab reminded me of it. As soon as the warranty went out it started changing hands a lot.

 

Do whatever you feel is right, I really want one but I'm walking away from this car. Just my advice, I may be wrong.

 

Thanks for your advise.
you advised that u saw the car yesterday... still waiting on your feedback on how the car drove..., etc.. if you took it out for test drive...? let me know..

I am getting it inspected at the authorized Ferrari dealer before deciding to buy it.
So I am fine with taking the chance, if the Ferrari dealer comes back and lets me know that something is wrong and or may cost a fortune to fix.. then i will away from the deal...

Also If PPI checks out fine at Ferrari then i am planning to buy the 1 year power train warranty..

Lets wait and see. ...

PS: I was advised he was the 4th owner (keep in mind 2 of them were dealers who offered it for sale...) I have also seen the CARFAX... its a clean per it..

 

No offense but perhaps y’all should have a pm/ conversation. There are things you can say that are not for public consumption.

That said some of us including me have posted about cars and had them bought out from under us. Doubt it’s intentional but there are a limited
Number of cars On specific configurations price points etc.

That why it’s good for the community to know you are looking and often others in this community can offer their cars for more efficient and less costly and perhaps more reliable transactions. You buy the car from the person as much as the car.

G
FWIW I like the two cheaper ones on cars. Com and the one just more expensive. They smell right. I have no affiliation with any car any where.

Good luck.

ScottS


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