Just picked up a California T, very impressed already

today I picked up a California T, deciding that if I’ve not got long left, **** it, I need to be back in a ferrari, having had a couple years without one after 19 with many!

Beautiful example, 2015, in the launch specifications (so the pictures in the brochure really mean something to this car), 5800 miles only. Had three hours in it, let my brother in law get his childhood dream of driving a ferrari by letting him drive two of those hours, and I’m very impressed with the ‘softer’ V8 Ferrari

I’ll give a full update in a bit, but for the moment, a couple pics. Colour is, as I said, one of the launch colours, blu California, and it’s absolutely stunning in the sun!


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The top came down before I left the dealership, and didn’t come back up till I put her away in the garage last night. Awesome, and with the deflector, no wind at all, and we could have a conversation even at 130mph, which was good. Haven’t gone further than that yet, as getting used to it, and we were stuck in traffic a lot so didn’t want to stress a hot engine, but wow, performance was very impressive, not aggressively so like a 458 or 488, linear, and the turbo wastegates sound amazing!

More soon

 

I was a bit of a California skeptic previously, I liked the original, but found the gearbox a bit too refined, so you couldn’t feel the changes at all (I know this was sorted quickly with updates). Going into this one, I was looking forward to it as I’ve heard rave reviews, and as with all Ferrari’s, there are colours to treasure, but also the odd colour that doesn’t quite seem to do it justice.

I am so very impressed with the car, and will be posting a proper review once I’ve given myself a bit more seat time to really get into its nuances. The colour is absolutely stunning, in the sunshine it shines out at you in a beautiful blue hue that really defines its shapes and style. As the sun went down, the colour seemed to darken a little and made the car look a little different again, in a good way, and simply stunned people that saw it.

While I’ve owned a fair number of open top cars (I swapped a Bentley GTC Speed against this one), I’m not really a fan of open top motoring, especially in the UK where you have the duet of the weather, which can be changeable at best, and the social aggro from the odd unappreciative vandal or yobbo. This time, I opened her up as while she looks great as a coupe, being designed around being a convertible from outset, the best look is of course, roof down. We settled into the car, and spent four hours driving a mix of roads, little country lanes to motorways (interstates), and with the windows up, and the deflector in place, despite being 6’2, the closest I got to wind buffeting was if I sat right up and the very ends of the top of my hair was a little blown, barely at all though. It did a great job, and was easy to fit, and best of all, when I got back, and put the roof up, I could leave the deflector in place. It didn’t impede access to things on the rear seats/space, only from the top obviously, and doesnt really look out of place like some. It’s a good buy if you can get one!

 

I’ll put some up soon. In the meantime, I think the advert had some, so I’ll check it and come back if there are

 

Here you go, the dealers photos


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Okay guys, question. Twice now, in three starts, when I have pulled up and switched off, coolant has come from the expansion tank and down over the right side front wheel. The car has run perfectly all the trips, the first was four hours, the second, just half an hour. After the second time, I could tighten the expansion tank cap by quarter of a turn, but then drove home again, 30 minutes or so, spirited but not crazy quick, parked up, and this time, no leakage.

Is this a common issue with a small looseness of the cap, or do I need to be wary. Dealer is happy to come collect the car and give me something to drive while they look at it, but I’d prefer to solve myself, or that there is nothing wrong, as I don’t like to put them out unless there is a serious issue. The fact the fans are working, air con is good, and the temps seem to be between 80-90 degrees in normal driving, I’m thinking the loose cap (but only quarter turn mind you) may be the issue?

 

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I’m going to suggest to the dealer that they send an engineer up to me with a few obvious spare parts, so they can diagnose and potentially fix, without costing a fortune, and if he needs to take the whole thing apart, then he can drive it back to the dealers.

 

Yeah, I certainly will. Will get the car out again tomorrow too and give it a test, tonight er indoors has me finishing building her new beauty salon.... be glad when it’s finally done, working with only one good leg isn’t very helpful!

 

Well, dealers answer currently was to have me check water level, and then top up to the bottom of the stalk that drops down into the tank about 2/3 inches, and then to find time for a spirited but sensible drive, and see if the level drops. I kept him on the phone while I topped her off with distilled water (water here in the taps is very hard) and managed to get 1/1.5 litres in, so it was quite low, and then I’ve tightened the cap. Today I will take her out for a nice drive away from traffic so as not to risk any standing around, and see how she goes. The temperatures are running perfectly, fans kicking in when necessary, so I tend to think that the cap just hadn’t been tightened enough, fingers crossed..... be a shame, but it is the best outcome, or it will be a defective cap hopefully which they can post to me!

 

Thank you very much.... there doesnt seem to be a bad colour on the California, they are all special... have you worked out the best shade of red for your tastes yet? I’m a simple chap, have had two Rosso Corsa cars (360 and a 430 spider) and love it, but there are some really great reds in the palate