Hi All I am seriously considering buying a 348Ts its a 1990 with 29k kilomiters on the clock and full history. I live in Spain so its naturally LHD. My worry is that I've only had porsches for the past 10 years with little or no trouble and as I can only afford 1 car I will have to use it every day that means about 15k Kms per year. Do people run these every day without problems or am I just following my heart and not my head? PS any helpful hints on what to check for would also be very much appreciated. Many Thanks, Richie
I don't run a 348, but I do have a 993 Porsche and two ferrari's so feel fairly well qualified to comment. It will always cost you a lot more to run a Ferrari over a Porsche....full stop!
Best to have some one with Ferrari experience to checkover the car, an unbroken service history is desirable / when was the last major service carried out / cambelt replacement ?
The garage says it needs a cambelt service, costs here around 3,000 euros. This will be negotiated in the price.
It sounds like the car is already in Spain so might it not be helpful to post this in the Euro and/or Spain area to get local advice about servicing pricing and maybe even the actual car ?
To put this in perspective, if you go ahead with your purchase, I think you will be UNIQUE on F-chat as being the only person to have nothing but a single Ferrari as transport! Does that tell you something?
If you can afford to run a 348 then you can afford to buy a very cheap economical runaround. The car will more than pay for itself when you factor in the savings in fuel and depreciation
I think what I should of said is cant afford another car that I would want! The bottom line is I "want" to use it every day, but is the car up to it ? if I reckoned on cam belt service every 2 years and a couple of intrim services would the car be reliable apart from minor troubles that you can get with any car. Forget depreciation and fuel costs I want to enjoy life. or are all ferraris just kept in garages and used only for sunday afternoon drives with a thermos flask and a tartan rug!
There is a guy (and he's an fchatter), who uses his every day - I think he's got about 150,000 miles on the clock. 348's can be used every day - As you're talking about 10,000 miles per year, Al (yellow 348 spider) would be better positioned than most to talk about that mileage. Get the ancilliaries sorted and the car should eat the miles
From my point of view, I don't see why you should not. You're aware of the running costs and you'll lose money by depreciation, but so what? You live in a hot and dry country, and 10,000 miles a year is not a lot of miles. The car will handle it no problem. Regular services and job done. Mike Pullen at Carrea Sport knew a bloke who had a 355 with 80,000 odd on the clock. Selling that car would be difficult, but it was well sorted out and nicely run in. A car is there to be driven, I use mine as often as I can, who knows where life takes you, seize the moment and enjoy it. Rob
You'll soon change your mind, an old fiesta / ibiza / saxo etc is far more practical when you need to do something messy or park up in the wrong side of town
VUW - where are you in Spain? At the moment me and my 348 are in Nerja on the south coast near Malaga. As an everyday driver, I would say they could become tiring unless your drive to work was nice and open. They can handle traffic fine, but you may find it quite tiring to do traffic jams every day.
