Can Maint Really Be THAT Bad?

The XKR also has a maintenance schedule, no?

 

The car doesn't feel fragile at all. The harder you push it, the better it feels. I truly believe that if you keep it driven and serviced it is an extremely reliable machine.

 

I don't think twice about driving mine. It has never let me down in 4 years and 7k miles. I do keep up on my scheduled maintenance though. So far, I've been able to do everything myself.

 

If you can afford any car you want why would you you cringe at the possibility of it breaking. Cars will break they will cost you money that's a fact. Not everyone will have the same experience either. Get one and have fun with it!

 

I'm tempting fate here I'm sure. Had mine since early 2010 and not a single problem other than emissions on one MOT (UK annual mechanical and roadworthy check). I have had an expensive engine out service although in fairness I had other work such as A/C repairs CATS and such at the same time.
It is purely a Summer use car and starts on an instant. It's too regular if anything

 

Well said. And if it doesn't meet your expectations, you can always send it down the road.

 

I just drove mine to Atlantic City for the weekend and back, 650 miles including about an hour and a half of stop and go traffic in DC, zero issues. If you let them just sit, you'll have problems, if you drive them and stay on top of any issues, they'll do well. I would not hesitate to drive mine anywhere.

 

I have a 348... last year (after the major about 1500 miles earlier) had valve shim and valve bucket go awry... unexpected and a bit pricey. But it's a 20 year old car so some things are going to happen.

I do agree with the idea of driving... these cars were meant to be driven. I drive mine a couple times a week. Had it almost 2 years now and have over 51k on her -- in the two years I've put on 9k.

BUT I also bought a (don't hate me Karma) almost fully sorted car as well.

 

Absolutely spot on.

If you buy a good car and maintain it properly, it will likely be very reliable.

And it will certainly be an absolute pleasure to own.

By far and away most of the horror stories you read on here are about cheap, poorly maintained cars whose owners want to continue to maintain them on the cheap and then get upset and spit the dummy when it doesn't work out.

The truth is these are expensive Italian cars. In my country at least when they were new they cost significantly more than the average house.
They will require proper maintenance. And they will probably occasionally make you curse them when you receive the bill.

But, more than any other car for the money, they will make you grin.
You will not be able to resist another glance over your shoulder every time you park it.
And you will never, ever get sick of the sound they make.

If you can afford to buy a nice 355 and have a realistic attitude towards ownership, do it.
You will NOT regret it.

 

355 maintenance=about $200/mo

 

You drop the engine every 30k miles or 5 years, whichever comes first. A Gallardo or Viper will not have zero maintenance costs in that much mileage, either.

If you like the Ferrari more, buy it. You're doing it wrong if you're trying to figure bang for the buck. No Ferrari wins that comparison, that's not why you buy one, you buy one because you want a Ferrari and not a Viper or Gallardo. I've put a little over 9k miles on mine in 2.5 years and the only fairly major I issue I had was the clutch when I first got it. NBD, fixed it and it's been running fine. I do not worry that it's going to break when I drive it. If it does, I have roadside assistance and I'll have it towed. So far it hasn't needed it and I do not take it easy. 1 track day and 5 autocrosses on top of yearly road trips in it (3 so far) and it has ran very well.

 

To be honest, I really don't get the paranoia about these cars from some on this site.
Most of the world seems to understand that these are expensive, highly strung Italian cars and they are looked after and valued accordingly.
If you don't want a fiesty relationship with a beautiful woman, home in on the plain one shuffling her feet at the back and not looking you in the eye.
ie. buy a Corvette or a 911 or some other boring thing that everyone else has.

With the greatest respect, if you are going to examine this purchase like an accountant approaching his tax return, a 355 is not the car for you.

But I stand by what I said. Buy a good one and you will more than likely be very happy. These cars are made to be driven, and they go better the more they are driven. I certainly don't worry about revving mine. But that's because mine gets properly maintained.

Buy a cheap **** one and you only have yourself to blame when it goes wrong.

 

Buying a Ferrari is not a "reasonable" decision. If you buy a car just because it sounds "reasonable", then you will always regret not buying the Ferrari! #YOLO!

 

The occasional $25k horror story does happen - and you read about it immediately here. For every horror story, there are many owners that have no problems, year after year. Yeah, you need a major every three-four-five years, costing from 6k to 15k, depending on what you find after you get in there, and , like any car, stuff happens. Is that a deal-breaker?

Just one question - can any other car make you feel the same as a F355 at 8500 rpm?

 

But..
From my time on here it becomes apparent that owning a Ferrari in the USA is a whole different ball game to owning one here in the UK.
They are seen as much more "special" and the costs of maintenance appear to be much higher there. In fact 2 or 3 times higher. Parts costs are also higher.

I dont see any US dealer matching UK indy prices of around 1400 GBP (2000 USD) for a major belt service.

I should move to California and open a Ferrari service agent. The weathers better too!

 

I have to agree with Steve. I dont think you should buy a Ferrari

 

Maintenance isn't really that bad. What is bad is REPAIRING one which has had the maintenance neglected. Don't buy one that is already broken (people unknowingly do), don't buy one that has had maintenance neglected and is about to break and do not buy one that has sat fro long periods of time. Buy a well maintained driver that is not already broken. If you do that you will be fine.

3 years, 6k miles and I have done basic maintenance, upgrades of my choosing, and spent less than $1k on "repairs" - I rebuilt all the shock actuators, recharged A/C, probably have some slow leaks in the system to fix. Nothing else has broke. 42k miles on the car and going strong.

 

Out of all the toys I have had its the least expensive and easiest to maintain.

Is it a toyota? No
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One year of ownership and the only bill to a shop was to have headers replaced. They replaced a cv boot while they were there. 4400

Cats just went. 2000 , I did the labor

Yearly fluids done by me last year

Biyesrky(all) fluids done by me this year

Obd didn't work when I got the car. I fixed that. No outlay

Working through some codes and sdl now with new cats. I'll fix it. Don't yet know what parts will bd do far 300 for sensors that I should have paid 120 for. My fault

Nothing else has gone wrong. Some elective cosmetic things (clear bra, resdyed seats), new battery, I replaced black calipers with yellow..

That's one year of real ownership. 3000 miles.

 

I'd go against the tide here and say F355 repair/service/maintenance is actually very bad. May be it's not too bad compared to other exotics, but it's really bad compared to REGULAR cars.

Horrendous repair bills, poor reliability, insane maintenance schedule, parts are hard to find. And you are lucky if there is a Ferrari mechanic in your area to bring your car to; otherwise - figure how much it would cost to get your car shipped/towed for hundreds of miles from where you are or where it breaks down to the nearest Ferrari tech.

If you have busy schedule and other priorities in your life, F355 can be very expensive and frustrating to own. If you have A LOT of money to throw at it, or have mechanical skills, place, time and desire to work on this car yourself, you can make it work.

F355 does have a lot of good things going for it, but other owners turning blind eye to obvious problems with Ferrari service, repair and maintenance are IMHO doing you a disservice.

 

I do find it interesting how others here will say
"Its a great car in 1 years time this is all I've done to it"
and provide a list longer than my list for 14 years of TR ownership.

 

I could say the same for my 308. I've owned my 308 for 29 years. Total maintenance cost is about two 355 majors. I've owned my 355 for 1 year. I had to fix a few things that were in need when I bought it for a total of about $1200. I'll see how it does year 2 and on.