California buying advice? (RE high mileage)

If you buy it from a dealer then you probably will be able to get a one year warranty.

You need to see the car to judge the paint and the leather. If both of those are decent then take her a drive. Although 77k Miles's sounds like a lot for Ferrari, I think the engine could last to 170k miles or more.

The major issues are things like failure of the top, DCT, and variators.
That is why a warranty is worth the extra dollars when buying from dealer as opposed to a private party.

 

If you have loads of cars you probably don't want your first Ferrari to be a disappointment so there are better ways to spend the money imho than on this one

And if you have several USD 100 000 cars there is no reason why one should not be a Ferrari - many owners here are not rich at all but just love their cars

 

Hi Darkus,

I can relate to your situation as I'm certainly no rich but still fulfilled my f-dream ! Having said that, does it really need to be a California ? IMHO, speaking in absolute terms, there are cheaper f-cars out there with less mileage. An F360 or even a CS would be cheaper I believe.

Anyway buy whatever floats your boat, you only live once.

 

So I'm assuming you're looking at a 2009-10 model. As noted here and elsewhere, the cost for repair and maintenance for Ferraris is one of those "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" kind of things. The cost of insurance is also higher than the norm. Re the 2009 model, there are also threads here discussing the DCT's first year, and issues some owners have had with it.

Disregarding the brand of the car, I'd be wary of any relatively new car with 77K miles on it. That may mean it was a lease car, or used for business purposes. Neither of these is necessarily bad, but the wear and tear of so many miles in a relatively short period of time would mean that any car is getting close to its 90,000 mile major service. Back to the Ferrari world, instead of that being $1,500 (for my Lexus LS two months ago), you might anticipate $3-4-5K minimum, and then up from there. Make sure you have a reserve of $$ for those fun times when you take it to the shop.

As long as you go into it with your eyes open, have a respectable shop do a thorough PPI, and then see if you can get an extended warranty (or private guarantee of coverage from the seller if they are a dealer), you should be OK. Owning a Ferrari is qualitatively different than any other car experience IMHO, both much better re the driving experience and the pride of ownership, and much worse in the maintenance and care categories.

Do your research here and elsewhere, feel free to ask questions, and then sleep on whatever decision you think you want to make to ensure it fits with what you envision as your ownership.

 

It might be worth noting, that Ferrari mileage may actually be different than non-Ferrari mileage.

Generally speaking, Ferraris tend to achieve maximum power at very high RPMs relative to other cars. People who drive Ferraris also tend to drive them, how shall I put it... more aggressively, than the average Mercedes E350 driver.

Now I would agree, the tolerances on modern Ferrari engines are very high... perhaps 1.5 or even 2 times sturdier than the average Merc engine. However an E350 will spend most of its days at 1500 rpm's, whereas a Ferrari California may spend most of it's days above 4k rpms.

77k miles in Ferrari therefore, is a lot more total wear on the engine cylinders and pistons than 77k in a Merc, and this is assuming that much of the 77k miles were spent in "normal driving" conditions. In "Ferrari RPM miles" then, the Ferrari would have to be compared to a 150k mile Merc, and this is just from a net wear perspective.

One of the issues with lower mileage cars, is that many drivers will reserve their Ferrari time for weekends and special drives or roads that allow them to be even more aggressive with their driving. A 5 year old car with 15k miles that's ONLY been driven on sunny weekends may actually have an engine that's spent most of it's time above 5k or 6k rpms. Add the ol' comparison multiplier and now you're talking about a cylinder/piston wear equivalent of 75k miles.

I would be wary of a 77k mile Ferrari California. If it's been driven sedately throughout its life, maybe indeed it's comparable to a 77k Merc that's spent its entire life in 7th gear, however I would doubt that.

 

I think that may be true for most Ferraris but may not be true for most Californias. The engine does produce power high in the rev band but also produces good torque at 2500 rpm. Enough so that unless you are screaming down a back road, you can easily - and I'll bet most do - drive around at under 3000 rpm most of the time, putting the car on par with most "regular" sport sedans or sports cars. Also, many California owners tend to drive their cars on an almost daily basis. In fact, given that Californias have not been around all that long, a car with 77k miles probably was driven relatively moderately most of the time. I can't imagine rolling up 77k miles in the few short years Californias have been around driving most of those miles at 5-6k rpm. The owner would likely be in jail or worse.

 

Definitely agree with you that the California is probably the Ferrari with the least to worry about in terms of type of driving. That being said, I could spend all my highway time doing that 2/3/4 gear sequence without ever going to jail. I find myself passing cars all the time, only to slow down and get passed, then repeating

Other thing to look out for would be if it was ever used as a rental, then I can easily see it being driven like it was stolen... or rented... non-stop.

 

120k gets you a pretty nice f430 wit normal miles ... just another option

 

If you look on Autotrader there is a this one which seems like a pretty good deal. I spoke with dealer and owner wants this car gone, so offering accordingly.

AutoTrader.com[FER[FERCALIF[]][]]&listingId=374491457&Log=0

 

Wait a year to two years for the California T's to be here in full force. Those deliveries and cars being resold will force California values down further. Sub $100K Californias will be available and will certainly be lower mileage. California 30s will hold their value a little bit better but the new car will always force the older car down a bit.

 

For California … just stay away with 2009, 2010 and early 2011 built because there are so many problem encounter. If the warranty out of date then you must prepare some big $$$ for repairing some of problems. I would at least consider to some of our forum friends suggestions.

 

NO not at all unless you want to spend around 10K in roof issues and another 10K in engine work(Variators,etc)

 

That price seems way too high to me - if I understand correctly, the car is priced in the 120K range. I just bought a 2012 Cali so had been doing some work on autotrader listings. Average asking price for 2012s was around $150k with about 10k miles. 2013s were about $160k and those are Cali 30s. 2014s are low $170s and probably have a little time left on the warranty.

So I would start with those prices and knock of $10k for each year older than 2012 and $1 for every mile over 10k. So a 2009 Cali with 77k miles would price out around 50 - 60k.

You can get a lot more car for $120k.

 

READERS: Please heed this following requirement (amongst others) for Ferrari's New Power Warranty (i.e. not the extension to original factory warranty) program:

"...vehicle mileage must not exceed 56,000 mi (90,000 km);..."

You need to carefully check with the dealer or read the Ferrari warranty documentation before considering a used car purchase based on any assumptions that you can get warranty coverage AFTER you buy. If a warranty is important to you, be sure you make the warranty CONDITIONAL for the purchase.

 

Uh, you guys realize this thread is 2.5 years old, right? Prices today are certainly different. Just sayin...

Ruben

 

I would agree with most of the above. 77k miles may not be too high if the cosmetics are good and PPI checks out. That having been said, the price seems high. I also have seen 2011 12 in similar price range with much lower miles. I would negotiate on this car or continue your search. You also have to take into account your resale when you're ready to let it go. people are going to ball at an 80,000 mile f car


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