2013 & 2014 California 30 Owners. What has been your largest service issue?

My question for all the Cali 30 owners out there is:

What has been your most extensive repair over your course of ownership? What would be your estimate on the total repair costs up until this point? (Most likely these items would have been covered under factory warranty at this point, but I'm just trying to get a sense of issues that have been arising with these cars)

Thinking of picking up a 14' Cali 30 in the next few days. The car is sub 5K miles, two owner car being sold at the local F-dealer. The factory warranty is up in June of this year. Car seems to be well taken care of.

I am trying to make the decision on extending the warranty. I plan on keeping the car 3-5+ years and intend to put 1000-2000 miles TOPS on it annually. The car will be used primarily as a weekend car, don't intend to track it, and tend to drive sensibly (90% of the time

As I see it, extending the warranty over the next 5 yrs (2 yrs factory extended + 3 yrs power warranty) costs roughly $22,500 in total or an average of $4500 Per Year. I'm trying to justify whether the cost of maintaining the warranty will outweigh the risk of paying out of pocket for whatever problems arise considering the current condition/mileage on the vehicle and how much i intend to drive the vehicle.

Basically in 5 yrs I there will be roughly 15K miles on the clock. What is the most expensive items you guys have repaired on your 15K mileage Cali 30's and did it exceed $22,500?

Most likely going to take the bet against the house and not extend the warranty as I don't mind taking risk, but would love to here follow owners feedback.

Thanks for your insight.

Jim

 

with that kind of low miles (1000)
i wouldn't even service it at all, maybe just an oil change every two years.

in case you do 10.000 miles a year, service will be around 2000 USD a year.

there is nothing special which needs service on these rock solid cars.

 

After having a couple of "top failure" events, we bought 2 more years of warranty on our 2013 Cali Plus 30. Other than those 3 times, no issues on the car.

 

I bought a CPO 2012 Cali with 6,000 miles. Gearbox went bad after 3 months at a cost of 25k. Air conditioning module went bad and cost was $2,500.00. I bought the warranty and it cost me nothing. You never know when something is gonna break. I will buy 1 more year of the extended warranty and then maybe take the gamble on the 3rd year of being self insured. By the way , car was a 1 owner car when I bought it from a Ferrari dealer.

 

It is unbelievable what Ferrari owners put up with. The manufacturer should be shamed into paying for a $25k gear box repair on a relatively new and probably low mileage car. Why doesn't Ferrari stand behind their cars - because they don't have to I guess...... We just bend over and take it ......

 

IMO, it is very foolish to forego regular service and inspection of these expensive modern cars. You should also know the Cali30s are covered by a 7-YEAR FREE FACTORY MAINTENANCE SERVICE PROGRAM. Service is COMPLETELY FREE.

Failure to have the cars properly serviced during the 7-year period can also result in the nullification of any existing warranty should something happen and you try to claim the repairs under warranty.

 

Some things you eventually will need to replace are the engine mounts. Cost to replace with labor $1800. I plan on doing this in the next couple of months as they tend to go and it was pointed out to me during my last service. I purchased my vehicle (2013 Cali 30) from a ferrari dealer in NY with 4400 miles on it. To echo the point of others you need to keep on the annual maintenance as they catch things that are small but could turn into larger items. I did the proactive swap of the FIAM batter for the Interstate battery. I had a low voltage condition on the battery even while on the CTEK charger and the engine misfired which resulted in me replacing the spark plugs at $1500. other than that I would be vigilant on the annual service and make sure the vehicle is always on the trickle charger.

hope this helps and best of luck

 

As above post, my engine mounts also went bad at 6,000 miles. Cost me $3,200.00 from Ferrari dealer in florida. Not under the extended warranty.

 

I think the component failures be aware of have been hashed through many times on this forum... retractable roof, DCT... While I don't believe they happen to many owners, they do happen enough to factor into the overall maintenance risks.

One advice I have for the OP is to make sure to use the car regularly, drive it "enthusiastically" once the engine is warmed up and to do this for 2-3 years while covered by factory warranty. Not only does this allow you to shake out the car, it also enables you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your particular car. Take an interest in the problems that other owners experience. After 2-3 years of regular use you should know a fair bit about these cars, whether you need to continue warranty coverage or whether you are comfortable that you have a reliable car.

Proper use of new cars tend to reveal component defects as well as improper assembly while under warranty. Failing to properly use your new car results in a complete waste of the original factory warranty... as well as the car.

"Normal" wear and tear are never covered by standard warranties.

Enjoy your Cali30!

 

Changing plugs cost $1,500. Jesus, was the mechanic drinking a bottle of wine between each plug replacement? What could possibly justify this kind of money for new plugs?
Oh that's right - it's a Ferrari and the engine has to be removed to gain access

Being facetious. So let me guess - 10 hours labor and $500 for the plugs. Please educate me on this.

thanks

 

Mike, I agree it would be helpful for us (and Cml2116) if he would share some details on how spark plugs replacement came to $1500.

In addition, just to put your comments in perspective, would you tell us which Fcar you own? Perhaps you can share your own 1st-hand experiences with your Fcar?

 

2014 7000 miles. replaced Dead battery. The car had a transmission error. Shipped back to dealer and did a re-start of the ECU. Nothing was wrong. Battery was going dead. Car has been wonderful.

 

I'm currently without an Fcar. Have owned - 1969 365GT2+2, 1981 308GTS, 1995 F355 Spider. On the F355 the dealer quoted me $2,000 for plug wires. I told them to take a flying leap - found the same wires on line for $500 which is still high, but better.
I looked hard last year at either an F430 or early Cali. The F430 is a bit hard core for me these days (turned 64), the Cali is perfect, but to get a "newer" one (Cali30) which I'd prefer requires spending $160k+. So in a holding pattern right now

 

Dealer OE parts are ridiculously expensive but as you noted they are not the only source. I've been lucky with my dealer FoO, as they have been considerate and reasonable.

The F355 makes the sweetest noise of all Fcars, but as you cheekily alluded to, it requires regular engine-out service. Thankfully, none of the later Fcars do that any more - I guess the factory earned itself enough earfuls from that mistake.

The F430 REQUIRES the driver to rev past 3000-4000 rpm to get any jollies, pretty impractical if you want to drive it often and the location of its noise is too close to the occupants' ears in the Spider. I would find it hard to take for more than 45-60 minutes and would likely risk permanent injury to my hearing.

The Cali30 is actually a really cool car to own, especially for someone who knows cars. I have another bunch of great easy upgrades planned for 2017. The factory tossed in a lot of extra freebies when they did the 30/30 mid-life refresh. The older car is still very desirable for people coming from an SLK/SL/AMG experience but the Cali30 is ideal if you want a visceral Fcar you can use anytime... with a great-looking hardtop roof thrown in, no penalty in structural rigidity.

 

I've had my 2010 cali for 6 years with 55.000 miles on it.
absolutely no issues at all.

Just service tyres and 2 sets of brake pads.
If I remember well, only on engine mount replaced.

total service cost over the 6 years was less than 14.000 usd.

 

You indeed have had a blessed "ferrari experience" for 6 years. For every post I read like yours (not too many) I read one where the transmission, or top mechanism, or you name it went bad and cost many thousands of dollars to fix. From my perspective, it seems to be a crap shoot whether one gets a good car or a problem car. And doing all the scheduled maintenance is no guarantee of reliability either. As the saying goes " you pays your money and you takes your chances"

 

I guess you didn't get what I said about wear and tear and driving the car with enthusiasm when it is new. In my experience with cars once you shake down a new car you should have exposed any weak, defective or improperly installed component while the car is still under warranty and it's just wear and tear issues after that. This is how original new car warranties should be used. Quite often you may actually flush out a problem or two in the beginning but then the car should be good afterwards. However if you then ditch the car thinking it's cursed you may just be doing the next owner a big favour and unwittingly done all the testing work for him and added a big discount as well.

This is why other people on Fchat also frown on cars with very low miles and suggest people drive them hard when they're new.

IMO, the acid test for whether a car owner is truly comfortable with using a given car is in that person's approach to maintenance. All mechanical devices require periodic service in order to be used for their designated purposes. If the owner is very knowledgeable he may choose to even do it himself or to do it at a different interval (less or perhaps more frequently) but regardless of that it needs to be properly done, especially if the machine is complex or expensive.

Buying cars is not a series of stumbling through good or bad luck but rather how you make best use of what you have carefully chosen. You have to believe in yourself and make properly calculated decisions, doing PPIs, insisting on at least 1 year of factory warranty, making sure you check service records and reputation of the sellers. You should also realize many other people unwisely don't do that and they pay the price for it. It is also one of the advantages of buying new.

 

I agree with everything you say. I had a PPI done on an F355 about 8 years ago and it revealed a valve job was needed due to a very bad leak down test result. My ongoing concern is even if one does everything right and performs the required due diligence there is no guarantee a $10,000+ repair isn't lurking just around the corner. Usually on a low mileage car and you may be right if it hasn't been driven that much. I recently passed on a nice "looking" F430, certified from the Ferrari dealer as it had had 7 prior owners(20,000 miles) and clearly needed work after I test drove it. The CPO inspection didn't address the bushings in the steering column as the creaking and groaning was obvious.

 

Always seemed odd to me that a race bred set of top dollar cars end up with transmission and variator, header and such issues. 25k transmissions failures on low mileage cars seems hard to accept. Like the look. But wow.

 

I see you do perform proper due diligence with your choice of cars. I also agree that there are no guarantees that you will have a "good car" after doing everything you can to avoid "potentially bad cars". As I indicated earlier the process amounts to "...how you make best use of what you have carefully chosen...". If you've done all the right things and still encounter problems it boils down to how desirable the car was compared to the risks you have taken proper measures to understand and mitigate.

It's a case of passion vs fear. Life is never without risks or else evolution would never have occurred.

 

2013 cali30 owner. 16k miles. The plastic base of the trunk latch area cracked and a battery replacement. The car is bulletproof.
Zero issues otherwise.

 

Gents. I will check the paperwork. Dealer is in Long island. I will get the info on labor and parts. I may have combined the battery with that total but even so battery was $290 and installation was about an hour of labor. I will look through the paperwork and repost the details.

 

You know you are really temping fate with that "bullet proof" statement You can now expect at least a $10k repair for such foolhardiness from the Ferrari Gods

 

Yep, all such statements need to be prefaced with "knock on wood" so as not to tempt fate!

T