360 Maintenance & upkeep

Parts can be a bit pricier than normal... and the 360 takes a lot of oil, so the changes are pretty expensive. But not ridiculously so. My 360 has been fairly trouble-free.

Well, MB reliability has been pretty bad the last few years. And German cars aren't exactly the cheapest maintenance wise. If you want inexpensive upkeep, by Lexus or Infiniti or Acura or Toyota.

 

do you have a license yet?

 

My 2001 MB CLK 430 has a variety of gremlins that were all addressed (and some corrected) by the dealership under the 4 yr/50,000 warranty:

1. Driver side mirror vibrates too much: Replace broken piece inside that $800 mirror.

2. Gas gauge doesn't register a full tank: Replace fuel sensor somewhere in the car.

3. Speedo needle doesn't move smoothly, it ticks like a quartz watch: Entire gauge cluster replaced.

4. Driver door side trim loose: Replaced broken retainer clip.

5. License plate bulb burned out: Replaced bulb.

6. Driver and passenger door wooden panel trim is vibrating: Have not been fixed by stealership, could not duplicate problem.

7. Driver side upper window corner air leak at the window seal: Have not been fixed by dealership, could not duplicate problem.

8. Rear-split seat release handle broken: Fixed it myself.

9. Car drifts to right, ?Improper alignment?: Dealer claimed it was normal (In case I fall asleep behind the wheel, the car will drift off to the curb).

10. Rear side window seal came off completely: Replaced by dealer.

11. Passenger window "bounced"..it reopens after you try to close it with the "one-touch" function: Lubricated by dealer, still bounces open by itself.

12. Passenger seat doesn't roll forward when you want to go to the backseat (Mercedes decided to use motors to move the seat forward when you lift the seat-back, if the motors fail, then you can't get into the back seat because the front seat is blocking your way): Rails lubricated by dealer, it more or less fixed it, but one day those motors will die and then it'll be $$$ to replace. Not a good design.

The car runs strongly, I've parked it overnight outdoors in a snow storm and it fires up just fine. It's just those little nick-nacks that you wouldn't care about in a cheapo econo-car, but in a $60k car, it can really nag at you. With all my electrical problems resolved, my CLK should be bullet-proof (fingers crossed), so now I can concentrate on picking up my first Ferrari.

On the upside, I saw a really gorgeous Grigio 360 coupe with Challenge grill and no plates in San Francisco today. Don't know if it had a Tubi, but the exhaust note sounds every bit as intoxicating as the F355 (But less so than the 250 Lusso I saw last week).

Oh by the way, the free maintenance offered by MB is at 10,000 mile intervals. I do my own oil change in between those service intervals and I use Mobil 1 OW40 European Car Formula (9 quarts and $13 for the Fram oil filter). I also plan to do some of my own servicing on my Ferrari (when I get one), such as oil changes and air filters.

I frequently lurked on mbworld.org for info on Mercedes and ferrarichat.com for info on Ferraris!

 

I believe this is a FERRARI SITE. And I believe the original thread was about an inquiry into the maintenance costs on a FERRARI.

 

Your best bet is to get a car with warranty so you really only have to worry about oil changes etc. For occasional or "light" use the car will be very reasonable. If you plan to put a lot of miles on it then you are looking at more maintenance but it shouldn't be outrageous. I think that it better to have an alternative driver at all times and use the F-car just for fun.

 

Sorry about that. I just wanted to back-up what Brian C Stradale said about MB's reliability going down hill with actual experiences from a MB, especially since the thread starter was considering a MB for a daily driver if Ferraris are too troublesome with maintenance (From reading my post, you can see that MB's are pretty troublesome with maintenance too, so if you ask me, buy the Ferrari!).

 

what is the cost of "regular" service for the 360?

 

You'll need to be more specific with your question. Like most high performance or exotic cars there is an annual service, 5K, 15k, 30K etc....Services are predicated on both miles and or years in operation. And many cases, non operation.

 

Ohi meant at each interval, what is the expected cost of each "interval"?

 

Only personal experience is fluids at $1100 per year, but I only drive 2500 miles a year.

 

If the concern is cost for maintenence, don't buy a Ferrari. If you can afford the car, you should be able to afford the maintenence. My 360 has been very reliable, as has other ferraris I have owned. Sometimes things happen, just bite the bullet and pay. Remember you are driving a raceing car, the dealership is your pit crew...

 

I still can understand the question.
I myself am also wondering the maintenance intervals. I am looking for a 360 from about 6 years old with about 35k miles on it. After this buy, I will have about $20k left. Is this enough for normal maintainance & unexpected maintenance costs for the first 3 of 4 year. (I'll drive only about 2k miles a year).

How often need the belts a replacement?
What are the real expensive items that can break etc.

because I am no expert myself and the fact that I have cash for a occasion, but am not a millionaire, I hope to see more reactions on this topic.

 

There's tons if threads on this stuff. Plan on $5k for a clutch change every 10k-15k miles (maybe longer), $250 per oil change, and $5k for a major service. The part that gets expensive is the un-expected repair costs which cost WAY more than just about any other car. Good Luck.

 

On a 35K 360 your 20 grand could be gone like the wind. a 20 grand buffer works fine on most cars but not a ferrari. You probably won't spend it but could in a heart beat.

 

I actually think this statement is spot on and sums it up in the most succinct terms I've ever heard. I will almost certainly plagiarize it. If you think about owning a car like this as though owning a race car, it will put you in the right frame of mind for maintenance costs. Brilliant!

 

I agree except "raceing" is un spelled wrongly. It's RACING

Regards,

Stew

 

Man, this is a tough crowd!

 

It is a tough crowd alot are kids.

Drew I liked and appreciated your MB post. my wifes E320 has been perfect. The "E" series is still good.

my 360 which I has for about 3 years was perfect but also under warranty. Oil changes in florida at the dealer are $450. They call it service. Most people who have older cars like the 355 or so have a few little surprises, mostly in the $5k range every few years.

As the one gentleman posted you can get an expensive surprise, but unlikely. A motor overhaul at our dealer is quoted at $72k versus a Ford or Chevy of $2200. I am sure it can be done at non dealer location for much less. I have been surprised at how good these modern Ferraris are compared to reputation or other modern cars.

If yje potentsail cost "gocha" bothers you, buy a new 997 911 Porsche. Those cars are bullet proof and are great sport cars. They will never be a Ferrari but good option.

Lee

 

Hi guys,

What about comparing a 355 stick vs 360F1?

-Do early 360 F1s eat clutches fast esp in town traffic? Have heard not too good things about 355's F1, being the 1st of it's kind.

-Also heard that 355s have a valve guide problem + exhaust manifold whereas I've not heard much about 360 problems. Is this true?

My dad's got a 86' 308QV(wonderful car) and I was thinking of a 96/97 355 spyder but now reconsidering a 03/04 360 due to "practical issues" with a wife who can't handle sticks (barring my own, that is).

If there are any owners out there who can share what's it like to live longterm with a 360, I'll apreciate it very much. Last thing I want is to have a bad experience with my first Fcar.
Thanks in advance.

 

That overhaul price brings new perspective to a recent deal I was involved in. I test drove a 355 for a CA buyer and it drove fine, a little smoke on start up so he had the engine checked over and low and behold it had a bad cylinder! Would have been a $$$ mistake not to do a good ppi even on these low mileage works of art.

 

Early 360 F1's can go through a clutch in lots of city driving. You can update the TCU's for fairly low $. As I recall it is $1800 or so. That will address the problem as well as can be expected. After all, F1's were never designed for stop & go traffic.

355 F1's are just a bad idea when you consider maintenance. Just do a search and you will find several threads. They can throw fairly big $$$ at you.

There are fairly extensive post on the known issues for 360's and 355's. I would do a serach in the appropriate sections. I did this comparison a while back so if I had more time I would find them. I went with an 2001 360 F1 with updated TCUs.

Good luck

 

Thanks John!