Hi guys! Happy New Year to ALL... I haven't started a thread for some time and just thought of a good question. I am a firm believer that Ferraris are ment to be driven. My question is for those that may put 2K miles a year or less on their cars. How do you maintain the car to keep things from going bad ?
Ron, I bought my '89 328 five years ago with 13K miles. It now has 19K. I probably put 2500 miles on the car the first year and have been averaging 700-1000 miles per year since. To answer your question, nothing special. I try to get it out every week or two and drive it at least 10-15 miles. I've changed the oil annually and recently had the 30K completed (it was last done seven years ago). In 5 years, I've had zero problems... and I mean that literally (knocking on wood). My car has never been in a shop for any repairs. I'm not sure if I'm just lucky or the fact that 328's are truly reliable F-cars. As our old friend Ed Gault once wrote on F-Chat, these are no different from any other cars, they're just mechanical devices. The more they're used, the more likely you'll experience problems and failures. Ed also mentioned he'd take a low mileage car over a higher mileage car any day. On the other hand, I would never buy a car that just sat in a museum (or a garage) and was never used.
My Lotus had put on 750 miles in 7 years when I bought it. I did an immediate overhaul of rubber, brakes and front end suspension, then drove the hell out of it for a year and put stuff back on faster than it fell off. In addition, I upgraded obviously weak spots as my budget and expertise allowed. It was laid up 3 months. Drove it more, did more work. Keep driving...eventually nothing new falls off and nothing new breaks. You now have a reliable car!! Amazing for a Lotus or a Ferrari, but you too can get there. Drive!! Ken
800-1000 miles is plenty to keep things working well, assuming the mileage is spread out evenly over the course of a year. I think frequency is more important than mileage-- if you let more than a month or two go by, then I'd start to be concerned.