Hello, After 2yrs of hard work, I saved my dimes and nickles to buy my dream F355 Spider. Prefer 97 or 98, Manual, Red/Tan with Challenge Grille. My concerns are many with these cars since I've never owned one, but I have heard crazy stories about expensive and garaged...these seem to be the most popular answers. I don't expect any car to run without problems, but how often and how much does it cost to really own it in the end. I'm realistic so give it to me straight! I've done some research and it seems the 95's had their share of problems with valve clearance, headers cracking so I'm staying away from those. I'd like to know what I should look for when purchasing one(dealer and private seller), what problems I will encounter with it, what I should stay clear of etc. I know this may be a stretch, but it seems most dealers just want to sell without answering _truthfully_. I just want to the best of the bunch. My Plans are to make a down payment of $40K and the rest in payments. P.S. List anything that my cause for concern, questions that should be asked at the dealer/private seller etc....any help here is a big big plus. Thank you in advanced for your effort and time. -Joelp
Hello Joelp. I have to say that I have not owned a 355. I do have a 308 though. The best advice I can say about most Ferraris is this. You will have to change the timing belts, adjust lifters, valves and other internal stuff more than any other car. I would say about 15-30k miles depending on how much you drive and take care of it. I have had my 308 for 78 years and I have paid for the same car twice. Most dealers will not give you the 411 on any Ferrari due to the fact, they don't want to scare off 1st time buyer and if you have owned one before they expect you to know what to expect. Trust me, no matter how tempermental you car is, there is nothing like driving a Ferrari.
JoelP. where you are makes a difference. Are you near a dealer? Can you get a PPI done locally? How about a little info on your profile to give us some clues. Having said that. I bought my F car from the dealer. He guaranteed it, and services it. There are, I think, some advantages to buying from a reputable Ferrari Dealer from that aspect. You will pay more, for sure, that way, but you have some easy recourse if something is amiss with the car.
THe best way to avoid problems is to buy a car that has a known history, that has been driven, but not abused, and as Dave said, to buy it from a reputable dealer that has past familiarity with the particular car, ie the dealer that sold it originally, serviced it throughout its life so far and knows- for sure- what's right and wrong with it. If the car has been traded to a dealer that didn't sell it originally, even buying it from a reputable dealer is not a complete solution, since the dealer is taking risk there too, with an unknown quantity, and dealers can get duped as easily as consumers. These cars are more reliable than you'd think: the drive trains are pretty solid, and except for quirks peculiar to each model (i did own a 355 for a short while, but not long enough to learn its core problems, eg, a had a couple 550's for a while and knew those cars well- so do a search here for 355 trouble spots, you've mentioned the obvious on the '95, but i also think they were desirable because they made a little more power and if the valve guides were done, you have much less to worry about)- you can and should drive them without worry. I had a 512BBi for a couple years, bought it when it was already 17 yrs old, and spent the money up front to get it fettled- the thing never failed me- i had more than one 2,000 mile drive in it, and put 10k miles on it in a year. The parts can get pricey, and even little **** is stupid expensive. So, it will cost more than driving a Buick, but damn, its worth every penny.
joel - please fill out some info in your profile so we have some context. search the archives here in detail - there's an insane wealth of information. in rough figures, assume the car will cost you $2,500 per year to maintain. that's $12,500 per five years, which gets you a major service every fifth year at $6,250 (including some extras that inevitably come up) and then leaves $1,500 per year for the other four years for whatever happens to go awry. of course, one major snafu could drain five gees in a hurry and toss that math to the wind. you could do better than this if you're lucky or do some of your own work, but you'd be hard pressed to get it much below 2K/yr unless you do a lot of your own work. my 1999 355 Spider cost me about $0.36 per mile in maintenance costs, though i never had to do a major on her. i'm no fan of financing toys, but that's your business, not ours. doody.
