How Often Do Older Ferraris Need To Be Driven?

Fan,
The only investment your 575 represents is an investment in your personal enjoyment.
If you enjoy looking at it, do that.
If you enjoy driving it, do that too.
But limiting the mileage to preserve its value is counterproductive. They are unlikely to be appreciating assets anytime soon.
These cars love to be driven, and as you are hearing actually perform better the more they are.
I’d wager that the value you conserve by limiting the mileage will be eaten up by the resulting required maintenance.

 

If I were you I'd find a great breakfast place about 50 miles of decent driving roads away; get up early Sat or Sun morning and drive to breakfast once per month in 575 and same with SLR.
Or...
Buy a second home in GA, SC, or NC and put cars there. Fly up for a weekend away once or twice per month...good to clear your head when working so hard.
Trust me...burn out is a real thing..these cars can help save you.

 

Was that really necessary?

 

Money does not seem to be an issue for you so i don´t see why you have to drive them at all or worry about that they will break if not driven. Just enjoy your cars the way you are most comfortable with and fix them when they break. Being all worried about driving them so they don´t break seems pointless and not worth the hassle in the end. There are better investments to be made that are also more stress free.

 

I have several toys like most on this board. The day I feel keeping all cars content from usage and service becomes a chore, that's my signal to lean out. It's surely influenced by my non-car life which has peaks and valleys too. This cycle drives my wife crazy!!!

 

I work from home. I don't even have to get dressed to go to work. But if the weather is nice, I drive all my cars every time it's nice, usually for about an hour each. I have four to rotate.

I got rid of a 360 last year that never could get sorted, regardless of the 10s of thousands I put into it. Why? Because previous owners didn't drive it enough.

 

Drive the car so that the oil gets up to temperature. If during the 8 mile trip you take it isn't that high, you shouldn't be on the gas too hard. You should also try to drive it for at least a few miles once it's at operating temp.

Nothing worse than tearing through the gears with low oil temp. Assuming you aren't near the 210 degrees when you come back from your ride, you're doing more bad than good.

 

Ok, that sums it up. There was no need to use insulting language.

 

Using the non-pejorative definition, it was the initial poster who is ignorant about the harm short drives that don’t get the car up to operating temperatures. It was amusing for him to use that word in response. Such is how it goes online.

 

Sigh. No. That’s not what I wrote.

You were ignorant on the topic, thus correctly asked a question about it.

It was then amusing that you use the word ignorant in a derogatory way in a later post in the thread.

Don’t invent insults where none exist.


“lacking knowledge, information, or awareness about something in particular“

 

Ignorant doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you don't know something about a particular topic. We all know a lot about certain things while also being ignorant about other things. Sadly, the meanings behind ignorant and arrogant seem to have gotten confused, so the term ignorant often comes across as insulting, whether intended or not.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand; as others have pointed out, it is best for a car to have a chance to fully warm up and be driven at those operating conditions for a bit. If just going out for a joyride a couple times a month would work the best for your situation (given proximity to work and location), then give that a try. It will probably be more enjoyable for you, and will also be better for your cars.

 

I drive my 550 about once a month. But when I do take it out, I drive long enough so that everything gets warmed up. Also, a relatively long drive is more enjoyable to me. It's always on the battery tender when in the garage (I brought out the tender cable through the front grill so it's easy to hookup).

 

LOL, not surprised by this guy's behavior.

 

No my dear Sir. It's called having manners.

The correct use of language fosters meaningful and constructive dialogue. What you expressed was not either of those; But Fchat is the proper place regarding Ferrari-related issues/passions.

Happy motoring.

 

What one chooses to do with their personal property is their business. If f355 F1 fan wants to keep miles low, doesn't affect my enjoyment (and i racked up about 5k miles a year) - Some people do enjoy the collecting aspect more then the drive, who am I to judge how one spends their time and money if it causes me no harm?

It appears the consensus is that the short drives should be longer if running maintenance is desired. Seems fair and logical. No need to devolve much more from that.

 

I agree

 

Sounds like you are driving your car as much as you can/are willing to... not sure why you’re asking then, and getting bent out of shape when the consensus seems to be that it should be driven more, or perhaps you’ve got more cars then you can reasonably exercise.
I wouldn’t worry about it too much. At least your car doesn’t have to deal with cold starts.
When we ask for opinions of others, there’s always a risk we may not like what they say.
Best of luck to you. Miami is a beautiful place to live and I’m sure you have an amazing commute with several great options. Enjoy it however you want. None of our cars will last forever.

 

If you are only driving your car 8 miles at a time, you are not driving it enough to put the charge back into the battery that you used starting it. Battery tender will be required. Instead of driving 8 miles twice a week, driving 40 miles once every 2 weeks would be much better for the car and the battery tender won't be necessary.

 

There’s always a jerk or two that want to make a comment about you or your choices on how you want to enjoy your car instead of just answering the technical question you’ve asked. That’s why I don’t post many questions or topics here.

 

Sounds like the consensus from a mechanical point of view is that longer drives of 20+ miles at a time, even if less frequent, would be better for your car. Where you live the humidity issue is a real factor, so maybe wise to try it for a while and see if it works for you.

Regarding the opinions (hey, they're free and everyone's got one!)....The car is yours and I think that means you shouldn't worry about what others suggest. Do what makes you happy. Personally I agree with most of the posters that ideally, the goal should be to put as many miles on your car as is humanly possible, and when it breaks, which it eventually will because all cars do, just fix it. However, where I live all our nice cars get garaged for 6 months a year due to weather, so you could throw that argument right back at me. And mechanically speaking the truth is most of them are fine. I think you might be sweating the whole thing a bit too much.

 

Start once a week, check all the buttons, systems, AC-Heat, then weed whack around the big fountain. By then its up to operating temps and make sure the fans kick in, Shut off. Once a month, I drive it at least 20 miles to run errands or a long loop in my community. This makes sure the tires are not flat spotted and the tranny gets exercised.

Gulfstreams have a minimum procedure to keep them out of grounded status. I so this basic procedure even though its not an aircraft, but its my personal possession.

 

Pretty much the same here. Try to get her out at least once every 3 weeks, except during the winter months when she's hibernating.

Always take at least a 30 min drive, but often go out for an hour or more. Have several routes I normally take depending on time available or what I feet like doing. I always let the engine oil temp and, by extension, the gearbox warm up to operating temp before hammering the car.

Can't get enough of the total sensory immersion of driving my 550. Been more than three months since I last had her out. With forecast temps in the low 60s here this weekend and the roads pretty clean, may just wake her up from her winter slumber and get her out for some exercise.