How often does a Fcar like to "be driven"?

Good question.

Ferraris drive better the more they are driven. The downside of course is wear and tear and repairs, and I HATE to have my car in the shop.

That being said, I find if my 328 goes more than three weeks, the battery needs attention and I will see a drop or two on the floor. Thus I drive it at least every 2-3 weeks and all stays well and there has been NO deterioration in its condition in the 6 years and 18,000 miles I've had it.

With my 330 GT 2+2, there is no current drain as the clock doesnt work, so it could go longer I would think, but I cant keep my hands off it and I drive it almost weekly. 4 times this week in fact!

Dan

 

I would not let mine sit for more than a month.
I drive my 308 once a week provideing the weather is dry and the streets are
dry and clear of ice melt.
I don't know about a 360 but I keep my 308 below 4000 until the oil temp
reaches 160F. I avoid stop and go traffic and search twisty roads (not easy
in Kansas.
In any case, I don't consider my Ferrari as an investment, ulnless you consider smiles per gallon an investment.
The previous owner drove 1300 miles in 4 years, I did that in a year.

stephen

 

IMHO this it THE most important measure of any F-car

 

How can anyone walk past their beloved for more than a week before that urge to jump in & go overwhelms them??? That said, My car rarely sits for more than two weeks straight and gets about 7K miles per year on it so I'll never know how little use it takes before the car is resentful in operation. Maintenance and repair costs???? Now that I know

 

I did that the first week in my GT4. And I suspect that once I complete the syncro fix, I'll easily do that much or more, every couple of months.

It may cost a bit a first. But it's probably the best way to make sure everything on your F-car is up to snuff.

 

Interesting discussion, I was just about to start a new thread about my experience when it comes to driving regularly. I bought my car about a month ago, a 355 GTS F1 and after driving it home from Germany to Sweden it started to run a bit rough. The car is in mint condition and I have reason to believe it might have been driven very little lately (the former owner got an early 430 and probably left the 355 in the garage for a long time)

To solve the rough running I have been trying to try all the fixes that I found on this forum. This includes cleaning MAF, checking and lubricating every electrical connection in the engine bay, changing to new plug wires etc. All these fixes have made the car run much better but it still wasn’t a 100% perfect. But to day I think I made a breakthrough. When I started the car and took it for a spin this morning, it ran perfect! I have come to two conclusions.

1. If I let the car idle for about 5 minutes and let it get really warm before driving, the F1 gearbox works a lot better and the engine run much better for the whole journey.
2. By driving the car on a regular basis, about once a week it seems to slowly improve and now runs better and better every time. I don’t drive very long every time, maybe for 30-60 min but it seems to improve its drivability.

So driving on a regular basis actually keeps your Ferrari alive! Not very surprising but a lesson learned, at least for me

 

Just remember that one of the worst things you can do is start the car for a few minutes and not drive it and warm it up. If you're going to run it, make sure the temps get high enough to boil the water (combustion byproduct) out of the oil.

I run mine at least every two-three weeks and always drive it several miles after I start it.

 

Thoroughly agree with this comment. I drive my 355 about twice a week. Interestingly I had it in the work shop the other day for a manifold weld and some new plugs, nothing wrong with the old plugs just that they were about 12 months old so decided to replace them. Any way got the car back and it was missing at idle and runnig like a hairy goat so took it back to shop and they found that a new plug may have been a little suspect so they replaced it but it still ran a little roughly. On the weekend I drove the 355 for about 200 miles to a race track (morgan park) did about 25 laps in a total of 3 sessions and all the problems went away. It now runs beautifully no missing no rough idle and sounds great.
In conclusion a good italian tune up is the best medicine for a stodgy city driven car, it must get the cholesterol out of the cars arteries.

 

i drive my new truck about 40k mi per year. i wander down a two lane hiway 50 miles each way through the foothills, nothing but cows and pasture, almost no traffic even on a friday at 4pm. almost went broke 10 years ago buying little rental houses in california but i hung in there while the wife left. now i wish to drive a 355 spider about half the time. a local dealer has a 97 355 spider for $70k with 40k miles, 3 owners, red tan all books records, well maintained, both keys, car cover. if i put 20k miles a year on this car, and budget a couple thousand/yr in costs am i close? major is done, so what about the 355 6speed spider for the next 40k to 100k mile life? its my first fcar. Thank you for your help.

 

Please follow these instructions:
1) wakeup, startup motor, drive 20 miles
2) home for food/drink
3) check oils, tires, clean windscreen
4) drive another 20 miles
5) home for food/drink or eat out
6) wash car
7) say hi to the family
8) siesta or read Forza magazine

Repeat steps 1-8 as many times as possible .
I hope this helps,
Ron

 

Yes, the biggest thing is not letting it warm up at an idle. Start it, drive it normally to get ALL of the fluids to operational temp. Then hammer on it.

I'm not your everyday Ferrari driver, I drive it like it is meant to be driven. The more curves in the road the better.

 

I usually try to drive my car a couple times a week. Once a week to work (which is a relatively short drive), and then usually something on the weekend.

I have noticed that if I don't drive it for weo weeks or so, it doesn't quite start right up. The car will start, and then sometimes stall. If I drive it regularly, it just starts right up, no problems. I think that is the car telling me to drive it at least once a week.

Dom

 

if you have to ask then it is not enough.

 

leslie-ca......sounds good to me....start a thread in 355 Section below on the "price check" but its really condition condition condition...sounds like a nice car to me.......

 

60 days and I'm changing a dead battery! LOL!

once a week and once warm, use the top part of the tach......

 

I believe cars should be driven at least every 3 - 4 weeks. Trips less than 20 minutes will result in water and fuel dilution of the motor oil. Corrosion from water condensation and acids will contribute to damage.

It takes 20 - 30 minutes of driving to get the oil above 200 F where fuel and water will then BEGIN to burn off. Longer rides are better. Do not use more RPM than needed before the OIL temperature is at 160 - 170 F at a minimum. The coolant may only take 3 - 4 minutes to warm up but a well running, well lubricated engine will take much longer to heat up the oil.

Here is but one reference:
Effect of Break-In and Operating Conditions on Piston Ring and Cylinder Bore Wear in SI (Spark-Ignition) Engines, Schneider et al:
The rate of wear is much higher within 15-20 minutes of start-up than after reaching normal operating temperature. There was a lot of data but I conclude that the initial start-up time period (first 20 minutes) result is 100 nanometers of wear whereas the steady state wear rate was only 4 nanometers per hour thereafter. (Hence we should be concerned about start-up oil thickness more than running thickness. This justifies the statement that 95 percent of engine wear occurs just after start-up).

Here is a good web site for more information:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi
http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000427

The worst thing one can do is start up a car and rev up the engine to high RPM. This results in cavitation and huge chunks of bearing material to be thrown.

Driving down the highway at low - medium RPM results in the least wear of an engine. Heavily loaded trunk engines that are always on the road can get 500,000 to 1,000,000 miles with proper maintenance.

Cars kept and ran properly will have the least wear and tear regardless of the mileage. More Miles on a car may actually indicate better care by regular use. However, if the owner is always revving it up before the oil gets up to operating temperature you have a problem. This is why some cars with minimal mileage fail compression tests. I have seen cars with less than 1,000 miles ruined this way.

aehaas

 

my 308 seems unfazed by sitting around. i start it once a week even if i'm not going to drive it and it starts fine, in both cold and hot weather. even if it sits for 2 weeks, it's ok. my TR, on the other hand, doesn't like sitting for more than a few days. letting it sit for a week, it takes slightly longer for it to start.

john

 

Yea...my TR same thing. doesnt like sitting. I had some construction work done at my home, couldnt get car out of garage for 4 weeks (driveway cut up). When i did finally get her out, she coughed sputtered, check 7-12, slow down light lit up like a christmas tree (chanukah bush for us jewish people). after a couple blocks all cleared up and she ran great for the rest of the day. I do believe there is some truth in saying the cars run better when used often, however not always possible.

 

As often as possible?