Living with a Ferrari?

Dealer experiences vary: I was offered a loaner by Ferrari of San Francisco for taking my 360 in for service.

I have also found the staff at Ferrari of Beverly Hills to be nothing short of professional and courteous.

As far as reliability: the old Italian car myth is being put to bed by high quality uniform global manufacturing standards (led by Toyota/Lexus) and a business model that places most flaws and defects under warranties -- a manufacturer expense which they now try to minimize.

 

One reason for no loaner -- getting parts and getting her fixed may take a lot longer than other cars.

But that's no excuse for offering a free ride back to your home or work

 

Piling on late to this thread....have a 458 and FF

The FF is phenomenal, IMHO the ultimate GT car and is bipolar....highly usable and liveable as a "real" car, yet has performance in the 1% of any car in every dimension. So far both our cars have been uber reliable and get used...a lot. (Rick and Eric to a much higher mileage degree). Only difference from our other cars is we keep these clean.

Plenty of threads on the details and experience of the car. Perhaps only trick is getting used to using a Ferrari as a normal car.

As for the dealer...wow. We've bought 3 other "high end" vehicles (BMW, Range Rover, et al) since we started the Fcar thing and frankly, we've been spoiled by our Ferrari dealer experience (Miller Motorcars). For our family, including the kids, it's sort of like a real-life version of the bar in "Cheers"....we have been treated like friends, they are always accommodating, on the business side ultra professional but "business" has been a very small part of the relationship at this point. Said otherwise, we've never felt like a "customer". A very inclusive group for an allegedly exclusive product, that goes from the owner on down.

Good luck with the car

 

I also come from BMW ownership, with almost 30 years driving Bimmers. I would say BMW dealerships, especially the contemporary ones, definitely provide a more accommodating ambiance for walk-in customers by presenting sleek modern waiting areas, ready refreshments and entertainment.

However as regards how personable the staff is, I certainly cannot fault FoO as I don't feel uncomfortable or unwelcomed with them. Some of my earlier experiences at BMW locations have been much worse. The FoO staff are always open to chat and digress as the conversation progresses. My salesman even brought me upstairs to their executive boardroom and introduced me to the owner and sales manager who both made me feel very welcome. They do focus on me when I announce myself there. However, they are more at ease when I make an appointment, which I sometimes don't because I don't want to cause a big fuss as I usually just want to check something out for myself.

I think in the case of FoO, they may have valid reasons for the way their showroom is "kitted out". They do provide refreshments if you ask them for some but I don't think they expect customers to wait around to have their cars serviced so I don't notice any focus on keeping customers amused while they sit and wait. Regular maintenance is offered via trailer collection and drop-off at my home. They are very used to this setup as they are the only dealer in Ontario.

The other thing is the issue with making an appointment. I get the sense that walk-ins are not really expected to be very high in numbers, and then of course, walk-ins tend to be on the weekends, with kids or family members in tow, which makes it more awkward to work a sale. All the cars at FoO also have stickers on them asking visitors not to touch, unless they are accompanied, of course. So that tells you they don't expect a crowd. My salesman will attend to me without an appointment but I can see it's often not easy for him to make time. I try to be understanding and relax rather than impose. We did spend an interesting time negotiating so I think we arrived at a good working relationship.

In any case, the whole setup at FoO seems to be that of a formal experience whereby someone calls up for an appointment and the salesperson sets aside a big chunk of time to talk, tour and arrange for test drives if need be and negotiate. It's a calm, high end purposeful showroom, not really designed for ad hoc traffic or high volume.

Not sure if that's the case at most Ferrari showrooms but this is what comes across to me at the two FoO showrooms in Toronto. I'd be curious to see if my impressions are valid.

 

A

 

Going back to the original question about living with a Ferrari as a daily driver--I think a lot depends on the attitude of the prospective owner.


Will you be willing to drive the car and accumulate mileage ?

Will rain or inclement weather scare you from driving the car?

Will you be able to park your car next to a monstrous truck or minivan and risk getting door dings?

Or park on streets where other drivers give your bumpers a hello and goodbye kiss ?

Wait a few weeks for replacement parts?

These are the things that I think about as I live with a Ferrari.

 

Really depends on which decade of Ferrari cars you are looking for. In general, older/Classic type Ferrari. pre-05 car do need more TLC if you want to own one. But pretty much after F430 I'd say your are pretty safe and really don't need to worry too much. And of course given that you do all your homework on the car you like and go through all PPI and preferrably with as much Service history as possible. Hence buying a car from an authorized dealer would be a plus. Yes, it might end up costing a bit more. But I just don't like suprises after all. You are new to the Scuderia. And you would definately enjoy this elite club more if your car don't need immediate attention as soon as you purchase the car.

Now with that being said, unless you are planning on buying brand new/close to new F-cars, you should really expect the unexpected. Afterall, they are machines that made out of wear and tearable parts much like everything else. And you should not be suprised when the unexpected repair bills to be cheap like a Audi/VW/Bimmer. All in all, you should talk to your local Ferrari dealer and get in touch with the service advisor. As they should be more than happy to explain what is the usual cost on a pre-owned Ferrari are like.

This is based on my personal experience on my own purchase of F430. And I've have nothing to complain and I love the whole Ferrari experience, not limited to driving but the people that you'll get to know and wonderful events with FCA etc. It's just something I highly recommended if you have the means to comfortably enjoy. Best of luck in finding your car and hope you'll find your perfect ferrari. Ciao

 

My FF and my Cali visits WalMart or the like with regularity. I park right where everyone else parks. Do I worry about it while in the store or restaurant, yes and no. Since late 2009 when I got my first California I have had zero door dings. I actually saw an old woman start to pull in next to my Cali one day, stop, and go somewhere else knowing this car was something special and she wanted no part of it. It was funny to see.

I have a mud road that I have to drive down to get to my radio control airplane flying field and the only gripe is that the FF is dirty for the drive home and rinsing it off puts mud in my wash bay. A good squirting down with deionized water leaves it spot free anyway so no big deal.

Rick

 

I have a generic suggestion regarding parking lots. Be very careful parking in windy parking lots or on sloped parking areas where your spot might be below an adjacent one.

Some people are not that careful and let their doors swing without realizing gravity or wind will pull them a lot further, very quickly.

When in doubt, park conservatively in a manner that won't immediately come across as being antisocial.

 

+1. I do that with all cars. Even if you are uphill from the car next to you, to overcome inertia the downhill guy might swing the door too hard and lose control. Best to park on level surfaces if you can. Most people will not ding your doors but every now and then you get a careless person. Untended shopping carts are another hazard, especially if it is windy. I try to shop at places that have a lot of cart corrals. Most people will use them, but only if they're convenient and plentiful.

Modern Ferraris are very usable, so I try my best to be like Rick and drive my California. The biggest downside is the higher depreciation, but a well driven Mercedes SL or BMW M6 will likely suffer as much or more in that regard. Thus, you are really looking at the incremental depreciation due to miles compared to the depreciation of one of these cars, rather than compared to another Ferrari that is driven only a few thousand miles. At least that's how I prefer to think of it, even if it is not strictly true.

As for the OP's original question, so far, only an annual scheduled maintenance visit in roughly 8k miles and one year. I had more visits to the BMW dealer for my M5 in the first year.

 

As i write this, my BMW X5M has been in the shop for 32 business days since January 8. Trying to find a computer glitch. The Ferraris in the last year (granted that they don't log as much mileage):

458 1 day for annual maintenance
F430 1 day for annual maintenance and 2 days to chase down a brake pad issue.