Tell me bout' those 456GTA problems? Or not.

IF you want and need an automatic Ferrari, it's fine to get one!

All the way back to the 400i they have suited that VERY small niche market.

As you say there are no real 'failure patterns' on the auto unit in the GTA, however the deal is this:

It isn't GM, it's Allison. The heavy equipment side of GM.

It isn't any comparable unit from any other car on the whole planet, but a purpose built engineered product for this one model, so your chances of ANY parts support OTHER than thru Ferrari is nill.......

Ferrari quit using it.

So there ya go, an obsolete one of a kind design with parts support ONLY thru the factory distribution system.

It does have a published maintenenace interval to pay strict close attention to the filtering system of the fluid.
If you pay the cost to do that, hopefully there will be no additional costs associated with internal band/plate components.

But if you think theres anything in a standard GM Turbohydramatic 400 unit that'll help you, well you are WRONG!

 

..and if I am not mistaken to remove it you start by removing the rear bumper of the car then proceed to drop the entire drivetrain, moving forward.

Maybe someone can expound on the labor charges on that........

 

...."a bit up there", on a car equippped with $1,400.00 electric seat potentiometers????

 

As far as I could tell from his post, Kaamacat asked for anecdotal information, not a distain-oozing editorial.

 

Ok, forget I mentioned it......

It was his "maybe another car manufacturer will work" optimism that led me to explain...

I'll fall back on the usual "do a search" response, as we have lost our Factory Techs these days.......

 

I taught my 14 year old girl how to handle the 6 speed Muncie in the Pontiac the other day, a few minutes in the Stadium lot and she was good to go!

Try to find some of Rifledriver's old posts........the unit is reliable when mantained properly, clog a filter and it'll be toast and total the car.

 

I think it's 'disdain', your Honor.......no matter though.

Do you think a 1995 456 is 'too old'?

I know the "M" model had some technical upgrades, but there's a pretty nice silver/tan in FerrariAds for $66.5K......35K service done.

 

Bobr I think you are right, a problem would be a 'very rare experience'.......

 

Embarrassingly sloppy of me. You're definitely correct about the spelling; it didn't look right, but I was in the middle of something else and didn't go back to fix it.

I'm pretty zealous about the transmission service on my car; just had the second one done in October. I think paying an additional $5-10K for an M over an early 456 is a slam-dunk. I would have preferred a manual tranny, but the car I found was exceptional in several respects, so I went with the GTA.

 

Thanks for the feedback, a long time 'glass 308GTB owner on here has a 'new' 550 and is teasing me really hard to 'step up'!

I don't think I can get to a $100K 550, but have seen the 456 and I really admire the quiet elegance to the lines.

 

The 456M is really a pretty rare and special car, compared to the gazillion 360s they cranked out into the market.

I'll keep saving and start looking........

 

kaamakat -

not much meat here so far.......give him a break BigTex!

But it is true that if you do a search you will find many threads about the 456 GTA.
"Rifledriver", tech from northern Cal, posted many times with actual information (as opposed to opinions)....
So far, no one on FChat has ever posted that they just replaced their trans and it cost XXXXXX. Nothing but rumors.

Good luck!
Tritone

 

That is good to know... Someday (sooner rather than later) will have a 456M GTA and would HATE to be buying a zillion $ trans soon after the purchase. My 928 trans had internals from Mercedes and those dang things are bullet proof! You can run them WAY DOWN on fluid and they still work pretty dang good (don't ask me how I know ;-)! I still have six 928's in fact I just love them! Plenty of room for the wheelchair, comfortable, still look contemporary and my GTS's and the S4 are quite fast too! I look forward to a 400/412 and then a 456 to add to the collection some day!

 

For a long time now, there's been a GTA gearbox for sale on ebay, and zero takers.

Just like anything else on these fabulous cars of ours, regularly serviced there should not be any problems.

I'm starting to think this GTA gearbox issue is a myth.

Regards
456GT (manual) owner.

 

According to my knowledge, the GTA gearbox is English made, by Ricardo.

 

There is loads of info about the gta in this thread. http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=118551

 

+1 and the parts are not found, nor being made nor interchangeable with American parts as some state.

That long term trany on ebay [I've talked with him] is priced a bit high for someone who can get one less here in the US. BUT should not be overlooked if one has the bucks and can't wait.

He'll get his money ... someday. but at a discount to his interest lost in waiting for his price.

my 2cnts [which in EUROs and today's US discount market = $-.03 ]