Tips for first timer? It's coming next week!

Download a typical owners manual to a computer at home and/or office so you can (a) get an early understanding of how it works and (b) when you've taken delivery answer your own questions without having to call the dealer or go out to get the manual from the car

http://www.ferraridatabase.com/The_Downloads/Manuals_Owners.htm

 

THe best tip is have fun its a great car enjoy

 

Be sure to enjoy her and most importantly POST PICS

 

Take a camera with you and have a friend or your salesman take photos the first time you start her up! You will love the photos of your six mile wide smile!

Do not get all wrapped around the axle about being gentle with her the first 500 miles. Drive her like it is your last day alive. I was careful with my first Cali for about 50 miles, and my second Cali for about 50 feet. Both use zero oil and scream! The only reason to be careful is to get used to all of the power these cars have compared to whatever else you normally drive. And if your current daily driver is a Prius or a stupid Volt, good luck!

Rick

 

Smile as you do the "celebrity wave" and mouth the words "no pictures please" to the people on the sidewalk.

 

I suggest ignoring the emotional ramblings of "drive it like you stole it" team

The manufacturer makes a representation in relation to the express warranty that you would be wise to follow, whilst you may have recorse in relation to the implied warranty that also exists in addition to the express warranty, it's a costly fight to get into should it be necessary.

There are several inherent mechanical problems associated with 2010-2011 cars

There are a handful of issues with MY12 (USA) and "30" cars

If the gearbox fails and they analyze your driving history as having regularly exceeded the maximum revs allowed during the specified running in period, I suspect the would PROBABLY still cover the gearbox replacement.

Why on earth would anyone deliberately and intentionally disregard the running in procedure because they are so impatient as to not wait a few hundred miles

There are often uninformed and highly opinionated people on here whose wealth allows them to make decisions that those of modest means need to ignore

The run in procedure is listed clearly in the owners manual

Anyone offering "advice" to the contrary does so because they don't care if you pay $10k for a new transmission or your car becomes unsellable because it is flagged as having its warranty "voided"

I'm aware that it's not possible to void an implied warranty but in the US they don't use legal terms, they use misleading terms like "your car is status 10" which for all intents and purposes to a consumer, means they won't cover problems under the express warranty

My suggestion to go is simply to follow the owners manual in relation to the run in procedures

It's the safest option

If you have assets of $100m and keep $10k in your bag as loose change, I suggest you follow the suggestions likely to have an effect on your warranty and drive it without any regard to the mechanical sympathy of the car

The guys that pay $7000 to air freight their cars have a self interest to continue with the impatience and suggest disregarding the run in procedure

Good things come to those who wait

I'm sitting in London so I can't help making an Olympics analogy, Ferrari ownership is a marathon not a sprint

 

Who said "drive it like you stole it?"

 

Hotbmw: "those of modest means" = Ferrari California owner......






Nah!

 

Congrats!

What spec did you get?

Learn the power for the first few miles, then drop her top and get those baffles to open up!

J

 

I said Drive her like it is your last day alive. And they drive them like that at the factory so why should I not drive mine that way? HOT doesn't like me paying for the car to be flown here either? I am beginning to take offense but will continue to have a BALL with my Cali, and you should too. Remember to post pictures!

Rick

 

Regarding the air freight- I like the story of a guy who got a call from his dealer offering him the air frieght at a slight discount so he could get his new car in a week rather than a month. The customer said no.

He got a call the next week. His car had arrived!

 

Now that is the kind of story I like! I didn't want to take a chance with either car so I have paid twice but saved probably a total of 60 days

Rick

 

Perhaps I'm just ignorant, but how exactly would someone determine that a resulting mechanical issue was due to excessive revs during the first 600 miles? Okay, sure, if the car breaks at 400 miles, it'd be pretty obvious, but realistically, the recommendation for break-in is to keep it under, what, 4500rpm? While I certainly wouldn't advocate beating the snot out of the car, regardless of how many miles it had, I'd be pretty amazed if something this technologically complex would simply melt if you ran it to red line a few times during that first 600 miles. Yes, I understand that a break-in period is recommended and yes, I completely agree that you should follow the manufacturer's recommendations within reason ... fluids need to flow properly, seals need to form properly, etc. Hell, Porsche's break-in is 2000 miles, so imagine the restraint you'd need to have there!

More important than any mechanical issues, being somewhat docile while you LEARN how the car works, particularly with that much power at your disposal, is just good common sense. I don't believe anyone here is suggesting you pin the tach on every gear change or bounce off the rev limiter exiting the dealership ... these folks have too much regard for their vehicles to be abusive. Congrats on your purchase and by all means flood us with pictures. And don't be afraid to take one as the tach needle blows past 7 ...

 

For what it's worth, in June I went to the Ferrari experience in Mont Tremblant...I highly recommend it if you can spare a few days. In any event, our fleet of 458's were new...less than 100 miles on them. We drove the snot out of them for 2 days...bouncing them off the redline and committing whatever other travesties a bunch of amateurs are capable of doing when turned loose to run F-cars cars as fast as they can on an unfamiliar track. All the 458's held up fine...I assume they continue to use them for all classes spring thru fall. I also assume they get fluid changes and tire/brake attention after every multi-day session.

Not sure I'd want to be the unsuspecting buyer of one (come this fall, be suspicious of any used 2012's in red/black, yellow calipers and ferro wheels!), but no one was suggesting that and damage was being done, despite what the owner's manual states.

The only casualty in our session was a new FF (one of two that were used during initial training) who's software declared that it had had enough.