Where to start?

Chris,

Welcome to F-chat i'm sure we will be able to help, there are some f-chatters driving a 328 GTS so they can give you some tips. Expect some reactions starting from this evening for the moment they are at the Nuburgring or at Spa Francorchamps. If you want to start you can use the search buuton on the top left side of the page good luck with your search.

Bart

 

Hi Chris,

It will be the best decision you ever made (car-wise anyway).

So much car for the money it isn't true. Simply awesome - every single thing about it (with the possible exception of traffic and parking - build up the biceps).

What to look for -

- Condition must be very good - avoid any signs of rust, respray or accident damage. Get the car inspected by a specialist.

- History must be complete - ideally a full Ferrari service history, with all belts changes being done like clockwork when due.

- Mileage is a preference and depends on what you intend to use the car for. Be wary of a very low mileage car if you intend to drive it a lot, as it may not have been correctly maintained, and many parts will deteriorate over time with lack of use.

- Search the archives of this site - I found them an invaluable source of info. when I made my purchase (which took almost a year to find, and eventually found the right one in Germany - take your time to find the right one).

The people on this site are great - the UK bunch are lots of fun, regular meets and good banter. The Euro lot are a fabulous bunch of people and there is now an annual European rally which you will see pics for in this forum (Andermatt 2 weeks ago) and Scotland next year. This year there were 5 328's which was absolutely brilliant in convoy and for photos, etc.

The car is not as silly as people think in terms of maintaining/running. I pay £450 a year to insure, fully comp, unlimited mileage, including untimed track events and European cover. Annual running costs I have been told to set aside £1.5-2k max including servicing, tyres, etc, by Kent High Performance who I can highly reccomend (had the car for almost a year and so far I am well under that, although the service was not a main one). It won't depreciate like the boxster/TT you could buy for the same money, and let's be frank what would you rather be in? There are half a dozen boxsters, 3 TT's and 2 911's in the station car park every day. Never seen an f-car there yet (mine doesn't venture there either) - you are buying exclusivity, noise, power, wow factor, jaw dropping looks and loads of fun.

Word of warning - be careful but not too precious. I had a friend from America staying last night so of course we went out in the car - beautiful evening - and went to a bar in Islington. Parked the Ferrari on the main road in as sensible a place as I could find, and some mindless prick p1ssed and spat on it while we were in the bar. This is the first reaction I have experienced like that (other than someone shouting out 'w@nker' as I drove past one time - nice). Usually it's thumbs up, people want to chat, people ignore you, people pretend to ignore you while sneaking peaks (or as happened last night pretending to make a phone call whilst blatently using the camera function!). You need to be philosophical about it if you are planning to use it. It might get scratched, it might get stone chips, someone might p1ss on it (still having trouble believing that this actually happened - what kind of a person?!) - but if you are too precious then it will sit in the garage and be a very expensive ornament, and that's a shame.

Anyway, enough mad ravings. Good luck and hopefully we will see you and the new beast at an event soon.

One other thing - actually 2 - (1) LHD if you are not adverse to it, will save you up to 10k or 25% of the cost of a RHD one in the UK, and a good number of the fchatters here have LHD cars (2) The people on this board are incredibly helpful - as I said, mine came from Germany and if it had not been for Trevi and Andrea, neither of whom I had met before they went to work on inspecting the car for me, I never would have bought the car - may have still been looking, and would have missed out on a year of fun. Use us.