worst Ferrari I have ever driven

This should be a fairly controversial topic...havent driven any bad Ferraris so cant really comment.

 

I've only driven three different 348 cars (mine, Mroadster's, and Drewstoddard's), a 1986 TR, and a 1982 308 2v. Of all of them I enjoy my 348 and the 86 TR the best. The 308 was a long, long time ago so I don't really remember it much. I can say that all three 348 that I have driven drive remarkably different. none of them were what I would call 'bad'.
BT

 

By far the worst Ferrari I've ever driven, in terms of condition, was my 250 cabriolet when I first bought it in 1974, when I was 23. A classic cheap fixer-upper (cheap purchase price, at any rate). Dented rear bumper; a foot and a half circle on the passenger front quarter that looked like someone had used a cement trowel to slab on some bondo and not bothered to sand it down at all, and painted it with a spray can a distinctly different shade of silver grey. Got about 100 miles per quart of oil (valve guides); no fear of mosquitos in the area. No parking light lenses (shaved down a couple of old Chevy parking light lenses to temporarily cover the bulbs). A missing tag lens. Electric overdrive that engaged maybe 2 of 3 times (actually that's not that unusual). And no brakes ("they just need bleeding" -- read new calipers, lines, etc.). Ever driven a car with emergency brake only?

As for bad experiences, as you mention in your follow-up post, that's another matter entirely. In over 130,000 miles in 34 years, I've never had a bad experience in a Ferrari that was the car's fault, as opposed to mine. Like the old saying goes, the worst I ever had was terrific.

 

For an identical model, does every Ferrari drive differently even straight from the factory? Just curious.

 

Worst Ferrari I've ever driven? Honestly, they've all been fun to drive.

No question, though, my Mondial was the worst Ferrari I've ever OWNED. But it was fun to drive, when it worked.

 

Coach,

Although I can say there have been a couple of Fcars that I drove that I did not like it would be imprudent to mention any models for fear of insulting someone else's car.

However..............I can give you a story of a car that did positively scare me.....and that had never happened to me before or since. Sometime in the 80s I was to drive my uncles 500 SF to a car show in OC Md. About a hundred miles each way. Having driven a few older Fcars I figured this was a real treat being one of 36 Series II SFs. Got in the car, warmed it properly, revved it up and got very excited. Great engine with tons of torque starting in the low rpms. I knew the roads like the back of my hand having driven it countless times to the DE beaches. Somewhere in the middle of the trip there was a quick stop called for. [This is where my ignorance of drum brakes came into play.] I stomped on the brakes. First one foot.......then two......my butt was well off the seat trying to bring this beast to a halt. I quickly learned where the term "standing on the brakes" came from. Fortunately I didn't hit anything. After having my prowess of a driver belittled I drove the SF like a choir boy worrying about puberty.

That experience makes me appreciate the drivers that raced the 340s and 375s in the PanAmerica races. I only had one incident. Imagine what they went through!

[hope i did not hijack ur thread]

 

I drove an 02 360 Modena F1 once and was so disgusted, I went straight back to Hyundai. ...................... (because my lunch hour was over and that's where I worked)

 

The "worst" driving experience I had in a Ferrari was delivering Geno Burns 800 mile 512BBi about 20 miles to Cavallino. Not that the car drove bad (though, as all FI boxers the clutch is "touchy" at best and the gas peddle is very stiff from naught which takes 5 or 30 red lights to get used to) but it was more of fear of having to deliver this fine piece of low mileage jewelry and putting 5 percent of the total miles on one trip (for a 25 year old car). I had white knuckles the whole time and was very happy to park it in the lot and hand Gene the keys.

Other then that I have been very fortunate to drive some awesome Ferrari's have never fully enjoyed the experience because they are not mine so I am in constant fear of EVERYBODY on the road. Usually I don't enjoy the drive until after its parked, then I think wow that was awesome. Then again the only time I ever floored a Ferrari and took it to red-line was in Mroadsters 348 and that was because he questioned my testicular fortitude and layed down the vaunted "double dog dare". I will admit it was an amazing experience, though one I will likely never repeat (until my own).

 

My Lusso was the worst Ferrari driving expereince when I got it. No brakes and the front end wobbled all over the place. But it was black with a red leather interior and had the matching luggage for the trunk. I rebuilt the front end my self and it took a lot of work to get the brakes right. Still the car was only fun above 70 mph and not as much fun to drive as my OSCA MT4. I used it as my daily driver in NYC in the mid 80's and sold it for $$ before the stock market crash. It was kind of like dating a super model and finding she is a nut job. Nice for a while but I realy loved to drive my smaller Alfa's, TVR's and OSCA better.

 

I had a very rusty and abused 81 308 GTB that I drove around in the south of France in the mid 80's. From a distance, it looked pretty good. Up close, it was another story. But, hey, it was cheap and driving in France is not particularly where you want a perfect car. Most people were impressed.

It had a "boxer" red and black paint job which helped mask the dents and rust poking there here and there on the lower panels and doors. The driver seat was pretty worn but all the guages worked. I think it had about 50K kilometers when I bought it. If I remember, I only paid about 10 grand so even then, it was pretty cheap. You could buy a new Golf GTI for about the same so why not a used Ferrari instead? The dollar was super strong agains the French Franc at the time. I sold it for about what I paid for it a year later.

It leaked oil so much, the concierge in my building complained so I had to park it somewhere else. I had a british friend with a villa so I parked it in his yard. He didn't mind the oil spots in this drive because having a Ferrari parked in your front yard was pretty cool.

I remember that it was impossible to park anywhere because of it's size, large turning radius, high steering workload at low speeds, and poor outward visibility. When driving it in narrow city streets it was downright dangerous trying to see all the cars parked hap-hazard on each side. The french "yellow" headlights worked about as well as someone holding a Zippo lighter out the window.

One real problem I had was that it attracted teenagers on motos-- along with some mischevious behavior. I'd be driving at night and soon I'd have a pack of 20 kids on motos all driving round it so close it seemed like they were glued to the body. They just drive as close as they could to me revving their little engines in the most annoying way.

I took it once down the Autoroute. It burned up so much gas, I never did it again. I never had the car serviced -- not even when I first bought it. But, I only put on about 1000 miles in the year I had it either. I figured that replacing a quart of oil every time I drove it was as good as an oil change. I had a Fiat Panda 45 as my daily driver.

It never broke or failed to start. But, in a sea of Renault R4's and 5's, 2CV's, VW golfs, and Fiat Panda's, it was diffenately a fish out of water. Impressive to look at but "fun to drive" is not what I would call driving that car in that setting.

 

I've never driven a bad Ferrari. I didn't know that existed.

 

I would have to say the 365 GTC4. It laked the firmness of the Daytona but was still as heavy so it didnt handle well.The brkes were also disappointing compared to the Daytona but that could have been to the particular car i drove, although it shouldnt as the car was just bought from a well known dealer.

 

Unfortunately, I kept mine way too long, thinking it would get better and I would finally get everything fixed. Tens of thousands later at LFSC, they were the only one smiling. From constant vacuum leaks, chronically low oil pressure indication, flat shocks to premature brake wear and a tuck under feeling whenever brakes were applied. And..the electrics...all new Bosch relays and some systems were still intermittent. Yes, I had the GM jerk-o-matic transmission, and that is not a reference to the driver, either!!

 

This car sounds as though it had been totally neglected with bad tranny and bad brakes. It isn't at all representative of a proper 400i driving experience. So what is the purpose of telling the story?

 

It might not be representative of a proper 400i, but it may well be representative of the typical 400i found on the market. From that standpoint - it may serve as good warning for those who think they can experience all the wonders of a 12 cylander Ferrari on a Honda budget.

 

Having only driven one Ferrari (mine), I guess I'll tell you about my worst experience in it, though it could have been worse.

Every December I drive the 650-or-so miles from here to Boynton Beach, FL, to visit my parents during the 10-day year-end break at work. In 2005, with about 20 months ownership of the Ferrari under my belt, I decided to chance taking it instead of my usual Honda Civic. What made up my mind is that my N.J. cousin and his teenage son would be visiting his sister (with her teenage son) in Boca Raton, and I figured (correctly) that the boys would love rides in a Ferrari. And, of course, I wanted to show my dad the car as well.

I always spend a night in St. Augustine on the trip south. Everything was fine until I exited just south of Jacksonville to do a "gas and go" as I wasn't sure I had quite enough for the last 15 miles. As I got off the Interstate, I heard a loud roaring noise coming from the back that was clearly speed-dependent. My first thought was a tire going flat, but the car felt fine and when I took a look while in the gas station, it clearly wasn't that. So my next assumption was a wheel bearing going bad. I continued on to my overnight stop, going a bit more gingerly.

The next morning I was heading to some business in the Orlando area, which was going to include a "social call" at Ferrari of Central Florida. I kept my speed down to just around 75 MPH and kept the window open so I could hear anything getting worse, but it sounded the same for the whole 2 hour trip. At FoCF, the service manager agreed to test drive the car, and then he put it on the lift. My diagnosis was correct, but he wouldn't be able to do any work for a few days. So I asked the question: would it make it down to P.B. County? He said that it would, but suggested keeping the speed down. So I crept on down the Turnpike right at 70 MPH, which is the posted speed limit, but in 150 miles I'm guessing that at least 400 vehicles passed me (some at frightening closing rates) and I passed.....six.

I was originally thinking of taking the car to Shelton Ferrari but decided instead to call Tim Stanford, also in Fort Lauderdale, who had actually done the 30,000 mile service on the same car for a prior owner! As this was late on a Friday, I left a phone message, explaining my predicament. When I called back on Tuesday morning (Monday was Christmas Day), Tim said come on down, so I meandered down I-95. Since I didn't have a prior appointment, I wondered how long I'd have to leave the car, but Tim said that he'd put aside some cars whose owners didn't need them imminently and do mine instead. As for getting back to Boynton (about 30 miles), one of his guys drove me to the nearest TriRail station in his truck, I took the train back to Boynton, called my dad from the station, and he picked me up there.

Several days later, Tim called to say that the car was ready, and we reversed the commuting procedure via TriRail. The car was fine, and Tim charged a reasonable rate, for which I will be forever grateful. (Ironically, he air-freighted the parts down from.....Atlanta!) I've seen a lot of pro-and-con on FChat about just about every Ferrari mechanic out there, with one exception. Tim Stanford, you're the best.

My drive home included an overnight stop in Gainesville, where the few Gators on campus during the winter break loved the car. I had no trouble until the last hour or so coming into Atlanta when.....the turn-signal indicator began to malfunction! But that's another story.....

 

Drove a mechanically abused 246GTS about two years ago.

Wouldn't drive straight, wouldn't go into second gear, wouldn't stop straight, when it stopped at all (first time I thought I might seriously have to use the E-brake in a car since my TR6,) squeaked and rattled like crazy, rode like a truck. There was no give in the suspension at all. It was quite a shock driving this particular example after having driven mine to the garage where this one was for sale. They were like night and day.

The paint was perfect but the rest was a mess. Passed on it at $85K. WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING??? In retrospect, that car was a bargain. Probably needed $40K to make it REALLY RIGHT. Oh well. Hind sight is 20-20.

Drove another Dino that was closer to mine in handling and performance, but still different enough to make it interesting. I guess with 30+ year old cars, deferred maintenance can be a ***** to deal with and the quality of repairs really shows.

DM

 

Ummm..... fun? Aren't we here to have a little fun? He didn't out the owner, he didn't bash the line, he just related a story. I betcha everyone here has at least one, "I passed on a car for 'x' reason" story. This is just a variant.

DM

 

This was back in the 70s when i still had my 911targaS (1973). I had wanted to shift to Ferrari too soon, and became interested since i had driven the 246GTS that same year.

The 308 GT4 is as good as a high powered Fiat and is the sort of Ferrari you buy or drive, just to say you have a Ferrari. Its desireable in the same way the '70 Lambo Urraco is.. Flamboyant yet basic, quick yet not very fast at all, fun yet breakdown prone.

At any rate, I was happier with the 911 and never made the shift...

 

my first ferrari, a '92 348ts, was the worst one so far. apologies ahead of time, but mine was probably not representative of the entire model run...
but the roof leaked, 2nd gear was unobtainable before 20 minutes of driving, it had a terrible hot start problem- which of course would occur at the worst possible moments, sometimes the accelerator cable would stick (hair raising the first couple times that happened), and the brakes and handling never felt that confident. it was also unlucky, it got stolen (and recovered) from me twice. i really thought this car was cursed, so i sold it. and then it was stolen from its new owner 2 months later.....