So you want to buy a Ferrari, eh?
Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 9:47PM As the go-to “car guy” amongst my family, friends, and aquaintances, I occasionally have conversations with people considering Ferrari ownership. These discussions center around desirable later model Ferraris that have entered the price range of relative sanity, and can now be had for the same money as a new M3 or Jag XK. The late model used Ferraris currently floating in our mortal-sphere are the 355 and 360, both of which can be had in the $50K - $80K range for an average condtion example.
My common response to questions about 355 or 360 ownership is to ask what kind of price cap the interested party is working with. If it’s at the bottom of the range, I pull no punches. I immediately cram stories of $10,000 clutch changes, $5,000 brake jobs, $200/hr. labor rates and untraceable electrical problems down their throats. This is tough love, because simply giving a slap on the back to go for it would be criminally bad car advice…or at least highly irresponsible without first providing a framework of the potential running costs. It would be like recommending a 928 from a humid climate for someone’s first Porsche, or an early-80’s Jaguar XJ-S for a shadetree mechanic to tinker on.
A graphic example of contemporary Ferrari ownership recently popped up in a profile published in Keith Martin’s Sports Car Market magazine. Sports Car Market delivers ownership and buying advice in a frank, no bullshit way. In this article, seller/importer extraordinare Michael Sheehan profiled a 20,000 mile 2001 Ferrari 360 Spyder with a "cars-gone-wild" repair history. Initially fixed for flywheel bolts backing out of their bores (when was the last time you heard of that?), it had been treated to a new piston with rings, two new exhaust valves, and some valve refurbishment in three other cylinders. Why did a low mile beauty need such drastic engine work?
Apparently, this particular 360 had a battery replacement at some point in its life. You see, along with the main positive side battery terminal connect, the Ferrari 360 has a current-sense wire that also needs to be properly secured. The current sense wire connects directly to the alternator, and without it being tightened correctly the electrical feed to the alternator can become intermittent. You guessed it, this 360's current sense wire remained loose after its battery was replaced.
The intermittent electrical feed to the alternator caused random coil misfires (the 360 having eight coil-on-plug ignition coils), which in turn caused the pre-catalytic converter on one cylinder bank to overheat. After a while, the heat stress broke up and disintegrated that converter. The effects of exhaust reversion then took over, sucking broken converter bits back into the engine. A few of those fragments got as far as the intake box, and then had a right stonking party in a couple of the cylinders. This necessitated the new piston, rings, and valve work, a procedure that was luckily accomplished with the engine still in the car. That work logged a tab of about $12K.
So let’s review. An improperly installed battery ended up pushing over a room full of mechanical dominoes which ultimately resulted in major rotating assembly damage. I don’t know about you, but I don't have enough digits on my bank balance to catch random $10,000 bills for improper battery tightening-downing on my Italian exotic.
Thus, my advice to my Ferrari-fruity friends is that if you plan to buy and drive one regularly for 5 to 10 years, make sure you’re comfortable with paying half-again of the purchase price in maintenance, repairs, and what not over that time. It may not end up being that financially dramatic, but that's the figure to be prepared for. The sports car world has always been “pay to play”, but with used late model Ferraris (or Lambos and Maseratis for that matter) it is especially so. Caveat emptor people…..caveat emptor.
Reader Comments (2)
No man or woman is worth your tears, and the one who is, won't make you cry.-technomarine watches uk
high swiss replica panerai watches
quality ,low replica rolex daytona
price, don't mis Swiss Replica Watches
s it ...belive you can get it.breitling navitimer replica