Thanks again Iain for your very comprehensive reply. That is very much appreciated. If we meet at one of these events - I owe you a coffee!
I know what you mean about the japanese turbo nutter barges too ...... we could all go spend £10k and drive something that has higher bhp, top speed, 1/4 miles etc ....... but a long long way from the point :grin:
More and more I am liking the sound of the later 328s - which is good news as when I was at Supercar Sunday earlier this year, it was the 328 which looks wise caught my eye.
Can I ask - does the open gear gate make changes difficult at first - and if so - how soon do you get used to it?
The Dino is beautiful - but as I already have guilty qualms over owning 3 cars with 2 being purely for fun...... I couldn't spend that much on a weekend toy - even if I had £70k sat ready.
Oh - garage is no problem ..... I had a second garage built when I bought the NSX - it was too wide to fit in the standard size garage I had - so nice garage complete with carpet on the wall and battery conditioner.
Yr Welcome.
The open gate on the gearbox is not an issue - the gearshift is much like any other car except you get a reassuring "clack" when you change. The gearboxes on these cars are not "fast" & don't like to be hurried - even when warm - forget "speed shifting" as the Americans call it (I HATE that expression!)
As Fastlady said, you go from 1st to 3rd when the thing is cold. My gearbox is pretty co-operative & it will go into 2nd fairly easily within only a mile or two of starting. Some need more warming up than that before you can use 2nd. How co-operative the thing is seems to depend a lot on the Gear oil you use - Redline is popular - I've no idea what's in mine at the moment though!
The gear layout is upside down with 1st being a dogleg left & down, 2nd & 4th at the top & 3rd & 5th at the bottom. It makes no odds & you just teach yourself to stop worrying about what number gear you are in & concentrate on just being in the right gear & keep going up or down as appropriate till you run out of gears! The actual shifting pattern is the same as on any car.
One of the few criticisms I have of the 328 is that the gears are maybe a bit short for long distance cruising - I sometimes wish it had a 6th gear. Then again the thing was built for playing in the Alps so its hardly surprising & to be honest its a minor niggle. IIRC the 328 is one of not many cars that will pull its red line in top gear (alledgedly!).
328s have 9 Litres of engine oil in them & about 4 1/2 litres of gear oil. There is no thermostat on the oil cooler, its permanently in the circuit so you can bank on it taking at least 7-10 miles before you see engine oil temperature of any consequence & at least double that before the g'box feels properly warm. If your Thermostat is working then you would see full operating water temp within 3-4 miles.
Otherwise the brakes are good but not exceptional by today's standards but they will take some considerable abuse before they start to fade. The ABS is a pretty early system but it works. Some people complain it cuts in too early on the track but its certainly not an issue on the road.
Some parts for 328s are pricey - Distributor caps (there are 2) are £150 or so each. The Rotor arms are £90 odd if you buy them from Ferrari & A full set of ignition leads will be over £250 - but these are not things that need replacing every service by any stretch. Replacing all the basic ignition parts (Rotors/Caps/Leads & Plug extenders) will cost you near enough £900.
General consumables (filters, plugs, brake pads etc) are not expensive. Brake discs are expensive (£600 or so for all 4). So bear these things in mind when you are looking at cars. Some parts are no longer available (the front driving light/indicator assemblies being the most recent chaos causer)
In terms of major servicing the big-ish jobs are cambelts - every 2 years or 25K miles & about £350. Reallistically you can go 3 years but you need to watch the tensioner bearings - look at the service history of any cars you look at as to when the belts AND bearings were last changed.
The second bigger job is Valve clearances. These need checking about every 15K & so if its due to be done its a £400 job. If you are sensible you get the camshaft oil seals replaced at the same time for another £150 or so. These seals are one of the major sources of engine oil leaks on 3X8s so look at the ends of the engine below the head for signs of this. If the gearbox bell housing is black with oil & grime (left side of the engine) the chances are the distributor oil seals are leaking.
If you are serious about buying a 328 then there are plenty out there but some of them are getting a bit loose & sloppy. You need to go & drive some cars & talk to as many people in the trade as you can. People like Mike Wheeler at Rardley or Bob Houghton or the Guys at KHPC or Verdis. I wouldn't bother going near a main dealer for a 328 (either to buy it or to service it). If you are so inclined some things like oil changes & brake pads changes are easy DIY jobs - in that respect its just a car.
Look for cars that have been run and serviced regularly. I'd rather have a 30K car in good condition that had been used rather than one with only 10K on it that had been sat in a garage for 3 or 4 years. Get the thing inspected & look hard for signs of corrosion. Sub 15k cars will command a premium that's probably not worth paying. Also bear in mind that its very easy to disconnect the Odo on 308s & 328s so look hard at the service history & MOTs to see that the mileage stacks up.
My quick checklist for buying a 328 would be to look at the history & then
1) Look for rust - Doors, sills, Rear quarters & Front wings where they meet the fibreglass lower wing in front of the front wheels.
2) Does the condition of the interior match the mileage - well worn drivers seats/carpets on 10K cars are a giveaway!
3) Does it need Belts or Valve clearances or any other servicing imminently?
4) Look for oil leaks (CSOS?). You should pretty much expect to see some smoke on start - up but not clouds of it & it should run cleanly.
5) Check the age of the tyres - look at the DOT numbers .Because the cars generally do fairly low mileage its possible to have tyres in good condition that need changing because they are 6 or 7 years old.
6) Check the AC, all the fans & the heaters are working.
7) Make sure the car has BOTH tool kits. There should be a kit with a Jack & wheelbrace & a load of other stuff & then a second tool kit with SCrewdrivers & spanners. The second one is quite often missing - £150 to replace it.
8) Make sure that the cover for the targa roof is there - its a vinyl cover that is used to cover the roof panel when its stowed behind the seats.
9) Drive the car - there should be no major rattles or squeaks - but you might hear a few with the roof on. Listen for wind noise round the windows.
10) Watch the temperatures - Water temp should sit stable about 175 ish. If its cooler than this or is not stable then it needs a new Thermostat - common issue. Not hard to do but £75 for the T'stat:shocked:
11) Allow the car to sit at idle for a while - the water temperature should climb to 195 & the electric cooling fans should kick in & the temp should drop back to 175 fairly quickly.
12) Get the car up on a ramp & get an expert to look at all the Chassis tubes for signs of any accident damage. Also look for broken suspension springs, leaking shocks (rare) & check the general condition of the underbody while you are under there. Look for signs of idiots jacking the car up incorrectly. 328s are easy to damage (crushed sills etc) if you don't know what you are doing or can't be bothered to read the manual. Then look at the brake disks - expensive to replace as above.
If any of the above is not "right" then you either walk away & find another car or you are in a position to start to "discuss" the price of the car based on what needs putting right.
Even if you think you've found a good one you should still spend £200 or so & get it PPI'd by an expert. Most of the independent service shops will do this. Best of all is if the thing has had a compression/leakdown test or you can get one done as part of the PPI - that will tell you a lot as to the health of the engine.
Then
13) If its got a standard exhaust on it then budget on £900 for a Bell system. The standard system sounds fairly weedy - it needs to go!. The Bell sounds :dude: :dude:
14) If it all checks out, Buy it, fill it with Optimax & drive it like you stole it :grin:
HTH
I.