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Buying a 458 : need advice

D

da1828

New member
Hi,

I'm planning on buying a 458 spider but after a full checkup, the checkup specialist found an oil leak and also this Vehicle diagnostic report sounds kinda bad

The car has 66k kilometers, 2014, and maintained with ferrari, price is around 3/5k€ under market price

Just a quick explain: It's my first supercar, and I know a ferrari is very expensive to maintain, and I'm perfectly fine with that. But, I would rather spend money on maintaining a car because I used it, rather than paying for the previous guy who owned it.
I need a ferrari owner to tell me if any of this is considered a "serious issue", by serious issue I mean costly (or very costly) potential problem or if it's just a detail.

Do you see anything alarming ? Anything that should be a deal breaker ?

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Oil leak:

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Modern electronics are not really my thing, hopefully someone better qualified can comment on the specifics but that seems like a lot of errors to be springing up. Question I'd have is why hasn't the current owner sorted them out? If there are issues to sort then 3-5K Euros isn't going to go all that far in sorting them I wouldn't have thought. That, together with the state of that engine bay, doesn't really paint a picture of a well maintained car to me. Just my opinion.
 
Nosevi said:
Modern electronics are not really my thing, hopefully someone better qualified can comment on the specifics but that seems like a lot of errors to be springing up. Question I'd have is why hasn't the current owner sorted them out? If there are issues to sort then 3-5K Euros isn't going to go all that far in sorting them I wouldn't have thought. That, together with the state of that engine bay, doesn't really paint a picture of a well maintained car to me. Just my opinion.
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Yes I agree, the salesman of the showroom keep saying all these errors are because the car was not started for a while (wich I doubt)
For the engine bay, I will be honest I have no mecanical skill so if you tell me it's not supposed to look like that, I trust you!
Regarding the previous owner I'm not sure he saw these problems, the only weird thing is that there was no oil at all on the floor of the showroom, a leak is supposed to be visible (I stayed a few hours in the showroom and didn't saw a single drop of oil)

Thanks
 
Regarding the engine bay, I'm a little pickier than some but when I see this sort of car (ie a very special car) where the engine is filthy I just wonder why an owner wouldn't keep it a little cleaner. Grit and dirt getting into all the nooks and crannies is never a good thing.

My car's 3 times the age, over 30 years old and the engine bay looks nothing like that in terms of dirt and grime.
 
walk away; actually run!!!

walk away even if he agrees to fix oil leak and all the above errors. indicates to me car has been neglected.

there will be another!

not sure what oil leak you have but for an example there is a common one on cali, from memory its a £5k plus fix! so don’t underestimate cost of repair on these.
 
A348W said:
walk away; actually run!!!

walk away even if he agrees to fix oil leak and all the above errors. indicates to me car has been neglected.

there will be another!

not sure what oil leak you have but for an example there is a common one on cali, from memory its a £5k plus fix! so don’t underestimate cost of repair on these.
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The main issue in all this, is that the report says it's a "minor sweating" as an oil leak, and all the electronical stuff can be caused by the fact the car was not driven in a while and battery is low ?
Is so hard as I have 0 mecanical skill, all these errors could be just nothing and since there was no oil at all on the floor I don't even know if the issue is real.

Like I'm perfectly fine paying 5k for a fix... If I'm the one who broke it! I don't want to pay for all the previous owner mistakes..
 
I would expect that car to be £20K less than normal, as it has a load of faults and looks like its not been loved. In fact safer option is to run away from this one. I hope you find a better car, but make sure you have £10k stashed away as these cars are not cheap to run.
 
Hello,
Like nosevi said, I’m no expert on electrics either but I’m wondering if this could be a case of one glitch, throwing up another when it’s plugged in to the reader.

you can usually establish a fair bit from looking at the servicing and I don’t just mean the stamps, do you have access to any history print outs from the dealerships that might show what’s been done or possibly what should have been done but hasn’t?
Have you had a look at the mot history by entering the reg in the gov. Checker?
Again that would say if the car had engine warning lights at time of mot.

Fwiw I e been looking for a 458 spider for the last year, regular browsing on sites and keep seeing cheaper cars and wondering why, one put off for me has been multiple owners but I’m now starting to wonder if that’s such a bad thing after all.
Saw one today with 8 owners but only 20k miles and has a full main dealer history and a lovely spec and I’m heavily tempted to trade my Cali v8 and go for it.
Such a difficult thing to do and even an impeccable car can go bang at any time so there’s never a guarantee.
 
If your buying a car; why would it be present in such a state with all those error codes etc.?

If its such an easy fix why doesnt the owner/ garage fix it and present a car that has no issues?

Whilst it might be a simple fix; why are you as the buyer taking the risk it isnt? Unless its a bargain price.

I would walk away and find another; there is very very rarely ever a cheap fix on a ferrari and lots that will destroy your wallet.
 
Those codes are typical of a low battery , an old battery that’s past it’s best in a underused car .
A good run or fresh replacement and another good run and they will disappear .Or could be cleared by a code reader after the battery’s replaced .
The oil “ leak “ isn’t a leak as such just typical misting of what appears the cam cover gasket ….fairly normal for its age and nothing to worry about .Could have been there years and stay like that years .You often see on the cam belted cars ( not this btw ) typically a 360 see weeping / misting around the cam pulleys and near the cam cover .Even Ferrari tech just monitor .Talking from experience here on both issues .

Have you been out for a test drive in it and does everything work , no lights on the dash ?
If so it’s ok = good to go .

Just trickle the batt or replace it + trickle.
 
Agreed on Silver360's points above. Ferrari's are notorious for throwing errors when the battery is dead, also oil misting like this isn't uncommon and not necessarily the sign of the big issue. But... as others have said, the dealer should've sorted these to give you confidence in the car. I'd want the battery charged and the car reset to ensure these errors are fully gone and don't come back after a decent drive. For your first Ferrari, you need to know in your head that the car is a good one. Don't take a punt unless unless you're confident.

Oh, and a grubby engine bay will always look worse in photographs than in the flesh.
 
Kyodo said:
Agreed on Silver360's points above. Ferrari's are notorious for throwing errors when the battery is dead, also oil misting like this isn't uncommon and not necessarily the sign of the big issue. But... as others have said, the dealer should've sorted these to give you confidence in the car. I'd want the battery charged and the car reset to ensure these errors are fully gone and don't come back after a decent drive. For your first Ferrari, you need to know in your head that the car is a good one. Don't take a punt unless unless you're confident.

Oh, and a grubby engine bay will always look worse in photographs than in the flesh.
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No expert on electrics but I’m learning fast that most Ferrari gremlins can be cured with control - alt - delete.
I’ve had multiple messages come up and even called the dealership and they said stop the car, switch off and switch on. That’ll do it. And it did.
That’s on my Cali v8 and I’m guessing the 458 is similar era with the electronic system.
 
JohnJStewart said:
Walk away. Good cars will come along at sensible prices. Pass on this one.
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While I agree with Silver that many of these error codes, if not all, could well show a dead or dying battery and that in all likeliness a battery change and good drive might sort them, and while I also agree with Mark that the engine bay will look a bit worse in photos than in the flesh (although that engine bay is bleedin' terrible), I'm afraid I'd still go with John - I'd walk away. While these things may well all turn out to be minor, firstly I don't think the buyer should have to take a risk, the car should have been sorted for sale. Secondly to me it just shows a car which hasn't been cherished and looked after. Why not go for one which has? Plenty of 458s out there for sale.
 
Any car with multiple unrelated electrical problems is either a battery or earth issue. But I would keep looking, as if the seller can't be arsed to chuck a battery in and reset the fault codes then there's a lot more they likely can't be arsed with
 
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