Cali T v 599

[355Chris]

I have found a 599 that I’m interested in. It has a pretty good history up until 2018z However there is a slight concern after the 2018 service. The car has been in storage for the last three years and so has down virtually no mileage nor has it been serviced.

As part of the sale the trader would have a service done by Ferrari on it.

However, I have always found that when I have not used ferraris for a while a string of issues can pop up when they start to be used again. Obviously I will have some come back for the first three months; do you think most of the gremlins will pop up in that time period?!

[Nosevi]

I'm not as familiar with the newer cars as the older ones but I'd think it depends how thoroughly the car is looked over and sorted prior to it coming to you as well as how it's been stored. I know of a member on here who bought a car straight out of 10 year storage, had some work done and said he had zero issues there after. Another mate of mine stored a car for 3 years, started it up, Mot'd and serviced it and put it straight back on the road - also had zero issues.

How it's been stored and how well it's then been inspected and sorted is probably far more important than whether it's been stored or for how long.

[cgt]

I'd say tread carefully.

One of my 550's had stood for a year before I bought it. It had numerous small electrical gremlins that didn't stop me enjoying the car but were a real pain as I put on quite a few miles after it had been standing (had a major service before collection) and it had a suspension light issue that took a year to finally track down and resolve.

Has the car been stood outside or inside? If indoors in a warm garage on trickle charge it may not be so bad.

Sadly even HR Owen London these days can only put expensive machinery out in the yard and as we all know Ferraris don't sit well out in moisture, more so newer ones packed with electronics. This was a real issue for me when they last had my car but they said they simply had no room indoors.



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[Nosevi]

Has the car been stood outside or inside? If indoors in a warm garage on trickle charge it may not be so bad.

Leaving a car sat outside for a few years isn't 'storing' a car, Faisal, it's abandoning it

If it's not inside, on trickle charge, in a relatively dry environment (preferably sealed, humidity controlled and heated in winter) it hasn't been 'stored' no matter what the seller says.

[Modificato]

Read my 599 ownership thread.

The early experience was not great.

They are expensive cars to run and it was before service included deals and there were early issues:-

The MAF's got ruined at the dealer servicing documents and procedures were wrong for a few years before that was found and corrected.

Almost every 599 had a string of MAF's and related issues.

Parking sensors cause problems as they sit low and vulnerably on the front

TPMS batteries die at 8 years and cause errors and loss signal related stuff.

Suspension units fail if the car is not used regularly

Bushes, drop-links, tie rods and ball joints all fail if not used regularly and the stock replacements are crappy chromed steel bearings rather than stainless.

I suggest that anyone considering any Ferrari go over to Hill engineering and check out their products for each tipo - it shows you what goes wrong and what needed to be better engineered.

The good news is since my 599 got sorted it has been stone-axe reliable and has done 3 Mille Miglia's which are brutal on any car and it just shrugged it off.

If I needed to do 3,000 miles tomorrow across Europe to the farm and back there is no car that would remotely come close.

My 456M GT was the same and my 456GT's before it.

Just love Ferrari V12's

Don't die wondering and do it NOW while they are still legal...

[355Chris]

It’s been stored in a car showroom on a battery conditioner (good customer) for the three year period.

Modificato, do you think most of the issues you mention would be picked up in a Ferrari main dealer service? They have said they would service by ferrari before sale.

[Modificato]

in a word YES but then NO - I'll explain

My car had a full service history and indeed a recent one when i bought it but what was missing at point of sail was the traffic-light reports and some of the interim receipts in order for it to be a FULL history. When i got this it painted a much darker picture of issues not sorted to root cause elimination and corner cutting / penny pinching by the third owner. Lots of advisory notes saying 'owner says no'. This third owner only drove the car 1,000 miles in four years but its standing around doing nothing caused a lot of issues that he refused to be rectified at service. (ball joints, bushes, hoses cracked etc.)

The issue is the traffic light report evaluates the condition of everything and annoyingly has an 'amber' status - something I ban in all of my businesses!

Amber can mean two things to everyone so you can be sold a car with everything amber and then be told at the next service a couple of months later "sorry mate its all gone red" - = £30k bill

Clutch wear readout and CCM brake pad and disc wear are ESSENTIAL to know and see with your own eyes DO NOT take anyones word for it as you are looking at a £3k job for the former and £11k bill for the latter. If its discs AND pads thats £13k

My CCM's lasted 27,000miles and in that time it used three sets of pads. Most of the wear with CCM's is incurred when using, either before they get to optimum temp window or are used beyond that.

Also another thing on CCM's is certain cleaning products and de-icers accelerator the wear (two / three fold) if they ingress the material in enough quantity.

Some low mileage but over-cleaned cars have suffered as a result.

Don't let this put you off though a V12 is another level and once sorted they are brilliant since mine was refreshed and deferred maintenance put right it has proven itself to be beyond reproach.

That my V12 has 1/3rd more miles on it than my V8 speaks to that - the mrs prefers it too :-)