F355 costs poll?

[Mario149]

Hi all, there are a couple of threads running on the Porsche forum regarding maintenance costs of 996s and 993s per yer. Can someone set up a poll here for the same for F355s? Would be good as a comparison as a lot of Porsche owners are in the process of going "crap, I didn't realise it costs me that much to run!" !! Who knows, maybe Fezzas which have such a bad rep for maintenance costs may do better!

By the way, the costs here would only include those expenses for keeping the car in good condition. It wouldn't include unnecessary upgrades (e.g. sports exhaust, unless the old one was dead and had to be replaced anyway) or things like tax, fuel, insurance. Just the stuff to maintain the car and consumables, you get the idea.

Cost options to include (for some sort of comparison) would be say:
less than £1000
£1000 - £2000
£2000 - £3000
£3000 - £5000
more than £5000

Can someone put this up? Hopefully we have a decent sample of past and present owners here

[Jonty355]

I think it depends a lot on how much you use it. I use mine rarely. As in not many miles goes on it. But it regulary gets fired up and warmed through to keep stuff active and free from ceasing.

Works out different per year. You'll have 2 years at maybe less than a £1000, and then 1 year at over £2000 when you come to having a big service carried out on it. But thats for me doing about 2000 miles a year at the very most.

Rest of the time its getting polished and looking very beautiful.

[Cactussed]

Are we talking doing work yourself or taking it to Ferrari or a specialist?

A yearly service costs £750. You can DIY for about £200, so the £550 is the stamp in the book.
Same with an engine out service. Parts for a proper cam belt service are relatively inexpensive (probably about £300) but the service costs £1600+ due to labour of either fitting in-itu or removing the engine.

I expect owners on here will have havae donw a little of both to their cars, so costs can vary wildly. Either way, if you're taking it to a dealer each time, you can budget a minimum of £1000pa plus an additional £1500-2000 every 3 years. Assuming nothing goes majorly wrong (which to fair, seems to be rare).

The most common large bill is a top end rebuild, which again isn't common and could set you back c.£5k. Otherwise, exhaust manifolds, which are c.£500 per side plus fitting.

Otherwise, incidentals can be expensive but not too bad...

[jdw1234]

Agree with the above.

[Mario149]

Yup, I see that everyone is going to treat their cars in different ways mileage wise and where/how they service it. But, I'd still be curious to know what people spend, and if enough people answer the poll (someone put it up please!!), an average may come out. I'm sure people answering the Porsche polls treat their cars in different ways also, so a comparison is still useful!

[AndrewW-G]

Running costs will depend entirely on how your using the car and what condition its in before you buy it.

I know people who have spent less than £1.5k a year, but also people who have had to spend £10k+ putting problems right, no doubt the same as for people with 911's.......... some people needed to replace the RMS and others didnt

[MDahmen]

From memory over the last 6 months and c 5k miles (lot's of which in London daily commute)
alternator and radio: c 600
exhaust manifold: c 1,400
clutch and rear tires: c 1,800
some little part that broke and left me stranded: c 500
so I think it adds up to a total of c 4k-4.5k
Petrol is a bit ridiculous, I get an average of about 100 miles out of a tank of fuel

I need new front tires and I think I might have to have some work done on the suspension, all those holes in London roads are not helping.

hope this helps,

Matthias

[The Milfman]

MDahmen said:

exhaust manifold: c 1,400
clutch and rear tires: c 1,800

Were these done at a main dealer?

MDahmen said:

I get an average of about 100 miles out of a tank of fuel

The worst I've ever managed is a 130 (average 180-200) to a tank, must try harder!!



Mario149 - You already know my views & costs from e-mail, just go for a 355, you won't regret it!!

Edited by The Milfman on Wednesday 13th January 15:55

[jdw1234]

The Milfman said:

MDahmen said:

exhaust manifold: c 1,400
clutch and rear tires: c 1,800

Were these done at a main dealer?

MDahmen said:

I get an average of about 100 miles out of a tank of fuel

The worst I've ever managed is a 130 (average 180-200) to a tank, must try harder!!



Mario149 - You already know my views & costs from e-mail, just go for a 355, you won't regret it!!

Edited by The Milfman on Wednesday 13th January 15:55

Mario - ring Carl or Kabir at Verdi. He is the closest specialist to you. He will give you the lowdown (you can also ask them what they think about my car).

Edited by jdw1234 on Wednesday 13th January 16:39

Edited by jdw1234 on Wednesday 13th January 16:39

[MDahmen]

all works were done at Verdi - costs are from memory, so individual items might have been a bit cheaper or a bit pricier, not 100% sure, but overall should be ballpark

with regards to petrol - basically mostly first and second gear / sitting in traffic jams - its not frugal in those circumstances

[The Milfman]

MDahmen said:

all works were done at Verdi - costs are from memory, so individual items might have been a bit cheaper or a bit pricier, not 100% sure, but overall should be ballpark

Fair enough.

MDahmen said:

with regards to petrol - basically mostly first and second gear / sitting in traffic jams - its not frugal in those circumstances

Painful, but hey, atleast you look great doing it!

[ferrari spider]

MDahmen said:

Petrol is a bit ridiculous, I get an average of about 100 miles out of a tank of fuel

You what??? 100 miles? I get about 250-300 a tank. I can only just do the maths with out crying, as to what my fuel bills would be on my annual 2500 mile trek across Europe to Italy if i had your car
Not all F355s are the same it seems.

Edited by ferrari spider on Wednesday 13th January 17:07

[Mario149]

The Milfman said:

MDahmen said:

exhaust manifold: c 1,400
clutch and rear tires: c 1,800

Were these done at a main dealer?

MDahmen said:

I get an average of about 100 miles out of a tank of fuel

The worst I've ever managed is a 130 (average 180-200) to a tank, must try harder!!



Mario149 - You already know my views & costs from e-mail, just go for a 355, you won't regret it!!

Edited by The Milfman on Wednesday 13th January 15:55

Haha! Okay guys, thanks for writing all the info about running costs, it's v informative. But just to clarify, I wasn't looking peronally for me - I've done lots of research and have a good idea of what the average costs should be, I just wanted the poll up so that some numerical comparison of sorts could be drawn against Porsche running costs to possibly challenge the generally held opinion that Porsches are significantly cheaper to run than Ferraris

And yes, all being well, once I've sold my current car, I will be going down the F355 route, there is no persuading needed

[MDahmen]

The 100 miles a tank apply to driving in London (lowest I've seen was 81 I think).
On my trip to Germany 2 weeks ago I probably got close to 200 miles out of a tank. So don't think my car drinks more than others (at least I hope not)

[Jonty355]

I've managed about 230 miles out of a tank before. Ok it was fairly steady driving. But plenty was through the North Yorkshire Moors which will bring down the economy on any car!

You must have been really gunning it to acheive 100 miles in a tank!

[andy355]

for those of you that dont have the "pleasure" of driving to work in London, my old merc sl55 used to do about 5.5mph ave speed and 7mpg even my audi s3 said it was doing 18mpg. no idea on the ferraris i've had but dont imagine it was pretty!

[Mario149]

I had it down to 7mpg or so driving around London in my Maser 4200...
It sounds expensive, but 7 miles for £5 or so is a v long way in town

[PorkerSean]

I'm interested in comparison of running costs for 911 vs 355 as that's the route I'm on. I sold my 911(996) a few months ago and posted my running costs on the porsche forum. My gut feeling is that overall running costs will be approx. the same due to lower depreciation on a 355, but higher maintenance. Of course mileage is also a factor, since I wouldn't expect to rack up 25000 in 2.5 years in a 355.

I'm currently saving for a good size deposit to put down on a 355. I had hoped to be in that position now, but sometimes things don't always work out the way you plan....

[PorkerSean]

FWIW here are my 911 figures:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[jdw1234]

PorkerSean said:

I'm interested in comparison of running costs for 911 vs 355 as that's the route I'm on. I sold my 911(996) a few months ago and posted my running costs on the porsche forum. My gut feeling is that overall running costs will be approx. the same due to lower depreciation on a 355, but higher maintenance. Of course mileage is also a factor, since I wouldn't expect to rack up 25000 in 2.5 years in a 355.

I'm currently saving for a good size deposit to put down on a 355. I had hoped to be in that position now, but sometimes things don't always work out the way you plan....

I have 2 friends who had normally aspirated 993's. Both cost more to run than my F355 (which has been maintained regardless of cost*) and with similar useage. I have done c.15k miles in my F355.

• regardless of cost means whatever it needed was done, but it was done at a recognised independant.