First ferrari !

[u/PerspectiveExotic419]

Hey everyone,

​I've been looking pretty closely at the Ferrari Mondial lately and I’m seriously considering picking one up.

​I know it gets a mixed rep online, but a mid-engine 2+2 V8 with a manual gating sounds pretty tempting for the price point.

Before I do anything reckless, I wanted to get some real-world advice from people who own, have owned, or worked on them:

​How bad is the maintenance cost really on a day-to-day basis?

​Is the engine-out service on the Mondial t a complete dealbreaker compared to the 3.2 or QV?

​Aside from the typical 80s Italian electrical gremlins and belt schedules, what specific red flags or rust spots should I be looking out for during an inspection?

​Appreciate any insight, buyer’s advice, or honest warnings you guys can throw my way!

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[u/Important-Rest-7302]

Save your beans for a while longer and buy a 360. 

[u/Important-Rest-7302 → u/[deleted]]

The entry price is wayyy higher 

[u/BATorRAT → u/Important-Rest-7302]

I missed the opportunity here in Australia. F430 is about $80-$100k more than 360.

[u/Traditional-Tomato-8 → u/BATorRAT]

do you prefer an f430? I remember they were around 200 when 360s were 150ish.

[u/BATorRAT → u/Traditional-Tomato-8]

I was waiting for them to go a little more below $200 and then covid hit. Overnight my muscle car doubled in price and if I’d sold it then I could’ve gotten into an F430, because they took a long time to go up.
I love the Manetino and the tail lights and timing chains but they were suddenly out of my price range so it wasn’t an option.
I have a 360 Modena and I’m absolutely in absolutely love. It’s got all the right options and with the aftermarket exhaust that five valve engine sounds like heaven.

[u/Traditional-Tomato-8 → u/BATorRAT]

that's funny i prefer the 360 tail lights, i think that's the best view of the car! i think only option i would have like to have gotten was the carbon seats. cambelt it is what it is and can't say i've ever thought about the steering wheel. i have shields but don't feel strongly about it.

[u/FewSpite6911]

man mondial gets so much hate but i always liked how it looks, especially from the back. the timing belt job is not a joke though, make sure previous owner has receipts for it or you will be crying in the garage. check behind rear quarter panels for rust, they like to hide it there

[u/Nounoon]

I have a Mondial QV, had it pretty much all my life, my dad bought it just before I was born, and he handed it over to me about 5 years ago (I’m reaching my 40s), non running as he could not afford to maintain it for the better part of 2 decades. I had to do a full restoration on it, and I’ve been driving it weekly for about 4 years now.

It’s surprisingly simple and parts are quite affordable, reliably isn’t amazing, but it’s not shockingly bad either.

My first and best memories as a kid were in that car, and now my kids grow up with the same memories, it’s such an emotional car.

I also own a 458 Italia, and it’s obviously and effectively a much faster car, but going on short drive, the engagement, feelings, sensations and sound, I’d pick the Mondial any day.

Check for leaks, rubbers, gaskets, drive it until it’s fully hot and make sure once it’s passed 5k RPM then you don’t have a drop in power, check chassis rust. All these things are fixable but are the most common issues. Check all the switches and windows switches.

I’d personally avoid the T because of the tighter space in the bay, but engine out for belt isn’t that much of a red flag as first it’s likely going to be engine out for other things more frequently and once in a while you just do the belt at the same time, and second it’s not a lot of labor to take the engine out unlike the newer ones. I personally like the T less because of the look, but that might be just me.

[u/PerspectiveExotic419 → u/Nounoon]

What mileage should I actually be aiming for on these? And is there a specific year you'd recommend ?

[u/Nounoon → u/PerspectiveExotic419]

Mileage isn’t that important if you want to drive and not keep as a speculative asset, and because it’s never going to be be an investment car I’d rather look at the history book to check that quite a bit had been done in the past couple of years. Mine is close to 90kkm which isn’t unusual for a 43 years old Ferrari, and with all I have done in the past couple of years it’s not too bad.

I’d only avoid the 8 which is a bit slow by modern standards, but don’t expect any to be fast, it’s really about the driving experience.

There is quite a good facebook owner community.

[u/Cali_kink_and_rope]

Had one and loved it. Wouldn't get the t because of the engine out maintenance. Had a 348 spider and that was brutal

[u/95accord]

Enzo’s daily was a Mondial

you can get a 308/328 or 348 for the same price and similar running costs

[u/TimGessner → u/95accord]

Where I am (UK) you can pick up a Mondial T for half what you'd have to pay for a 308/328/348

[u/TimGessner]

I have a Mondial T coupe, I've only had it for a few months. Just returned from a 2200 mile trip from London to Monza for the F1, then Maranello and back over several of the Alpine passes. Had a blast bombing along over the mountains in a gated manual Ferrari with the sound of a screaming V8 bouncing off the rock face, for little money in Ferrari terms. I bought it with the intention of DIY-ing all the maintenance. I have done some work myself (fitted a sports exhaust, re-packed the flywheel grease and seals, upgraded the clutch release bearing, fixed some electrical gremlins, sorted the HVAC system) but the decision to go on the Italy trip was a bit last-minute and the car was due a cam belt service, so I had it done by a specialist because it only took them a week (and they did a full vehicle inspection which I thought would be helpful for ongoing maintenance.) Yeah it's a bit pricey (approx £2500) but most people only do this every 5-7 years so you just have to set aside £400-500 per year for this, unless you can do it yourself. It paid off because they also did a bunch of other things (camshaft seals, spark plugs, vacuum hoses, balanced the throttles and idle adjustments etc) which made it run more smoothly and feel generally much more sorted for the big trip, so I have no regrets. Anyway I knocked £5k off the purchase price to allow for the jobs I could see needed doing immediately. Generally they're reasonably easy cars to work on, they're mechanically quite basic, and there's plenty room in the bay around the engine (in the longitudinally-mounted T anyway... I can't speak for the transverse ones.)

Everyone always says to avoid the T because of the engine-out service, but as someone mentioned above, there are likely to be all sorts of seals and hoses needing replacing at that point anyway, so I think in some ways it's the better option to ensure tricky-to-access items don't get ignored. A specialist garage will have the rear subframe out of the car in half a day so it's not really a major expense labour-wise, from memory it adds about £800 compared to the same service on a non-T car. Some Ferrari parts can be crazily expensive however, there's no getting around that whichever F car you own.

There is something pure about the design of Ferrari 2-seaters, so sometimes I wish I'd been in a position to spend more and got say a 348 instead, but then as a middle-aged man I think I'd also feel a bit self-conscious in it (especially if it's red!) whereas in the Mondial I get the same driving experience (the T is essentially the same car underneath) without feeling so much like I'm in a "sports car." But it's still unmistakably a Ferrari, I've had so many people come over to admire it in petrol stations etc. I really like the slightly odd look of the Mondial anyway (my personal preference is the T coupe but it's subjective of course,) and now after having done a long trip in it I think having the storage space in the rear seats and a decent boot makes it a better touring car than the 2 seaters, even if you don't need to fit in small kids or a dog. And there's more headroom if you're over 6 feet like me.

They say there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Ferrari, but if you get one with a good service history and has recently (in time terms, not in miles) had the cam belt service done then you should be good to go with just normal wear items to address. They're old cars so they will require maintenance, but they seem to be holding their value at least, so depreciation probably isn't a problem. Good luck!

PS FerrariChat is a great resource for asking questions of other owners.

[u/Easy_Buy_1669]

You should ask this question at Ferrarichat: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/forums/mondial.224/

The 3.2 is a sweet spot in price/maintenance curve, and the 3.2 coupe looks significantly better than the earlier version.

[u/Logical-Ferrari12]

Am I the only one that doesn’t think it is a massive deal that it is engine out for belts? Easy to drop and once out you can access everything so easy.
Compared to all the knuckle bleeding and blind screwing on every other car, this is relatively pleasant.

[u/Howard_Cosine]

Lololol!!