So how much does a Ferrari 308 cost to run

Well apart from the petrol costs (remember is a 3l V8 with big carbs) the annual service charge is probably around £500-1000. What do you get for your money ? Well assuming your car is just being maintained then it's things like fluid change (engine oil, brake fluid, coolant), belt checks, brake checks and adjustments. All these things sound pretty normal and in fact the price of parts is reasonable for the type of car e.g. brake pads £20, alternator belt £15. So really, you could do all these regular jobs yourself as they are no more difficult then on any other car - in fact probably easier than a modern car.

Ferrari (apparently) recommend a cam belt change every two years - hmm, if the car's only done a few thousand miles it seems overkill but since aftermarket belts are much cheaper than broken valves and pistons then it's probably a good idea to stick to this maintainance schedule. You can always have a look at other things whilst you're in there with the covers off - e.g. the cam belt drive pulleys and bearings, and leaks around these and the crankshaft.


The killer is the cost of labour. Working on 308's is easy. They are old fashioned simple technology, but there aren't many workshops around who dare to take them on. Hence you have to pay specialist labour rates of around £70 / hour and an annual service could easily clock up 20 hours - you do the Maths.

I do most of the work on the car myself, but to maintain a Ferrari specialist service history for the car Nick Cartwright does the annual and MOT. If times get hard, then I'll have to do it all myself.