Is a Portofino for under £100k the most sensible decision?

[Honeywell]

Now.

I am in the market next year for a 50 year old birthday present to myself and I'v been toying with various flavours of 911 and Lotus Emira and so on and so forth. However, in the spirit of go big or go home I have lately been pondering wether it makes more sense to actually buy a Ferrari Portofino.

Am I mad and have a I missed something?

The car needs to do about 3000 miles a year, not on a track, it needs to be used several times a month throughout the year mostly on local trips but every now and again I want to do 200 miles on a weekend away. I want it to be a a buit of a status symbol, I do like driving so I want it to handle, I want it take my teenagers to the prom, I want it to scratch a petrolhead itch of having had a Ferrari.

I can stomach spending £9,000 a year on insurance warranty and maintenance. Am I being realistic? How likely is such a car to throw me a dispiriting massive bill which will spoil the whole experience?

[Honeywell]

Well I am being honest about the status symbol. And I have to love teenagers given I own two.

I have a 2022 MX5 and frankly if I am being Mr Spock it does everything I need for £25k and it does it perfectly well and I love it. Nevertheless you're only on this planet once and in your first 25 years you are poor but horny and in your last 25 years you are rich but impotent so there's only a limited window to actually have a Ferrari and by horny.

[Honeywell]

Thanks. I am at a slight loss how to value the official warranty. Do the dealers find a massive amount of problems in year 8 that they ignored in years 6 and 7? At an independent - and I like a non franchise garage specialist generally - what is the sort of cost of an annual service?'

I might be the sort of buyer who keeps the car for twenty years so the gap in official service history will be less important than overall condition. This will be one of last petrol only Ferraris without a GPF and fittable with a loud exhaust. Might be an end of era motorcar.

[Honeywell]

Thank you for the replies.

I look at the values of Portfinos and I weigh the premium of something like an £80k Porsche 911 of Lotus Emira which would be a lot newer and I just can't help but think that for an extra bit of money the Ferrari is a lot more special. Premium sportscars are taking a bath right now. I've not followed Portfinos pricing for long enough to take a view on values/costs. I'd be looking to buy in about 4 to 6 months time. Hence hoping for an entry point closer to £100k.

Is the market dropping that far that fast or are Ferrari's in another world?

I dodged a bullet in not buying a Rangerover in the Spring and bought a much older leggier Dicovery4. Avoiding the depreciation trap is a key factor for me. But it's an odd time of year to be surveying the market for drop top Ferraris. The Portofino would be traded in against a 2 year old MX5 so quite the change. I can stomach something like £10k a year running/depreciation cost but am nervous of the thing throwing me a £30k bill or depreciation hit.

[Honeywell]

See this appeals to me greatly. I'm just unsure what happens when it hits 7 years and drops out of warranty/servicing. Do the values nosedive?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202310112...

[Honeywell]

OK, that's reassuring. Thanks.

[Honeywell]

It's a tough one.

I am trying to resist my inner sensible self which says get a 5.0 Jag F type or a 911 991.2 and take it to Lichfield for 480bhp or get a Lotus Emira or so anything that is more sensible than a Ferrari. Yet something in the back of my head is saying that - because I can - go and buy a Ferrari and just enjoy the extra extravagance because that is what the whole thing actually is.

And values seem to be getting better and in the era of the £50,000 Golf GTi not quite as silly as the once seemed.

[Honeywell]

I do see the appeal for 3/4 the cost but for some reason they don't quite light my blue touch paper. They should. But they don't.

[Honeywell]

Typical. Went for petrol and parked next to a DB11 for the first time I've ever seen one in the flesh. This complicated matters!

I think I need to go and sit in one and a Portofino as a first step.

[Honeywell]

Boleros said:

That car was £138,830 in May this year. I know because I got a finance quote on it!

Thanks for that data. I'm trying to get a feel for this market as I've not had a Portofino on my radar until the last couple of weeks.

I dodged buying a new Lotus Emira which would have been £75k on the road which one year and 3000 miles on WBAC are now offering £48k for. Losing £27k in under a year would have taken a lot of enjoyment out the experience.

I'd like to step into the market once the correction has fully occurred.

[Honeywell]

I think the WBAC price is a good enough proxy for what a dealer would offer for an Emira. Sure a private sale would expect more. I think that a lot of premium car buyers will be rolling out of lease deals in the next six months and not renewing as finance costs have doubled compared to three years ago. Maybe Ferrari buyers are less impacted (I wouldn't be using any finance for example) but I am still sceptical that we have reached the bottom yet.

The number of 911's hitting the market and not shifting is very evident.

[Honeywell]

Ooof!

That looks splendid. £22,000 paint option?


https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202312225...

[Honeywell]

Pflanzgarten said:

He’s had that for sale for months and was as low as £110k on his last advert.

Thank you.

I need to get a non-IOS device so I can have the Chrome Autotrader plugin recording pricing.

[Honeywell]

willy wombat said:

My Portofino is in Rosso Portofino and it is a beautiful colour. However my interest was piqued by the suggestion that it is a £22k option so I dug out my sales invoice as I was pretty sure I didn’t pay that, and I didn’t. £7,104 including VAT was what I paid for Rosso Portofino. My car is virtually identical vintage (delivered new to me 1/1/20 just in time for Covid). I have quite a few more options (carbon, wheels, car play etc). I also have passenger display which is the one option I regret paying for. Waste of money.
I think they are great value at the moment.

Thanks for that. Bit naughty to inflate an option by 300% in an advert.

Is yours in Birkenhead?

[Honeywell]

Thanks. Kind of hard to price these cars secondhand when options can vary so much in price.

[Honeywell]

I think carbon fibre trim is pointless, tacky and undesirable.