Ultima vs F430 or another 'supercar'
Discussion
I'm interested in the views of Ultima owners in comparison terms of the ownership proposition vs conventional 'supercars' - F430, Gallardo etc
I had decided to buy a LHD F430 from europe as the value seems very good at the moment and it's likely I will either loose nothing/very little or if I'm lucky have a gently appreciating asset in the near term. But the allure of the performance of the ultima GTR's have always appealed so I am somewhat torn.
While I understand modern sports cars shouldn't really be considered 'investments' I'm interested to hear from owners how they have got on in terms of TCO on Ultima's they have built or bought and then sold. Did you loose money? was it difficult to sell? was it expensive to run compared to other sportscars?
I'd plan to use the car for european trips (as far as southern Italy), trackdays etc. so I'd be interested to hear how owners have found the cars on the autobahn, swiss alps etc - practical things like luggage, ride height, fuel tank capacity etc!
Ideally I'd like to discuss with an owner with experience of both types of car ownership. The budget is around £75k which is cheap for a Ferrari, but would mean I could look at a high-spec GTR, or, perhaps spend a lot less if there is a 'sweet spot' price-wise. Seems the money would be relatively 'safe' in a ferrari (I understand the running costs of an F430 will be high, but it's a known quantity and quite a reliable car) I dont know enough about the Ultima's other than watching the used prices over the last few years (they seem pretty flat?).
As an aside, I'm struggling to visualise what the Ultima is like to drive. The quickest car I've driven was a Ferrari F12, I'm assuming it feels significantly quicker again... From what I've seen and read they dont seem to be particularity easy to drive (the videos I've seen on youtube and the 'ring laptimes discussed on here seem rather conservative?). I do circuit racing and have driven a fair few track cars, so scary handling or a challenge isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I guess it is unclear to me if the cars are difficult to drive quickly or the driver ability of the owners who have posted videos is more limited? The GTR at Djion is probably the only youtube clip I've seen of a GTR being driven hard (apart from the topgear track lap).
I had decided to buy a LHD F430 from europe as the value seems very good at the moment and it's likely I will either loose nothing/very little or if I'm lucky have a gently appreciating asset in the near term. But the allure of the performance of the ultima GTR's have always appealed so I am somewhat torn.
While I understand modern sports cars shouldn't really be considered 'investments' I'm interested to hear from owners how they have got on in terms of TCO on Ultima's they have built or bought and then sold. Did you loose money? was it difficult to sell? was it expensive to run compared to other sportscars?
I'd plan to use the car for european trips (as far as southern Italy), trackdays etc. so I'd be interested to hear how owners have found the cars on the autobahn, swiss alps etc - practical things like luggage, ride height, fuel tank capacity etc!
Ideally I'd like to discuss with an owner with experience of both types of car ownership. The budget is around £75k which is cheap for a Ferrari, but would mean I could look at a high-spec GTR, or, perhaps spend a lot less if there is a 'sweet spot' price-wise. Seems the money would be relatively 'safe' in a ferrari (I understand the running costs of an F430 will be high, but it's a known quantity and quite a reliable car) I dont know enough about the Ultima's other than watching the used prices over the last few years (they seem pretty flat?).
As an aside, I'm struggling to visualise what the Ultima is like to drive. The quickest car I've driven was a Ferrari F12, I'm assuming it feels significantly quicker again... From what I've seen and read they dont seem to be particularity easy to drive (the videos I've seen on youtube and the 'ring laptimes discussed on here seem rather conservative?). I do circuit racing and have driven a fair few track cars, so scary handling or a challenge isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I guess it is unclear to me if the cars are difficult to drive quickly or the driver ability of the owners who have posted videos is more limited? The GTR at Djion is probably the only youtube clip I've seen of a GTR being driven hard (apart from the topgear track lap).
Thanks for the reply - useful insight.
I get the impression an F430 would be an 'event' it's hard to ignore the prancing horse on the steering wheel and all that entails, and I do confess that I prefer the sound of a high-reving engine to the US muscle style V8. I presume the Ultimas are a slightly different type of event - like getting into a group-c racing car.
For what I have in mind, something physical would suit me well - I'm the kind of person that (should I be able to afford one) would be happy to run an F40 as an everyday driver. I've driven road-legal race cars to the 'ring and a couple of years back I drove a track-prep'd honda integra type-r on a 3000ml euro trip (complete with cage, race seat, harnesses, rock hard suspension and lots of noise) traveling all the way to corsica.
I built my current race car and do all my own work on my other cars, so the 'tinkering' aspect of the ultima also appeals, I had been considering building one, but after building a race car I learnt it's always cheaper to buy one someone else built!
I am not really a huge badge person, but the F430 is quite unique as an ownership proposition as it's not depreciating - discounting the financial side of ownership I would have considered Nissan GTRs and GT3911's, but I think the nissan will loose more money and the 911's seem to be at the top of a heated porsche market.
The F430 is likely to be cost-neutral over 2-3yrs and potentially appreciate beyond that which is why it is the lead contender. I've discounted the gallardo as the 'safe' handling isn't really my thing.
From what I see of the ultima market, the prices seem pretty static (which is ok, as the F430 will have higher running costs to offset any appreciation).
I see there is a yellow 720bhp car for sale at the moment - it would be in budget and clearly the headline number is rather appealing, but I assume from the 'build' nature of the cars, each car has to be considered individually. perhaps a lower spec car might be more 'drivable' in the real world?
my rough plan is to buy something and keep it for 2-3yrs - probably doing 5k miles a year and hoping to get out with a fairly neutral TCO. The F430's I'm looking at are reasonably high mileage so the 10k miles shouldn't impact the value too much - I dont want a 10,000mile garage queen. I see from the nature of the ultima's they dont seem to rack up huge miles - are the prices mileage sensitive like ferraris (which I am offsetting by buying one already discounted will higher miles) - ie am I likely to loose a lot of value if I put 10k on one?
Apologies for the basic questions, but the ultimas are rare and unique...
I get the impression an F430 would be an 'event' it's hard to ignore the prancing horse on the steering wheel and all that entails, and I do confess that I prefer the sound of a high-reving engine to the US muscle style V8. I presume the Ultimas are a slightly different type of event - like getting into a group-c racing car.
For what I have in mind, something physical would suit me well - I'm the kind of person that (should I be able to afford one) would be happy to run an F40 as an everyday driver. I've driven road-legal race cars to the 'ring and a couple of years back I drove a track-prep'd honda integra type-r on a 3000ml euro trip (complete with cage, race seat, harnesses, rock hard suspension and lots of noise) traveling all the way to corsica.
I built my current race car and do all my own work on my other cars, so the 'tinkering' aspect of the ultima also appeals, I had been considering building one, but after building a race car I learnt it's always cheaper to buy one someone else built!
I am not really a huge badge person, but the F430 is quite unique as an ownership proposition as it's not depreciating - discounting the financial side of ownership I would have considered Nissan GTRs and GT3911's, but I think the nissan will loose more money and the 911's seem to be at the top of a heated porsche market.
The F430 is likely to be cost-neutral over 2-3yrs and potentially appreciate beyond that which is why it is the lead contender. I've discounted the gallardo as the 'safe' handling isn't really my thing.
From what I see of the ultima market, the prices seem pretty static (which is ok, as the F430 will have higher running costs to offset any appreciation).
I see there is a yellow 720bhp car for sale at the moment - it would be in budget and clearly the headline number is rather appealing, but I assume from the 'build' nature of the cars, each car has to be considered individually. perhaps a lower spec car might be more 'drivable' in the real world?
my rough plan is to buy something and keep it for 2-3yrs - probably doing 5k miles a year and hoping to get out with a fairly neutral TCO. The F430's I'm looking at are reasonably high mileage so the 10k miles shouldn't impact the value too much - I dont want a 10,000mile garage queen. I see from the nature of the ultima's they dont seem to rack up huge miles - are the prices mileage sensitive like ferraris (which I am offsetting by buying one already discounted will higher miles) - ie am I likely to loose a lot of value if I put 10k on one?
Apologies for the basic questions, but the ultimas are rare and unique...
I'm disappointed with the responses here - I hope it's not representative of most ultima owners. having said that, there are a couple of posters in this thread I will contact if/when I'm in the market for their more balanced view. To say a Ferrari is slow, only for show offs and van-like is a bit strong. Anyway, I'm very happy with my choice.
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