Information needed to decide on a potential purchase.

[AMG Merc]

macky17 said:

I'm sure you could take an F430 and mod it until it was identical to a Scuderia - it still wouldn't be one.

and for F430 read M12 and Scuderia read M400 as in the mod brigade here...

[V1DL3R]

macky17 said:

I don't see what there is to 'rant' about. Look at it the other way - as M400 values rise, they will pull the values of 'lesser' cars up behind them. If you had an M400 sat in the garage you wouldn't have typed any of that

I'm sure you could take an F430 and mod it until it was identical to a Scuderia - it still wouldn't be one.

I choose against a 400 as I wanted to drive mine a lot and take it on track etc and couldn't see the value to me in the extra price. I feel the same way about the Scud. If I wanted a 430 I would have gone the same way, but I don't want a 430 pretty much because of the above. Not my sort of car really.

[macky17]

AMG Merc said:

macky17 said:

I'm sure you could take an F430 and mod it until it was identical to a Scuderia - it still wouldn't be one.

and for F430 read M12 and Scuderia read M400 as in the mod brigade here...

Exactly my point. Was just a random example - the first that came to mind.

[andygtt]

AMG Merc said:

macky17 said:

I'm sure you could take an F430 and mod it until it was identical to a Scuderia - it still wouldn't be one.

and for F430 read M12 and Scuderia read M400 as in the mod brigade here...

And this is exactly as it should be.... the M400 and scuderia ARE the best of the brand.... as owners we can believe our car is better for whatever reason, but that doesn't change this fact.

When you modify a car you move it away from the brand and create something new... sometimes better, sometimes worse.... your modifying can be in line with a higher spec car to make it the same as, but its unusual to find people actually bother going the whole hog. For example, how many non M400's have an anti roll bar? how many have a modified rack?

Now I'm not for one minute saying that I personally think a stock M400 is a patch on say my modified GT03 as I don't think that at all... however despite there being probably close to £120k invested in my car alone I still suspect a stock M400 would be worth more!

[AMG Merc]

andygtt said:

And this is exactly as it should be.... the M400 and scuderia ARE the best of the brand.... as owners we can believe our car is better for whatever reason, but that doesn't change this fact.

When you modify a car you move it away from the brand and create something new... sometimes better, sometimes worse.... your modifying can be in line with a higher spec car to make it the same as, but its unusual to find people actually bother going the whole hog. For example, how many non M400's have an anti roll bar? how many have a modified rack?

Now I'm not for one minute saying that I personally think a stock M400 is a patch on say my modified GT03 as I don't think that at all... however despite there being probably close to £120k invested in my car alone I still suspect a stock M400 would be worth more!

agree.

[Chapppers]

Just look at M3s and M3CSLs, I'll admit a large percentage of the extra value is the extra 3 letters on the V5 and the VIN... They're also a lot better than a standard M3 out of the box but yes you can modify a standard M3 into a super duper race car that'll lap a track a lot quicker...

It's all the same stuff from different manufacturers. CSL values going up are dragging decent M3 and M3 CS values up, and the M400 is dragging my lowly (fastest M12 ever) 2.5's value up. It's the same st, different badges.

[V1DL3R]

andygtt said:

Now I'm not for one minute saying that I personally think a stock M400 is a patch on say my modified GT03 as I don't think that at all... however despite there being probably close to £120k invested in my car alone I still suspect a stock M400 would be worth more!

I guess that my gripe. It doesn't have to be with Nobles it can be any vehicle. For me (and it seems to be just me) it's not what cars are about. I massively respect Andys build, in my eyes is it worth more than an M400? YES, a big hell yes. But horses for courses and all that...

[macky17]

V1DL3R said:

andygtt said:

Now I'm not for one minute saying that I personally think a stock M400 is a patch on say my modified GT03 as I don't think that at all... however despite there being probably close to £120k invested in my car alone I still suspect a stock M400 would be worth more!

I guess that my gripe. It doesn't have to be with Nobles it can be any vehicle. For me (and it seems to be just me) it's not what cars are about. I massively respect Andys build, in my eyes is it worth more than an M400? YES, a big hell yes. But horses for courses and all that...

I'm not disputing that a car with that level of investment/development might be worth more than a stock M400. You must admit that's an exceptional example, however. My contention is that an M400 is worth more than a 3R which has been uprated to look/drive like an M400. £10k more? Yes quite probably. For me, it was an M400 because I physically cannot comfortably drive an M12 with the more offset pedals, narrower seats and reduced headroom (and the narrower transmission tunnel, etc. would be a bloody tricky mod surely?).