New 355 owners a year later
Discussion
I have been agonising over the sense and practicality of selling my 993 C2S and getting a Red/Black 355GTB.
It is something that I feel just has to be done. Like joining the mile high club, just as risky, but will the pleasure be worth the risk..!!
I have been reading many posts on forums asking the many newbie questions and wondered if any of those virgin Ferrari owners would do anything different if they had their time over.
I also see a huge variation in prices (33k -50k) what would you expect to currently pay for a manual red gtb with black interior with sensible miles.
Many Thanks in advance
Graham
It is something that I feel just has to be done. Like joining the mile high club, just as risky, but will the pleasure be worth the risk..!!
I have been reading many posts on forums asking the many newbie questions and wondered if any of those virgin Ferrari owners would do anything different if they had their time over.
I also see a huge variation in prices (33k -50k) what would you expect to currently pay for a manual red gtb with black interior with sensible miles.
Many Thanks in advance
Graham
Its almost a year since I bought my F355 GTB, red/cream, tubi & decat. It was sourced and supplied by Dion @ elmscollection so I had the head start of being confident that it was a good car. Buying around this time of year ment that I paid around £38k rather than what might have been around £40k in spring/summer. Also, before purchase I had the car sent for an independantly PPI and MOT.
Checking the service history I knew it needed the big service this year with belt changes and whatever else was needed. From reading various forums I had a mental budget circa £3k for this and was happy and relieved that this only cost £1850 inc a new MOT. Personally I feel more confident in the car since it has been serviced in my ownership even though there is atually no change to how it performs.
Other expenditure has been £450 on a rear Challenge Grill £100 for a Ferrari Indoor Cover, both from eBay (I intend to revert this back to the original grill when selling and sell the cover and Challenge Grill seperately so the cost should actually be neutral). Insurance has been fairly cheap at around £400ish based on a 4000 mile restriction. I think it will be about 3000 miles done by the full year. I am not sure how the MPG figures would work out accurately but probably around 15mpg.
As far as buying goes, the biggest thing for me was recognising that I actually didn't really know much about Ferraris other than the fact that I wanted one. That made looking at the classified ads great fun but fairly scary since the consequences of buying a Dog seemed fairly expensive. Finding someone or somewhere which had a good reputation and effectively saying "I trust you to get me a good car" is a bit of a leap of faith and definaely not for everyone but if I hadn't done it then I would still be looking at the classifieds this xmas!
I recon my car is worth somewhere around what I paid for it and it has cost me less than I bargained for. It has really been good to drive the car and I guess at the end of the day I actually enjoy the "owning a Ferrari" experience as well.
Jim
Checking the service history I knew it needed the big service this year with belt changes and whatever else was needed. From reading various forums I had a mental budget circa £3k for this and was happy and relieved that this only cost £1850 inc a new MOT. Personally I feel more confident in the car since it has been serviced in my ownership even though there is atually no change to how it performs.
Other expenditure has been £450 on a rear Challenge Grill £100 for a Ferrari Indoor Cover, both from eBay (I intend to revert this back to the original grill when selling and sell the cover and Challenge Grill seperately so the cost should actually be neutral). Insurance has been fairly cheap at around £400ish based on a 4000 mile restriction. I think it will be about 3000 miles done by the full year. I am not sure how the MPG figures would work out accurately but probably around 15mpg.
As far as buying goes, the biggest thing for me was recognising that I actually didn't really know much about Ferraris other than the fact that I wanted one. That made looking at the classified ads great fun but fairly scary since the consequences of buying a Dog seemed fairly expensive. Finding someone or somewhere which had a good reputation and effectively saying "I trust you to get me a good car" is a bit of a leap of faith and definaely not for everyone but if I hadn't done it then I would still be looking at the classifieds this xmas!
I recon my car is worth somewhere around what I paid for it and it has cost me less than I bargained for. It has really been good to drive the car and I guess at the end of the day I actually enjoy the "owning a Ferrari" experience as well.
Jim
Edited by renmure on Saturday 17th November 16:04
lanan said:
I have been agonising over the sense and practicality of selling my 993 C2S and getting a Red/Black 355GTB.
It is something that I feel just has to be done. Like joining the mile high club, just as risky, but will the pleasure be worth the risk..!!
I have been reading many posts on forums asking the many newbie questions and wondered if any of those virgin Ferrari owners would do anything different if they had their time over.
I also see a huge variation in prices (33k -50k) what would you expect to currently pay for a manual red gtb with black interior with sensible miles.
Many Thanks in advance
Graham
Well what do you class as a sensible mileage? For some wierd reason the average mileage of a 355 for sale has not changed over the last 5 years. It is something that I feel just has to be done. Like joining the mile high club, just as risky, but will the pleasure be worth the risk..!!
I have been reading many posts on forums asking the many newbie questions and wondered if any of those virgin Ferrari owners would do anything different if they had their time over.
I also see a huge variation in prices (33k -50k) what would you expect to currently pay for a manual red gtb with black interior with sensible miles.
Many Thanks in advance
Graham
lanan said:
I am expecting about 40k miles I guess.
Sounds reasonable. Mine is a 1995 car and turned 40k miles a few weeks ago. That means it has done less than 3500 miles per year over that time. Searching through this forum and others the general wisdom is that they run better when used and looked after. 
Renmure,
I have had my 355 for just over a year. As per the previous poster it was sourced by Dion at Elms. I have been very happy with it.
I have done 12,000 miles in that time consisting of Trackdays, Drift days, Carlimit days, Le Mans trip, 2 Eurohoons, and the usual lunches to Chelsea, lugged wardrobes home from Ikea and the shopping from Sainsburys.
Mechanically the car has been perfect. I change the oil every 3000 miles with top quality Silkolene (twice the cost of mobil 1) and the car gets looked after by Verdis, the only cost has been the annual service. However I have gone through 3 clutches in that time but that is generally due to the fact that I drive it like I stole it.
The car has treated me well, has helped me secure the services of a topshelf magazine GF and has even got me laid a few times
All in all Im very happy. Feel free to email me thru my profile if you have any questions.
Oh yeah and make sure you get it decatted and capristo'd, it'll change your life. ATB.
I have had my 355 for just over a year. As per the previous poster it was sourced by Dion at Elms. I have been very happy with it.
I have done 12,000 miles in that time consisting of Trackdays, Drift days, Carlimit days, Le Mans trip, 2 Eurohoons, and the usual lunches to Chelsea, lugged wardrobes home from Ikea and the shopping from Sainsburys.
Mechanically the car has been perfect. I change the oil every 3000 miles with top quality Silkolene (twice the cost of mobil 1) and the car gets looked after by Verdis, the only cost has been the annual service. However I have gone through 3 clutches in that time but that is generally due to the fact that I drive it like I stole it.
The car has treated me well, has helped me secure the services of a topshelf magazine GF and has even got me laid a few times
All in all Im very happy. Feel free to email me thru my profile if you have any questions.
Oh yeah and make sure you get it decatted and capristo'd, it'll change your life. ATB.
RallyRider said:
BrendonJ said:
The car has treated me well, has helped me secure the services of a topshelf magazine GF and has even got me laid a few times
Do you hire the car out at all? 
BrendonJ said:
The car has treated me well, has helped me secure the services of a topshelf magazine and has even got me a ladyboy a few times
EFA "My Names Brendon i own a Red Ferrari" !!!
Seasider said:
Tyres ???
You well Bren ?
Oh yeah, on 4th set of tyres in just over a year. Just put some 295's with 11mm spacers on which improve handling quite a bit. Reccomendation fro a chap on here called ferrarispider who seems to know all there is about the 355.You well Bren ?
Del, Im all good mate, BTAP was good, seemed to be a lot less people there this year tho.
jshell said:
Weird, or downright bloody suspicious? 
Well indeed.According to my spreadsheet from 5 years ago, the average then was about 22-24K
Currently on autotrader the average is currently 24K......
Yes it does look completely unbelievable.... and it is.
Edited by Ade355 on Tuesday 20th November 19:35
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