Discussion
If you intend doing 12k per annum, don't consider a low mileage 355 where you will be paying a major premium for having a low mileage example. This premium will be last at resale time when the car will be average or above average mileage. There are some around here who would advise against the 5k car as it hasn't done enough mileage.
Personally I'd take a 997 Carrera S with 350 porsche BHP.
DAZ
Personally I'd take a 997 Carrera S with 350 porsche BHP.
DAZ
Hmm, it will do the mileage without issue I'm sure.
What it will do to your resale is another matter...
To be honest with that kind of mileage I'd be more tempted by the 997. Or a Maserati (if you've not driven one do so!) or a 996TT second hand.
Putting 12k a year on a 355 is going to hurt in terms of resale and servicing. If you can afford it - do it though!
What it will do to your resale is another matter...
To be honest with that kind of mileage I'd be more tempted by the 997. Or a Maserati (if you've not driven one do so!) or a 996TT second hand.
Putting 12k a year on a 355 is going to hurt in terms of resale and servicing. If you can afford it - do it though!
Have both.
The 997 will no doubt take 12 months or so to come through....unless you are a lucky bugger with your name right at the front of the queue.
In the meantime get yourself a LHD good example 355 with 15k+ miles on it. You can get into decent "high mileage" LHD 355's from £37k+. Usual rules apply: regular servicing is a must, thorough check, drive several before buying, make sure the belts are done etc.
I have owned two 355's. Never again will I buy (i) a low mileage Ferrari (ii) RHD. The one time I did, the car cost me well over £10k in the first 8 weeks of ownership! When I came to sell, I was competing against LHD's at 2/3rds of the price for the same car.
For me having a RHD is not really a big deal but the 50% premium of RHD's over LHD's is.
My 2nd 355 was a LHD spider. It cost £45k and had 16k (miles) on the clock. I sold it 12 months later with 31k (miles) on the clock for £42k. No major problems, just normal wear and tear - 2 rear tyres, brakes, oil and the like.
Nick
The 997 will no doubt take 12 months or so to come through....unless you are a lucky bugger with your name right at the front of the queue.
In the meantime get yourself a LHD good example 355 with 15k+ miles on it. You can get into decent "high mileage" LHD 355's from £37k+. Usual rules apply: regular servicing is a must, thorough check, drive several before buying, make sure the belts are done etc.
I have owned two 355's. Never again will I buy (i) a low mileage Ferrari (ii) RHD. The one time I did, the car cost me well over £10k in the first 8 weeks of ownership! When I came to sell, I was competing against LHD's at 2/3rds of the price for the same car.
For me having a RHD is not really a big deal but the 50% premium of RHD's over LHD's is.
My 2nd 355 was a LHD spider. It cost £45k and had 16k (miles) on the clock. I sold it 12 months later with 31k (miles) on the clock for £42k. No major problems, just normal wear and tear - 2 rear tyres, brakes, oil and the like.
Nick
If you've dreamed of owning one for a while, and you can afford it, get the Ferrari.
We can talk for days about residuals, solidity etc, but all the accountant type stuff simply cannot prepare you for seeing your very own Ferrari sat in your garage every day.
Porsche's are nice cars and I'll have a 911 of some sort at some point, but anyone thinging the Ferrari comes 2nd in a beauty and noise contest needs their eyes and ears sorting.
You would also need to prepare yourself for some serious attention from the general public. Everyone bar none always wants to get close and have a good look at the car.
If you go this route, make sure you get advice from a good independent. Also check out www.ferrarichat.com.
In terms of cost of ownership with 12k miles a year, depreciation is likely to be the big hit. Servicing will depend on whether you get a good car or not.
Check the history of the car carefully as cars that have low miles, but did all of them recently, might not be such a bad bet. I think the rule of thumb seems to be that cars with 40k+ miles are harder to sell, as well as a god deal cheaper. But a 10k car still gives you an easy couple of years in it...
As a footnote I just put 5500+ miles on mine in 2.5mths (I've now done 15k miles in 1mths) around some of the shittiest roads I've seen.
The alternator gave up the ghost 20mins into the journey (south of 200 quid to fix it and hardly a Ferrari specific item to go wrong!) and the speed sensor broke (80Euros to fix). It used less than half a litre of oil and made me wet my pants every time I redlined it through the many tunnels around the Alps and Pyrennes!
Other costs? I had a Tubi installed, which is awesome (that's "toy buget", not running costs!), while that was done I had a clutch put in (it didn't really need it and still had lots of meat left on it, but while the exhaust was out etc it seemed sensible) and new tyres (one puncture and hated the Pirellis it had so switched - 800 quid or so for a set). I reckon servicing will cost around the grand mark a year, and perhaps 1500 or so if you get belts done, but it'd be wise to save a bit more than that each year in case you're unlucky.
Awesome cars.
We can talk for days about residuals, solidity etc, but all the accountant type stuff simply cannot prepare you for seeing your very own Ferrari sat in your garage every day.
Porsche's are nice cars and I'll have a 911 of some sort at some point, but anyone thinging the Ferrari comes 2nd in a beauty and noise contest needs their eyes and ears sorting.
You would also need to prepare yourself for some serious attention from the general public. Everyone bar none always wants to get close and have a good look at the car.
If you go this route, make sure you get advice from a good independent. Also check out www.ferrarichat.com.
In terms of cost of ownership with 12k miles a year, depreciation is likely to be the big hit. Servicing will depend on whether you get a good car or not.
Check the history of the car carefully as cars that have low miles, but did all of them recently, might not be such a bad bet. I think the rule of thumb seems to be that cars with 40k+ miles are harder to sell, as well as a god deal cheaper. But a 10k car still gives you an easy couple of years in it...
As a footnote I just put 5500+ miles on mine in 2.5mths (I've now done 15k miles in 1mths) around some of the shittiest roads I've seen.
The alternator gave up the ghost 20mins into the journey (south of 200 quid to fix it and hardly a Ferrari specific item to go wrong!) and the speed sensor broke (80Euros to fix). It used less than half a litre of oil and made me wet my pants every time I redlined it through the many tunnels around the Alps and Pyrennes!
Other costs? I had a Tubi installed, which is awesome (that's "toy buget", not running costs!), while that was done I had a clutch put in (it didn't really need it and still had lots of meat left on it, but while the exhaust was out etc it seemed sensible) and new tyres (one puncture and hated the Pirellis it had so switched - 800 quid or so for a set). I reckon servicing will cost around the grand mark a year, and perhaps 1500 or so if you get belts done, but it'd be wise to save a bit more than that each year in case you're unlucky.
Awesome cars.
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