Ferrari 456 GT
Discussion
Fair question, my experience with super/very high performance cars has been that they all have a lot of issues, and in the first 5-8 years, huge depreciation. Better to find one that has been well taken care of with all the core issues sorted (example Ferrari 456 windows) and at the bottom of the price curve. If you buy new, you get the huge devale on the car, plus all the headaches of sorting it out. Higgins42
Higgins23 said:
Fair question, my experience with super/very high performance cars has been that they all have a lot of issues, and in the first 5-8 years, huge depreciation. Better to find one that has been well taken care of with all the core issues sorted (example Ferrari 456 windows) and at the bottom of the price curve. If you buy new, you get the huge devale on the car, plus all the headaches of sorting it out. Higgins42
fair enough, although its pretty extreme to go for a 10 year old car in that respect. The same goes with any car that evolution of the cars production life generally leads to imporvements and therefore buy the latest car you can afford. However, allowing for the steep initial depreciation curve and the sorting of various reliability issues I still think a 1998 - 2000 car would be your best bet with either the lotus or the chimaera
Who cares what body parts cost.
If you smash it the insurance will pay, and Ferrari say they have only had one V12 engine completely destroy itself, most can be repaired, so complete replacement would be very rare. Mechanical/electrical parts can be expensive but proper servicing can prevent costly ownership of a 456. It's only a car.. man put it together so some things can be fixed by yourself or a reputable specialist. You do have to pay for any Ferrari ownership especially one of the best GT's created. 
G.
>> Edited by Prancing on Monday 19th July 07:53
If you smash it the insurance will pay, and Ferrari say they have only had one V12 engine completely destroy itself, most can be repaired, so complete replacement would be very rare. Mechanical/electrical parts can be expensive but proper servicing can prevent costly ownership of a 456. It's only a car.. man put it together so some things can be fixed by yourself or a reputable specialist. You do have to pay for any Ferrari ownership especially one of the best GT's created. G.
>> Edited by Prancing on Monday 19th July 07:53
I had a 456 so would offer the following bits of advice.
i) It is nigh on impossible to get an unlimited warranty or one that will cover an 18k (+Fitting, +VAT) rear differential let alone an engine which is £68k.
ii) The windows are not fixable permanently, rather they can be modified. But the problem will reoccur with limited use and worst case scenario wear can be caused to the alluminum doors which then turns the ongoing repairs in to a 8k job.
iii) Mine had only done 14k miles in 6 years but despite this the water pump packed up and it did 2 camshaft oil seals at different times over a 6 month period. Each of these 3 incidents would have cost £1800+VAT simply to remove the cambelts to get at the repair had I not bought from a main dealer.
iv) The Ferrari dealer I brought mine from sold it on behalf of their client that was buying an Enzo. They copied me in on the preparation bill which included a service, cambelts, single window modification and a years ferrari warranty - this little lot cost £8500.
Mine was an absolute minter, a one owner car and a full FMDSH, I doubt there is any better but the above is a sobering thought.
I would have a newer Maserati 3/4200GT, a 911 or a M3 unless you have sufficient reserves to run what is essentially a £170k motor car.
Bennno
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