355Spider or GTS - Which One To Buy?

[Pugsey]

Hi guys. Going to be 'between cars' for approx. the next four months so am going to treat myself to my first Ferrari. Want a soft top for summer so going for one of above. Any advice on which one and any other thoughts. Also at the prices I've seen would I be right in thinking this will be a pretty safe short term bet financially - can't believe they'll go any lower. Any experince of people like Verdi etc? Do I go for high miles, good nick low price or low miles and higher price. Oh, and anyone got a good one for sale!

Edited by Pugsey on Friday 9th June 12:42

[tony h]

Spider has cleaner looks but roof is a weak spot and expensive to fix . GTS should be slightly cheaper but they are quite rare . On balance, and despite owning a Spider for 5 yrs, buy a GTS My old Spider's for sale @ Lawton Brook , btw .

[pugsey]

tony h said:

Spider has cleaner looks but roof is a weak spot and expensive to fix . GTS should be slightly cheaper but they are quite rare . On balance, and despite owning a Spider for 5 yrs, buy a GTS My old Spider's for sale @ Lawton Brook , btw .

Thanks Tony. Must admit I prefer looks of Spider too - and full top off experience. What's prob. with roof. Can I avoid by careful buying or is it something that can strike at any time? Cheers.

Edited by pugsey on Friday 9th June 14:16

[Mr_C]

Spider any day. They look lovely with the roof down. Although I'd guess there was less wind noise etc with the roof up on the GTS than the Spider?

[tony h]

pugsey said:

tony h said:

Spider has cleaner looks but roof is a weak spot and expensive to fix . GTS should be slightly cheaper but they are quite rare . On balance, and despite owning a Spider for 5 yrs, buy a GTS My old Spider's for sale @ Lawton Brook , btw .

Thanks Tony. Must admit I prefer looks of Spider too - and full top off experience. What's prob. with roof. Can I avoid by careful buying or is it something that can strike at any time? Cheers.

Edited by pugsey on Friday 9th June 14:16

Totally over engineered with potential for trouble at any time. I 'll post a pic of series of hydraulic's needed to operate it and you 'll see !

[tony h]

number 1= £3700
number 2=.£1575.3
number 3= £1172.8

All are EX VAT

Retail price of items shown in pic below

[ferrarispider]

To be fair Tony, you feel this way becourse yours cost you alot to fix last year.And even then wasnt this problem in the last year of your 5 year ownership? On the flip side i have had mine for two years and had no problems with the roof. Its not a common problem but of course can cost alot to fix. But there again tell me somthing thats not on a ferrari.

[tony h]

ferrarispider said:

To be fair Tony, you feel this way becourse yours cost you alot to fix last year.And even then wasnt this problem in the last year of your 5 year ownership? On the flip side i have had mine for two years and had no problems with the roof. Its not a common problem but of course can cost alot to fix. But there again tell me somthing thats not on a ferrari.

Chaz, yes it's true the car was perfect for 4 years but it cost over £3k to fix so i guess it all evens out ! . The roof IS a known weak spot , with seat potentionometer [sp] the most common fault, closely followed by window and ram micro switches. The prob for me was the ram itself and couple of switches embedded in the ram . Problems take so long to sort as system has be bleed of hydraulic fluid through one tiny nipple . QV of Ascot sorted mine and i'll be eternally grateful to Mike for his patience.

[ferrarispider]

Every thing on a ferrari is a known weak spot.

[pugsey]

ferrarispider said:

Every thing on a ferrari is a known weak spot.

Quite. I'm going in with attitude that it's going to cost me to run the car but at least depreciation shouldn't be too much of an issue at this stage in the car's life. Any thoughts on high v.low mileage etc.? Is a 10,000 miler really worth much more than an otherwise identical car at 25,000 miles?

Edited by pugsey on Friday 9th June 16:05

[ferrarispider]

In my opinion no. I can speak for my own 1995 355 spider, it has 42K miles on the clock and has never sufferd fron header problems or valves going. Infact it has been a great car and if ya look at my profile pic its a looker It was dynoed only 3 weeks ago and it has 328bhp at the rear wheels, that is more than the standard 355s and more than the standard 360s. Ferrari always quote there bhp figures at the crank which is 375bhp, mine is more than that and its 10 years old Yes the cars been chiped and has a capristo on it, but some would say that adds to the stress on the cars engine. But hey it pulls like a train and the oil is changed 3 times a year and its in first class shape and will go on and on and on with no problems. Now there are others who buy low low mileage cars that have all the above problems. Getting low milage cars is no garantee of squat
But if my car broke.....ya just fix it like any other car
I am not one of thouse ferrari hypercondriacs that is always looking for problems. And there are alot.

[Nutskie..]

Pugsey,

Please email me; I may have something of interest for you
You profile does not accept emails

Nutskie.

[tony h]

pugsey said:

ferrarispider said:

Every thing on a ferrari is a known weak spot.

Quite. I'm going in with attitude that it's going to cost me to run the car but at least depreciation shouldn't be too much of an issue at this stage in the car's life. Any thoughts on high v.low mileage etc.? Is a 10,000 miler really worth much more than an otherwise identical car at 25,000 miles?

Edited by pugsey on Friday 9th June 16:05

to trade and private buyers , absolutely it does.Spread between 1 owner car with 15k and 5 owner with 30k will be £5k i reckon. When i bought Spider it had 1 owner and less than 4 k in 5 yrs ! I didn't make same mistake with CS tho'

[spidermanUK]

I understand why Tony's biased against the Spider, I'd be biased against most things that cost me 3 grand for no good reason!

But the upside of having a "full" convertible far outweighs the "potential" downside of roof problems, and to be fair, there's lots more stories of whistling/leaking/badly fitting GTS Targas than Spider roof problems!

As Chas says, drive it, break it, fix it, drive it again!

I've had my Spider from new in 99, and it's done 19000 miles, the only problem I recall with the roof was a "leak" of some sort which was fixed under warranty when the car was less than 2 years old.

PS. Mine's NOT for sale, EVER!

[tony h]

Clive,
i'm in no way biased against spider, and loved the car to bits. Reality is that the hood IS a major weak spot on the car. Check Fchat archives for examples . If you're lucky, you'll have no aggro.if not , it'll cost a lot to fix.

[pugsey]

tony h said:

Clive,
i'm in no way biased against spider, and loved the car to bits. Reality is that the hood IS a major weak spot on the car. Check Fchat archives for examples . If you're lucky, you'll have no aggro.if not , it'll cost a lot to fix.

I'm now neurotic about checking the hoods on any car I look at - which means, of course that if and when I get my car a completely unrelated problem will probably occur! At least none of you seem to be full of tales of exploding engines and the like. Looking at five Spiders and a couple of GTSs over weekend. Leaning towards Spider at mo. for looks and full drop top experience.

[tony h]

as Clive and Chaz point out below, you prob will be lucky and have no probs at all .Just best to be armed with all the facts. A good PPI should highlight any faults and is starting point if you're serious about any particular car.
I KNOW the car in this website has NO hood probs

www.lawtonbrook.co.uk/

[pugsey]

tony h said:

as Clive and Chaz point out below, you prob will be lucky and have no probs at all .Just best to be armed with all the facts. A good PPI should highlight any faults and is starting point if you're serious about any particular car.
I KNOW the car in this website has NO hood probs

www.lawtonbrook.co.uk/

Thanks, may include it on my list although it does appear to be absolutely top money.

[tony h]

pugsey said:

Thanks, may include it on my list although it does appear to be absolutely top money.

you could say that , it was sold for £42.5k

[I HATE GATSO]

tony h said:

pugsey said:

Thanks, may include it on my list although it does appear to be absolutely top money.

you could say that , it was sold for £42.5k

Were they selling it on your behalf tony?