Sunday 26th January 2020

£50k Ferrari F430 | Spotted

For the small sacrifice of wrong-side drive and 75,000 miles, this F430 is available for F-Type money

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While perhaps not as pretty as the two cars that preceded it or as technologically ground-breaking as its successor, the F430 remains a brilliant example of the mid-engined V8 Ferrari. The car received a seal of approval from Michael Schumacher himself, with the then still-dominant F1 star having provided significant input after stints on circuit at Fiorano. Ferrari’s seven-time-champ reportedly beat the 360 Modena’s lap by three seconds when in the 490hp F430, yet, as the marque's entry-level model, the 4.3-litre car cost just £117,500. 2004 suddenly feels like a very long time ago…

The F430 was essentially a heavy evolution of the 360, but Ferrari claimed that 70 per cent of the car was new, including the important bits: engine, gearbox, diff and chassis. The motor was new because Ferrari couldn’t reliably extract more power from the old 3.6, so in went a 4,308cc replacement. It was related to the engine used by sister brand Maserati in its Coupe, but turned up and flat-plane-cranked to offer one hundred more horses and a higher rev limit. Peak power came at 8,600rpm.

Flat-out, Ferrari’s F430 could sprint from 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds and continue right on to 196mph, so it was ruddy fast. But the F430’s biggest gains came from the chassis tech on board, with cutting-edge electronic Skyhook dampers, lighter wishbones, an E-diff and carbon-ceramic brakes, which even in ’04 were a nine grand optional extra. Thanks to the 458 and its trick electronic systems, that 430 tech now looks comparably modest, yet even today the beautiful balance and athleticism of an F430 still feels extremely special. Even the F1 auto gearbox is considered decent – although the six-speed manual is still the way to go…

The biggest issues for the F430 are almost all related to build quality. Demonstrators handed to journalists had dash buttons that stuck and random warning lights that flickered on and off. So you can just imagine the sort of wear related problems that crop up on used cars these days. Of the costliest issues, cracked manifolds seem to be the most common, and an important one to fix because exhaust damage has been known to break up bits of the pre-cat and send them back into the engine. We daren’t think about the bill in the aftermath.

Today’s Spotted was built in 2005, meaning it’s an early enough build to check whether it’s had a new manifold. It’s listed as a 2017 car because that’s when it was imported to Britain from the Middle East, meaning – yes – this is a left-hooker. It’s also got 75,000 miles on the clock, which equates to an average of 5,000 per year of its life, but has recently undergone a major service in the UK, so it doesn’t stand out as being a great financial risk - for now at least.

Thanks to the placement of its steering wheel and those miles, it’s up for £49,995, making it the cheapest 430 on PH by nine grand (the cheapest RHD car is £18k more) and, to be frank, a heck of a lot of car for the money. With this many miles on the odometer you might even argue that any potential issues would have already reared their ugly heads, so future bills will be wear and tear related more than anything. It’s a sub-£50k Ferrari F430. What could go wrong?

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SPECIFICATION - FERRARI F430 F1

Engine: 4,308cc V8
Transmission: 6-speed semi-automatic, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 490@8,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 343@5,250rpm
MPG: 15.4
CO2: 420g/km
Recorded mileage: 75,000
Year registered: 2005
Price new: 117,500
Price now: £49,995

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[Ekona]

It’s more the full dog’s willy red interior that would put me off

[Venisonpie]

Love the black, wouldn't worry about the LHD but would want a very thorough indi inspection. If it got a thumbs up it's one you could use without worry of depreciation as it can only lose 50k. Loads of Euro hoon fun.

[Petrus1983]

LHD wouldn’t worry me, mileage wouldn’t worry me - the interior though would make it a big no no.

[TR4man]

I quite like the interior, certainly different than the bog-standard Nero or Crema. Photos tend to make red interiors look more garish than they are in reality.

[MDL111]

What’s with the weird door handle on the right door (while the left one does not have one).

The next cheapest one on mobile.de is sth like 68k Euros. Could well be a car to consider if you plan to keep it longer term (or want to modify it). Haven’t read anything about engine issues on these, so would hope it wil l have quite a few more in it with regular maintenance

[Rozzers]

MDL111 said:

What’s with the weird door handle on the right door (while the left one does not have one).

The next cheapest one on mobile.de is sth like 68k Euros. Could well be a car to consider if you plan to keep it longer term (or want to modify it). Haven’t read anything about engine issues on these, so would hope it wil l have quite a few more in it with regular maintenance

Its a grab handle, the door handles are recessed in both doors, but only the passenger gets a grab handle, driver uses the steering wheel. You can get carbon ones to reduce the redness...

[CzechItOut]

I drive a "shed" which is two years' newer than this. Given the niggly issues I suffer (random alarm going off, mystery coolant leak) I can only begin to imagine how ruinously expensive this car would be to run unless you are happy to use a shed mentality and live with these faults.

On my 56 reg Passat that I got for free, this is not an issue, however would you accept a coolant leak as par for the course on a £50k Ferrari?

[PGNSagaris]

Ekona said:

It’s more the full dog’s willy red interior that would put me off

Makes the car for me. Dull black interiors are just st and boring. Loved the Crema on my old one but Red with black exterior would be lovely

[anonymous-user]

Good points: it’s a Ferrari
Bad points: everything else

70’s porn set interior, lhd, 75k miles. The potential to launder money with this one is enormous.

But I still quite like it.

[MDL111]

Rozzers said:

MDL111 said:

What’s with the weird door handle on the right door (while the left one does not have one).

The next cheapest one on mobile.de is sth like 68k Euros. Could well be a car to consider if you plan to keep it longer term (or want to modify it). Haven’t read anything about engine issues on these, so would hope it wil l have quite a few more in it with regular maintenance

Its a grab handle, the door handles are recessed in both doors, but only the passenger gets a grab handle, driver uses the steering wheel. You can get carbon ones to reduce the redness...

Ah thanks, now that you mention it i remember. It is rather red, although as somebody pointed out, red does not photograph well and often looks much better in real life

[sidewinder500]

And what's the point of an old Ferrari not being garish?

[anonymous-user]

I wonder if it's ever had a timing chain replacement. Not many Ferraris reach those miles and obviously regular oil changes helps, but I sould seriously pick through the service history.

I could live with the colour scheme - too many are the reverse of this, Rosso with Nero trim..how dull and predictable.

[Julian Thompson]

You could always change the interior around a bit. Carpet sets and seats come up on eBay from time to time.

They’re nice to work on - no problem there - much easier than modern cars. No plastic clips designed to work one way and then snap. Everything on these cars is beautifully engineered, and is designed to be worked on.

The only thing to bear in mind is that the parts are - genuinely - frighteningly expensive. If you’re used to buying German prestige stuff then think triple or quadruple what you expect. And then add in the fun game of availability which might mean that you have to wait 12 months for some of the parts you need. And then factor in that Ferrari parts - being so expensive - are an international trade inhabited (along with the good guys) by plenty of shady characters and fraudsters. It’s not a question of lifting the phone and then receiving a box of bits on Tuesday morning, in many cases. Everything is possible, but go in with your eyes open.

[ZX10R NIN]

The LHD & interior wouldn't be an issue but I'd want a thorough inspection.

[Augustus Windsock]

Agree about the LHD, I’d be taking mine into France & Spain if I owned it
Black I’m not so keen on, I’d rather have blue or yellow tbh but I couldn’t live with the all red interior
No idea how much seats for these go for and you would hopefully offset the cost by selling the red ones (and as a previous post suggested, black overmats would be a cheap(ish) answer to the red carpets)
But as others have opined, I’d want to know about what the car has received mechanically in the past and what he will need soon.

[Sandpit Steve]

Watch out for Middle East F430s, a lot were bought new by young ‘locals’ on heavy finance as a daily, and weren’t maintained even close to the required standard. Check the service history very carefully and call dealers to check the work done against stamps in books - especially the belt service, which always seems to have been done just before someone sells the car.

Newer Ferraris (from 2012) came with a seven year service plan, but one still needs to check they were all actually done!

And yeah, they love the full red interiors. Allah only knows why.

Edited by Sandpit Steve on Sunday 26th January 13:47

[helix402]

It looks quite rough. Kerbed wheels and ditchfinders. They use quite a few Fiat parts (expansion tank cap, pas reservoir at a glance) so if you can identify which ones that could save money.

[anonymous-user]

Back to the Ferrari, I reckon some black bucket seats would improve the car enormously. Are LHD cars worth less all over the world, or is it just UK? Would it ever be worth buying a car like this, tinkering with it and using it and when the time comes sell it abroad?

[ate one too]

Back on topic please ....

A LHD, 75K mile, black with red F430 will be a very, very difficult car to shift in the UK. I would venture that it's overpriced at £49,995 atm.

[gigglebug]

Are dual clutch gearboxes still significantly heavier than the single clutch gearboxes as used in the 430? That gearbox, especially on the Scuderia, was always considered to be very good. The only reason I ask is that would it not have been possible to just have a very good single clutch and use the weight saved over a dual clutch to account for some batteries and a motor and use the torque from that to help smooth out the changes? You would also be able to use the benefit of the electrical assistance elsewhere of course so potentially for the same weight you could have gear changes that were comparable in smoothness but more performance overall. There obviously must be more to it otherwise somebody would have done it but I’d be interested to know any technical reason why it hasn’t.