Hello, I've been checking out these forums and I've finally decided to join. My biggest question is, do you think the 16M Scuderia is a good investment? On that question alone. Why? Technically, wouldn't this be the last track based V8 Ferrari that is a spider and shows the 'Engine' at the back? My point being, the new 458 spider blankets over the engine with its new electronic top folding technology, and when retracted it is placed at the rear, covering the engine. Whereas the 430 16M needs its roof to be folded manually and the cover is then placed at the front bonnet. If they make a 458 Spider Scuderia, they would most likely opt for the advanced auto folding technology, which covers the engine. What do you think? Due to this reason alone, the 16M would likely have it's price tag go up in the future? A track based spider which fleshes its engine out? Cheers!
I don't think the fact that the engine is visible on the 16m would be justification alone to make it a good investment. It's small production run and convertible version of a stripped out track version of the 430. There is also the fact that just because the new v8 car in ferraris line up does not have the engine on display, that the next one won't, I'm sure they will listen to the feedback they will/have received regarding this issue and may revert back to having the engine on display once they discover a way to create a folding hard top that allows the engine to remain visible. As an investment you would be better looking at a 60's, 70's Ferrari rather than a newer one unless of course you intend keeping it and having some enjoyment from it over the next 20 -30 years, but I think the car is still too new to profit from in the short term. I'm sure others will agree these cars are never really investments unless you are buying the first few off the production line, and trying to get a premium for jumping the waiting list ( but I think those days are no more, or not as easy as a few years ago). If you can afford it, and really one just go for it and enjoy it.
Agree 100% - in reality Ferrari isn;t an investment - there are a multitude of better investments. But a Ferrari is a passion and while I'll lose money on mine - don;t care I went into it knowing it would devalue - (but probably less than a HSV or FPV) - but money wisely lost.
Good investment - no. Better than some Ferraris at holding it's value at some unknown point in the future, well maybe. Certainly not the reason to buy one. Buy one because it's so damn exciting to drive, and yes it really is!
30yr term? Sure. 3-5yr term? No way. That car will continue to depreciate before it appreciates - and the market currently is soft on those cars. If you want a SORT-OF investment (caveat - no modern car is an investment period), buy a Stradale. Or an F512M.
I think when comes to an investment sometimes joy and happiness out weight money gains. With that said I would said the 16m is clearly a great investment in ones life if you can afford it. Also I am going to say it but the 16m is a better car than the 458 spider. I think the 16m will move down the price scale slower than other models but it will always go down as being a very special car which will always be desirable. Its hard to say since nobody can see the future, if 5 years from now you have 50 people looking to buy a 16m and only 3 of them on the market for sale I can see the prices holding strong, could go the other way in 5 years from now if you have 50 sellers and only 3 buyers. First year of ownership for me I have already had so many priceless moments. To many people on these forums worry about resale, if you love the car and can afford it buy it and don't look back.
When they want to shed weight for that track car, I could see the folding hard top being the first to go. If that happens, you could see a return to a visible engine.
Can't predict the future. But I define a good investment as something that goes up in value over time. Arguing that a car should be excluded simply because of its age or because it is the "evolution" of another car seems invalid because there are examples of appreciating "newer" cars. Three, two of which are "evolution cars", come to mind: GT3 RS 4.0 Challenge Stradale Ford GT Of course there are many more In addition, it is not practical for many to buy the car once it has already appreciated. IE, you may think a 70s or 60s Ferrari is a good investment, but cost of entry is much larger and many don't have the funds (or inclination) to invest at that level. The age argument breaks down completely when you consider that at one point the 250 GTO was a sort of new washed up race car. With a reasonable holding period--would that have been a bad investment!?! At the end of the day, the supply and demand will obviously have an important impact on price. Of course supply and demand can move in two directions, however most recently I have noticed that about 2 years ago you could find about 11-14 16Ms on the market. That number has slowly been decreasing. Last time I checked, using the same search I used before, there were about 3 cars offered for sale in the US market. I am not necessarily recommending that you buy a car as an investment. Surely some go up and I think things look good for the 16M (Challenge Stradale, and Scud). However, it is important to keep in mind that picking winners is tough! As hinted above by other posters, it is not nearly as hard to try to pick cars that will hold there value better relative to other cars. So if you are looking for a very special driving experience and don't want to get killed on resale--hard to go too wrong with a 16M.
Personally, I think we have seen the bottom in 16M prices. A year ago there were 15-20 up for sale regularly. Now it's more like 3-5. Supply and demand. I would not be surprised if low mile cars are back at MSRP by 2020.
By the time you add in annual service, repairs, tires, insurance, etc to the total, still does not make a good investment except an investment in fun. It definitely is an investment in fun.
I'm looking at one right now. They are great cars, but they are not an investment, except when you are telling your wife they are. Maybe they'll hold their value, or at least not go down much, but then when you buy a car, do you really expect to get your money back? if you do, I've got a bridge for sale here. Art
The responses to the OPs question are impressive and very honest. I wish other boards attracted this level of well reasoned and thoughtful contributors.
Uk is a different world. Only nation that drives on the other side means that only a handful of vehicles will have the steering wheel on that side. It's not like u can compare it to the rest of Europe (or the USA) where u can switch cars from one State to another if u dont find it in yours.
35% of countries/population in the World drive on the left so it is a large minority. We do loose a lot of desirable cars from the UK when exchange rates are favourable - original 53 UK RHD 16M's is now down to 36 after many have been exported to other RHD countries.
List of left- & right-driving countries - World Standards I see a bigger market for LHD cars honestly, I see MUCH more green.
