Carbon Fiber- Fact or Fiction

I'm in market for 1st Ferrari. There seems to be an increased value/demand on cars with carbon fiber on all different models. Do you see this trend continuing? Or do you think carbon fiber will not hold its value 5 or 10 years from now?

 

No, it does not hold its value. The one exception seems to be the steering wheel with LED lights is very popular. Personally I love it. I usually put all the interior options on my cars. I lately have left off the door panels of around $10K. It helps sell your car compared to one that does not have it. If you love Carbon, look for a very low mile used one. You can very likely get it for free or close to it.

 

It seems that carbon fibre components may help you sell your car quickly but, as has been pointed out elsewhere, optional components like carbon fibre, don't hold their value on resale. For me when I buy a Ferrari I just buy what I like and spec it how I want - resale honestly doesn't enter my head. The same goes for driving the car, I put a decent number of km on my cars.

I see no point/sense in buying one of these cars with the next owner in mind in terms of what you get on the car and how much you drive the car. If I had that mentality, I'd probably just rent one when I wanted to drive one!!!

 

I should have said, I buy the interior because I want it, and it also helps resale when and if the time comes.

 

This might have every CF option offed. Look at resale price.

Ferrari: F12berlinetta Certified

 

If you're going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on something, get precisely what you want, and don't worry about resale. As for an opinion, I agree with Woodyy. I'm going all out with interior CF options. On the exterior, I upgrade all matte black with CF.

 

It's a very personal thing.

The only cf my pre owned car came with was the steering wheel and b pillars.

If l really wanted more cf l could do aftermarket. Doesn't seem worth the time, effort or the money.

Friend ordered his with lots of nice cf interior details. And he got triple layer paint. Beautiful but not a deal maker or breaker for me.

Cf way down the line for must haves for me. It's sooooooooo expensive! Got cf on my Audi RS5 and it was under $1,000. Would have been $10k or more on my fcar. Just not worth it IMVHO.

 

I like your attitude David. I will drive mine and it will not sit in a garage like a piece of art. I personally do seem to be drawn to cf but just want to make sure I do not over do it.

 

I don't ike the looks of carbon fiber. Worse though, is the feel of the epoxy coating that goes over it. That makes the steering wheel feel unpleasant to the touch. The shiny coating also reflects glare and yet heats up in sunlight. I'm happy that my car has little carbon fiber. I regret, however, that there is carbon fiber on my steering wheel.

I think carbon fiber trim is a fad and will eventually go the way of all automotive fads.

 

Indeed. Especially considering they are not actual through and through carbon fiber pieces.

And as far as carbon fiber prices go - who are they trying to fool?

I mean, I used to row for my country's national rowing team and still do masters racing. If I were to go out today and purchase an Empacher X17 Single Scull racing shell, built from 100% dry pre-preg carbon fiber around a Nomex sandwich construction for the hull, it would cost me about 11-12k Euro. It's a boat that is 7,65 meters long and weighs less than 28 lbs. including carbon fiber wing riggers and a pair of shoes. This is Olympic grade stuff after all, so both time and effort has gone into the development and production - and everything is hand built in Germany. Then consider what Ferrari charges for a friggin' cupholder which is as much plastic as it is "cheap" wet carbon fiber? They should be ashamed.

 

What????

 

You tell me.

I'm just making an example of what carbon fiber products cost in other places.

 

I get it. It's Ferrari. Markup makes no sense. If you want to OEM, that's the deal. When considering simple supply and demand, one could argue that they charge too little.

 

In resale the value of a car with more CF is not greater than one with less.

What matters is year, color combo, mileage, price and condition. If you get some CF with that great. If not, no one really cares.

The dealers don't even consider it in their trade evaluation.

 

I just bought what I thought was value for money, fitted in with my personal taste and did not seem like pure folly. I have looked at carbon fibre for 16 years on my RS4 so no more CF for me except for the LED wheel!

My car does seem rather bare compared to a lot I see, but I am more than happy as the lack of options does not seem to slow the car down much....

That said I do often look at the 12v plug and wonder if it was worth £300+

 

I had over 40k in carbon fiber on my 458 spider including the area between the rear tail lights. I think I got 5k back as a premium on my wholesale.

 

I wouldn't buy a used Ferrari without a carbon fiber dash inserts and Carbon steering wheel and LEDs. The rest I don't car about. On the flip side I wouldn't pay extra for it either.

 

Ouch that's a grand total of 87.5% depreciation on that $40,000. Talk about a loss for $$$

I'm going to agree with the other posters here the only thing that adds "value" is the CF steering. Everything else is just fluff. Like how many times are you REALLY going to appreciate the carbon fiber seat backs? When you put your Ferrari custom luggage there?

 

That's a bit of a catch 22 as I personally (being tall) find the race style seats more comfortable.

 

Most CF options are worth next to nothing come resale. Most models usually have a few pieces that are worth a little, but nowhere near what they charged for them.

Typically the most valuable CF pieces upon resale are interior ones that are often touched or in view often. If it's CF and you can't see it without looking for it, it's usually worth next to nothing.

 

It has been our experience that the exorbitant prices that Ferrari charges for carbon fiber when ordering a car new is not recoverable at the time of resale. That said cars equipped with carbon fiber are much more saleable and command a slight premium over cars without carbon. To that end we have seen a marked increase in sales of our carbon fiber parts to used car dealers (including many Ferrari dealerships) who buy our parts and add them to inventory in order to make their cars more saleable. In that instance even the dealers have clued in that high quality aftermarket carbon parts can actually ADD value to your car rather than just be a lost expense in an owners quest to personalize. Just some food for thought. Operators are standing by

 

$190 per mile. Not bad.

 

You really have to drive a car to know what you like. I love the carbon fiber steering wheel. I like the look and the feel.

Drive with all leather, drive with carbon, how does it feel? There is not one "correct" answer.

 

Carbon Fiber looks the best imo and I have it on my 458, but it gets way too hot easily in the Vegas summers.

I have alcantara on my Turbo S and the Alcantara is priceless because it does not get hot no matter how long it sits in the sun.




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I get curious Bob ! SO much for CF ....

Please send a photo ....

And .... I replaced the 12V plug with 2 x 2Amp USB ... see my thread YOLO