Hey guys, I'm on the verge of buying my very first Ferrari! I'm extremely excited to say the least. I'm ready to pull the trigger on a 2006 F430 Spider (Rosso Corsa/Beige). My financing has already been approved and I'm ready to sign the paperwork. However, some of my friends (who are also car guys) are telling me that it isn't worth it. You see, being in Wisconsin, I won't use the car for about half the year. They said that it isn't worth making car payments (and insurance payments) while it sits in a garage for half the time and possibly break down. They told me that if I want high performance and usability year-round, I should look at something like a Mercedes E63s or the new BMW M5. (I already have a daily driver, by the way). What should I do? How do Ferrari owners who live in the snow belt justify owning their cars? It's always been my dream to own a Ferrari and I'm at a point in my life where I'm fortunate enough to do so. But I hate buying something (esp. something expensive) that I won't use regularly. I guess I need to move out of Wisconsin to somewhere warm.
Buy the Ferrari and enjoy it 6 months of the year. I live in the UK and my 360 is in the garage from the End October through to mid March. The anticipation of getting it out for the first time drives me crazy, but it is so worth the wait. Not driving it all year round adds to the experience in my mind and it's great to be able to work on the car in the colder months.
Forget what your friends say. Do what you want to do. You won’t regret owning a Ferrari. We have many folks on here who have to store the car during winter. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
What on earth do justification and your friends' opinions have to do with it (or anything!)? If you want it and you can afford it, then do it and don't look back. Life is too short to do otherwise, ever. Weather-wise, who says that a toy car has to be a year 'round toy car? Back when I still lived up north (Boston), I didn't even like driving my winter-optimized vehicles (Range Rover, et al.) when there was salt on the ground, nevermind the sports cars.
If you store a car during winter, are you able to temporarily halt or reduce the insurance payments on it?
I live in Wisconsin as well - 7 months of driving. Sure you store it for the winter, but there's something about knowing it's there and the spring fever gets to you come March, but then shortly you get to take her out and enjoy her. I've lived here all my life and have had some sportscar and I've stored each one each year since 1994. It really does make driving them more special. If you drove them all the time, they become a bit less special, as it's normal then to "get used to" them if they are used too much. Trust me, you won't regret it living here. I have 4 fun cars (one being a Ferrari) and I know in little more than a month I can start getting them out and I can feel the excitement already! Good luck, don't be afraid to pull the trigger.
It sounds like your friends are jealous Many many owners tuck their cars away for several month a year (as evidenced by the number of winter storage advice threads that get started each year !)
That kind of says it all. Don't buy a car because of what your friends say or think; at the end of the day, it's yours and if you're happy about it, even if it's only for 6 months/year, then isn't that all that matters? YOLO!
Tornadoes and hail. Last time I was in the Dallas/FW area, I'd experienced hail the size of baseballs. You guys get some nasty storms down there.
I coming to realize from the responses that the words, "Justification" and "Ferrari" don't belong in the same sentence. Thanks for the feedback, guys!
I live in NJ and store the 430 at least 4 months over the winter. Doesn't detract a bit from the part of the year I can use it. We live where we want to live and accept whatever tradeoffs that entails.
You friends sound like bean counters. Most folks who count their pennies and justify why they buy cars are not exactly car aficionados. A Ferrari is not meant to be a practical A to B car. It provides the the visceral nirvana that other 'practical' cars can't. Hence you will find a lot more Benz's, BMW's and - dare I say- P cars on the road. I live in Toronto and winter is the primary season. I can care less if my Ferrari sits in the garage most of the year, it makes up for it by putting a smile on my face every time I drive it. Especially when I'm driving with my daughter beside me. What a blast! Life is too short....do it!
I'm in Florida. No snow issues or salt on the roads. But in the summer it rains a lot. Did I mention a lot. About 6 feet of rain a year. That's right 6 FEET. I'm not against driving my 360 in the rain per say. But to be honest you really can't "drive" the car spiritedly on wet roads. To add, there are a lot of distracted/poor drivers. The rain only compounds the consequences of their poor decisions and poor driving habits. As a result I don't drive my car much for about half the year. I do the same for my classic motorcycles-- not to mention riding in the rain is no fun. I never really thought about the idea that it isn't feasible to own any of them. It's a hobby to me. Hobbies often don't make sense. But they do make you feel like working for a living is worth it!!
Well to be blunt you aren't buying that car for your friends, and if you are your buying it for the wrong reasons. When it came time for me to consider cars for "enjoyment" I started with a long list, and I have driven nearly all of them. There are 2 cars that hit the magical trifecta (a car on my list, wife approved and the capability for our kids to come along) for my situation the Ferrari California and the Maserati Granturismo and I personally like the Ferrari more then the Maserati but both are excellent cars. I really like the F430 and love the lines of the 360 but either are wife approved just have to figure out how to have a California and a f430. My point is buy the car you enjoy driving, and if you only get 6 months it all that much sweeter when you do drive it.
My daughter is my car buddy too, wish my son liked cars more and he probably would if it had a huge iPad for him to play with.
If the impact of car payment / cost of the car is significant enough on your livelihood, then you should get something you can drive all year round.
Per your post, it's been your "dream to own a Ferrari" and you're ready to let your friends talk you out of it? Sounds like either a) it's not really your dream if you're so easy to give it up because your friends disapprove, b) you don't have supportive friends who like to cheer on their buddies' in their successes, or c) you care entirely too much what other people think. How are you going to feel in July when you're driving that BMW and see someone drive by in their Ferrari? You're going to one of those guys who constantly tells everyone, "yeah, I could have bought a Ferrari" while everyone rolls their eyes. Disclaimer: you mentioned you got approved for financing. I'm not sure what's involved in that and it's not my business what your financial situation is but if your friends are saying that you shouldn't buy it because you are over leveraged, then that's a different story and kudos for your friends. But if there's plenty of money in the bank to pay off the loan any time you want and your friends are only putting it down because it's not practical, then I stand by my statement above.
Buy the car. I live in Michigan and store my car for at least 5 months. During the winter I work on small stuff (i.e. clean the interior, polish carbon fiber bits, etc.). Come spring I pull it out and drive! In this way I am not wasting driving time and I can work on those small items at my pace and not try rushing anything.
Your friends know you better than I do, and I have said this many, many times. You do not buy cars like Ferrari's because they make sense. If you are the kind of guy that needs things to make sense on paper, than you are buying the wrong car, but it the smell, the touch, the sound, and the feeling of that 430 move you in a way no other car has, BUY IT! If not listen to your friends, and I doubt you are going to be getting much (enjoyable) use out a 500hp + torque monster in freezing, snowy conditions. Seems your friend don't know as much about cars as you think.
Kind of like having a boat in your part of the Country.....most can not use it all the time but boy when you do it is special and the best !
