purchasing 458 Spider, questions...

The 458 diamond cut wheels are the best looking wheels SF ever put on a Ferrari. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That’s my opinion.

My car has shields. You can get aftermarket shields. There are mixed views on this. So what do you like?

With only 600 miles one wonders if the car can really be driven as it was designed. Sounds like a garage queen. Or do you want a car you can REALLY DRIVE?

I have 30+K miles. Everything works fine.

My sports exhaust is black. Sounds just like a regular exhaust. Main benefit of a black exhaust is you don’t have to clean it. Silver exhausts discolor with use. Some people like the used look, others don’t.

The vacuum lines are pulled on my exhaust. The baffles stay open all the time. On a stock 458 the baffles open at 5k rpm in sport mode and 3k rpm in race mode. Or you can buy a Capristo system where you can open, close or revert to stock on the fly. After a couple of years with the stock system l decided to try opening the baffles full time. It is reversible and inexpensive to do. I have had no problems of any kind with the baffles open. You may have to put the car in seventh gear and keep the rpms under 3k on the highway if you want to talk on the phone. This is not an issue for me. And phone reception in the mountains is iffy unless you are on l-70.

My 2012 spider has a backup camera and steering wheel with LEDs. These are must have options IMVHO.

Best of luck in your search.

Ciao bella.

 

Shields -- no big deal until you resell it. 90+% of the people want them. That means you need to find someone like yourself who doesn't care.

The best wheels are the painted silver forged 5 spokes. Why? The diamond cuts are cool looking but if you get a scratch its a lot of money to refinish them. A forged wheel can get a scratch or a ding and can be repaired for $200 like new.

Sport exhaust = waste of money. Just the color.

There are three main factors to price

1) year and mileage
2) damage
3) color combo

Oddball color combos take longer to sell. I'm not talking about the outside color. I'm talking about the combination of the interior and exterior colors. Cars with any form of accident history are lower in price than those without.

All the options really mean very little to the price of the used car. Mine had a sticker of $318K and it had about everything you can think of that mattered. So MRSP's above that don't impress me. Its just more stuff that few care about in resale. It might resell a little quicker but no higher.

Getting a lower mileage car means you probably will go the longest without a major repair. But too low means the car didn't get sorted out under warranty. IMO, you're better off finding one with 3-7 K on the clock and have it sorted out. Replacing a gearbox is like 15 grand.

The most desirable options are LED CF Steering wheel, 18 inch forged wheels (vs the larger off center star wheels), back up sensors, electric seats with Daytona inserts, homelink, day night outside mirrors. Others need the lift if they have a difficult parking situation but for speed bumps its not worth it.

IMO GPS and upgraded stereo are worth nothing.

 

Things that matters on the second hand market:
Forged wheels,
carbon steering wheel with LEDs,
carbon bucket seats,
carbon interior,
shields,
yellow callipers to match the shields,
no odd interior or exterior colour (like bright green, bright blue or something crazy) will always make your car desirable when you decide to sell it. Heck here in Sweden people looking for 458s (even spiders) specifically wants them to have at leats the carbon bucket seats or they are not interested.

Things that don't really matter on the second hand market:
JBL stereo upgrade
Navigation
Lifter
Carbon exterior like the shields, side skirts or the front "vings"
Colour on the rev counter
Colour on seat belts
If the car has full alcantara interior and not the cheap standard material which is used in a Prius, when you sit in different 458s you will notice the difference immediately and it just feels cheap when it does not have the full alcantara interior. But I don't think this matters for the usual 458 hunter on the secondary market.

BUT if you plan to keep it forever as a part of your stable, then just buy the one your heart says yes to at the first glance

And be careful with low mileage cars as the higher mileage once have been driven as they are built to do and the lower mileage once might have more issues you will need to take care off.

 

Coming from not only my experience (I’m on my 2nd one), but from the supervisor of the service department at our local Ferrari dealership 458’s are extremely reliable. That said I wouldn’t be too concerned about mileage. Option choices are such a subjective thing but for me I had to have forged wheels, shields and reverse camera. The car I recently purchased had carbon fiber dash, steering wheel w LEDs and console which were a nice bonus. When you look at the car if it stirs something inside you that’s the one you buy. In other words buy what you like and enjoy the ride

 

Oh I forgot and a must have for me living in the Northeast was the suspension lifter.

 

The factory shields are inset into the Fenders. You can get aftermarket shields but they won't look as good. A car with only 600 miles in 6 years would actually worry me. How long a time has it sat without being driven? It's good for cars to be driven.

 

Maybe ask for a new battery. After reading Fchat extensively before buying my 13 458 spider it seems like a good maintenance idea. The dealer I purchased from did it no charge. Don't forget a full ppi. When you are spending 200k+ what is another $500 to get a second opinion from an independent mechanic to look it over. I get the 600 miles but.... respectfully my 2c

 

The factory batteries are crap.

 

1000 kms 6 YEARS ? that's just plain crazy. Has it been serviced every year and logged. If not I would reconsider it.

 

Agreed... someone has too many other distractions. 100 miles a year is a sad son of a piece of automotive brilliance. I have a new to me 07 at 4:30 spider, and if I don’t drive it 100 miles a week, I get sad


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Bringing this back to life - OP, did you finally buy one? Details and pics required!

Love to understand what your choices and requirements ended up actually being.


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Thanks for the follow-up. The pics in your other thread look great! I just bought my own Italia a week ago, so the thought process seems to be very similar. No race seats, though But I love this car!!!


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app