Thank you, I think there is lots of fun to be had in the chase for the car, deciding on the must-have/nice to have options and then enjoying a few test drives along the way. At this point, I'm not even sure if I'll end up with a coupe or a spider. Love a convertible (one of my 911's is a cab), but seem to think the lines of the coupe are more "pure".
This is true - I'm viewing a 2011 458 tomorrow that is only 20k cheaper than a 2016 488 at the same dealer. Time will tell how clean the 488 is compared to the 458.
I have no illusion that the 458 will be a depreciating asset - I'm buying one to drive, not to sit in a museum ! Life is definitely short - I recently lost my cousin who was exactly the same age as me ... money will buy you everything except for more time.
Yep, as mentioned above, this is a car that will be driven, not sat in a garage and cleaned. My daily is a 991 GTS and I see the 458 as a car I can switch around with the 911 depending on which mood I'm in. Ha ha, very true. Maybe I'll end up like Sampellegrino and trade it for a Speciale after 5 months !!
Absolutely, that's useful insight. I can understand the perspective as my 964 is a car that I have owned for 20 years this year and that was the first one I bought ! I've had a few in between, but my current 991 GTS will probably be a keeper too as it is a very individual spec that suits me perfectly. Ultimately, I will go into this with my eyes open and no rose tinted spectacles - this is a car, and cars go wrong. As long as you are happy that you bought the right one for you, and are happy to spend the money you need to spend to keep it tip-top, then all is good. If the dream goes south, trade it for something else.
I think there is a happy middle ground - you don't want a garage queen that's never turned a wheel as who knows what uglies are going to appear when you actually use the thing, whereas the super mileage ones are going to have some history that you really don't want to know about ;-)
Sorry for being a pessimist. Just too many so called newcomer to the forum was never a newcomer to begin with. They literally don't post more than once. Yes, I am jaded. Anyway, onto your original question . With 458, don't worry about the mileage, as many gurus tend to agree as long as you are not buying the cheapest Ferrari in the market, and that the cars have close to impeccable repair records. Also, even if you buy the 2015 years, with 4 years, I would feel comfortable to buy 8000 miles as long as the conditions listed above are met. Make sure no Ferrari sits in garage, unless they are worth more than a tdf, for which at least I can see why.
Ha ha, no worries ! Thank you for this - I have seen a common thread in the replies that mileage isn't something to worry about too much (unless it's intergalactic !), as these cars are designed to be able to handle it, in fact are all the better for having been driven rather than sat in a garage. I'm working on seeing/driving as many examples as I can to help narrow down the decision on the right car and will focus on the few important options along with the full Ferrari Service history.
Richard, pick the car that really appeals to your visual senses. It’s not the mileage that’s so important, it’s the custodianship of the car that matters. If the previous owner(s) have taken exceptional care of the car and it stirs your soul when you look at it that’s the one.
Get the lower mile car. Not even a question. Yes these are much more sensitive and many buyers will not consider higher mile cars (higher on these being anything over 15,000 for let's say a 2012 year) There are TONS of these for sale from 2012-2014 with less than 8,000 miles, there is a reason why the higher millage one is cheaper, they sell slow and people don't like them. You will notice the "median" mileage on what you are looking at is probably around 10,000, don't buy outside of this range. You want to stay with the heard. I would never buy a high mileage Ferrari, ever. However, i would buy a low mileage Ferrari and drive the piss out of it!!!!!!!
Should be relative to the mileage vs the price. Do not pay a premium for a low mileage car/garage queen if you plan to make it a high mileage car. yes you will get less for a high mileage car, but hopefully you paid less, so all relative
^This all day. It's a buyer's market, with so many low mileage options to choose from, why settle for a higher mileage car? Everyone always says they're going to drive their car into the ground and keep them forever but look at the buying record of so many posters on this forum (myself included) who get car ADD and rotate in and out of cars every few years (many a lot more frequently). Look at the classified section in this forum or cargurus and the higher mileage/many owner selections often sit for a long time because used exotic buyers tend to be very selective and discerning and because supply far exceeds demand. In my experience the the magic number is 10000 miles. Something about going from 4 to 5 digits triggers a mental response in buyers that a used car isn't as desirable. Finally, keep in mind that the good deal you get as a buyer on a 20000 mile 3 owner car is probably going to bite you in the ass when you're selling your 30000 mile 4 owner car down the line. I daily my exotics but still get out of them before 10000 miles. Resale tends to suffer once you go higher in my experience.
Your reply is on point . The one thing that always bugs me about threads like these regardless of what exotic car you are talking about is this: if you are fortunate enough to be able to pay 200,000 plus for an automobile does it really matter if your depreciation is 10,000 more than a good deal would have been ? if you see a car you like buy it!!! Does it really matter if it has 10,000 miles or 20,000? Of course try to get the best price, but say you do not and when you sell it you take a 10,000$ hit. Is that really going to make a difference? I do drive both of my 458s , the happiness factor far outweighs , what it maybe costing me in resale value. If you can buy a 200,000$ plus car and worry about depreciation, I’m confused.
That is 5$ a mile wether you buy a car with 5000 miles or 20,000 miles it is relative only to your purchase price. if your price of entry is correct your price of exist will be correct. If you pay a premium for a low mileage car and you sell as high mileage then your depreciation will be greater , but you have had the happiness factor, what price per mile is that? again I go back you have the income to buy a 200,000$ car , is the depreciation really an issue?
I think the market in the US must be slightly different to here in the UK - we don't have loads of 458s coming to the market with 10k miles or less - yes, there are a few, but the majority seem to sit around the 15k to 20k mile point. As my intention is to actually use the car, and am looking to keep it for a few years, then the mileage question becomes less relevant and I will more than likely end up buying the car from the heart and not the head - my current dilemma is whether to go for the lower mileage Coupe or the higher mileage Spider ... they are about a year apart in age and within 5k in price (the Coupe being the older and more expensive one !).
Agreed, it's all about the happiness factor. If it was all about the money, then you'd end up in the same market situation that I see for Speciales where people are too afraid to put miles on them for fear of killing the resale value. For me, that's a sad place to be because that car is epic. I appreciate all the input and views into this topic and it's re-affirmed my viewpoint that I will be buying the car that speaks to me irrespective of mileage or age. It's so easy to over-analyse things in this day and age, and we are losing our ability to just listen to our gut feel. In my experience, my gut feel decisions have pretty much always worked out well, I'm probably 50/50 win/lose on those decisions that required lots of analysis first !
You answered your own question. It sounds like low mileage 458's are scarce so your options are limited to 15-20k mile examples. But now you're changing the goal posts. Is it a $5k difference in price or a $20k difference? Coupe vs spider and 1 year apart or both coupes and 2012??? If you think Porsches are mileage sensitive then you may be in for a rude awakening with Ferraris. Just saying.
No, I see that Ferrari's are way more mileage sensitive than Porsches ! Yes, the goalposts have moved a bit on my search, but that's what happens when you start looking and driving different cars to narrow down the choice. My main question at the moment will be Coupe vs. Spider. Once I've made that decision, then I'll buy the best one I can irrespective of age or mileage for the money I'm happy to spend. Then I'll drive the wheels off it !!!!
In another world in an almost identical thread about mileage you answered your own question here by commenting that of the 599 you were looking at the week before last the higher mileage car drove better
Guilty as charged. I was originally on the hunt for a 599, however after a back to back test drive of a 599 and 458, the 458 turned out to be a car more suited to how I drive. As such, I wanted to understand the 458 market better, hence my questions on this thread. Turns out my conclusion on mileage is the same whether it's a 458, 599 or any other Ferrari I buy in the future. There's only so much you can learn by lurking in the background on these forums, so have tried to play a more active role in asking questions (and sometimes the same question in different ways). One of the earliest lessons I learnt in business is the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. I apologise if I've wasted people's time by asking stupid questions here. Spider test drive booked for this afternoon, so let's turn this theory into reality.
