488GTB now or never?

The 488 is fantastic and you will love it. It can be driven hard or just around town. Its my favorite car of all time. With regards to options, to me the Goldrake seats are a must. After that- its really preferences- you can get a bunch of carbon or skip it. On a light color car, I do like the contrast of the dark carbon on the side air splitter to break up the car as well as below the door sill to make the car look more slender. Definitely do the shields, stitching, and horse in the seat. These should be standard items but they charge you.

Good luck.

 

It's an amazing car... you will love it... I use it as a daily driver.... in the city I live it's hilly w bumps and the 488 is just amazing.. you will enjoy it in all modes and at all speeds... it's very sporty, still a GT, a cruiser and all what I want,,,,, go ahead and live the dream... life is too short


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

AFS, suspension lifter and forged wheels are must have items. For me the full electric Daytona seats are more preferable.

 

I do not have a suspension lifted and have never felt the need for it. Certainly you can spec it but the 488 sits fairly high already.

 

Agree. I don't have the suspension lifter and don't think it is a must. I had daytona full electric seats in my 458, and racing seats in my 488 - I much prefer the racing seats.

You will absolutely love the 488 whatever you spec!

 

To me the racing seats are a must. I dont understand the point of the electronic seats. Im the only one driving my car- what do I care if its harder for someone else to move the seat in the right spot. Screw em.

 

Options are a matter of taste (most of them are cosmetic, including the forged wheels even though they are saving weight); the lifter is not really necessary (and it adds weight). Carbon interior bits are very expensive for what they are, but for me the steering wheel with LEDs is a must. Racing seats might be nice to have but not really mandatory like on older Ferrari (on the 355 the standard seats were like they were borrowed from a limo, they are sportier and more supportive on the 488).
One aftermarket improvement useful for tracking is the extended paddles from Carbonio.
The 488 GTB is a very nice car to drive by the road to a track; it's very well balanced and already seriously quick. The different settings (with the manettino and suspension de-link) do not propose thousands of combinations but the few available are well judged for the different possible uses and conditions.
The next step I'm looking forward to is the Special Edition that will be presented next year but not on the road before end of 2018 / beginning of 2019.

 

The 488GTB is so compliant in Bumpy mode it is unbelievable.

I second the race seats and get them in Large to suit the mass market.

You won't have to worry too much about the car throwing you off a road as it is not a 930 Turbo, even in race mode it always feels connected to the road.

I have spent some serious bum time in a 2011 GTR which I found to be a sensational great all rounder especially in the wet and bloody fast.

The great news is that you are stepping up in power from the GTR which most find hard to achieve after owning such a car and trying to replace it.

Best of luck with the drive.

May the Horse be with you....

 

U can drive the 488 as hard as the GTR. It is very predictable. I would say even more so than the GTR. U will find that the ride is on a different planet and engine response to be more linear. I use my cars in a similar fashion to you, mostly mountain roads, you will have an absolute blast. In regards to spec, I would skip all the exterior CF because it can get really pricey and at least get CF driver zone. The comfort seats are alright but sits a little high for me. Good luck.

 

I have had 2 GTRs, 09 Premium and 13 black edition. You will not miss the GTR. I picked up 17 NSX and 570S after GTR, then got rid of NSX for 488.

The NSX does everything GTR does and a lot more comfortable and equally as fast. NC1 NSX feels like 1k pound lighter than GTR despite being same weight. 488GTB is just another league in terms of all aspects and I daily drive my 488

 

I’ve spec’d 458s and 488s to the max and fairly bare bones. I know you say resale is not an issue but they less options the less depreciation you’ll take when you sell. Most options can be added after the fact. In fact I added some interior CF on my Spider recently with OEM parts that a dealer had in stock and was off loading inventory for thousands less than had I gotten them from the factory. The same is true with forged wheels which I also just added at a fraction of the new cost.

A few options are Very hard to add after the fact. 1) led wheel. 2) race seats 3) shields 4)hifi stereo 5) lifter/AfS lights. The wheel/seats can be added but at a crazy cost. Very small secondary market so they really crush you on the $. Both are great and I’d get them for sure. The led was more a gimmick in the 458 but I actually use it in the 488 as the RPMs climb amazingly fast. Shields are a must for most folks and pretty cheep. Stereo is a personal thing. I like it.

I’ve had the lifter/afs lights before (both are required but they add them separately cost wise) and never used it or needed it in the city. If you want to lower your car or have some crazy driveway maybe you’d need it. Otherwise it’s a waste of money.

 

Are you really a turbo guy?

I know you had in the past but are you sure you want turbo Ferrari?

Have you tried 458?

If you are a Turbo Ferrari guy, buy 488 asap. Do not waste any time waiting over 6 months.

If you want to order the car, go for less option.

It doesn't need anything else.

Options to avoid for me is

Race seat. They lack the angle adjustment so they are flat and will give you leg pain during long drive. If you have to have one, do race seat lifter but lifter will not help much.

Passenger display is waste of money.

Any sound option or apple car play is garbage.

Avoid light colored leather interior. It will get dirty soon and need cleaning alot and force you to be careful too much.



Must have option

Order spyder. It will make you happy not 5 but 10 years.

 

Oh the shift light and carbon handle is nice but carbon driver area is overkill if you dont go for full carbon interior.

As for handling, put it in ct off and you are done. You can slide all over without spinning if you know what you are doing.

 

Get a base car with no options. You will have just as much fun with the car.

 

If the intention is to track the car I would definitely not recommend the heavier and less rigid spider, these flaws will get noticed (while they may be discounted on most road uses).
On the other hand the aluminium monocoque of the GTB provides a level of stiffness that cannot be told apart from the one of a carbon cell (this one may be stiffer, but generally speaking the forces at play are not enough to bend the aluminium shell, so that the carbon benefits become virtual).

 

The car is a surprisingly comfortable and capable daily.
I live in a downtown area and don’t have the lifter, I just have the skid plates and honestly bumps haven’t been an issue, the car rides higher than you would think. The frunk is larger than you would expect and the bumpy road mode absorbs bumps better than any of its peers in my opinion.

I’d say the worst mark against it is the general Ferrari culture that wants their used cars with 1500 miles or less or else resale value drops. I put 1000 miles on mine in a month because I love driving it so much, but I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to throw money away as I drive it more and more.

If you genuinely don’t care about that aspect at all, then this will be one of the best experiences money can buy in my humble opinion. Ferrari really managed to make a livable and daily friendly car that is still truly exciting and special to drive. I think you will love it.

 

US is a different market and I’m From the UK but I don’t agree about zero options being the best for resale. Zero options cars will stick around and dealers try to avoid them. There is a mid point, which can be summarised as “go careful with the carbon”. Some carbon options are critical - LED steering wheel, and engine bay on a special coupe car. But carbon is so expensive that if a car is dripping in it, unless it is a very special car such as a TDF, where its value justifies the spend and a new owner might want that too, a new owner will hardly value it at all, maybe you get 20% back.

On my 488 Spider I added about 20% to the cost, including some Atelier ordered stuff which is not necessary (but will still help my car to sell, even though I may not get the full value back). Important items, IMO, are the race seats (fewer people will not buy the car because they have them than will not consider it because they don’t and they are beautiful, comfortable and save significant weight), the LEDs, take great care with the wheels - upgrades usually sell on much better although the standard 488 wheel is nicer than for the 458. Still, they are not forged, which means more unsprung weight and if you are going with a lighter spec I would consider them strongly. Colour is where you can save a lot - there are some very nice and popular, zero cost colours.

I chose CarPlay and use it all the time. I love it and it makes life much easier for me, I will spec all mine with it in future. I also have a feeling it will be one of those items that many people look out for, so if your car has it, some people will overlook other items they may not be so keen on with your spec.

I have just bought a Porsche RS. The interior is all black. With Porsche, if you do a bit of research you discover that black is just much safer. If you go off-piste with interior colours you can seriously affect resale. They are a conservative bunch in some ways. With Ferrari, this doesn’t seem to apply as strongly. So, I would be imaginative with your colour scheme and interior, but nicely imaginative, not eclectically daring! For instance red exterior and interior is a major turn-off, as would be yellow exterior and red interior. Good combination examples (in terms of resale) are red/black, red/cream (UK), red/tan (US), black/tan, black/cream, grey/tan, grey/black etc. I chose Blu Corsa, a brighter colour which really suits the car but that really dictated a black interior I felt.

There are plenty of other schemes that work well and I suppose the most important thing is to make sure you spec a car that will enhance your pleasure of ownership. It sounds right to say “these cars are all about the way they drive so order vanilla to get that experience at the lowest cost”. But they aren’t simply wonderful driving experiences. They are unique and wonderful ownership experiences too. Best to make the most of it and not worry too much about who comes next - let them take care of themselves. Within the bounds of reason, of course.

 

I'm surprised folks here missed your question entirely. A five year old 488 with nearly 40K miles worth 85% of MSRP? You are more than kidding yourself I'm afraid. You sound like a real car guy and will most certainly love your new ride that is leagues above the cars you mention. However, the 488 is not a value proposition with respect to resale over a 5 year period even if it had a fraction of 40K miles IMO. This is especially true once its replacement is revealed. Don't buy a production Ferrari caring about the money. Buy it and drive it because it is such a great car for you. Best.

 

It's never an investment ... (488)

 

Apart from limited editions the pattern is always the same, the amplitude may only vary depending on market hiccups.
A car is new, it depreciates for a while, then the price stabilizes, and eventually it raises again. To make a new car an investment one needs to keep it for decades.
If the goal would be to limit the loss risk a 360 Modena or F430 would probably be the best choice, they are close to their lowest price but did not yet begin to go up.
Older (355, Maranellos and before) they have already begun to raise and could suffer temporary corrections; more recent (458, F12) and they have not reached the lowest point - even though the recent speculation movement has kept the prices at relatively high levels, in the end I believe they will follow the common trend.
For the Ferrari, cars from the '80 and before are relatively rare and already at high prices levels that can go anywhere depending on external conditions (old mass production cars become naturally rarer because people let them die, which supports the price; but the Ferrari that have already high prices never disappear - actually sometimes it seems they multiply...)