550 Euro or US version?

No issues with a Euro model except price. Discount of 10-15% and performance should be slightly better than a US spec model. $70K is a bit steep, but if you like the car and it is well maintained, may be worth the money if you plan on keeping it a few years. I assume the instruments were changed to English gauges?

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Jay,

Welcome to the Forum. It appears you like this Maranello and it sounds like it's a nice one by your description. If there's still room for you to negotiate price, by all means do so. A fair selling price is one where both the seller and buyer are happy.

I personally don't feel it's appropriate to price cars on a website like this. The figures quoted are often very opinionated. You should be getting a PPI performed by a reputable technician familiar with the 550 who would be your best adviser in purchasing this car.

Barry

 

Jay- Like Barry says, prices are very subjective. If buying a car you really like that checks out well by an expert, paying a bit more is not a problem as long as you do not intend to turn it over quickly. Euro models are a bit harder to sell and that is why there is usually a discount on them.

The car sounds nice and the leather may be Bordeaux. At least that is the color on 575Ms. Hopefully you have looked through the forum and seen the potential problem areas for 550s. Big ones are motor mounts, plenum hoses under the intake manifold, shock absorber actuators, and, to a lesser extent, window fit and motion. The dashes are known to separate at the front from shrinkage and the airbag covers tend to wrinkle. The leather is a problem for all the cars in this forum, and my 575M's dash has been recovered. Sticky plastic controls are a problem with all the 90s and 00s cars. All these things are easily reparable, they just eat at your maintenence budget, especially recovering the dash, because R&R is expensive.

Welcome to the world of V12 and Maranello lovers. Get an expert to go over the car and see what he thinks. You will love the car if you buy it.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Great info and advice Taz...as usual.

 

There's also times when certain knowledgeable people will have a preference for Euros. It's just huge value at this time. I predict the smiles per miles factor will be large indeed.

 

Had 4 ferraris 2 us 2 euros. Euros were better in both cases. 550 I have now is a euro and has been the best yet. Isn't Ferrari from europe? Anyway, know you local smog laws regarding OBD2 compliance. Some cars us or euro did not have full fuctioning obd2 connector ports. If you take one of those cars to cali you will have more work to do. If the euro federalization was complete the obd2 will read with any $39 kragan autoparts scanner. Even if I was buying a us car I would always do that stupid little check before I even paid to do the ppi. it take 5 minutes to do that check and pull up any codes or pending codes or drivecycle issues.