How do you decide between an older Ferrari and newer competitors

Test drive them all and im sure you would pull the trigger on one. I really wanted a F430,but that will take me around 10 years to muster together the money to do so. I didnt want to be 35yr old when i got my 1st ferrari,which isnt a bad thing,so i decided to buy my 348. And i couldnt be any happier. Im sure you would be the same if you drive any one of them,but if you are a die-hard ferrari fan,then the choice should be rather obvious dont you think?

 

back when I bought my 1st F, a 308, it was almost as fast as the Vettes & 911s of its day so the performance gao was not as wide as it is today.

Next to a modern Z06 a 308 is as modern as a Jag XKE, great car but the Z06 stomps both without breaking a sweat.

Personally I'd go for the Z06 or a 512TR

 

a Pantera has performance matching today's cars, maybe not the Z perhaps, but it can still hold it own...

 

Simple. Buying any exotic doesn't rely on logic, it relies on illogic. There's absolutely no reason to buy an older sportscar when there's always something newer, cheaper and faster. I knew going in that from any price/value/feature viewpoint my choice was a bad one, but life's too short to not get what you want -- even if it doesn't make 'sense'.

I have never regretted getting my old Ferrari

 

I'm right there with you.

 

Test drive them all and buy what you like best after that. The purchase of this type of car cannot be justified by logic and depreciation considerations.

 

If you can't decide between say a Z06 or 911 versus a 355/348/whatever, then you're probably not ready to pull the trigger on an F-car yet. When you're ready for an F-car, you'll know. Sure, you an wait for years for the $200k 430 to come down a bit, but during that time, you could be driving a 355 GTB for about $80k (somewhere around that price point)

Remember, that if you go for the Z06, you'll be getting amazing, huge performance - probably the best bang for your buck out there, but except for the afficianados, to everyone else out there, it's just another 'vette. However, if you end up with a Ferrari you'll be getting a different experience entirely - the smell, the exhaust note, the 'quirks' - and the high maintenance. You won't get near the performance of the 'vette, but what you'll gain is a completely different experience - a much rarer car of course and that stunning styling. Imho, I think the 308s are among the most beautiful design styles ever made. So what if the newest one is 22 years old ? What's more important to you: performance or style/soul ?

 

Those z06 cars are great and well received but they are no ferrari. That's kind of a van./choc. thing. I didn't want anything but a Ferrari when I bought my first. Glad I did. There are a lot of good cars to chose from. Get out there and drive a few or a least sit in a few.

 

When I bought my first 308 it was with the heart. I walked into a show room with a friend who was looking for a 355. I saw this pretty little sportscar at the back of the collection and had already bought it in my head before even sitting in it.

I appreciate the Z06's and 997's for what they are, but seeing one doesn't make my heart skip, you buy these with the head.

An old slow 308 will make the heart skip, as will an MG TC, an Austin Healey, a Pantera, a Maser Ghibli, a Countach. These are all cars you buy with the heart not the head.

F430 or Murci are out of my league I'm affraid.

 

Excellent points and from someone who drives on the road and regularly tracks a 1985 Euro 308... Agree the new Vette is amazing for the money. Ferrari 'quirks' can easily equal non-warranty $$$$. Having an older Ferrari is not necessarily about performance (or sanity), it MAY be more about style, sound, and that feeling... The choice does come between performance or style/soul.

 

You dont buy an older Ferrari because its the fastest car on the road you buy because its a Ferrari. Buying a Ferrari is love for the mark not all about specs and technology

 

First, you define your metrics. What are your requirements? What do you want from a car?

If all you want is a transportation appliance, you don't need a sports car at all.

So what does "sports car" mean to you?

Flash? Bling? The ability to win the stop light drag race? Noise? History? The driving experience? A car you can take to the local road course track?

Be honest with yourself about what you want a sports car for, and you'll get the car that will most satisfy your needs.

Classic Ferraris are the definitive "sports cars", under Hemmingway's definition*. They were race cars you could drive on the street.

The driving experience is the ultimate refinement of the classic formula: a flat torque engine pushing the rear donuts.

Most Ferraris won't beat a heavily modified turbo sprinter from a traffic light (unless the modified mill grenades).

Even an old inexpensive Ferrari screams "money!" to the general non-enthusiast public.

Car enthusiasts would be more likely to be impressed by a 250SWB than a 433.

40+ year old Ferraris can be relatively reliable, depending on the quality of service, but they're not the best suited cars for commuting in gridlock on a daily basis.

Take your pick of requirements. Then pick the machine that fills them.

Then go drive a Ferrari, and toss all those calculations in the trash.

I wouldn't mind a new Ferrari ... but I'd never park it in the city garage under the office.

* “Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports ... all others are games.”

 

Folks who buy old ferraris likely yearned after them in their youth. To me, the testarossa was unobtanium. I always wondered who on god's earth can afford a car that cost 3 times that of the average house. Dreamed about it. Drew it on my notebooks, and salivated over every cover of R&T that had it...

Thats the type of buyer that will be happy with an "old" ferrari.

If you didn't go through this stage, or are too young to have been able too, then buy a newer car. Your dream car in 15 years will likely be a viper, or mucielago, or ....

The beauty of life is that, if you work hard enough and give depreciation a chance to work, you can own your dream car...

Driving a testarossa is wonderful. Everytime I get into it I flash back to 1987...and think about high school. I play my 1980's cd's, and dream about way back when... To me, thats priceless. I imagine what it must have been to be the cars new owner, who probably paid 500,000$ plus for this very car. (It was the 80's, remember ). All of the other cars were no match...

I suspect this is the same thought process the current batch of musclecar buyers are going through. And ten years from now, more folks my age will finally have the money to purchase these cars...and its value will only go up .

If you think the same way, then there is no substitute for a 70's or 80's flagship supercar!!! A vette now a days is a nice car, but a super car it isn't.

 

I all of the advice above is excellent, especially the suggestion to test driving different cars and buy the one you like the most. You really can't argue with that.

Something to consider about old vs. new cars, and about different performance levels is how much of the additional performance you will actually be able to use, and how much fun you will get out of it.

One thing which many of us who have older Ferraris have found that in some ways, the old cars are more fun to go slow in than the new cars, and considering that it is difficult to use all of the performance that, say, a Z06 can offer on the road that may be something to think about.

On the other hand, if getting the lowest possible lap times at the track are of concern for you, then go with the newer, faster car. It just depends what you are into.

 

With few exceptions, modern cars are machine-made, bloated conformist lumps. I wouldn't trade the rarity, style and experience of my 328 for the performance of a Dodge Viper, Chevy Corvette, etc. Even Porsche doesn't quite do it for me anymore.

Depreciation on newer high-end cars is a huge expense, and no matter how much performance you buy there will be someone who will own you at the next stoplight. IMO, satisfaction from a sports car involves a lot of factors other than 0-60. You need to decide how much acceleration matters versus the other stuff. For me it was a very easy decision.

 

I had a newer Corvette – fast, good gas mileage, totally reliable, just like new, and so on. Traded it in on a 308 last year and haven’t regretted it for a minute. The 308 has character and a personality all its own.

 

I have owned 2 porsches and 2 corvettes.

The first minute I sat in my ferrari, I got kinda misty eyed.

Sometimes dreams do come true!

Whats your dream? I bet its not a corvette.

 

Ask yourself a few questions.
1 - Are you going to race other similar cars (Vipers, etc...)?
2 - Are you looking for a fun car to drive?
3 - Are you looking for something out of the ordinary?

If you answered yes to #1 then the older Ferrari may not be for you.
If you answered yest to #1 and #3 then the Corvette is not for you, the Viper is a better fit.
If you answered no to #1 and yes to either #2 or #3 then the Ferrari should fit the bill. That was my scenario and I don't think I would be any happier with big Detroit HP.
BT

 

Personally I own a 308 but recently had the pleasure of renting a 360 Modena for 3 days. IMHO the 360 was like driving any other car except for the power. My 308 does not have the performance but I like it much better. It is raw and you can feel the road. I'd compare the 360 to driving a Cadilliac on steroids. I compare driving the 308 to driving a sport bike without the danger.

I suspect my next Ferrari will be even older (I've got a Daytona in mind).

 

I finally got my 79 308 coupe after 30 years of lust . I love all good cars and my brother has a good Vette which I have driven and like very much. That's not it though. In 1981 Car magazine from England published a comparison of the Lotus turbo Esprit and the 308 coupe. They went on for pages about the virtues of both and how many people on their staff argued about the better car, but I think the author Steve Cropley said it best." If you already have fine cars and you need a super fast machine for high speed Continental dashes, you need the Lotus. There is no denying that it does, by a hefty margin, offer more capability for the money. It is also tremendously safe, inspiring to drive yet very relaxed-and economical. But if you yearn to own one great car-just one-almost as much as you yearn to go on living; If you know you'll only get one chance and this is it; If you intend to tuck your car up and use it with great vigor and panache only when road conditions and your own inclination are right (and go to work in an Escort); if you want to feel the pleasure of ownership of a great car for the next 20 years- or double that time- then their is only one choice to be made. You must have the Ferrari."

 

Do you have a link to the article, or the text somewhere shareable?

 

I love the way you said this. I'm in my mid 20s now and I'm planning on buying my first ferrari in about 2 years. When I got really into cars was at the begining of the 348 era so I went through my teenage years with the 348 and 355. My dream car right now is a 360 (or F40 but I have to be realistic) but I'm going to be going with a 348 since that is what I can afford. Hopefully someday I can get ahold of a 360.

 

When I was young, I lusted after a Hemi 'Cuda.

Then I discovered turns.

I've been working my way up the Italian marques since.

 

Backtrack 20+ years more to 1965 Dallas, TX...Plenty of folks with $$$ here, lots of Caddies, Vettes, musclecars, a conspicuous sprinking of expensive Euro makes such as Jaguar and Mercedes, the usual run of small Brit and Italian sports cars, the occasional Rolls, but any Ferraris? They were a faraway legend perpetuated by the sportscar mags of the day, and spotting one of the two or three in Dallas was a singular experience, getting close enough to check it out and hear it absolutely transcendent.

When my number came up to buy one, a zombielike state set in...a Vintage 12 was a reflexive do or die no-brainer...no reasoning concerning potential ownership costs and troubles could get through. The reality, while not "cheap", has not touched the direr predictions of the negative scenario.

IMO, the current 60's Musclecar and Vintage Ferrari price spikes are largely backed by affluent baby boomers..it will be interesting to watch and see how it all settles out, and what the 80's generation is willing to pay very big bucks for in the next 10 years...will a nice TR be like a Lusso is now and fetch $350 K?

New in '64, a 330 cost the same as a nice midrange house, today its value might be a down payment, depending.