Perspective on three cars 550, 575

Here are my opinions on those cars:

1. Argento/Black, assuming it's the car at Motorcars Int'l, they've had it for a good deal of time. You can probably get it at a decent price. What they are asking is ok, perhaps have them work a major into that deal.

2. Red/Tan will undoubtedly be the best for resale. There are some people who like the 5XX's in other colors, but in my experience I've found that dealers are always looking for red cars. They generally hold a 10k premium (I was told this by a very reliable source). That car should be around 130-135k w/ a major.

3. The 575 will be worst depreciation-wise. The color, although beautiful, is not a generally liked one. It sounds nice though. Is this the Pompano Beach car? If so, it's also been on the market for a while at a pretty good price. If you plan on keeping it and driving it for a while, this might be a good choice for you.


I'd personally go for the red one.

 

IMHO, the color and wheel style will have nothing to do with the overall mechanial reliability and ultimate ownership experience. Rather, inspect the records for each car, have a discussion with the dealer about past history, and if any of your candidiate still interest you, have a thorough PPI done. This data should form the basis of your decision.

My personal experience (having just paid a $15K repair bill to replace bronze valve guides in a 2000 456M) would be to concentrate on the 575 (as this model is only one with sintered steel guides from the factory). You might never have to worry about leaking valve guides in a 550, but you can't rule out this concern, either.

The 575 sounds like the one at Wynn Ferrari. I saw this car in person, looks very nice and was something of a deal at their asking price of around $150k.

 

I think that's probably a good idea. That way you won't have to worry about when the major needs to be done.

As far as colors go, I agree with Diablo in that (OBVIOUSLY) they don't have anything to do with mechanical condition. They do however, add ultimately to the ownership experience. If you compromise with a color, you'll always regret it. Obviously, no matter which car you pick you're going to be happy, but it really adds a lot when you walk by it in the garage and get a little twinge each time.
Additionally, you should make sure all of these cars are in sound running order. Documentation is a plus, and KEYS! Make sure the cars have all the keys or at least have that situation remedied prior to taking delivery. We got our car (550) with one key (not the master key). Fortunately we had the key-code in the glove compartment; now our dealer can order more fobs. Just ordering fobs is about $700.00. If you don't have the key-code, you'll need a new computer and fobs-- that will be in the thousands. Also look for small quirks notorious in 550's and 355's such as leather pulling from the dash behind the windshield, seat controls falling off, and bubbling/sticky controls and window buttons. Also look at the passenger's airbag cover, those tend to bubble as well.
Good luck!


-Joe

 

Great advice Joe. Keys are such an easy thing to shrug or forget about but can be a major pain. Even with my lowly Alfa 156 it took $400 to replace them when the car was delivered with only 1 key and I lost it.

And I agree about the colour. With a car like this, you need to be able to look at it and think "D*mn! That's gorgeous!" and still think that when you are behind the wheel. For instance, there was a beautiful Bordeaux Red Metallic (what was it called, Rosso Maranello?) 550 for sale here which I would have bought in an instant if it had NOT had the red leather steering wheel and dash. It looked afwul, IMHO, no offence meant.

If you're buying second-hand, you can't be too picky but you should also listen to your heart.

Onno