Testarossa cost, poll

Alright, I will try to make this as accurate as possible. We all see prices of testarossa's being thrown around wildly here, ranging from 45k to 80k, with opinions for every value in between. Now, quite a few of you have actually owned these cars...I want to know HOW MUCH YOU ACTUALLY PAID.

Now, of course cars vary by color, mileage, maintenance, dealer, wholesale, etc. And we have to account for this, to make this poll worth any value.

For those of you who HAVE BOUGHT a early testarossa, 86-88 1/2, what did you actually pay (Not including taxes/title/liscence)???

We are going to try to determine what a hypothetical 1987 red/tan testarossa with 20k miles and a recent service is worth....assume the car is clean/well cared for, and passed a PPI. Now, not everyone has a red/tan car...

If your car is a different color, or mileage, or some other factor - please explain this...

Hopefully with enough votes we can FINALLY see what these cars are actually selling for!!!

 

You'll really only get opinions (my own TR purchase is really no longer relevant).

I'd put a serious difference (like $3~5K) whether 415mm metric or 16" wheels -- which is on this car?

 

steve, the actual car I am looking at has the 16" wheels.

 

16" where standard fitted to all models up to the 512TR.
A one mirror, centre wheel bolt, which are pre 1987 cars will always be less valuable.
Mine is a UK RHD 1990 Rosso Corsa with Crema and had only 3,600 miles when I bought it last year.
I believe i got it cheap as they are going for more in the UK with higher mileages too.

 

Well, I'd love to participate...but mine's an '85 and a Euro...

 

Ok, good info so far...

Seems like NO ONE has bought below 55k, and most spent over 70k....

As a famous movie character once said, whose name eludes me- " 'splain to me like I'm a little child, use liitle words, I just don't get it":

The testarossa I'm looking at is an 87, only 9k miles, mint, but white/red...otherwise gorgeous. Some of you have paid over 70k for a similar car, I guess, but that was red/tan...so, is a white car worth 15k$ less, because of color?!

What did these > 70K$ early testarossa's look like??? What made you pay what many are telling me is WAY OVER market value???? Folks are emailing me that a white car is probably worth 50k tops, if pristine....

 

My 4 pennies of advice. Buy the VERY BEST mechanical car you can find. A car with documentation of services, and a low # of owners. Of course you need to have the car gone thru with a qualified shop. I have never owned a TR. These rules apply in my opinion to any exotic. It does not apply to just the TR. For me color is a distant item to consider. I would rather have a cherry mechanical car with documentation, low # of owners, services up to date, and one that has shown little wear and tear. I also feel one needs to look at several cars to get a feel of what a good car should look like on the inside and outside. As most know, a car with hi miles is usually more reliable. You do not want a queen with 500/1000 miles. Again it applies to cars other than the TR. As far as an unusual color combo ? It would probably not hurt you; if you want to keep the car a long amount of time. It would come down to pay now, or pay later. Sure red and tan will be easier to sell. For some that is all that will work. I for one would be happy to save the $$$; if you can find the good mechanical car and save the difference. I would not pay 15K more for the red paint. Others may ? Just find the very best mechanical car. Do not find the bargain. The bargain priced car will still be priced as the "bargain," even after you have put 10K + into the mechanics.

Good luck

 

I have bought and sold a couple cars over the years on Ebay. It is a good gauge of what the true market is. Here is the thumb nail system I use: I do a search for compleated auctions. Then I add 10% to the final bid. That is a good indicator of what the true market value is. Many things can play into this factor, like if the car was in a soft market, poor photos, seller has bad feedback etc. I have been watching a White TR that has gone up for auction twice in the last 2 weeks. Both times the bidding stopped just under $50k. I think $55k is reasonable for that particular car. It is well within the NADA guide.

My 2 cents.

 

Well, I agree, but I did manage to replace my Metrics with Ferrari 16" single lugs, so where does that leave it?

Of course, I kept the Metric rims, but I can't imagine anyone preferring them.

Why is your TR buy irrelevant?


As far as mileage goes, you will pay about the same for maintenance for 7k as for 30k. IMO, the services needed are based on time, as well as mileage, and you can't get away from that.

Trs are worth it.

 

Ok, fess up. Who bought a car for less than 50k???

Come on, give me the details that made you pay MORE than 70k for an early testarossa (and puh-leez don't tell me you bought it new...)

 

Even if they didn't buy it "new", they may very well have bought it seven or eight years ago when the market was much higher.

 

The 16" wheels are a positive (or maybe I should say a non-negative), but I think any number starting with a "6" is maybe too much. I have no doubt a US dealer would ask maybe something like $69.9K due to the lowish apparent miles, but I too put a larger penalty (or risk) on the 18 years since birth and a deeper discount on the ext. color.

One other thing I'd "discount" for is if the major service was performed at a shop where you really can't take the car directly and easily if you have a future problem -- i.e., why should you pay the seller the full value of the major service when in fact you'll have zero leverage or recourse if any problem occurs?

My purchase was early 2000 ($72.5K for a '91 red/black with 13K miles and ~3 years/11K miles since last major), and TRs have come down since then (and gotten 5 years older) so it's not really that relevant anymore IMO (and it's not a single-lug TR). At that time (IIRC), FoDenver was asking $89.9K for a red '89 7~8K mile TR (although they did reduce that to $83.9K asking after ~6 months). $70K for even the "best" single-lug TR on the planet today seems too high to me -- JMO.

 

Two years ago, the average asking price for an '85-'87 Testarossa was $59,030... for an '88-'91 Testarossa, it was $ 71,865...

 

Bought a '88 knock off wheels in '99 with 7,000 miles for $82,000 not including sales tax etc. I sold it earlier this year with almost 40,000 miles the major was done at 29,000 miles and sold it for $60,000. I also bought it and sold in Florida.

 

Bought my '91 TR back in March '03. Paid $75k, car had 11,400 miles with a major done 4 years before by LFSC in Chicago. Not much service documentation from '91 to '97, but enough from '98 to '02 that I felt the car had been serviced regularly and properly.
'91 TR RED/TAN 5-lug rims serial # 88564

 

This poll is very enlightening, where are all of the members here who in previous threads were saying you could buy a "TR all day long" in the $40's.
Have they all been sold?(some have).

I think in the TR market the perception is not reality and this poll shows it.

The current FML asking price index is 85-87 $55,567....88-91 $67,514.
When you look at this poll the FML prices are pretty accurate if not low!!

 

Yes...I agree that this poll is reality and all the TR-basher's out there may be wrong. Oh deals do happen, but they are the exception rather than the rule. My TR is a high 40s to low 50s car that is a "driver". Great value so far I think. I'm learning more and more, and fixing things as time allows. Some day the car will be totally bug-free and reliable, all sorted out. I will then sell it for about what I paid for it. The next owner will get a great car that he can drive without worry, and I will have had great experiences and gained valuable knowledge that you just can't get any other way. And I'll have a good down payment for my next car...hopefully a 512TR.

 

Here is the stats on the car I am picking up this weekend: 1991 TR 30k service done last month including clutch. New Maranello 550 wheels and tires. 15,XXX miles no paint work. $64,000.
Christian

 

my 2 cts. these cars will never go up in value, they will only drop till they reach some kind of equilibrium vs the 328/308/348 that are also falling or stabilized at their notional bottoms.

given this, then i agree completely with ralf: go for the best mechanical example you can find, of the best years - which are apparently the 88-91's.

as for color, use the fact that this car is white, to get an even lower price, then re-paint it black (imho black is the only color for a tr given that that is the easiest way to hide the black rubber and black skirts, which then give the car a better look).

but you might have to act reasonably fast since i hear they are making a 'miami vice' movie which might create some new strange desireability for white tr's.....

 

I bought mine in 1994 - $92K for an early 88 red/tan with 7,000 miles - it was considered a "deal"

 

Dear Ferraristi,

I think the " ebay specials " are a myth. I have never seen an actual TR in real life in any half-decent dealer for those "deals".
I have a 91 US TR and paid a premium as it was a local Ferrari dealer car. I have all the bills & history, super condition and last (second series ) of the last year made. I will say, the maintenance costs are no myth. It really is an expensive car to maintain. That said....it really is the car I love so I spend what it takes to keep the car in top condition. If one has a beer budget, the TR may not be that cup of tea.
I'm very content that I really don't want any other Ferrari. I wouldn't mind a Diablo though. ( same gendre and style as the TR ) In your search, mechanical condition and previous bills are a must! You could really be walking into a trap without a verified full service or belt change at the proper time or milage interval. Don't be fooled with a low sticker and " I'll get to the maintence later" attitude. A few thousand up front will save multithousands on the back-end.

All that said....BUY ONE ! They are fantastic cars and true show-stoppers!

Shamile

Freeze...Miami Vice!

 

I bought my 88 Testy in 1997 from Ferrari of Dallas. It had 5k miles on it.

I paid 75k.

 

That sounds like a good price back then.

 

I agree with Shamile on every point, including sharing his wish to acquire a Diablo -and for the same reasons !

TRs are fantastic and, provided they are propertly cared for, wonderfully reliable. As Shamile says, they are expensive to maintain. Don't believe otherwise unless a) you are skilled at mechanical work and have time to devote and b) you do not use the car for long distance grand-touring.

I acquired my car, an 87 model, from an independent Ferrari dealer, in July 2003 when it had 19,000 miles on it. Citing UK prices from that year are hardly relevant for the US, as Europe tends to be more expensive, but for the record I paid £38,500.

The car had a full service history, every service in the book stamped by an authorised or independently qualified dealer, and a sheaf of invoices detailing work done. The car now has 32,000 miles on it, mostly added on long runs. And this brings me to the question of reliability.

I don't use the car as a daily driver and hardly at weekends. I use it for pan-European travel, the longest single-day run being last summer, 793 miles door to door in heat, heavy traffic, summer thunderstoms and empty highways -all in a 14 hour day. I don't want to break down in the middle of France, Spain, Germany or Belgium with the attendent costs, even with breakdwon insurance. The latter helps, but extraneous costs are enormous, as I discovered with a Jaguar XJS, which always choose to die on me in the middle of nowhere.

I had emphasized to the garage which services the car that reliability was paramount and this is what I have had. It is expensive reliability, not as expensive as if I were to track the car (I imagine), but it costs. I will request that parts be changed before their time if they might fail on a two-week 2-3,000 mile run out of the country.

Recently I paid a premium to have my failing clutch replaced with a 512TR version, which I am told will last longer, at least the way I drive the car.

As is repeated over and again on F-chat, buy the best you can afford and don't think that inexpensive Ferraris will save you more than an initial, brief outlay. To paraphrase the old saw about marriage, buy in haste and repent at leisure.