Too all of you who have heavily tallked negatively of the TR....if you havenever owned one, shut your pipe. If you have and found it too expensive to maintain, maybe your too poor to own it. Owned my 86 for a dozen yrs, and have done the belts and hoses every 7 yrs are the book suggests, and fluid flushes every year, and looks and drives just as strong as the day I got it. Maybe your getting taken large where you service, and maybe dont know how to drive if you have to worry about a clutch, gear box, engine, syncros.....maybe your such a crappy driver that the car things your the dummy. 60k with orginal clutch, and everything else. just my .2cents, but maybe look in the mirror first.
i spent 20k on my engine out service and tranny repair. these are as i have always said...big boy cars! they were made to be sold to the well healed and they require a well healed owner all these years later...just a fact! if you are to budget 5-7k every 5 yrs as indicated in a previous post...you will be overwhelmed...10-12 is a more appropriate number. if you own these 512's long enough...you too will see a 20k repair bill. i am certain! pcb
Honest words from someone who owns one. I don't think Testarossa's or 512's willl ever drift down to $30K, but what will be interesting is to see whether the people who buy them can afford to maintain them properly. I'm guessing the population of really choice, well maintained flat-12's is going to become very small. Those could pull some bucks in the future. Jon
With all due respect, he has a 512BBi, not a Testarossa. One was never imported officially into the States and the other was, that makes a huge difference when it comes to parts and factory/dealer support. It seems to me as this thread continues, people like to generalize all the flat-12's together. There also appear to have a lot of inputs from non-owners who wants to comment on how the flat-12's are horrible to keep and maintain etc. Some are simply re-telling the stories they have heard, we all know how reliable these stories can be. The funny thing is, each series of the flat-12 family is very different when it comes to having them serviced, which goes from mechanicals to electronics of the different series. Just like you, I would not want to talk someone into buying a Testarossa. In fact, I wouldn't try to talk anyone into buying any sort of vehicles. It is their decision and way to big of a responsibility for me to handle if something should go sour. But at the same time, I would also not talk someone out of a car with reasons or facts based on "stories" that we heard. Let's really be honest, buying a Ferrari is just like buying any other cars, and in the case of the Testarossas, a used car. Be as prepared as possible, understand what you are getting yourself into and to know if you will be able to bail yourself out of a large repair bill if that should ever happen. And most of all, understand that just like buying anything that is "pre-owned", you can end up with either a peach or a lemon.
Yes the cheese graters are gone. & I'll keep them off. Variety is the spice of life So now I have 1 normal TR w cheese graters, the race car w/o cheese graters, & the Slutmobile w/o cheese graters Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
anthony, i do agree w/ most that you say in your post. i think the big dollar repairs come in similar ways...tranny (main shaft), small engine issues like water pump (as you know, virtually all repairs need engine removal...which includes the removal of the cowling and bumper and other time consuming items) and other. on the subject of value...i do not own atr yet but will shortly as they are stunning cars that leave an impression like a sledge hammer! hard to believe that we are even having this discussion. i think the tr is the last car that just screams ferrari!
It is true that whenever you have to have the engine out, the bill tends to get hefty. However, one must also needs to take into consideration of the why or the cause of the need to repair. Whenever you buy a used car, you are taking a greater risk, as you have no real idea how the car was cared for, driven about etc. You can do research on it until the cows come home, it is still going to be left up to chance. Also, just like any other forum, people tends to post only when there is an issue. By ratio, I would dare say that most of the Testarossa owners who really understands and cares for their cars (Step 1. Drive the car on a regular bases) does little more than annual fluid changes and rountine 7 year engine out belt services or other normal wear and tear items such as new batteries and tyres. And during the major, the water pump can be rebuild and among other stuff. Needless to say, the place where you car is being cared for makes a huge difference as well. Here in the Pac. NW, we are very fortunate to have more than one respectable and reliable place to go to for service. Point is, during the major service, take care of whatever issues or parts that are "borderline", thus avoiding the need to do a out of rountine engine out service on the car. Case in point, I know of a Testarossa owner that refused to put in a new clutch (The clutch is fairly worn, and was recommended by the master tech) while a major is being done, then he whines about having to pay for a clutch job 6 months later and how expensive it is to own a Testarossa. Bottom line is, read what's on this forum and take them with a grain of salt. Make your own decision, and if you are not sure about something, than perhaps you should just walk away from it.
Look at it this way, and lets assume you have 55k$ to spend. 1) You buy a testarossa...depreciation over the next 5 years, probably zilch. Repairs, lets say 10-15k$, perhaps less if you do it yourself, more if you are unlucky. 2) Buy a new porsche boxster...depreciation 20k$, repairs 5k$. Cost, about the same. In one scenario you own a Ferrari, in another its a Porsche (A bottom of the rung porsche at that). Several more years pass. All the folks who remember watching Miami Vice and Magnum are now i their forties and early fifties. They now WANT these cars, and prices go up...the boxster is still tanking, its 15 years behind the curve... Quite frankly, I don't see how the testarossa CAN'T appreciate over the next ten years. No, I don't expect it to be worth 150k, but 80-90k$ I can see. The generation that yearned for these cars will be in their prime earning years soon...and they only made several thousand of these cars...
Aww Shucks... Maybe Im just delusional... . Either way, ten years from now I think the testarossa will be worth more than it currently is, but perhaps not by much...but I can hope! Porsches from the 70's are now appreciating, as they have been for the last 2-3 years (quote from Excellence reports). Even the crappy 914, 924 are up a little. 911's are broadly up, from the 1970's-1980's. GEEE, how many of these did they make??? HMMM??? Keep in mind I love porsches, and miss my 76 911s and later sc...which are now worth 4k$ more than I sold em for several years ago. The testarossa and boxer are just 5-10 years behind...
I think BPU699 is right on the money, the TR is not going to depreciate anymore than it already has for those reasons, and the Boxster comparison is very accurate. FerrariPete also makes a great statement, the TR is the last car that really screams Ferrari, I can attest to that, everywhere I go, I get the same comment from just about everyone that stares at it. The TR is a traffic stopper to say the least. No Porsche or any other make other than Lamborghini has that magnetism. Stephane Scaledetails
You are 100% Correct!!! How do I know??? I went from a 2003 Porsche Boxster and sold it after 1 year. Cost about $15k in depreciation & taxes. I now have had the Testarossa for 1 year and couldn't be happier. The car had 2,500 miles on it & looked it inside & out. I have put 3,000 miles more on it for the 1st year & couldn't be happier. Hmmmm TR or Boxster - Not a tough decision!!! Now the boxster wouldn't have been so bad if I had kept it longer, but I like cars & switch around too much - You only live once!
Yep, I had a Boxster too. A 2000S. New=55k$. Bought in 2004, 30k$. Sold 1 year later, 25k$. Can you say OUCH. With a new car you get depreciation. With an old car you get repairs. Depreciation is a given, repairs are not. You may own a testarossa for years and it may not cost you much. My early 911's cost me about 1000$ to own, total. Sold them for more than I paid. Same with the 944 turbo... I'm hoping the ferrari follows in this trend...
Next time I'm in California, I'll keep my eye out for a blue testarossa. If you see a guy chasing you down the street, breathless, yelling, "Hey Dude, Stop! Hey! Hey! Remember that thread on Fchat! Dude, stop!" Keep an eye out!
Do like I did - just buy one of the already depreciated Boxsters (2001/40K miles/$22.5K) and have both!
It's all speculation, but I think well-kept, desirable cars from the '80s are done depreciating. We have some differences here about whether the maintenance costs on a TR are "scary" or just the price of admission, but as long as you don't drive a Testarossa into the ground or let problems accumulate for the next owner, I doubt depreciation is much of a risk. Condition probably governs the value at this point. And if you're posting and reading here, any F-car you buy is probably in the hands of a caring and capable owner. My opinion: TR's are nearly as iconic as 308's, have a wonderful unique presence, and I think it's a safe bet that some collector in 2012 is going to be eager to pay a premium for your properly maintained and even-rarer-than-now car. The only thing that could really hurt is if Ferrari decides to offer a down-market car (a la Boxster, or Jag X-Class) and commits brand suicide. Similar thing if Ferrari was acquired by a mass market producer and started component sharing (again, I will pick on Ford-Jaguar). A $60,000 Ferrari would wreak havoc on the market for the "classic" but not "vintage" cars. Porsche has less cachet than it did - not because the Boxster is bad, but because it put a Porsche in every driveway. It's even hurt 996 values. So, fingers crossed Ferrari sticks to its knitting. I'm OK waiting for the hand-me-downs . Jon
Regarding component sharing, no one is worse than Porsche, IMO and Lamborghini/VW/Audi apparently are following the similar path as well. Saw a Gallardo in person the other day, looks great and liked it way better than the Murcilago. I think it is the best looking Lambo since the Countach, but the interior is a little too "Audi" for me, which is a shame.
Had four 512TR's and the reliability was EXCELLENT!! I was a little paranoid when I bought the first one (tow truck number programmed into the cel phone). However, after several months of driving the car 3 - 4 days a week, I totally relaxed and enjoyed the drive. 10 years of Tr's = one major and one clutch. Amortized over ten years ..............Thrills per $$$ cant be beat!!! Buy a well taken care of example .......... and DRIVE IT!! Enjoy ........
