430 Your thoughts/opinions: 2008 w/ 26k m. Vs. 2007 w/ 11k miles

2008 all day. Has enough miles to show it has been driven and not sitting along with all of the improvements.

The 2007 at 11k miles, unless it was a collector piece, is going to run into a lot of things that need sorting from the car just sitting and not being oiled or run.

 

Agree with GogglesPisano. Go for the 2008 with the slightly more miles and then drive it!

 

I could be wrong but I thought you got a car already? What happened with that one?

And 2008 all day.

 

Agree with the others. 2008 as long as it has solid maintenance records.

 

Carbon Brakes are the bomb

 

Buy the one in the best condition and has the best service history. I do like a little more miles as Goggles mentioned.

 

I’ll be the outlier here, I’d get the car with the lower miles (as long as condition is equal.)

Most F430s need a $5K service minimum due to age. Most owners don’t maintain these cars perfectly. Miles means a lot in this game and miles wear hard on Ferraris. You will not feel a braking or shifting differences between 2006 - 2008 if you are a road driver.

At the end of the day, buy the cleanest car and immediately service it. Then enjoy!

 

The problem is a low miles car is more likely to have had an owner that went "I'm not putting miles on it, I can delay the service..."

 

Agreed, the 14k mile difference represents several years of use. You add that 14k on to the high mileage car and you are left with a 40k mile car that may be hard to sell.

 

Try to find out how many miles have been put on it recently. If the 2008 has been sitting for the last 5 years, while the 2007 has been driven consistently and serviced well in the last 5 years I'd go for that one.

 

That's a great point @Jaguar36. I considered a 5k mile car a few years back that sat for a decade. It needed a ridiculous amount of work to just to be road worthy again, so it was an easy pass.

 

If you buy a super low mileage car and start driving it, things will break. The suspension parts, bulbls, interior plastics are all 15-20 years old at this point and will begin to go once it gets driven. Not saying to get the higher mileage one, just be prepared to spend some time chasing gremlins if you buy the low mileage one.

 

In 2020, I purchased a 2007 F430 with 13k miles. It was serviced regularly and during my ownership, it was mostly flawless with the exception of the F1 system which I ended up replacing with a manual. Personally, I wouldn't buy an F430 again because of my experience with the F1 system. Others love the F1, but not me. For me, the transmission, when it was working properly, shifted like a tractor. Lots of folks like that type of shifting, but it wasn't my jam. I moved to a 458 in 22.

 

2008 without thinking for a 2nd,

The lower the miles, the less you will drive it since you worry to much about depreciation with the miles, and also higher miles cars tend to be maintained better as they are used instead of used like a painting on the wall....

 

I'd get the 2008 and you will have that year's and all previous updates with a deeper history behind it to reveal any previous faults or weak points and how they were addressed.

I'm the sixth owner of my 2006. The third owner provided a full shakedown driving from 3,100mi to 22,000mi in 8 years. Having been serviced by Prestige and The Collection in Florida I was able to obtain a breakdown and bulk of the service records to assist my decision.

You can have a low mileage car with a stack of receipts just throwing money at maintenance or potential problems and not address the things that can break when you actually drive it.

With a solid maintenance history I've added 16K miles to mine and have had to fork out $3600 in repairs in the 5 years excluding yearly servicing. Driven and lovingly maintained beats garage queen, all day, every day in my book.

I'll never forget standing next to a sub-10K mile F40 and hearing it fire up to life in preparation for a Ferrari drive in SoCal. I thought there's something wrong with this car, chatted with a couple mechanics nearby and they said that's what you get when you don't drive them. Walked over to another F40 getting close to 30K miles and it roared to life and purred like a lion ready to be unleashed. I might have told this story before as my forum years are piling on.

Low mile cars should stay low mile cars. What's your intended purpose? Choose wisely.

 

I'm looking at a 50K 06 F430 along with a 08 F430 with 21K on it. Both have full histories - 08 has 14 dealer stamps and has been driven quite a bit over the last 2 years. Which one - and what difference in price between the two? Any knowledgeable suggestions always welcome!

 

Bulbs and interior parts are not going to wear faster once the car gets driven. It's arguable that the suspension is going to wear more. The car is 20 years old. If they haven't had it....they all need it. Doesn't matter if it's 11k miles or 26k miles. The shock seals are nearly 20 years old.


I'll take the lower mile car. Selling a high mile Ferrari later is tough

 

No real advice on which one to buy, but on the low-mileage conversation, in 2020 I bought a 2003 360 w 13k miles on it, and I’ve had no issues whatsoever with the drivetrain/powertrain or whatever else one would expect to have problems due to lack of use.

I suggest not letting the “it just sat there” reasoning be what you base your decision on.

 

Many thanks for the feedback. I'm in the UK - anyone have any suggestions as to what the price difference between the two cars should be? Thanks to all