anyone know this F430?

[peteA]

looking for a bit of help - hoping to buy what would be my first Ferrari (had TVR's, Porsche, Aston, etc) and have seen the F430 Spider for sale at furlonger specialist cars and I'm wondering if anyone knows the car?

https://simonfurlonger.co.uk/cars/show.php?id=1200...

The guys at furlonger seems really decent and are offering what i think is a decent trade in on my 911 997 GTS PDK Cab - has anyone dealt with them / any experiences?

I've done some homework on F430's so i'm aware of manifolds, actuator, clutch, etc - anything else to check?

I think im a little bit scared of the ownership experience of a ferrari which sounds daft, it should be a dream come true but its making me feel apprehensive...that and also that my 911 is great and feels like a safe bet?

any help appreciated and thanks in advance

[corinthian]

That looks really nice, stunning colours and doesn’t seem like a bad deal at all. I can’t help you much with that particular car but if it’s any comfort, I’ve had an F430 F1 of that age for coming on nine years, bought at 25k miles and now at 50k. I’ve had some big bills but still on average not so bad over the long term I’ve owned it. Manifolds had been recently replaced when I purchased but didn’t last very long before I had to buy new ones, went for Nuvolari and they’ve been excellent. Instrument backlight failed about five years ago, autotronics repaired for around £500, great service and perfect ever since. Ball joints, even the hill ones, don’t last long, I seem to need one or two every other service. Brakes and clutch are very durable, my clutch is 25k miles old, it was properly checked recently and is only one third worn, still on the same brake discs and 2nd set of pads.
Duff points they’ll all have, handbrake has always been poor. Rear lights have very fragile concealed mounts and wing mirrors have a flimsy internal screw plate all of which will inevitably get broken and loose, just fix those yourself as and when needed.
I’ve lost interest a bit this last year or two so it’s hardly been used, but it’s still an impressive drive and nice thing to own.

[jtremlett]

The car was owned a few years ago by one of the Ferrari Owners' Club Area Organisers and I saw it a fair few times when he owned it but I haven't seen it for a number of years now. He would have been the third owner. Now on five owners, the last for the best part of seven years.

I know Furlongers but haven't ever done business with them.

[andyr]

peteA said:

I think im a little bit scared of the ownership experience of a ferrari which sounds daft, it should be a dream come true but its making me feel apprehensive...that and also that my 911 is great and feels like a safe bet?

I know exactly how you feel. I just put down a deposit on a 458 and keep going through the cycles of "is this the right thing to do".

I justify it to myself that I can either have the money sitting around, or I can put it into something that I will enjoy and remember for the rest of my life and the likelihood is, I will get a fair chunk of it back.

Go for it, if it's not breaking the bank.

[supersport]

That is very pretty. I might have gone for it myself if I was looking now. The photos make it look huge.

Th dealer is supposed to have a good reputation.

Had mine 2 years was concerned it would be flaky, especially compared to my 87 911 which I just put petrol in and drive.

It’s been great so far and am now ready to get it on the continent, if only it was as easy as said.

Bloody love it.

Although just this evening some tt asked me if it was a Ford. Supposedly he had seen some cougar tarted up to look like a Ferrari. I asked him WTF he was on about. Unbelievable.

[mwstewart]

The discs look a bit worn. They aren't expensive but it's worth a check.

[davek_964]

Can't comment on that specific car, but :

peteA said:

I think im a little bit scared of the ownership experience of a ferrari which sounds daft, it should be a dream come true but its making me feel apprehensive...that and also that my 911 is great and feels like a safe bet?

A long time ago, I had a 964 model 911 and was considering selling it to by a Ferrari 348 or 355. I did lots of research, found lots of horror stories - and decided against it.
Five years later, I was selling the 964 anyway and thought : Well, that's a big chunk of a 348 so I've got nothing to lose by trying one.

It was far far better than I expected, and no horror stories - I genuinely wished I had done it 5 years earlier. A few years later, the 348 was replaced by a 360 which I kept for about 7 years, and is definitely one of the best cars I've ever owned.

I suspect that as soon as you start driving the 430, your worries will disappear very quickly.

[Spleen]

peteA said:

looking for a bit of help - hoping to buy what would be my first Ferrari (had TVR's, Porsche, Aston, etc) and have seen the F430 Spider for sale at furlonger specialist cars and I'm wondering if anyone knows the car?

https://simonfurlonger.co.uk/cars/show.php?id=1200...

The guys at furlonger seems really decent and are offering what i think is a decent trade in on my 911 997 GTS PDK Cab - has anyone dealt with them / any experiences?

I've done some homework on F430's so i'm aware of manifolds, actuator, clutch, etc - anything else to check?

I think im a little bit scared of the ownership experience of a ferrari which sounds daft, it should be a dream come true but its making me feel apprehensive...that and also that my 911 is great and feels like a safe bet?

any help appreciated and thanks in advance

Bought my first Ferrari, an F430 F1, in Feb this year and this is the work I've had done so far:

Ball joints x 2
Suspension bush x 1
Loose exhaust bits fixed including tips, loose heat shield welded (now loose again) and threaded bolt
Sticky switches refurbished (eye-wateringly expensive)
Rear light broken bracket glued back together
Audio upgrade

To be done:

Challenge headers ordered through DL
Major service later this year
Repaint A pillar trim as the paint looks properly tired
PPF & detail

So far I've spent a fair few quid but then I bought privately at a decent price so all good. If you're lucky you'll get away with just fuel costs (plus insurance/tax obvs) but be prepared to have a decent piggy bank to dip into, it'll give you peace of mind if nothing else.

[j3gme]

Had a F430 from 2012 to 2019
Cost below excluding Insurance and fuel
All main dealer servicing (all including VAT)
2013 (18750 mile service bigger than normal) £1350 inc new exhaust bracket
2014 Annual service and fault on gearbox, new potentiometers kit fitted £1807
2015 Annual service £834
2016 Annual service £829
2017 Annual service £829
2018 Annual service £829
2019 Annual service £862

Suspension bits and bobs All Superformance (Hills Engineering) parts fitted by me so no labour
2014 2xdrop links 2 anti roll bar bushes £160
2014 Ball joint glue £68
2014 2x front uprated upper front ball joints 2x upper ball joint boots 2x front shock absorber bushes lower £356
2015 2x uprated lower front ball joints 4x lower ball joint boots £382
2015 2x track rod ends £383
2016 4x lower ball joint boots (rear ball joint rubbers split) £92
2019 2x rear tie rod assembly complete £707

2014 2x rear Michelin tyres £460
7 MOTS at £45 each =£315
7 years of Navtrack (Vodafone) £304 x 7 £2128
Total just over 7 years ownership exculding insurance is £12392 divide by 7 ........about £1800 per year !! Hope that helps

Just to add my insurance averaged around £950 per year so the £1800 is now £2750 per year

Hope this helps

[peteA]

Cheers for all of the info, all helpful stuff. I’m still deciding!

[Spleen]

Mate, just do it. Whatever happens, you won’t regret it!

[blueg33]

Furlonger are excellent. I bought my 360 from them a year ago. They have been great with warranty and fixing stuff on a 20 year old car. They collect it on a covered trailer etc.

The Furlonger workshop is impressive. When I picked up my car, they had in the workshop an F50, a Dino, F40 and a Bugatti. In the show room the had everything from my 360 to a La Ferrari.

[blueg33]

j3gme said:

Had a F430 from 2012 to 2019
Cost below excluding Insurance and fuel
All main dealer servicing (all including VAT)
2013 (18750 mile service bigger than normal) £1350 inc new exhaust bracket
2014 Annual service and fault on gearbox, new potentiometers kit fitted £1807
2015 Annual service £834
2016 Annual service £829
2017 Annual service £829
2018 Annual service £829
2019 Annual service £862

Suspension bits and bobs All Superformance (Hills Engineering) parts fitted by me so no labour
2014 2xdrop links 2 anti roll bar bushes £160
2014 Ball joint glue £68
2014 2x front uprated upper front ball joints 2x upper ball joint boots 2x front shock absorber bushes lower £356
2015 2x uprated lower front ball joints 4x lower ball joint boots £382
2015 2x track rod ends £383
2016 4x lower ball joint boots (rear ball joint rubbers split) £92
2019 2x rear tie rod assembly complete £707

2014 2x rear Michelin tyres £460
7 MOTS at £45 each =£315
7 years of Navtrack (Vodafone) £304 x 7 £2128
Total just over 7 years ownership exculding insurance is £12392 divide by 7 ........about £1800 per year !! Hope that helps

Just to add my insurance averaged around £950 per year so the £1800 is now £2750 per year

Hope this helps

My insurance of my 360 including business use is £228. I just renewed because last year I was with Tesco and change of underwriter means they don’t insurance Ferrari now.

[corinthian]

I’m sure my service costs have been higher than j3jme with similar amounts of bits and pieces even though I use an Indy for everything. I don’t have tracker and my insurance has always been between £300 and £400 so my annual costs would be about the same.

[bing]

Guys,

Does anyone know these cars? I'm planning on taking a look:-

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/12085773

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/11270976

Also the car will have to be used around London is it ok to drive the F1 in Auto mote around traffic times or does that decrease the clutch life, apparently on the e-gear Lambos it's not recommended is it the same with the F1.

thanks

[blueg33]

bing said:

Guys,

Does anyone know these cars? I'm planning on taking a look:-

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/12085773

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/11270976

Also the car will have to be used around London is it ok to drive the F1 in Auto mote around traffic times or does that decrease the clutch life, apparently on the e-gear Lambos it's not recommended is it the same with the F1.

thanks

Just drive it in manual mode. Auto mode isn’t great IMO, but in my view the F1 isn’t really suited to town driving. It’s not really an auto, you have to think of it and drive it as if it’s a manual.

On the open road, when you have taught yourself how to drive it, it’s brilliant, but don’t just expect to hop in and drive it like an auto. If you do you will hate it.

It rewards those with the patience to learn.

[Spleen]

blueg33 said:

Just drive it in manual mode. Auto mode isn’t great IMO, but in my view the F1 isn’t really suited to town driving. It’s not really an auto, you have to think of it and drive it as if it’s a manual.

On the open road, when you have taught yourself how to drive it, it’s brilliant, but don’t just expect to hop in and drive it like an auto. If you do you will hate it.

It rewards those with the patience to learn.

Agree with this wholeheartedly, you can drive it around in auto but I'd hate to drive it around London. Not saying you can't of course but no.

It's a car to be driven and the F430 is a bit analogue in that respect, whilst most modern cars can happily cope with hooning and stop/start traffic the F430 isn't really suited to the latter. Just my opinion of course, others are available.

[murphyaj]

bing said:

Guys,

Does anyone know these cars? I'm planning on taking a look:-

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/12085773

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/11270976

Also the car will have to be used around London is it ok to drive the F1 in Auto mote around traffic times or does that decrease the clutch life, apparently on the e-gear Lambos it's not recommended is it the same with the F1.

thanks

I'll agree with the others above here. I've had my F430 for 4 months and have used the auto mode exactly once, for about 20 minutes on the first day, I haven't bothered since. The car is a manual and should be used as such, the auto mode is just there because they could and probably the appease the US audience. If you're expecting something like an Aston Martin, which can be left in auto mode most of the time and then drop into manual when you want to take control then that's not what you're getting.

The gearbox never really works that well around town, it's just not happy in slow traffic, I absolutely get why Ferrari (along with everyone else) abandoned single clutch automated manuals. Once you're used to how to use it then it's not too bad, and it's far happier on the open road.

I'm very happy with my F430 and love it to bits. I don't know exactly how much of your time you expect to spend in London, but if I was doing the vast majority of my driving in London to be honest it's probably not what I'd have gone for. I'm going to be accused of heresy here, but if a Ferrari was what I wanted and it was spending most of it's time in the city I'd plump for a California in this budget. Not trying to tell you what to do here, just offering my point of view.

Edited by murphyaj on Monday 23 August 07:40