Best Manual Ferraris

What are your other parameters, other than "manual"? The 550 and 430 are very different machines.

The "best" manual Ferrari would be, in my opinion, the 330 P4. But it's not very accessible.

 

Maranello for the win.

 

Easy choice, the best is the 550 maranello

 

Given the proposed options (360, F430 and 550), 550 for sure; you get the magic of the V12 and a car that was really designed to get the non-robotized gearbox: both 360 and F430 were designed with the idea of using the F1 system, which was previously introduced - as an afterthought - on the 355. Which makes the 355 another "best" choice if the mid-rear engine layout is judged more interesting than the V12.

 

250 GTO or F50

 

Well, budget for one. Everything up to the 599 is available with a manual, but there's a huge price differential between a 250LM and a Mondial 8. Use: do you want a track hero or do you need to carry two kids with you on Saturday drives? Do you want to work on the car yourself, or are you a checkbook mechanic? You appear to be in Florida, so narrow city roads aren't an issue, but for some of our Euro folks, they literally cannot get some of the newer cars into their garages.

Personally, I love my 328. It's tactile and analog, makes all the right sounds and smells and feel. But it is very slow by any modern viewpoint, and the climate control is ineffective.

 

MT 430 fits everything you're looking for. Second choice being a 550

 

Trust me 550 is the best manual Ferrari Ever made

 

LOL.....good car and all but wouldn't even make the top 20.

 

In your position I'd be looking at the F430 with a stick. Or maybe a 360. Keep in mind that these are 20-25 year old cars, so even a nice one will end up costing you in maintenance.

 

I just bought a gated 360 spider and it is very fun to drive, revs easily, sounds good and shifting through the gate is also very easy with no notchyness. The clutch is also easy to modulate. This car is relatively inexpensive, analogue, new enough to have good HVAC, comfortable and has beautiful unclutered lines and proportions. This goes good with our scud, 997 gt3 and an air-cooled 911.

 

I can’t say I’ve driven a lot of manual Ferraris, but I have a gated 575 and gated 430. No question Maranello is the more special car imo. I’ve occasionally thought of letting my 430 go, never the 575.

 

With a 550 you get the manual (in a car that was not designed with anything else in mind) and the V12. Later cars were actually designed thinking of the robotized F1 system (even though this one is put on top of the manual gearbox), so for me it's more logical to let them in the form they were intended to be (even if the F1 system is far from perfect, it's part of the period DNA).

 

Why the 550 over the manual 575?

 

Picked up a manual 355s with stage 3 exhaust and love it. That gated shifter is special.

 

Interesting!
Could you possibly tell how you came to this conclusion?
As I just started to think of the 550, I’d be very interested.
Many thanks, ciao.
Nic

 

I’ve driven just about every manual Ferrari, besides the 275 gtb the 550 is currently the best manual Ferrari you can buy under a million dollars. There is actually an investment firm currently buying all the 550 maranello as an investment class. It’s due to perform better than the s&p 500 according to analysts.

 

"Definitelty a checkbook mechanic here." - 355 is NOT a cheep car to run compared to 360 and esp. 430.

Who is going to pony up the $$$ for the 550? I have never seen anyone under the age of 50 even look at one at C+C. It's not the "quintessential mid engined sports car". If it WAS going to perform so well it would have done so by now. Whomever the analyst is... fire the dude.

OP get a factory manual 430. Drive it. Enjoy it. And sell it for a profit when you're done.

 

True…but I prefer the drive of the 355s gated over the CS and the F430 I drove.

 

Tons of guys in their 20s want a maranello. But even then that’s a flawed way to view cars. Care to explain to me why a 275 or the like cost millions?

 

Trust me the 550 is a better purchase than a gated f430

 

A great car is a great car.this is the reason cars from 1910-1920s fetch millions. They’re timeless