Hello all, I'm a new member as after lurking for a while this seems to be the most useful forum by quite a margin when it comes to FF's. I've never owned a Ferrari, I'm one of the "new" customers that these more reliable, easier to drive "softer" and practical cars have drawn in. Actually it's the GTC4 Lusso that has drawn me in and I've since discovered the FF. I can't afford a new GTC4 and even if I could I'm not entirely sure I could stomach the depreciation - but that's something that's been done to death as I've read the threads. My wife is a wheelchair user, something which isn't particularly compatible with supercars in general, but the FF changed all that. I'm smitten. My man maths has figured out I can buy and run a used FF for about the same 3 year cost as the new German V8 Estate car I was about to order, which was an eye opener. I've read many of the posts on here and these cars seem to be quite robust, much more so than the delicate cars of old. So I've been looking at FF's for about a month now, I understand there are only a little over 200 registered in the UK in total and there are currently about 25 for sale. They don't seem to be moving quickly, maybe it's the time of year? We've had a look at three and this is the current favourite:- Used Cars | Lyndhurst | Meridien Modena I just don't like the privacy glass, everything else I like. Meridien got a quote of £3K to change the glass but said they'd cover that to get me in the car. We've been and had a good look at the car, it's works for my wife and her equipment and I've offered £155K which is about my comfort level. The dealer declined and is prepared to deal at £168K with the glass changed. With the GTC4 arriving early next year do you think it's worth hanging on for cars to hit the market that are being upgraded? Or do we not think it will make much difference. Also it seems prices for these cars are bottoming out around the £150K mark here in the UK ignoring stuff that has more than 20k-25k miles. My must haves are:- Pano roof Light interior (prefer Sabbia) Paint = Blue's, Grigio's, Darker reds Preferences but not deal breakers:- Rear wiper Suspension lift Clear glass all round Front camera Don't like:- Paint= Rosso Corsa, White or Black Funky colour combinations Funky colour interiors Daytona Seats Anything modified. That about covers it. If any UK member has a car matching that spec and is considering trading it in the next 6-12 months I'd be interested. I'm also interested in the UK FF market in general and feedback from FF owners in the UK.
Hi Good luck with your search, I'm 6 weeks into my FF and loving every minute. They're few and far between and in the right colours sell quickly, mine never made it to market as I'd asked dealers to look out for the spec I wanted and one came up within a couple of months. There will be more on the market next year as GTC4's come and owners upgrade The car at Meridien looks expensive to me, my car was similar mileage albeit a 2012 and was under £150k but then Meridien are notorious for being expensive. If you are certain of the spec (seems to differ from your list a little) and can avoid the impulse I'd leave them with your offer, you'd be amazed how their position can change near the end of a quarter!, their margin in the car at present is probably £25k!, personally if the spec is not right I'd hang on btw I really wanted the pano roof but was advised the cars can get very hot on a sunny day and the air con can struggle a little to cope so maybe not all important?
Thanks Mark, I have a friend who is a Multiple Ferrari owner and he suggested the same as you re value the value of the Meridien car. I'm comfortable with that car at £155k otherwise I'm happy to wait for the right one to come along. I think waiting until spring might be a good move just to see what becomes available. My perfect car is Blue TDF/Sabbia. I have to say I like the airy feel of the Pano and I can imagine in California or Florida it's a little difficult to live with but in the UK it should be ideal. You've got me thinking now, maybe it's not a deal breaker. I could imagine a car with a darker interior and no pano roof could be quite oppressive inside.
hello and welcome, firstly they are wonderful cars and very usable - I bought mine for occasional not daily use and I racked up 4k miles in the first six months of ownership ! I don't think prices have been effected by the launch of the GTC4L because deliveries to new owners only commence in 2017, so that's when prices will soften again I suspect. they've been stuck in the 135-165 range for 2012-13 cars for almost a year now, certainly since I started looking. so maybe waiting is the best option for you. as far as the pano roof is concerned, the main benefit is that it lightens the interior, especially if specified with dark colour interior. the driver hardly notices it, as you are sat quite far forward, it the rear passengers who really feel the benefit of the extra light and view. I didn't notice any issue the additional heat in the summer and the a/c struggling, certainly not in the UK. it's a nice thing to have, but I wouldn't miss out on your ideal spec/colour if the glass roof was absent. agree that the Meridian car is optimistically priced. good luck with your search, you seldom hear a bad word on these cars from their owners.
I owned my FF for 15 months before trading it on an F12. Great car- you will love it. Re the pano roof- for me it was a must have option the cabin becoming a little overheated,in my experience,isn't true- sounds a bit like a sales pitch to me! The one thing I would say is that if resale is important to you down the line then I would definitely only take a car with the pano roof. cheers,Bob
Welcome to the forum and hopefully soon to the wonderful world of FF ownership. I reiterate everything that seawise, Mark and Bob said above but also try to be open minded re colours and specs. I was convinced I would only buy a Silverstone Grey FF with light interior. I looked and looked over several months but none of the specs were quite right. Colours in photos can look quite different in the flesh so its worth going to see cars that you are unsure about. In the end I was viewing yet another grey car at a dealer when i saw a black FF there (a colour that i never wanted) that had just arrived and I ended up thinking it looked fantastic and bought it. I have a 2013 car, Pan Roof with Crema interior. The Pan Roof is great especially for passengers and does command a premium. So bare in mind, even if you don't want the Pan Roof, it does have a certain extra value on the used market. Also whether you like it or not some cars can have £10 - 15k of carbon, which again has some extra value used. When searching, i asked the dealer for the spec sheet of each car and worked out the cost new. Prices vary wildy with cars from ~ £250k to £300k new, which has to be considered. It is worth calling a few dealers and leaving them your ideal spec as many of these cars are sold without being advertised. Good luck in your search!
Thanks for the replies guys. Waiting seems to be the sensible option right now. What are opinions on buying from non franchise dealers?
Expect to pay 5/10% over at Meridien who are my dealer but their sourcing and service is top top class. There is a nice Ferro car at Romans, lots of owners but its in a good shape, price coming down each month.
We live 15 minutes from Romans and have been to see that car. It just looks awful to me, it's a really dull colour combination of grey over more grey with added grey. It was the first car we looked at and it nearly put me off the model altogether. To my eye these cars are quite colour sensitive.
TdF would be perfect and with Sabia or beige would look fantastic. re the roof if the choice was there i.e. a car with and a car without I would have chosen with!, however my car is without and I have the Toscano Cuoio tan interior and it not oppressive at all, you'd be welcome to sit and try if it helps, I'm guessing we're not a million miles apart in the UK
Stick with main dealer you normally get 2 years warrantee [ worth about £7000] I think, plus other dealer benefits, days out etc. MM told me, they have the best cars, so that is why their prices are high but they paid the asking price for my 599 [ 17K more than my local dealer offered] so they pay well for their cars too. I would be surprise if the have 25K in it, by the time they have prepped it, maybe painted the front to remove stone chips and added the warrantee on to it, but speak to Warren who is the owners son, if you can, I am sure he will do a deal if he can. I just took a quick look around and as you say there are not many for sale at the moment!
Thanks Mark what a kind offer. We're on the Surrey/Kent border. Both the cars we currently own have glass roofs, an SL and an E class estate and I'm in the process of ordering an Audi S6 Avant to replace the E which will also have a glass roof. I'm not even bothered if they open or not, it's the feeling of light and space they give the cabin that makes it a must have for us. It's one of those things that once you've had a car with one it something you look for in your next car, like a reverse camera. Resale is reasonably important to me in this case. I guess the plan is buy an FF and run it until GTC4Lusso's start to drop to palatable levels after those with much deeper pockets than I have taken the biggest hit. I'm not after a "sports" car and the reviews describing the GTC as much more GT car and comfy and less sporty are all the things that appeal to me (despite the fact they seem to upset purists a little). In fact I could be one of these new customers that genuinely considers the Lusso T as long as it's just as comfy as the V12. As suggested by another poster, I'll leave my offer with MM and see what appears on the market in the new year. The Grigio Titanio car at MM is a nice spec and if it were the right price I think it would already have gone. It will be interesting to see how long it sits. I just wonder if others considering the FF are currently doing what I'm doing and just waiting to see of the GTC4 softens the FF market a little.
I see you are new to the brand, Ferro is an expensive historical colour, admittedly bland on grey day but quite sought after and a very expensive option. People like the distinctiveness and it is the LAUNCH colour for GTC. Titanio is lovely but mainstream. Good luck.
My experience is even for regular customers they are pretty firm, I just paid sticker for my F12 (admittedly well prepped) and have had 12 cars from them. They have good stock and being a private business no pressure to meet silly targets. Its Winter and they will be in no rush. Prices of modern classics have suffered but many GTC will be £300 list which will underpin FF. That is assuming no Brexit price rise - one is due.
This made me chuckle. I guess "mainstream" is relative in supercar world. Serious question - does the spec of the FF materially effect their resale? It seems that the value of many options is simply lost the moment it's driven out of the showroom. In so much as I'm looking at some cars that must have been close to £300K new with options compared to something around £250K yet at the same age and mileage there can be less than £10k between them. Is it just a case of it's nice to have but not really worth paying any extra money for? Expensive historical colour being a good example. Panoramic roofs seem to retain a good proportion of their value when it comes to resale from what I've seen so far, they certainly seem to make the car more desirable and more valuable. Are there any other must haves or must avoids? I noted Deltona mentioned carbon goodies above which have never particularly appealed to me, it always seemed like a lot of money for not a great deal. Very grateful for the advice so far guys, thanks.
That Meridien car sure has a nice color combo. The Sabbia sure looks nice for the interior and I guess that is a popular interior color in the UK, as mentioned by Tim the Shmee150. While I'm not located in the UK, I would think the best is to refrain from giving in to the dealer's higher asking price. Any desperation on your part sensed by the dealer will only shift the bargaining power towards them. The dealer has more stakes by having the car in inventory and has more to lose by not selling it. As for options affecting the resale...just don't have some crazy color combo like the Ronald McDonald colored FF and most of the time you will be fine. Even though many prefer the pano, there are those like me who prefer the cozy feeling associated with not having a pano. Thus the best is to simply to find something you like.
I seem to remember my dealer contact saying they tend to avoid buying in cars without the carbon fibre driving zone. Not sure that the shields are a big deal on an FF in the UK but most seem to have them.
I was wondering what it costs to change my privacy glass as I think it looks questionable .... well it turns out I do not hate it 3k much, so it will stay With regards to colours - there is a buyer for pretty much every colour combo / spec combo - mine is brown with crema/chocolate interior (no carbon, no pano roof) and I love it Would have oreferred a car withiut shields, but can't have everything Edit: I prefer the aluminium interior parts as it has a nice feel to it and looks imo more in keeping with a luxury car than the carbon stuff
Interesting you mentioned Shmee150, it was his video that started me off on this slippery path. I had genuinely never even considered buying a prestige car of this type as I'd assumed the costs were insane, but the reality is it's probably no different to the depreciation I'm swallowing on the new German cars I buy as long as you're reasonably sensible what you're buying and at what point in it's life. This is the light system on the steering wheel I assume, I've had a friend tell me I shouldn't buy a car that doesn't have this. Interestingly my Ferrari owning friend had one of his cars in for a service at a main dealer in Swindon last week and was having a conversation about the glass in the FF and what I was quoted to change it. He emailed me the following:- "Had a very interesting chat with a Ferrari service advisor today. Apparently FF privacy glass is a film fitted by the factory. One of their customers peeled it off himself. The glass is no different." Maybe worth a look, or it maybe this particular owner had aftermarket tints maybe? However, if it's a film fitted at the factory it could work out a lot cheaper than £3K to remove. I know colour is a very personal thing, I have to say I quite like the Chocolate leather, my wife doesn't and I like Mrs 21ATS to be happy, it makes my life more pleasant. Also, if I had the option I wouldn't fit the wing shields either.
On another thread it is suggested it is just a film on the inside of the glass which peels off. True or not I have no idea but poster sounds very confident that is the case.
You probably have already come across Chris Harris' videos on his own FF, which looks almost identical to Shmee150's FF.
I have, it is my favourite colour combination, it just looks classy. However I'm finding I'm drawn to Titanio and Silverstone and I don't generally like grey cars, but for some reason these colours suit the FF and they work with the dark glass of a pano roof.
Hi everyone. I too am looking for an FF, and it is very interesting to read everyone's experiences and opinions. Silver, Black and Grey would be my exterior colours and a black interior with as much carbon as possible. Saw a non carbon and non LED steering wheel at DK Engineering, and have to say that it really dates the car. Interesting to hear the differing views on the Romans car - i quite like the look of that but have not seen it in person. My only concern is with mileage - mine will be a DD and i have not seen any cars for sale with over 30k miles. What happens to prices then? Do they totally fall off the cliff and are "untouchable"?
Like me, you've probably been looking at the same 24-25 cars listed on Pistonheads for the last month or so. I've decided to hang on until spring unless something just right pops up. I want to see if Lusso deliveries bring any more FF's out of the woodwork and now I'm actively looking it's interesting to see the price drops (of which there were three this week). Also I think I'm going to want a 2015 or later car, I like these two:- Used 2015 Ferrari FF V12 for sale in Cardiff | Pistonheads Used 2013 Ferrari FF for sale in Hampshire | Pistonheads Almost the same spec, the same colour combination, mileage very close but two years between the cars and only a £10,000 price difference. Who would buy the 2013 car over the 2015 for £10K? The unknown about these cars is what are your costs as the mileage increases? Brakes is a big one. I've had a look at costs of discs in the UK and a full set is going to be £10-£12k + pads + fitting (£15K in total?). So you're going have to factor that in. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferrari-FF-F12-Berlinetta-Brake-discs-Front-274334-CC-Front-Brake-Disc-/152201818287?hash=item236fef70af:g:iE0AAOSwPc9WywBG The 4WD unit is a unknown (transfer box available as a unit on German eBay new for £20K), so you're going to have realistically pay to extend the factory warranty once you're out of the first 4 year period if you're looking at anything 2013 or older. Anything on this car is going to be an eye watering expense if it goes wrong and it's not under warranty. To that end I feel the premium for a newer car is sensible that gives me at least 2 years of the full 4 year manufacturer warranty however if you're going to pile mileage on then it's going to cost in depreciation. This will also be a daily driver for me, but I work from home and have another car which we split something like 16-18k miles a year between. So I might put 8k to 10k on it at most. When you see the ROMANS car in the flesh there just isn't any contrast, it's an overload of grey tones despite it being a very nice spec car. The grey suede Daytona seat inserts do nothing for this particular model. In fact if that car had a nice black full leather interior on standard seats it would probably look lovely. On overcast days (which I have to admit are the only two times I've seen it) the grey paint looks like dull battleship grey. It may sparkle in the sun but I've not seen it. To my unhistoric untrained eye both Silverstone and Titanio looks much nicer and have more depth. All that said, taste is a very personal thing and you may well be looking at the two cars above that linked and thinking they are bland and awful and who'd buy a cream/beige interior like that! Still, I've figured out (for me at least) that the Daytona seats don't work in an FF, it's a historic nod that this very modern car doesn't need. The DK car has Daytona seats I think?
