Window shopping for a car in London.

renmure · Post by **renmure** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:00 am

Over the past year Wendy and I have had the itch to own a Ferrari and thought we better start scratching the itch before something else turns up... like the house needing a new roof or the like.

The problem we have found up here is really the lack of local(ish) sales / servicing places where it is possible to see a decent stock of cars at the same time and to get good, not pushy, advice.

So, on Friday we flew down to London and spent saturday afternoon at Kent High Performance Centre, where they had nearly 50 cars in an indoor showroom available to nosey around. Monday morning was spent at Verdi Ferrari near Heathrow where again there were about 20 cars within budget to poke about at. No-pressure test drives of 348s 355s & 360s were enjoyed and we picked up more info and advice about pro's con's and prospective pitfalls from salesmen, mechanics and owners than you could shake the proverbial stick at.

At the end of the weekend we have come away with a pretty clear idea of what we fancy and I guess we had better do something about it or do something more sensible .... like that new roof!

Jim

Rag_It · Post by **Rag_It** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:05 am

- yeah I can imagine your roof isn't too much of a priority!!!!!

And your clear idea of a model is?

Post by ed » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:06 am

nice!

im guessing 360!

RDH · Post by **RDH** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:06 am

gifted yet skint wrote:Over the past year I've had the itch to own a Ferrari and thought I'd better start scratching the itch before something else turns up... like eating, drinking, supporting myself.

The problem Ihave found up here is really the banks won't lend me the money - and they've increased their security against would be bank robbers like myself! Oh well I'll just have to stick with the Elise!

renmure · Post by **renmure** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:59 am

ed wrote:nice! im guessing 360!

Actually, no.

The target is a 355 GTB, manual gearbox, red with creme interior, challenge rear grill and capristo sports exhaust.

The surprising thing is that we set out wanting a ferrari 'something' spider. The benefit of having a wide range to look at is that we then realised that we both decided that we weren't so keen on the 348 and 355 with the roof up and to be honest the 360 spider was a bit out of budget. The 348TS and 355GTS targa top goes behind the seats when the roof is off and you need to be a bit carefull handling/storing it and it also limits how far back the seats go. So... that made the berlinetta the number one choice. I also think I prefer the lines of the car. Again, for the budget, we could get a 'better' 355 than 360. Thankfully Wendy wasnt too keen on the 360 anyhow. There is still a bit of work to do... can't justify the esprit and a 355 (daft but not THAT daft!) so the GT3 needs shifting. (watch this space lol)

Jim

ps Rich, the 1st part of your post is toooo close to the bone

Post by ed » Wed Oct 25, 2006 12:13 pm

I stand corrected! Loverly cars, looking forward to seeing her in the flesh!
-dont they not sell yellow ones?!

Sanjøy · Post by **Sanjøy** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 12:49 pm

HAd a run up from London - Bedford for Palmer day chasing mate in his 355. Made my rear view mirror vibrate when behind him at the lights.

GregR · Post by **GregR** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:12 pm

renmure wrote:
ed wrote:nice! im guessing 360!
Actually, no.

The target is a 355 GTB, manual gearbox, red with creme interior, challenge rear grill and capristo sports exhaust.

The surprising thing is that we set out wanting a ferrari 'something' spider. The benefit of having a wide range to look at is that we then realised that we both decided that we weren't so keen on the 348 and 355 with the roof up and to be honest the 360 spider was a bit out of budget. The 348TS and 355GTS targa top goes behind the seats when the roof is off and you need to be a bit carefull handling/storing it and it also limits how far back the seats go. So... that made the berlinetta the number one choice. I also think I prefer the lines of the car. Again, for the budget, we could get a 'better' 355 than 360. Thankfully Wendy wasnt too keen on the 360 anyhow. There is still a bit of work to do... can't justify the esprit and a 355 (daft but not THAT daft!) so the GT3 needs shifting. (watch this space lol)

Jim

ps Rich, the 1st part of your post is toooo close to the bone

Jim - excellent choice! the 360 is a pig at the limit anyway, and you can get away with the 355's V8 for pootling around. 348s are a dog's dinner, and they break. Steer well clear of the F1 gearboxes on the 355 (they didn't even get them right on the 360!). If i were you, I'd go for the nero leather... You can keep the rosso corsa, but having rosso AND crema is just soooo cliched.

Oh, forgot to mention.. I farking hate you!!

The_Rossatron · Post by **The_Rossatron** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:27 pm

Just described my dream car! Though I'm not so keen on the challenge grille on the F355.

ross corsa + crema is the only way to go really

plus I prefer the sound of the capristo over the tubi!

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:26 pm

I love the 355!

Will be pleading for a pax in that

rossybee · Post by **rossybee** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:01 pm

Jim, nice one

Did having a peek at the one I pointed out to you at Autoecosse have any effect on this decision?

A friend of my bro's has a 355F1 which he takes on the Glenvarigill days (now Sytner) at KH - took me out as a pax years ago, but he was fannying around, not taking it over 6k, whereas they howl to 8.2k IIRC

renmure · Post by **renmure** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:32 pm

rossybee wrote: Did having a peek at the one I pointed out to you at Autoecosse have any effect on this decision?

It did actually, but not how ya might imagine. The Autoecosse one was black/black, high(ish) miles and a fairly varied service history yet was still around 52k (obviously there would be a bit of wiggle room in there). Your m8 was really helpful but we sort of took a view that a 'better' car would mean more money and went cool on the idea. It was mainly by spending a couple of months lurking in one of the Ferrari forums and trying to get an idea of the difference between sales prices and asking prices that things have warmed up a lot

rossybee · Post by **rossybee** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:35 pm

Cool

Scottish Elises

Window shopping for a car in London.

Window shopping for a car in London.

Re: Window shopping for a car in London.