[DDD]

What's it like owning one of these beastly machines? Do you find you get more girls, do you feel better about waking up knowing your going to be driving your Ferrari today, etc.

Also, what kind of jobs / businesses do you have that you can afford the Ferrari?

If you wouldn't mind sharing some of your experiences, it would be greatly appriciated!

 

[Magnum6464]

Well first off, you haven’t introduced yourself, how old you are, you current situation and haven’t filled a complete profile. So it’s hard to give advice…like are you living at home and still in school? Are you married, staring down a big mortgage with 3 kids???

Personally, I do not own one, but had my chance twice, but decided on more important things that needed to be done first. Next summer I plan to have a 348 in my garage (unless something major happens…like, I don’t know…dying…lol).

As far as getting girls, it’s not the way to go about it, which would be like buying a 747 just to get free peanuts…there are a lot cheaper way to get girls…

What kind of jobs we do doesn’t mean a thing…its how much you make per year and what is your current situation is what's important. Like I said earlier, are you living at home and in school or 35 years old with 300K in debt with 3 kids…My rule of thumb, is the amount you make per year is the amount you can afford for a car. If you cant afford the car that is equivalent to your salary, you have too much garbage debt (credit cards, personal loans, boat loans, motorcycle loans, booze or drug addiction etc…) Now some people have a mortgage payment twice of what they should have on their salary, so that means two things…you have a home twice as big as most folks with your salary, or you have racked up so much debt and had to paid it off with your mortgage. I have a regular size home with a garage the size of most small homes that is detached from my house. If I wanted to I could sell it and buy a house twice as big with about 4-5k+ square feet. But then I would not be able to afford a Ferrari.

We all make choices in life, we can choose to be house poor or car poor, I choose to be car poor (poor because the big car payment makes me poor). There is a small amount of people who can afford to have both. In my 20’s I was excited about making good money and did accrue debt. I bought lots of toys, had my fun (still have the toys and are paid now) but did spend lots of money on stuff that was not really needed. It was just cool to spend lots of money and not have any responsibilities. When I hit 30, I said to myself, wow, I spent 150K on garbage…and began to think about it, on my 30th birthday, I could of bought a 308 for my daily driver AND a Testarossa for the weekends...

So now I have a house, I have cleared almost all my debt, paid off my 3 year old truck in full and other stupid debts I had. So besides my mortgage, I have about 6k left and I’m laughing now. I could have bought a Ferrari last year but I would have still had my debts. By December I will be debt free, and this includes this new issue I have right now that is, I have to fix/redo my retaining wall that separates me and my neighbor and then install a 225 foot long PVC fence all around my lot (well backyard only). Like I said, sometimes we have to make choice before getting a Ferrari, this wall and fence is one of them. Make intelligent choices in life and not what your heart tells you and you will achieve it. I have seen Ferrari’s sell as low as 30K, a fully loaded minivan is more than that, but the question is….do you need a minivan first????????????



~

 

[the head]

Well I am not going to go into any what I have/what I do crap but I do find that I get far better parking spots at clubs and resteraunts with the Rossa' it attracts a lot of gold diggers luckily for me I have a beautiful girlfriend so I don't really worry about picking up girls...that doesn't mean they dont try to get to know me though.

As for the joy of driving it....I love the car because it has nothing in it...no airbags, traction control, abs, power steering she is a true sports car...and I would never own a ferrari that had any of the above listed options...I love the fact that it has the bare essentials of going fast with little or no additional crap the only new ferrari I kind of want is a 360 challenge my state has no emissions so I could have it registered for street driving as a kit car...I think it would be sweet...

 

[rtking]

What's it like owning one of these beastly machines?

First, I have to say that I formerly owned an '82 308 GTSi and now own a '83 Mondial Quattrovalvole. My experience is - in my opinion, and your results may differ - that it's entirely possible for most people to buy a Ferrari, but most people cannot afford to own a Ferrari. Purchasing a Ferrari can be as low as the price of a used Honda Accord, but maintenance and total true ownership costs can be many thousands of dollars a year. Contrast that with the aforementioned Honda Accord that probably accrues no more than $200 a year in maintenance costs.

Do you find you get more girls, do you feel better about waking up knowing your going to be driving your Ferrari today, etc.

First, about the girls: I found that the girls who notice the car you drive are typically not the kind of girls you want to be dating anyway. Luckily I'm married to a, if I may say so, gorgeous and wonderful woman. What you will notice (and this correlates to my experience) is that a lot of boys/men will notice you. A good portion of those men/boys will also want to race you. There's bragging rights in blowing away a Ferrari in the stoplight wars, y'know. Most Tifosi know that the Ferrari is a driver's car and a "complete package", not just a stoplight champ. Take a winding road and allow the engine to just sing between 5000 rpm to redline, and you'll see what it's all about.

Secondly, not many people that I know-of use their Ferraris as daily drivers. That doesn't mean that they're not capable of that, but most have other vehicles to drive for the daily commute. But being able to plan a nice Friday, Saturday or all-weekend drive is a bunch of fun.

Also, what kind of jobs / businesses do you have that you can afford the Ferrari?

As Magnum6464 stated, you need to evaluate what your personal finances are. Most people can afford to buy a Ferrari, but factor in the ownership costs as well as all your other overhead costs and that should give you an idea of what you can afford.

Would I pass up a house to own a Ferrari? Absolutely not. Would I sell my Ferrari to purchase a house that better suits my needs? Absolutely. Also note, I said "needs", not "desires." You need to have all your needs met first before buying a Ferrari IMO. Do you own a house? Are the mortgage payments reasonable and affordable? Do you have any deferred maintenance that needs to be done to the house? Do you have non-appreciating debt service? (e.g. A house is a big chunk of debt, but it appreciates, so IMO it's OK to borrow money on these investments. Credit Cards, cars, personal loans are pure debt service with no appreciation, so those need to be eliminated as fast as possible.)

I think you'll find that Ferrari owners run the gamut - from entrepeneurs, business professionals, artists, actors, waiters, mechanics... and yes, I wrote waiters and mechanics because I formerly knew two people who owned Ferraris and one was a mechanic at a Ferrari dealership in Canoga Park, and the other was a waiter in Calabasas.

I hope that helps!

Bob

 

[Malcqv]

Too old to care one way or the other what women think of me or my car.
I work in IT but consider myself ordinarily paid, though exactly what ordinary is depends on what you do .

I have a great house in a good neighbourhood and a fantastic wife and daughter. Would I sell all that to keep a Ferrari... course I would

As rtking says most people could put a Ferrari in the garage, but if you want to keep it good and use it, I reckon that is another story.

I do believe unfortunately that a fair few people who own Ferraris, own them to make a statement rather than being a petrolhead. A guy around the corner from me does not so much as acknowledge my car when he is in his 360. Fortunately most the people I know that own them are different.

 

[ptiflipiou]

All I know is that if you want it bad enough you'll find the money. There's no shortage of it!

It's not the car that attracts the girl (unless she is into cars) it's the money the car is worth that attracts the girl. Do you want a girl attracted to you or to your money/status?

Get a Ferrari because you like it. Forget about the rest...