May 26, 2007 10:06:47 PM
- Eric (Plug Guy)
- Senior
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- Loc:
- Posts: 622, Gallery
- Registered on: Sep 6, 2002
Oops, I did it again...
So a few weeks back a buddy of mine who's owned a few F-cars over the years hooks me up with his sales guy. Invited to the showroom to drive an F430 Spider F1. Came away drooling, but it was not a color I loved. Still love driving my P-car, so it was a fun day, nothing more.
Until I got NO sleep for 3 days in a row!
Yesterday I got a call. Red/Tan F430 6sp arrived, '06, 4k miles, bumper was repainted, but otherwise loaded and pristine.
So I go by to have a look. He tosses me the keys and off we go. Top down, nothing like it. Took me a few shifts to get used to that clutch compared to the Porsche (wow, it engages SO high on the clutch release I was stunned) but I got it down in no time. We blasted through a few side streets and a number of decent twisties, but no full WOT runs.
OK, so having had the 'lecture' about getting into this club, and nealy puking (I'm not that serious about buying this car).....we get to the details.
MSRP on the car was around 225k I think. He sold the car originally. Wants 319k for it. Serious money would get that to 295k.
So I'm losing sleep again. And no, I don't WANT the car THAT badly (well, yeah, I could live with it
) but is there ANY F-car dealer on the planet who will sell these at a reasonable price?
I know the story, buy it now at a premium, they'll buy it back later and next one is at MSRP, yada yada. I don't give a rat's a$$ about that story. But I wonder, have any of you had an experience in the past few years that was much different from this?
And don't get me wrong, dealer is as nice a guy as they come. Straight up and easy to talk with. But for a used exotic, with repaint, a good amount of micro swirls in the paint (dumb detailer), and high first year miles, I would suspect a better deal could be had.
Oh, a few tongue wagger shots:
Until I got NO sleep for 3 days in a row!
Yesterday I got a call. Red/Tan F430 6sp arrived, '06, 4k miles, bumper was repainted, but otherwise loaded and pristine.
So I go by to have a look. He tosses me the keys and off we go. Top down, nothing like it. Took me a few shifts to get used to that clutch compared to the Porsche (wow, it engages SO high on the clutch release I was stunned) but I got it down in no time. We blasted through a few side streets and a number of decent twisties, but no full WOT runs.
OK, so having had the 'lecture' about getting into this club, and nealy puking (I'm not that serious about buying this car).....we get to the details.
MSRP on the car was around 225k I think. He sold the car originally. Wants 319k for it. Serious money would get that to 295k.
So I'm losing sleep again. And no, I don't WANT the car THAT badly (well, yeah, I could live with it
) but is there ANY F-car dealer on the planet who will sell these at a reasonable price?I know the story, buy it now at a premium, they'll buy it back later and next one is at MSRP, yada yada. I don't give a rat's a$$ about that story. But I wonder, have any of you had an experience in the past few years that was much different from this?
And don't get me wrong, dealer is as nice a guy as they come. Straight up and easy to talk with. But for a used exotic, with repaint, a good amount of micro swirls in the paint (dumb detailer), and high first year miles, I would suspect a better deal could be had.
Oh, a few tongue wagger shots:
; there simply isn't a lot of money in Podunk, where many US F dealers are unfortunately located, and FNA allocations haven't adjusted for this reality....not surprising as F was a hard-to-sell new car 10 yrs ago in US, even in CA 
...US maldistribution will prob be an accelerating trend as wealth concentration/annual repeat buyer base in certain US urban regions intensifies, while old dealers in Podunk fight to retain their allocations, to very profitably sell at mkt through brokers into the fast-growing SF/Greenwich mkts (lots of new F's mysteriously migrate up from LA dealers to SF to arbitrage the mkts; perhaps not that many repeat F buyers on LA's vaunted Westside??? 
