Ferrari has made many supercars over the years, so you'll be excused if you don't know much about the F430. However, you should, as it is one great driver's car that has aged like fine wine rather than fine milk.
Launched in 2004 as the 360's successor and replaced five years later by the 458, the Ferrari F430 continued the Prancing Horse's tradition of rear mid-engined and rear-wheel drive exotics. The Spider joined the regular Coupe, and both packed the same engine.
The naturally aspired 4.3-liter V8, which contributed to choosing the F430 name, pumped out 483 hp (490 ps/360 kW) at 8,500 rpm and put 343 lb-ft (465 Nm) of torque under the driver's right foot at 5,250 rpm. Some of the most sought-after examples feature a six-speed manual transmission, offered alongside the six-speed automatic.
By today's standards, the Ferrari F430 Spider is not that fast. It needs 4.1 seconds to hit 62 mph (100 kph) from naught, which makes it a couple of tenths slower than Mercedes-AMG's A 45 S. The mega hatch has 415 hp (421 ps/310 kW) and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm) from its 2.0L four-pot and tops out at 167 mph (270 kph). The open-top supercar has a higher top speed at over 193 mph (311 kph).
Photo: Garage Kept Motors
The F430 shouldn't be compared with a modern-day hatchback but with the Lamborghini Gallardo, one of its biggest rivals back in the 2000s. And with that off our chest, it is time to move on to the pictured copy, which is looking for a new home.
Featuring a red finish, a black soft top, and the original wheels, as well as a tan leather interior, this Ferrari F430 Spider was made in 2008. It has almost 13,000 miles (~20,900 km) on the clock, which is not bad at all for a blue-blooded exotic born almost 16 years ago, and it is said to have been properly maintained.
Besides the car, its future owner will also get the usual lecture, yet only after paying $154,900. That is the asking price on Garage Kept Motors. We reckon it will be a while until it changes hands, considering that it features the automatic transmission and not the gated dream unit, but even so, it's not an over-the-top asking price for such a machine.
Mind you, there aren't many brand-new options for a similar price other than Chevy's Corvette Z06 or E-Ray, which, with the greedy dealer markups, often sell for roughly $150,000 (and more sometimes). So, if you had to choose between an old open-top Ferrari and a brand-new C8 Corvette, which one would you get and why? I'd probably stick to the Z06, as it's a track-ready model that comes with a warranty.
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News