2005 Ferrari F430 Spider First Drive - Is the Last Manual V8 Ferrari Worth It?

[Applause] [Music] [Music] hello everybody any day you drive a Ferrari in my book is a good one but not every Ferrari is actually a great car contrary to popular belief they've made quite a few howlers in their time however there is absolutely no doubt that they have also made some truly brilliant cars and today I'm driving something that might be one of those this is a 2005 f430 blessed I am happy to say with a manual gearbox the f430 currently sits in a bit of an odd place in the Ferrari lineup it's not really a classic yet but the four five eight is such a leap on in terms of performance that it makes this thing look a little bit slow so why would you buy a 430 you see with the values of all the Ferraris going up these aren't really a bug in anymore okay a 4.8 is still quite a bit more money but it sits in a very weird place five or six years ago you can pick one of these up for about 70 grand at a time they would have been pretty good value for money the prices of these were always destined to be high because they had our place in Ferrari history as the final mid-engined v8 Ferrari available with this beautiful manual gearbox now I've never driven a 430 previously and I'd heard a few stories about the gearbox not being quite as nice to use as that in its forebears well I'm happy to report that that is categorically untrue this is a delicious gearbox now for whatever reason the box doesn't make all the same metallic noises as previous Ferraris that I've driven but it is absolutely gorgeous to use in comparison to the 3.5 which is the Ferrari I've got the most experience in it's a much quicker gearbox you can grow the gears a hell of a lot faster now and a 3.5 yeah I'd be very deliberate indeed in this not so much one thing that stars also blessed with that the 3x5 certainly isn't is some talk is he for quite a long time for always seem to alternate chassis and engine improvements so the three five five is basically three four eight chassis but with a much different engine the 360 is then near enough for three four fives engine but with a totally different chassis and so on and so forth so this car is essentially the 360s chassis but with a completely new engine a 4.3 liter [Music] at lower rpm I don't think it's the most sonorous car at the sound a little bit like a wet fart to my ears but the moment you get past about two and a half thousand rpm it sounds like a Ferrari that flywheel is ultra light makes changing gear and utter joy Hylian towing is an absolute pleasure the steering in this is interesting too if you've never driven it for all you might think it was a little unusual or perhaps even broken but it's not it's light but it has plenty of feeling through there's lots and lots of texture through this wheel crucially also this car is sized really nicely it's a good bit bigger than some of those older classic Ferraris but with those beautiful haunches out in the front I can place it in the road really well you're also treated to a great view out of the side of those air scoops sitting prominently on the rear haunches that does remind you you're in something properly special in the greatest Ferrari traditions the interior lets it down somewhat with some sticky sort of weird switches that's a classic Ferrari thing and a lot of the switch gear in here I actually do recognise from the three five five Freddie show the indicator stalks are exactly the same these buttons down here are definitely the same style and they even predate the three four five I'm sure and the wing mirror controls are the exact same 35 which is the exact same as the old odrs to that I drove so some of the parts on here are pretty old pretty old indeed now if you're in the mood to want to actually try and daily drive a Ferrari this is probably not a bad one to do it in even in manual form perfectly easy to drive around town perfectly nice makes a lovely sound and of course in the Spyder the roof comes down which means when you get blessed with a nice day line today you can enjoy it a bit that light steering also means that maneuvers around town are not a chore at all and the gearbox is so pleasant to use I am changing I will admit quite unnecessarily an awful lot of time perhaps the most important thing about the 430 if you're considering it as maybe your first Ferrari is it it's sort of less likely to disappoint than the others you see the classic Ferraris and I'm talking realistically anything 360 and earlier well it can be hard work they can be really really hard work they are well now not cheap to buy and they are definitely not cheap to run and general rule is the older your Ferrari gets the more expensive it's going to be to run when I was at the four thirty okay they're a little more expensive to buy now unusually when this car's owner reported the manual was actually the cheaper option these days that situation has reversed and I can't say going back the other way any time soon but the 430 is a world apart from as all the cars in terms of build quality service and costs all that kind of stuff Ferrari do put real effort into making sure that their cars can be used and driven this car spends a lot of its time being parked up and in storage as do many cars and it's given me no warning lights their errors no issues nothing it's being impeccably well behaved I haven't even had a single hiccup from the engine nothing I do apologise in fact that I haven't gotten any super interesting roads yeah that is design basically sort of playing peekaboo trying to find one in an area that I don't know at all throttle response is absolutely perfect is it expect it to be the clutch is definitely on the heavy side and the brake pedal is rather sensitive but also very firm so once you get used to it you have an initial shock of kind of leaning on a knee it really does stop you actually it's a very nice to use indeed the thing isn't even rattling or anything like that which is something that classic Ferraris definitely do the old 355 in particular the old target oh oh it's just a rattle machine this thing actually feels proper and solid and that's something to consider because I suppose for a lot of people they may be upgrading to this from something perhaps like a and 11 or having a bit a 911 Turbo and so you really don't want your first Ferrari to disappoint [Music] [Applause] this one won't it's just so easy to drive so delightful you steer it with your fingertips if you want it is a proper Ferrari and if I had the money I would definitely definitely have one well I bought my Lotus Evora I was really considering one of these I was looking at it I was like you know I do I don't I do I don't I in my head I managed to convince myself that there was no way in reality that actually the 430 could really be a better car I did the math so I said actually you know what yet more power and all that and bit more talk it's more way oh look at the power-to-weight ratios you do you know how it can't really feel or be that much better can it I was wrong this is brilliant [Music] properly properly brilliant if you're looking for your first Ferrari get one of these really do I've only been able to sample the the tiniest bit of it but let's be honest here many people buy these is essentially a poses car that's be completely honest about that it is but many people oppose this car but it just doesn't want to want it to a Ferrari in my mind is okay this is this is me and Ferraris right the priority list for a Ferrari is does it look good does it sound good that's it that that is in that order okay everything else is a bonus and this car looks good sounds great and goes really well I'm actually probably impressed with it however this is not the most special car that I'm going to drive today by some margin we are almost at an end of my celebratory month of specials here on the channel this week is ultimate car week and I am pleased to say that for our final installment I have been lucky I have been extremely lucky and we have managed to pull something pretty spectacular out of the bag for now it's going to keep enjoying this thing thanks for watching everyone please like comment below subscribe if you haven't already and I'll see you soon bye bye [Music]

Channel: JayEmm on Cars

Views: 117,304

Keywords: Diary, VLOG, Car, Sound, Test, video, Review, Comparison, JayEmm on Cars, Ferrari, Ferrari F430, F430 Ferrari, Ferrari 430, F430 Manual, Manual Ferrari, Gated Shifter, F430 Spider, F430 Spyder, Rosso Corsa, Rosso Crema, 4.3L, F430 Engine

Id: E7yZyoaJti4

Length: 10min 50sec (650 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 29 2019