Don't want a new 849? Here's the three-car Ferrari garage you could buy instead

What we said then (2002)

“Everyone who drove Ferrari’s new 360 Modena, it would seem, couldn’t resist putting pedal to metal and thrashing every last single ounce of power out of the magical 3.6-litre V8. Thrash being the operative word, given that the power didn’t peak until a seriously high 8,500rpm, a feat which would spell the end of life for most other sports car motors. But for one reason or another, we can’t quite bring ourselves to love the way it looks.” Tom Stewart

I bought one: Christopher Higenbottam (architectural consultant)

“My mother was Italian, so we used to go to Italy every year on holiday. I always loved Italian cars, Alfa Romeos and Ferrari in particular. I remember looking at Ferraris in magazines and dreaming of ever having enough money of having to buy a 308 GTB, which was the poster car.

"When my mother passed away, she left me some money and I decided I’d spend half of it on sensible stuff, like paying half the mortgage, which left me enough budget to buy a secondhand Ferrari. My initial instinct was to look at an F355, but I test drove a couple and just didn’t fall in love.

"Then my daughter said ‘why don’t you buy a Spider?’ I seem to remember 355 Spiders were a little more expensive, but the 360 Spider was in budget. And the first one I went to look at, I bought! I didn’t even drive it. I fell for the interior: Daytona seats with contrasting stripes. There was just something that just drew me to that. I was smitten. I paid £56,000 and I reckon it’s cost around £3k a year to run it, sometimes twice that, sometimes half that. Most years something has worn out or broken...

"I’ve always liked Spiders. I had an Alfa Romeo Spider so that wasn’t a hard sell, but the 355 Spiders are a bit tight. I didn’t like the seat moving forward as the roof comes up. But the 360 doesn’t have those flaws: it’s more suited to somebody of my height. I’m 6ft 2in and feel comfortable.

"When I first owned it, I was a bit disappointed. I had this idea in my head about how amazing having a Ferrari would be, and somehow it didn’t do it for me at first. But oddly, whereas I’ve had a very small attention span for cars over my life – often I get bored after six months and I want the faster one – with the Ferrari it’s been the reverse. I’ve grown to love it more every year. At first it was very intimidating, the size, the width, people staring, but after 13 years and 30,000 miles it shrinks around me. I’ve done long trips in it, it’s got enough luggage space, it’s not too windy with the roof down, and my wife loves it.

"Reliability wise, it’s never let me down. Sensors have started to go; front suspension ball joints seem to wear out quite quickly. Mechanically it’s been robust, but last year the roof was showing signs of its age so I bit the bullet and spent around £6k having it replaced. No leaks... but you can only drive at 5mph while it’s going up!”

From the horse's mouth: Mark Riccioni (photographer)

“I was after a silly track car, and 360 Challenge prices had bottomed out. Then Harlow Jap Autos tipped me off about one someone had managed to road legalise in Japan. It cost £60k, back when finance was dirt cheap, wasn’t too fast (unlike most of today’s track cars) but replacing the motorsport bag fuel tanks cost £3k each (there are two) and its downfall was road use wearing out the rose-jointed suspension. I’d always loved the idea of owning a Ferrari, but I actually felt less of a berk when I replaced it with a GT3 RS, painted purple.”

The Classic Grand Tourer: Ferrari 550 Maranello

What to pay: £95,000–£135,000
Why you should: Hails from a time when the V12 berlinettas were long-legged, not aero-obsessed and bats*** fast
Why you shouldn’t: Rare car equals pricey parts. Suffers from sticky button syndrome (like all 1990s Ferraris)
Must-have spec: Suits subtler shades more than resale red. Look out for the rare leather-swathed rollbar – cool talking point, but liable to squeak
Got more to spend?: The slightly terrifying F12 is teetering above the £150k trapdoor. That’s a 731bhp Enzo+ V12 for £50k less than the new V8 Amalfi...

What we said then (1996)

“The 550 is easy to drive quickly and its fluency isn’t compromised, either in heavy traffic or dawdling along country lanes. Gear selection isn’t critical; the clutch isn’t unduly heavy and the VI2’s flexibility makes light work of everything. There was room in the 185 litre boot for a CD changer and all the photographer’s gear. On the road back to the factory, I give it one more squirt up through the gears and reaffirm my belief that the 550 is definitely the finest sports car I’ve driven. Ever.” Tom Stewart

I bought one: Edmund Rudler (ex-company director)

“My first car was a Lancia Fulvia coupe, so I’ve always liked Italian cars. I was in the car business and kept an eye out for interesting things for sale. Meanwhile I was restoring a 1928 Lancia Lambda and the costs were getting out of hand, it was going to be £50–100k and I thought ‘I can’t afford that – I’ll sell it and buy a Porsche 911’.

"I like green cars, so I went looking for a green 911. Found a Carrera 2S, drove it, liked it. The guy wanted £32k, I offered him thirty, and he wouldn’t accept. So I went home, looked on the internet and saw this 550. The green paint, the two-tone interior – I thought ‘if I’d have been able to buy one new, that’s how I’d have specced it’. So I went and had a look and just bought it. There are only three 550s in the UK painted ‘Verde Silverstone’ and I think that interior must’ve been special order back in the day.

"I bought it in 2009, at the bottom of the market. I paid £38,000 and have just kept it. I only do around 1,000 miles a year as I have Lancias to drive as well, but when you’re running your own business you don’t get time to enjoy cars. Now I’ve retired it’ll get used a bit more. I must admit my wife has only been in it about five times in those 17 years. It wasn’t an ‘approved’ purchase – I didn’t actually tell her until three months after I bought it.

"Reliability wise, I had problems a few years ago with fuel pumps. The rubber seals on the pumps disintegrate into the fuel tank. I had to get the tank taken out, new pumps installed, and it took a few visits to get that sorted. I think that’s not uncommon – modern fuels eating the rubbers from that age of car. But that’s been the only major bill. Besides that it gets a service every year at Bob Houghton’s in the Cotswolds, usually about £1,500, and a cambelt every three years. I’ve also had the ‘sticky buttons’ treatment – it was getting worse and I was thinking ‘can I live with this, or can I live with the bill to replace it?’

"Then one day I leant across to get something out of the glovebox, put my hand on the ashtray and it came away black. And I thought ‘no, I’ve got to get it done’. I didn’t replace the vents and handbrake (which now seem to be getting worse) but all the switches, the door handles, steering wheel casing and so on was around £3,500. The new switchgear is laser etched so it shouldn’t ever need doing again. Well, maybe in 20 years, but I don’t know if I’ll still be driving it then!”

From the horse's mouth: Sam Fane (content creator)

“A 360CS was my holy grail car ever since I saw Vicki Butler-Henderson drive it on Top Gear. I’d already owned a 360 Modena in a racy spec – bucket seats, fire extinguisher and so on – but I always felt bottom of the food chain when I went to an event. Like I was sneaking into the club. I got lucky with a CS at auction and never stop thinking ‘holy sh*t I’m in a Ferrari’ when I drive it. But I painted mine a non-original (though still official Ferrari) colour, and security stopped me taking a picture of it outside the factory...”

The Weekend Supercar: Ferrari FF

What to pay: £75,000–£100,000
Why you should: Powertrain good enough for the Purosangue, in a lighter, lower, cooler shooting brake body. The ultimate V12 daily
Why you shouldn’t: Idiosyncratic ‘PTU’ front gearbox can be a consumable. Rubbish infotainment. Overhanging parking spaces
Must-have spec: Owners love LED change-up lights on the steering wheel and Scuderia shields, though GTs strictly ought not to wear them. Clear glass is rare but looks far superior in profile to van-like tints
Got more to spend?: After five years on sale, in 2016 Maranello morphed the FF into the GTC4Lusso. Extra horsepower, fettled AWD and a more deluxe cabin are yours from £125k

What we said then (2011)

“It’s not just epic on dry roads, but fun and confident when the weather’s ordinarily British. And it’s fine on really slippery stuff too. So the 600 miles to the Alps will be vastly more fun than in an SUV, but the FF will still be happy to convey you the 10 miles up to the ski village. It excites the driver just like a ‘real’ front-engined Ferrari should. But it manages to do it over a far wider range of conditions. For that alone, it’s a high-water mark for the company, even if you discount the extra room or the useful hatchback.” Paul Horrell

I bought one: Mark Collins (semi-retired)

“Ferraris? A boyhood dream. Had the poster, saw a 328 at the London Motor Show in around 1986 and said to myself ‘one day I’ll get one’, then kicked myself for being so stupid to think I’d ever afford that. But I lived with that dream, and in 1997 bought my first Ferrari: a 328. I then owned a series of V8s and V12s, including three 599s, but got fed up with having to use a normal car to go to the pub. So I sold the 599 and bought an FF so the dog could come to the pub with me. It’s my 16th Ferrari.

"It’s an unbelievably practical car. You can fold the seats down. It’s been to the south of France with two humans and two dogs, and to northern France with one dog and three adults. It’s my daily driver – this time of year I run it on winter tyres, and I’m not frightened of getting it dirty.

"This is my second FF. I had a Rosso Maranello one for six years, but a building project at home was getting expensive so I sold it, and as soon as it left the driveway I missed it. They sound amazing, drive brilliantly, and I was keeping an eye out for another, even staying in touch with the chap who bought mine. While on holiday in Tuscany staying in a place where the wine was dangerously free... one of my saved search alerts went off.

"It was the cheapest FF for sale in the UK at the time and fairly high mileage; it’s now done 52,000. I paid £82k, but it’s probably not worth much less than that now – around £75–80k. It’s had a new PTU [power transfer unit] which is a known problem. There’s a perception all FFs have that issue, but my red FF never needed a new PTU. It also affects the newer Lussos – they don’t like being sat still. That wrecks all Ferraris in fact. They shouldn’t be garage queens.

"I’ve kept extending the warranty, which will go up to 15 years old. They are notoriously poor value though. It’s there to cover big things like if the engine or gearbox goes, but it wouldn’t cover a new battery – Ferrari wanted £600! There’s also a rumour they can be funny about the warranty if you add aftermarket Apple CarPlay – the old fashioned satnav is a bit crap...

"It’s also had a new front brake disc because that delaminated. People said I should get one with a panoramic glass roof, but neither of my FFs have had it, because I test drove one once on a warm day and it was bloody roasting!”

From the horse's mouth: Graeme Lambert (public relations exec)

“I’d started a family so I started thinking about 911s, but needed more room: a proper 2+2 with buggy space in the boot. I found a 1997 Ferrari 456 that’d done 46,000 miles... with zero history. It’s cost me an average of £3–4k a year to run and mainly does 50–100 mile trips with the kids on board. It never gets negative attention, and though it’s expensive and way slower than my electric company car, I never regret it. It’s a family heirloom and lives up to the Bburago model 456 I’ve had since I was a kid.”