Why A £40k 360 Modena Would Be Our 'Affordable' Ferrari Of Choice

If you’re anything like us, you’ll spend quite a bit of time looking at classifieds ads for cars you can’t afford. Sometimes curiosity gets the better of us, and we want to know how much we can get a particular exotic car for, even if that particular figure is still far beyond our means. We’ve been doing exactly that today, by scouting for ‘affordable’ Ferraris, and at the bottom end of the Prancing Horse scale, we’re almost certain a 360 Modena is the one to go for.

Sure, there are cheaper Ferraris out there. The odd Mondial pops up for under £30k, while a little over that is enough for a 456 or 348, but we wouldn’t have any of these. The Mondial is too slow, the 456’s V12 too expensive to run, and the 348 doesn’t seem worth it when you can buy its descendant, the 360, for not much more.

With prices for the car that came in between these two cars - the much-loved 355 - now on a steady increase, the 360 is the one you want. And now is certainly the time to buy; prices have bottomed out, and look to be going the same way as the 360 - up. Running costs are still high, of course, but much more managable than the old 348.

The general consensus among owners is that £2-3k for servicing and maintenance per anum is about what you should expect, and setting aside around £4-5000 to cover all bases is a sensible precaution. A reasonable amount of cash, but not extortionate compared to some other older Fezzas. Even the briefest of countryside blats will hit your wallet hard, though; official combined fuel economy for the 360 is 14mpg. Ouch.

Still, it’s a price worth paying considering what a masterpiece the engine is. The 3.6-litre, naturally-aspirated V8 churns out 400bhp, enough to send the 360 from 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds, and on to a top speed of 183mph. Oh, and it’ll be incredible in the corners.

After a good trawl through the classifieds, we found this 2000 example for £41,950. It’s the ‘F1’ semi-auto version, and while we’d rather a manual for added driver involvement and less potentially expensive mechanical complexity, the below average 17,000 miles on the clock and brilliant condition meant we couldn’t ignore it. Now, if we can all just chip in a few quid…