At $88,500, Is This 2001 Ferrari 360 Modena A Hyper Deal?

The seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice 360 says prices on the cars are all over the map, and that, coincidentally, this one has moved all over the map, having lived in three different states. Let’s see if we can map out what it might reasonably be worth.

The Scoville Scale measures the heat, or more colloquially the spiciness, of chili peppers. Scientifically, that gauge is the amount of capsaicin a pepper contains, the chemical that makes the pepper hot. The 2004 Porsche Cayenne S we looked at last Friday wouldn’t burn your tongue, even if named after a moderately spicy pepper. At $4,000, most of you felt you wouldn’t get burned by buying the Porsche wagon either, with 78 percent awarding it a Nice Price win.

Let’s consider for a moment the purchase of a Ferrari. There are two ways to go when jumping on the Prancing Horse. One is the traditional and generally accepted route of getting a car painted in Rosso Corsa over a biscuit leather interior and be done with it. The other is to choose some other color combo and then to question that decision for forever and all eternity.

Fortunately, the decision has been made for us with today’s 2001 Ferrari 360 Modena Berlinetta. It is resplendent in its traditional Rosso Corsa paint and offers an interior awash in tan leather and no-nonsense brushed aluminum. It has also been optioned with Daytona-style pleating on the seats for an added dash of Ferrari-ness.

And while it may not have 12 cylinders lurking under its glass engine cover, the Tipo F131 3.6-liter flat-plane V8 that is in residence is one of the most raucous and aggressive engines Ferrari has ever produced for a road car. As the ad notes, it’s good for 395 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque, both of which come in way up in the gloriously noisy part of the rev band.

Mated to that is a longitudinally-mounted F1 six-speed auto-manual driving the rear wheels. There is endless debate both within Ferrari circles and without as to whether or not this is the best choice of transmission actuation, but the plain fact is that the vast majority of 360s sold came with the F1 and its comically small T-handle directional shifter on the center console. A vibrant industry has sprung up in recent years surrounding the retrofitting of a pure manual setup in place of the electronically-controlled robo-box, so the choice in this car shouldn’t be considered a done deal.

Speaking of done, quite a bit of preventative maintenance work is outstanding on this 360. The ad says that the car was originally sold in Florida but then moved with its owner to Michigan and finally found a new owner in Kansas, where it sat in a private collection. Over that time it amassed a mere 13,722 miles of travel.

Despite that remarkably low (even for a Ferrari) number, time and an appropriate sense of dread require that the car soon undergo its 15,000-mile service. That involves changing all the fluids and filters, and, considering the car’s age, should also include new cam belts. That all can total $3,000 to $5,000 in cost. The seller says that the tires, while still showing plenty of tread, are old, so they too should be replaced. Throw in a couple-grand for those as well.

Other things to note are the presence of a CEL and airbag light on the instrument panel. The seller attributes those to a battery that was let go flat, and claims that the car will be scanned and code-cleared before the sale.

Other than that outstanding work, the car seems to need nothing. The title is clean, and the car comes with its tool kit intact and a slew of records and manuals. The seller will even throw in the original window sticker, which shows the car getting an alarming 10 miles to the gallon around town. That’s reason enough to stick to the highways.

To drive the 360 anywhere will require an outlay of $88,500, which the seller says is market-correct based on recent sales of similar cars. Naturally, we’ll be the judge of that.

What do you think? Is this 360 worth that kind of cash despite the deferred maintenance demands? Or would that money be better spent on a horse of a different color?

You decide!

Kansas City, Missouri, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at remslie@kinja.com and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your Kinja handle.