Buy This Rare Gated Manual Ferrari F430 Instead Of A New Supercar

As you’re probably bored of us saying by now, modern supercars leave us yearning for simpler, less powerful times. What’s the fun in a 700bhp+ monster with the kind of performance and capability that’s impossible to enjoy on the public roads? Even rich people can only do so many track days.

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By looking to older - but not too old - stuff, you’ll still be able to go fast, but not in a way that’ll see you doing prison-spec speeds because you kept your foot down for one second too long. Plus, that performance will probably be delivered in a much more satisfying way. Just take this Ferrari F430, with a 4.3-litre, naturally-aspirated V8 kicking out 483bhp.

You couldn’t possibly call that ‘slow’, but it’s far from excessive either. Of equal importance to the engine is the way it drives the rear wheels - via a gated manual gearbox. Only around 10 per cent of UK-bound F430s were specced with the six-speed ‘old-fashioned’ transmission rather than the ‘F1’ sequential paddle shift arrangement, making this car something of a rarity.

The F430 was also the last mid-engined Ferrari to be offered with stick shift. From the 458 Italia on, your only option was a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. You can hardly blame Maranello - manual gearbox demand in Ferraris plummeted in the 2010s - famously, just two or three California buyers are thought to have specced such a transmission, and there are only 30 manual-equipped versions of the 599 GTB.

Don’t go thinking the F430 is old-fashioned because of its manual option, though. This was the first Ferrari to get the company’s ‘E-Diff’ electronically-controlled mechanical differential, and it featured the debut use of the now-famous five-position ‘manettino’ steering wheel-mounted drive mode selector. Evolutions of both of these parts are still in use today by Maranello. Like the 360 Modena that came before it, the F430 featured adaptive dampers, still something of a novelty back then.

Our F430 classifieds pick is said to have paintwork in “excellent shape” aside from “a few minor blemishes”. There’s some wear to the black leather seats inside, but nothing excessive.

It’s covered 43,269 miles and had a whole bunch of expensive-sounding work done to it during the summers of 2021 and 2020. First, an overhaul of the suspension along with a replacement of the brake pads, while more recently it was treated to refurbished wheels, new gear linkages and a repainted engine bay. There is a gap in the paperwork from 2010 to 2013, but this shouldn’t concern you much - during that time the F430 was owned by Lotus Silverstone and serviced in-house.

The Ferrari is up for online auction via Collecting Cars. At the time of writing the bidding was at £60,000 with six days to go, with the virtual hammer set to fall on 17 November. Some F1 gearbox F430s go for as low as £60k, but as a manual, we can expect a hefty premium for this example. The cheapest six-speed coupe we listed on Autotrader right now is a punchy £110k. But hey, that’s still considerably cheaper than an F8 Tributo, for something potentially much more fun.

Would you?