CHECK OUT CARS & BIDS carsandbids.com The Ferrari Testarossa is shooting up in value - and the average asking price for one is now $162,000. Here's why the Testarossa has become so expensive.
I once saw a Ferrari like this at the gas station and then heard it drive away. I'll never forget the sound. From that day on I knew that Ferrari was something special.
As a kid I started loving cars in the late 80s and the TestaRossa to me was the coolest car ever. So it’s really awesome that we now have the internet and that someone can give a full tour of it, showing all of its quirks and features. Thanks Doug.
Yea, other comments stated Top Gear did. Like me the host had 5000s poster in his room so it had a special place in his heart but was disappointed when he drove it. You should watch clip, I am sure it’s on YT. I am sure the Ferrari was not a disappointment to drive.
The bizarre spare wheel is known as a space saver tyre. It's quite common with European cars where a smaller spare wheels were used to save space but they also have restricted speed limits. These days cars don't even have that anymore... Instead you get an emergency tyre repair kit.
@@OakleyGuru379 When did he ever say there were full size space savers. They wouldn't be a space saver then would they? Most cars used to have a full size rim as a spare.
The Testarossa is a legend, and one of my all-time favorites since I was like eight years old. It's the reason i Love Ferrari. It's looks holds up really well.
Hey Marc ! Yes, the pop up headlights are realy missing on todays cars. But all good things come back. I´m sure, in a few years they will come back on any sportscar
That seatbelt was quite the innovation. I also appreciate the lighted ashtray, even though I don't smoke. The Testarossa is a classic. When the rounded Ferraris came out like the 360 in 1999, the Testarossa looked dated. But now, it's starting to look timeless.
That's a good point about the seatbelt. I stand corrected. Automatic seatbelts were available in a wide variety of cars. They just seem quirky and exotic because of their relative obscurity today. Nevertheless, the Testarossa continues to impress through its unique styling.
The lame seat belts were the answer to US laws require passive restraint systems. They were only found in US bound cars and were (back then and now) considered to be fussy unreliable contraptions. Many owners change the belts out to original spec normal seat belts.
jacob penninga lol That's why I said it! Doug's grin is so infectious whenever he drives something like this... I'd love to see him take one to a racetrack.
chad haire that's kinda to be expected from 80s supercars and Ferrari's overall then again since old man Enzo died and the company was bought by Fiat they have turned from car makers who prioritize the driving experience for real car enthusiasts to car makers who priortize the appeal they have on yahoos kinda like porsche with geeky buinsessmens in their mid-life crisis
chad haire i know right i used to have an alfa 156 beautiful car mind you it also drived like a charm when it worked problem is every 4 months or so it liked to leave me stranded right in the middle of nowhere thank god they finally started to improve build quality from 2000s onwards
chad haire oh come on don't be like that they're not so bad nowadays sure they won't last you 30 years without any servicing like a corolla but at least now you can drive them without constantly having a toolbox and maybe some motor oil under your bonnet
The moment he popped the headlights. The only thing that went through my head was James Pumphrey yelling out " Pop pop popping out head lights! ' 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I was considering one a few years ago (Auto Trader had several listed under $60,000!) but decided against it because of the Testarossa's high regular maintenance costs. I am KICKING MYSELF IN THE ASS nowadays.
The costs are about 5-10 000 dollars per year. At least you must be ready to spend that much if you are a bit unlucky. Gearbox breakes every 5-10 year ( 50 000 dollars). Other costs are ok ( brakes, shockabsorbers, bushings, axles, paintwork/ bodywork and so on is expensive but not crazy like gearbox and engine-repair). The timing-belt is every 4-5 years ( incl. everything ( valve-adjustments, changing pulleys +++++) it will set you back about 10 000 usd). I bought the 512 TR in 2006 for 50 000 euros. Have broken the gearbox ( differential) twice and spent at least 100 000 usd in repairs. So if I sell the car now I will MAYBE break even.....
243wayne1: Since I was thinking about replacing my Porsche 911 C4S, decided to buy a late model Aston Martin DB9 Volante (instead of an older Testarossa ) and recently traded the Aston for a Jaguar F-Type V8 S Convertible, 'money' (up front) was't QUITE the issue. It must suck to have such a shitty life that the ONLY way to make yourself feel better it by pretending that everyone is just as broke as you are. Sorry to shatter your sad little delusion :-(
+janrbh17 - and thats why you buy a new porsche instead. I can't imagine the maintenance disaster these things would be if you drove them a lot. I think most people park them in a pretty garage and hope to sell them some day for more money.
janrbh1716: Worse than I thought! Thank you for providing that example . . it makes me feel a little better about passing on the TR when I had opportunities to buy them at $60,000. I ended up buying an Aston Martin instead of the Ferrari. Since it shared a lot of parts with Volvo and Ford, and the mechanicals are easily accessible, regular maintenance is far less costly than most people realize. It only required a single service every 10,000 miles and a good independent repair shop could do most of the work. However, the car had an unending litany of computer glitches, sensor malfunctions and leaks (basically examples of poor build quality). Constantly chasing them down just became more trouble than it was worth.
I had a friend with a Testarossa, it was a pain in the ass to drive on the streets. It was so wide that it took up the whole lane, driving it was like driving a big rig, constantly keeping it in the lane. In urban centers it was just a drag.
The rear mirrors are clearly wider than the back of the car, so if you manage to drive through something within the rear mirrors width, the back will come through with no problem.
Those automatic seatbelts were in tons of cars in the late 80's; they counted as passive restraints when airbags were still expensive. I can't believe you said the V-12 was the really interesting part. Plenty of cars have V-12's, but this is the only modern car with a flat 12.
I've never seen a "V" that looks like "____". I suppose when someone says I-4, I should correct them that it's a 0* V-4 The 512TR Testarossa is the culmination of the Berlinta Boxer series, but did anything else have a flat 12?
I love the side vents. I wish more cars had unique body styling like that. And the ash trays inside the doors aren't that strange. My brother has a 1980 Chrysler New Yorker 5th Avenue, an 80's luxury car, and it has ash trays in every door too.
battletoads22 yeah and just about every late 80’s early 90’s car had those damn seat belts It was part of a law. They had to have those or air bags basically
I was in the backseat of my mothers' car on the highway back in 1987, and I saw a purple Testarossa fly right by us. It was an amazing sight for an 8 year old who enjoyed spotting cars back then! :) ~Nostalgic 80s memories~ :)
A real Street Legend...the 512 TR is a real iconic car...thanks to miami vice...this one and the Lambo Countach are two of the greatest cars of the 80's
@1wv4me That is not totally correct, indeed it came after the Testarossa but is one of the 3 models of in the Testarossa line, the Testarossa (84-91) and the 2 other iterations named 512 TR (91-94) and F512 M (94-96) which landed different engines and some redesigns. All those cares are considered Testarossa. The successor of the Testarossa line was the Ferrari 550 Maranello. If you are officially purist there is another Testarossa model Testarossa Spider but only one (1) was made and gifted to Giovanni Agnelli. (source: Ferrari History book)
Mariano Luna la 550 Maranello vera erede della Testarossa? Ma dove l'hai letta e sentita questa...? Dopo la Testarossa l'azienda vide la necessità di proseguire con quella linea che tanto piacque ma non potevano certamente chiamarla nello stesso modo, così oltre a migliorarla esteticamente e nettamente interiormente misero le mani anche sul propulsore che come sai restò ovviamente 12 cilindri ma con più potenza e meno difetti ma sempre con quel tipico sound. Risultato fu che nacque la 512 tr per me vera erede finale della Testarossa e ...per me decisamente una delle Ferrari più belle di tutti i tempi assieme a F40 , GTO, 328 GTS...
a late 60s early 70s one right spider? I remember it was blown up because Ferrari was very pissed about a fake being used and gave them real Ferrais if I remember correctly. I also remember the clone was cloned off a corvette
I think he meant because of the garage exterior, which looks really expensive and nice. And the neighborhood he was driving around in, looks like a wealthy closed community..
@@mostlyjovial6177 Loved that car and the show! I remember the episode when he got this one, a arms dealer was demonstrating a rocket launcher and blow up the I think 69, a few episodes whet by, he was telling the boss I'm making $20 millon drug deals in Tubes's Catalic.
We called those air vents - Swiss Cheese Vents back in the day of Miami Vice 1984-ish - after they blew up the oversized Corvette i.e. fake "black 1972 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona" for a white and real Testarossa.
I always desired one growing up in the eighties. So unique. The testarossa and the lamborgini countach were just so alien to anything I had growing up which was the Austin allegro and the Rover 216 and the Ford focus. I loved playing the arcade game Outrun by the way.
"Younger people don't get this, they're like 'Oh why would you get that...'" Guys, this is my favorite car ever and I'm 17, its the sexiest, most beautiful creation from the 80s and it's just a beautiful concoction of Italian power, design and luxury.
Lol you know this Doug DeMuro video is old when he doesn't say "THIS is the Ferrari testarossa" or "I'm going to show you all it's quirks AND features"
The Nissan Maxima seatbelt also did that back in the day. I use to and still do think it’s the coolest thing seatbelt wise. They did away with that style belt because people wouldn’t fasten the lap belt part(a separate belt) and just used what you saw, so they would go flying out of the car when the door popped open in a crash.
many many many cars did, in fact EVERY car had to have some form of passive restraint, and I'm surprised seeing Doug act like he's surprised to see it in this car, even looking like he's never seen it before. Doesn't seem possible. They only exist because when the carmakers were forced to do passive restraint, they did this instead of airbags for cost reasons. Some cars did something different, like mount the entire 3 point belt on the door. Like a regular 3 point belt but you could leave it plugged in and the door swept it out of your way. The reason they stopped doing these motorized shoulder belts has nothing to do with whether people used the lap belt. It was because airbags, which is what the government intended form the beginning, became cheaper.
Spare tire is like that for a reason. The spare is a lot thinner than the main drive tires, so to place the tire at the best possible position closer to the chassis, the weight will be more centered between the tire across from it and the spare tire. This is the reason for the rim protruding outward from the tire.
The power windows aren't that slow from the factory - I'ts an old car! Btw- the car in the video has had a window switch replaced. There's one for the left and one for the right with reversed symbols =)
Every time when I feel down and lost I’m coming back to watch this video cause seeing this car gives me motivation to continue pursue my dream and hopefully own this car in one day
FC BAYERN MUNCHEN I love the c Countach, but the Testarossa just has a special place in my heart because was the first Supercar i've ever sat in and it blew my mind
Fun video to watch. I have a 73 Mustang convertible with a beefed up engine and some suspension improvements. It can't compete against newer cars. It's 45 years old. But it is so much fun to drive. Like Doug shows in this video, it is just a different experience driving older cars.
Technically speaking it's a 180° V12, so Doug is correct. Yes, it could be described as a flat engine, but it's not a boxer, which is what 'flat' would usually refer to. The Testarossa didn't have a boxer, and neither did its "Berlinetta Boxer" predecessors, despite the name. The difference is that in a boxer, opposing pistons move up and down at the same time, as if they were trying to punch each other (hence the name). In a V12, one moves up, and the opposing one moves down.
For me, I have to say that the golf mk1/2 gearbox is also very accurate and basically guides itself to the correct gear and honestly, even if diesels are not popular for their sound, the old 1.6TD has a more than nice sound and exhaust without any sound modification
No. It is a V-12. Yes, it has a 180 degree V. But, the crankshaft and firing order dictate that it is still a V12 fundamentally. Yes, in terms of terminology, it makes sense to say "flat," but "flat" typically implies a boxer configuration which this is not (for instance, two opposing connecting rods share a common crank pin). I sure wish Doug had gone into more detail in the video on this.....
You are very good car journalist. Details you show of cars, like the spare wheel and how to hammer off the rear wheel is something I miss with other car testers. Your true smile when hitting the throttle of a 87 testarossa is priceless . Keep up the good work!
I remember the day I went with my brother to pick his up in the early 90’s . What a special day that was, there was and still is no other car like it.! I had a drive and struggled with the gate shift I recall. If you had one of these back in the day you were king of the road. Awesome car!!
some of those items aren't weird per se. door ashtrays were common in cars from the 70s. automatic shoulder seatbelts were common in the 80s on a lot of vehicles and the window has a bad motor most likely, not part of the design.
One of the reason I like watching this is because you get so amazed about such things as the seat belts in this car lol. It was a very common feature in most cars of the era.
Whats funny 3 years ago when they were selling for $45,000 to $50,000 in the market, Ferrari chat people didn't think the Testarossa values would go up significantly, mainly due to numbers built (over 7000 made!), and the fact that they require a $20,000 engine out maintenance (assuming nothing else breaks during that time, ie rear diff) every 30,000 miles or every 5 years. That's how often you have to change the timing belt and can only be done with engine removed. People can go buy a more modern Ferrari from the 90s with better built quality and not do a $20,000 maintenance work. The engine also seats on top of the gearbox giving a high CG, not good for high speed stability in a corner. Also the chassis is weak enough that when you lift the rear on one side to change a flat tire the rear glass cracks from the chassis flexing! Just look at how many are on eBay right now. Everyone is trying to dump them before prices fall again. I doubt many if any are selling for anywhere near $160K. Follow the bids on eBay and with reserve not made most end at 100-110K which is what they were selling for before economy crashed.... The only note worthy 12 cylinder older Ferraries that would be a good investment is the 550 and the 570 maranello imo. Front engined 12 cylinder just like the original ones before they start doing rear engine cars...
Agree 100%. I actually had a chance to seat in a couple of Testorossas, and man, what a POS of a car it is. Very poor quality interior. Almost looks like it was reupholstered in a hood or something like that. Plasticky-rubberry center console that is all melted and sticky, the shifter that feels like a stick in a dump bucket and yes - the "engine out maintenance" is a cherry on top of all that. To buy only to sell it to some idiot, but to spend even 45-50k on one, id much rather have NSX.
VW Machine;; So true Statement there. Thanks so much for your input and extremely well post. That is so true, once people realise the running costs, and bucks is an issue now, novelty wearing off. It's like fashion, you go on a night out with an uncomfortable, pair of shoes , that hurt like hell all night, But killer looks 😈 It prices, enthusiasts, whom could budget on what VW is saying, acceptable. That price then was swallowable, Like it was meant for.... They turned Ferrari into a must have ,Exclusive handbag. 😢😭😢😭😓
Also, the TR averages about 24 mpg highway. For sale for around $85,000 when new, the TR tanked a massive amount of engine oil due to the 5 litre 12 cylinder boxer design. Some of the quirks discussed here were actually completely functional (side strakes led to twin radiators). Ferrari never took its drivers for granted, assuming that they'd figure out where everything in the car is on their own and then never think about it again (parking lights). Air conditioning wasn't of major concern with all drivers, but pretty much mandatory in the US since so many customers were in hotter regions. If Doug thought the chunky tail on the grey car was impressive, in Bianco white, the tail looked absolutely massive. As an interesting note, when the 550 Maranello arrived (bringing the 12 back up front) the rear track was narrower than the front. All TestaRossas were 512, but the badging changed around depending. The F512M was the last iteration. With only 75 made, Doug might find it hard to find one to borrow. Interesting still, the 308 and 328 models are rocketing up in value as well. Every Ferrari model bottoms out in value, then starts going back up. Currently, a 360 Modena worth having is still under $115,000. Wait two years, it will be over $160,000 (esp. the manual transmission one I know of).
I've got an original 1988 Testarossa Remote Control car still in it's original box from the 80's, the thing is pretty sweet for a toy the headlights and taillights come on and it's battery operated, the car has every detail in it of a real one....but anyway I've always just loved sports cars I really don't care about trucks, jeeps, Suv's or anything else but a fun fact is the 80's Testarossa was driven by Don Johnson on episodes of Miami Vice
I swear I recall like 8 years ago I would look on eBay and see these vehicles closing auctions around $70K-$80K from the 1980's models. I think I saw one close around $60K. I was thinking of pulling the trigger and bidding to win an auction for one. When I was a kid in the 80's - I was always a fan of the Countach moreover. Though 1980's Countach eBay auctions were definitely no less than $180,000 over $200,000 if I recall correctly some 8 years ago. Now I see them pushing over $300,000.
Shit Head Fucker yeah this guy must not be a car guy or is very young, the auto seatbelt was the most common passive restraint in the late 80s and early 90s. Airbags are now, but those type seat belts were then, so that isn't at all quirky for this year car.
Here from your Countach vid, you reminded me of the Testarossa's greatness, Which reminds me of the bright re f150, and no im not talking about a pickup truck!
I agree, this is the most beautiful car of the 80's. And about $114000 when it went on the market, one of the mos expensive. One small correction. The engine is a H12. Yes, a horizontally opposed 12 cylinder, similar to the one the 512BB.
1992 Honda Accord (and probably that whole generation of Accord) had the same exact seat belt configuration. Automatic sliding belt and all. If I remember right, there was some weird law about it that was changed later on.
