A Ferrari for £30,000 - Telegraph "At about £15,000 you've got to be very wary," says Matt. "The Mondial is a good 'first Ferrari" but really only a QV [quattrovalvole, or four valves per cylinder]. The two-valve car isn't worth considering. The problem with this price bracket is that you've got to find a cherished car, so you need a specialist firm that knows what it's doing. Stretch the budget to £20,000 and you can get a 3.2-litre car [earlier cars had 3.0-litre V8 engines], which is better still. It costs about £1,500 a year to run a QV or 3.2, including £500 (plus VAT) for an annual service. Cambelt changes cost £450-£500 (plus VAT). They're straightforward cars with not a lot to go wrong. That's about where they start for a sound one. Early GT4s are more valuable now than they were 10 years ago. You can pay £30,000. The Bertone styling divides opinion but I think the 308 GT4 is nicer than the Mondial. The big 400 and 412 are very expensive to run because they're V12s, but I think they've got much better future value over the next 10 to 20 years. Production numbers are low and it's best to go for a manual transmission. It's a good driver's car powered by a Daytona engine with injection. It shouldn't be ignored, but only if you can find one that's been cherished. The 328 is probably the most bulletproof sub-£50,000 Ferrari and they start at about £30,000. Basically it's an evolution of the 308 with a bigger engine in which they'd ironed out all the faults. You get quattrovalvole cylinder heads and 275bhp. 328s are sleepers right now, they haven't really caught on - a little bit too 1980s. But it's a great car, and quite rare. The GTB coupé is definitely the one to buy, rather than the targa-roofed GTS. "You've got to be a lot more careful with the 328"s successor, the 348. It's a car that's fallen into the clutches of people more interested in image than maintenance - not least because it's still a very good looking car. Early ones aren't great to drive from a handling standpoint but they got better as they went along. A good, later Spider is worth tracking down. It's when Ferrari changed the suspension and gave it 20 horsepower more. We had a black one with just 7,000 miles that went for £30,000 - an absolute bargain. The Money pit You'll see various 456 models advertised for as little as £30,000 and even less, and that includes the later 456 M. The 456 is a beautiful V12-engined coupé and lovely to drive. But unless you're prepared to put aside at least £5,000 a year to keep it going, don't touch one. There's a lot to go wrong and it frequently does.