First of all, Ferraris (any super car for that matter) and Sabah are commonly thought of as unpractical. A status symbol none the less, but was never seen as practical.

Let me start with some of the technical bits of owning these things in Sabah. For a start, a Brand new F430 would have costed almost RM2mil. However, these cars come with so many specs, they vary alot. I am talking about quarter mil difference between any given specs required. Even changing the paint of the brake callipers or stitching on the seats will cost thousands of Pounds.

However, the obvious thing to do would be to buy a reconditioned Super Car. Today, a reconditioned F430 would cost about RM790K or anywhere near there. The downfall is that you would not be able to choose your specs. For example (and most important) the seat size and gearbox (Paddle shift or full manual). You will not believe how many seat sizes Ferrari has to offer. You lose the ability to have these ‘options’ when you purchase a reconditioned Ferrari.

Next, is the maintainance. You would imagine it to be insanely expensive, well it is actually beyond your imagination. Some people have opted to change their engines Japanese engines such as ones from Toyota MR2, or Honda NSX, simply to reduce engine maintainence costs etc. However, if you choose to keep the original V8 on an F430, it is advised by Ferrari to fly down two licenced Ferrari mechanics and their equipment either from Brunei or Singapore to have a look at your car every 3,500km. Need I say more?

Now I think I just confirmed people’s theory of owning supercars in Sabah would be stupid. Especially when “Sabahs roads are not meant for these cars,”. Is it really? Well, here is my view.

Have you ever seen any of the test videos for these cars on YouTube? especially those from TopGear? They take those cars to country sides, city sreets, and other places where the road conditions are not that far off compared to Sabah’s. To be honest, some of the roads they take the supercars to are actually worse than Sabah’s.

Sabah DOES have nice roads where you can really feel the power of Ferrari and why they are so renouned. Many people think that if you have a Ferrari, you must go 250KMph, well, they were not built just for that. They were built to blow your minds around corners and make you wet your pants when you see a little straight along the way.

For example, if you take an F430 up the new Kota Belud road, it feels fan-bleeding-tastic. If you have enough manliness to do it, you WILL be doing 250KMph. AND stop in time for that next corner because the brakes on those things can stop a bullet.

These cars, though their bad reputation for being rediculous to own in Sabah are actually worth every single cent. Take it for a drive to KB on a nice Saturday afternoon, have a nice look around, you can even get some souvenirs from the Tamu or whatnots, come back to KK and have a nice lunch or dinner. However, I need not mention of how many stops you need to take to fuel up, but not as many as you think.

So in the end, if you do have a spare Million Ringgit to spend on the car (and to maintain it for a while), I say yes. It is better than two S-Classes. Because you ride in S-Classes but you Drive an F430.