Ferretti 500 Flybridge, Price, Specs and Review

Where the Ferretti 500 fits in the range

The Ferretti 500 is the smallest boat Ferretti Yachts builds today and the first step into a fleet that climbs past 90 feet. It was announced in 2020 and, with the Cannes show cancelled by Covid, shown to the press that autumn in the Bay of La Spezia. MBY described it as the new gateway to the brand, sitting beneath the 550, and later as the replacement for the 450; Yachting called it the successor to both the retired 450 and 550.

Ferretti presented the 500 as the start of a new design era, with styling meant to cascade up through the range to the flagship. Its exterior architect, Filippo Salvetti, called it a natural heir to the Ferretti Yachts 720. MBY reported that Ferretti expected to build nine or ten a year at Forlì, which keeps supply tight and has helped used values.

If you are searching for a Ferretti 500 for sale, note that two different boats share the number. This page covers the current model; the 2007-era Ferretti 500 is explained in the last section.

Salvetti's lines and Piero Ferrari's committee

The 500 came out of Ferretti Group's Product Strategy Committee, led by Piero Ferrari, vice chairman of the Italian carmaker, working with the group's Engineering Department. Milan-based Filippo Salvetti handled exteriors and the general arrangement, and La Spezia studio Ideaeitalia drew the interiors, its first Ferretti project alongside the Ferretti 1000.

Yachting's reviewer found the profile refined and balanced, praising what was missing as much as what was there: no visual clutter on a boat with a raked windshield, a long low flybridge and an overhang shading the cockpit. MBY said the low-swept top deck keeps the boat from looking too tall, and PMY's Alan Harper agreed it did not feel like a builder of big yachts struggling at smaller scale.

Classic or Contemporary, and a main deck that opens up

Owners pick one of two interior moods. Classic uses dark oak, glossy and matte black and white lacquers, brown and beige fabrics, nickel and dark marble. Contemporary uses sand-shaded oak, white lacquers, glass and polished steel, gray and light-blue fabrics and white marble. MBY called the light scheme Santorini and the darker one Portofino, and Yachting's tester was told the light oak is the more popular choice.

The main deck puts the galley aft to port, with a door and a lifting glass panel that open it straight onto the cockpit, an old Ferretti idea revived here. A C-shaped sofa to port and another to starboard form the saloon, with the helm forward to starboard and an opening window beside it. Headroom runs 6 feet 5 inches to 6 feet 7 inches. Outside, Yachting measured 82 square feet of cockpit, 136 of flybridge and 67 of swim platform, and the cockpit table drops to make a full-width sunbed.

Lower deck choices and a sunken-sole master

Ferretti offers the lower deck two ways. One has a master and a VIP, both en suite, plus a small laundry or utility space. The other adds a third cabin with two singles and uses two bathrooms with separate showers. Yachting's boat had three staterooms and noted that the twin-bunk area can also become a gym.

The full-beam master measures 118 square feet, with a forward-facing queen, a 42-inch TV, a two-seat sofa and windows with opening ports. PMY explained the trick that gives it 6 feet 6 inches of headroom: a sunken section of sole around the berth. Ferretti also added a full-width mirror on the bed's side bulkhead to widen the room visually. An optional crew cabin aft has a single berth and a wet head, squeezed between engine room and transom; without it, the space is a lazarette.

Rough-water sea trials off Italy

There is one engine package: twin 550 hp Cummins QSB 6.7 diesels set far aft on V-drives. Ferretti quotes 30 knots top and 25 knots cruise. Both American testers ran the boat in lively seas. PMY recorded a two-way maximum of 29.7 knots at half fuel in 3 to 5 foot seas and found the hull ironed out impacts upwind and tracked well downwind. Yachting saw just under and just over 30 knots on different headings with Humphree interceptors in auto-trim, but mostly about 27 knots in the slop.

Yachting's fuel figures are the most useful for planning. At a fast cruise near 24 knots and 2,750 rpm, the pair burn about 45 gph, good for some 170 nautical miles with a 10 percent reserve. Slow to 1,500 rpm and just under 10 knots and the same fuel stretches to about 325 nautical miles. MBY quoted the builder's estimate of 200 nautical miles at 25 knots.

Standard equipment that rivals list as options

PMY called the standard equipment list unusually comprehensive. It includes the flybridge bimini, a hydraulic swim platform, a Seakeeper gyro stabilizer and the choice of interior scheme. Yachting's test boat had optional twin 12-inch Simrad displays alongside a 9-inch unit, while the standard helm has one 9-inch display with an optional joystick.

That standard gyro matters on the used market. Many 50-foot rivals were sold without stabilization, and retrofitting one costs tens of thousands of dollars. Check the joystick, air conditioning and generator specification of any boat you consider, since those vary with the original order.

Ferretti 500 price, new and used

MBY put the starting price at a whisker north of €1 million in 2021. Commissioned for the US with typical options, we estimate a new 500 at roughly $1.4 million to $1.8 million in 2026; ask your dealer for a current quote. Used, YachtBuyer reported 2021 to 2024 boats asking between about $871,000 and $1.3 million, with an average near $1 million and a typical 5.5 percent cut from first asking price. Running costs for a US owner are about $55,000 to $100,000 a year excluding depreciation.

The 500 has held its value better than most 50-foot flybridges, helped by low annual production and the standard stabilizer. The arrival of the larger Ferretti 580 in 2022 has not undercut it, since the two serve different budgets.

The earlier Ferretti 500 of 2007

Ferretti used the 500 name once before. Yachting tested an earlier Ferretti 500 in 2007, describing it as a replacement for the Ferretti 48 with a hull similar to its 46-foot sibling, cored from the chine up. That boat had twin 700 hp MAN diesels on V-drives, a 15-foot beam, a 4-foot 10-inch draft, a lower deck with three staterooms and two heads, and a garage for a personal watercraft inside the swim platform.

In Yachting's test it ran 21 knots at 1,650 rpm burning 41 gph and reached 31 knots at the top of the rpm range in 3 to 5 foot seas, with saloon noise no higher than 78 decibels. It is a completely different design from the 2020 boat, and listings sometimes muddle the two, so always check the build year.