Ferrari Mailing List: 458 Italia

[Charles Perry (charles]

Last night FG and I got to see the 458 in person courtesy of Foreign Cars Italia (and FNA / FCA). They have a car on tour from dealer to dealer and it was FCI's turn. Hank, Ronnie, Lawrence and the rest of the crew put out a nice spread and had, along with their normal inventory, an F40, F50 and black Enzo on the floor, along with a Scuderia 16M.

 

I've been really excited about this car since it's the first Ferrari since the 355 that I thought had styling deserving of the Prancing Horse. Of course, Ferraris often don't come across as well in photos as in person, so I was psyched to be able to see it in person so early.

 

News is that it doesn't disappoint. The front is really beautiful and solved my primary objection to the 360 and 430, which was the big honking nostrils. The moveable wing elements nicely trim the openings and I also really like the little Prancer on the front. You can't tell from photos, but it's basically suspended in air on it's own little "stalk" base which is striking. LED lighting is really eye-catching, like modern Audis.

 

The rear is also well done, looking largely like the Enzo and 430 except for the triple exhaust, which is cool. It was also hard to tell from photos that there are small air intakes just behind the rear windows which hark back to the 308. The side is really the only awkward angle for me (as I suspected from photos), mostly because the passenger bubble is so damned tall. I'm not sure if it's because of wind tunnel data or making room for really tall drivers in new markets, but it is a really tall car in the center and I just can't get the Jetsons car out of my head looking at it. If you chopped the A-pillars about 3-4 inches and lowered the roofline to close the gap, this would be a completely stunning car.

 

As with every V8 Ferrari after the 348, I don't think red is the best color for the car. It emphasizes the tall bubble and hides the interesting cut lines on the door where the forward fender line dives down and crosses under the cut line from the rear fender line. I think metallic colors will look best on this car. I've always been a fan of the Rosso Fiorano (the dark burgundy metallic), which I think will be fantastic on the 458. Ditto for the dark gray/silvers and probably blues. They showed a video of a yellow and red car chasing each other around what was presumably Italy. If it were mine to configure, I would avoid red, yellow or black.

 

The dash is a little on the Gran Turismo/Need for Speed side for me, but I'm reserving judgment until I get to drive one. It's hard to say if having all the controls on the steering wheel is cool and functional or just a styling hook. I think I can say without reservation, though, that Enzo would be over revving in his grave if he ever thought his sportiest car would have a "Menu" button on the dash somewhere. The seats were fantastic, although it was disappointing to see interior parts still painted in that crappy silver paint that's worn off everything from the 456 to now. Opt for the carbon fiber replacements.

 

Of course, the video game dash would solve one weird problem I've noticed in recent years. When I have my exotics out, kids and certain groups always want to know "What's on the dash?", meaning what does the speedometer go up to. I've always thought this was a dumb question since it bears no resemblance to what the car can actually achieve, but it seems to be important to them. Now that the car sports only an analog tachometer and two blank video screens, the answer is "10" corresponding to the top of the tach. For whatever reason, I like that.

 

They started it a couple of times and we got to listen to some lucky soul get a quick ride before they loaded the car to go to Atlanta. It was a great sound, in the same vein as the more recent cars (360, 430, Scuderia) with that much more urgency.

 

Overall I think it's a big step forward stylistically, and I'm sure driving it would confirm the same dynamically.

 

Thanks again to FCI for the invite!

 

-- charles