Most liked posts in thread: Ferrari 458 Video

TÃ¼ls · Sep 24, 2009

So good.

goaljnky · Sep 24, 2009

Love the car. Absolutely love it. The only thing that bothers me is that little cut out where the hood, the front bumper and the head lights meet.

Steve · Sep 24, 2009

I like it, though I'm not a fan of the little row of lights above and to the side of the headlights.

BlimeyCabrio · Sep 24, 2009

Just needs two beautiful blondes driving. Then my life will be complete.

goaljnky · Sep 24, 2009

BlimeyCabrio said: ↑

Just needs two beautiful blondes driving. Then my life will be complete.
Click to expand...

I wish I was able to complete my life with 4 things I cannot have.

BlimeyCabrio · Sep 24, 2009

Helps to have realistic goals. I'm much more blissful that way.

goaljnky · Sep 24, 2009

BlimeyCabrio said: ↑

Helps to have realistic goals. I'm much more blissful that way.
Click to expand...

A cold six pack and fresh batteries in the remote? I hear ya.

BlimeyCabrio · Sep 24, 2009

Little, attainable goals. That's me.

A stretch goal might be "two six packs".

mini_racer · Sep 25, 2009

Thanks Nathan.......that was fun.

PGT · Sep 25, 2009

nice McLaren styling

nabeshin · Sep 26, 2009

That was pretty awesome. I'm looking forward to Top Gear's inevitable bit on this car in the coming season. The car looks amazing.

old81 · Sep 27, 2009

Nice dance, the engine sound is perfect.

dogdal24 · Sep 27, 2009

Beautiful!
Just Beautiful!!!

Steve · Nov 21, 2009

Ferrari 458 Italia supercar review (telegraph.co.uk)

(here's most of the article)

We drive a Ferrari 458 Italia, the most eagerly awaited supercar of 2009.

By Andrew English
Published: 12:30PM GMT 20 Nov 2009

Does it drive well? What an ignorant question. Like asking whether your Phillipe Patek keeps time, or your Dolce & Gabbana keeps the chill off.
(snip)
The most recognisable early Ferrari V8 is of course the 308, which was the start of the series we see here, now in its seventh incarnation. Maybe the last, too, if the rumours of smaller displacement, turbocharged engines are true.

Ferrari, however, claims its new mid-engined V8 aluminium-alloy chassis for the 458 Italia will last a decade just as the 1999 360 Modena's has. The Pininfarina design is a sock-on-the-jaw looker, containing bits of Ferrari's past (Enzo tail lamps, 308 air intakes) with the deep windscreen of an endurance racer and the low waistline that emphasises the 20-inch wheels.

It's all wrapped in voluptuously scanty aluminium-alloy couture, which attracts all ages and sexes like a magnet in a Tom & Jerry cartoon. Damn, this is a good-looking car. Well, except for the headlamps, all 42 of them, which look like the heavy gold links in a rapper's bling.

Air management is the design imperative. Aerodynamically the sleekest Ferrari, the 458 has a Cd drag coefficient of 0.330, but it's what it does with air that's really clever. Like the engine and transmission coolers that employ the airflow to increase efficiency through the matrices and then jet it out of the tail to improve the overall aerodynamics.

Or the deformable winglets at the front that bend at speed to direct air under the car. Or, the engine-bay vents that use the high-pressure air in the wheel arches to increase cooling and prevent pumping at very high speeds. Downforce at the top speed of 202mph is equal to 794lb, almost a third of the weight of the car.

It's the same with the V8 engine, which uses the same castings as last year's California, but with more machining and low-friction coatings for pistons and tappets. The 180-degree, flat-plane crankshaft allows Ferrari engineers to seal the crankcase into two air chambers to prevent low-speed pumping losses that can eat up to 7lb ft of torque at 2,000rpm. It means the dry-sump unit required two scavenge oil pumps, but no expense has been spared in search of more efficiency.

Redesigned suspension has new, L-shaped lower front wishbone arms and extra links in the rear suspension to increase lateral stiffness. To make best use of this more accurate wheel articulation, the steering rack has been made faster and the body control systems (stability control, electronic differential, adjustable dampers, anti-lock brakes and the engine and transmission controls) all talk to each other.

Calibration settings on the steering wheel switch includes Wet, Sport, Race, traction off with only emergency stability intervention and "everything off!" for the brave or stupid.

Ask Matteo Lanzavecchia, the chief dynamics engineer, if these systems aren't merely raising the car's capabilities towards the point where owners run out of talent and he grins, saying "it also make a safer, if faster car".

Ferrari is also working on systems pioneered in the Northrop Grumman B2 Stealth bomber, where a vehicle is set up to be basically unstable for better dynamics with the electronic systems preventing a driver getting into trouble.

And if that's too far into an automated future for you, check this out. This is the first Ferrari without a manual gearbox option. The seven-speed Getrag, dual-clutch system is, and will remain, the only transmission. It (and the extra US crash safety) push the kerb weight up to 3,274lb (1,485kg), but there's more power (of course), up 79bhp on the F430 to 562bhp at a stratospheric 9,000rpm. Performance is naturally superlative, with 0-62mph in less than 3.4sec and an EU Urban fuel consumption of 14.3mpg â€“ gulp. No, make that guzzle.

Turn the key, press the red starter and the engine whirrs into idle. No cam-chain thrash, the tappets have joined a silent order and the noise is all exhaust, managed through a trumpeter's trio of intake valves, which open different inlet plenum chambers, and the exhaust valves that dance to an algorithm of throttle position and engine revs to give a menagerie of yelps, growls, roars and barks.

There are no steering column stalks on the 458, everything is controlled via the steering wheel or the dashboard. The facia's style is simple, but twin displays either side of the central rev counter are confusing and if you chose to display the satellite navigation system then you lose the speedometer, which must make for interesting explanations to traffic officers.

The air vents look like something from the 22nd century, although they are useless at directing air. The seats are comfortable and very embracing and the trim is simple, although a fair bit of it was hanging off our test example â€“ so no change there, then.

Unlike previous automated manual transmission Ferraris, manoeuvring this one is simple, with no displays of temperament. You can drive it quietly away, but what's the point of that?

With a burst of revs, the 458 fishtails out of the car park. There's a lighter-than-air quality about supercars such as this. The engine revs so freely, the steering is so direct and the performance so mind-warping that it's easy to imagine taking off and simply flying to your destination.

After an ordinary car, even a fast one, such performance is beguiling and deceptive. It's easy to arrive at corners going far too fast or tread on the throttle too hard and set the tyres spinning. In one respect the 458 protects you from this through electronic systems that throttle back the engine and progressively brake opposite wheels or lock the differential. The trouble is, the throttle is so finely strung you'll struggle to keep your foot steady on bumpy roads and that causes instabilities in the first place.

Actually the first impressions are deceptive and it is easy to overdrive the 458 in an ostentatious display of wheel-twitching bravado. Actually the chassis is very docile, or at least the electronics keep it that way.

If the soundtrack is bloodcurdling, the driving experience is more sang froid. The steering is incredibly sharp, but there's none of the wound-up feel of previous models. The 458 goes sideways but it doesn't come off the slide with a bang, more a polite murmur.

The engine is top-shelf-material rude, but with a torque curve flatter than East Anglia, so you can leave the car in gear and make speedy progress or rev it to 9,000rpm and make speedy, noisy progress.

In fact the 458 is so very fast that you wonder how much faster cars can get before you need a special driving licence. As it is, public road driving is a supreme test of self-discipline. Fortunately, the carbon-ceramic disc brakes are retina-detachingly powerful but the pedal is soft on the first press and at one point on the Fiorano circuit the brakes faded to almost nothing, which is probably an indication how hard they were working.

So a massive step forward in the world of the supercar. Faster than a 430 Scuderia, yet more docile, better mannered and softer riding.

Yes, the 458 does drive quite brilliantly but, as we've already said, you really don't need to know that.
Click to expand...

MightyStripes · Nov 22, 2009

Almost sounds like a formula 1 car there soo soo cool to listen to

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