Behind The Wheel
4 out of 5 stars
The cabin is totally driver-centric. All the controls are on a module that looks like a scale model of the Starship Enterprise, and many – lights, wipers, indicators, damper adjustment, engine stop/start and traction control switch – are on the steering wheel itself, echoing the style if not the content of a Formula One car. We think it works fine, but concede that others may disagree. Other than that, there's only the awful visibility at angled junctions to worry about.
It's fast. With a 570bhp 4.5-litre V8, of course it's fast, and the seven-speed twin-clutch semi-auto gearbox is more than capable of keeping up with the engine. However, it's the breadth of ability that really gets you. With the gearbox in full automatic mode, it will dawdle through town at 35mph in seventh gear. Seventh! Astonishingly flexible.
Ferrari has opted for multi-link rear suspension in place of the double wishbones it has traditionally favoured, and there's incredibly direct steering (two turns lock-to-lock), magnetic-fluid dampers, carbon-ceramic brakes and an evolution of the Formula One-derived traction and stability control. The result is a car that grips, turns and stops like you wouldn't believe, rides like a dream for a 200mph-plus supercar, and lets you choose how much electronic assistance you want.
It depends what you mean by refinement, really. Floor the accelerator and the decibel count rises significantly, although anyone with the remotest interest in cars will find the sounds soul-stirring rather than irritating. At low speed or when cruising the 458 is actually reasonably quiet, and the engine/transmission are very smooth. There's considerable road noise on coarse surfaces – a legacy of the fat rear tyres – but little wind noise at UK-legal speeds.
The 458 will cost 'at least 10%' more than the equivalent F430, the car it replaces, and running costs will be astronomical, neither of which will deter the people who can afford a car such as this one jot – the waiting list is already at least 18 months. There's a good environmental story – CO2 emissions are 113g/km lower than those of the F430 when it was launched. A four-year warranty is standard.
Buy an Italian supercar – expect trouble. Sorry, but it doesn't work like that any more. Ferraris are every bit as reliable as sports cars produced over the other side of the Alps, in southern Germany – and every bit as well-made and finished. The 458's interior is just lovely to look at and touch.
The days when you made yourself fit in a Ferrari as best you could are long gone. The company's important markets are now as diverse as China and America, two countries where people tend to be shaped rather differently, so Ferrari has ensured that both nationalities will be equally comfortable. The cabin is spacious and light, and there's room for light luggage behind the two seats to supplement the deep, if narrow, front storage area.
The 458 doesn't go on sale in the UK until next June and the final spec has yet to be settled. It's not a pricing issue – Ferrari buyers don't tend to have to count the pennies – it's more a matter of what customers will expect and what they would prefer to choose for themselves. There'll be no variation in the mechanical spec – even the semi-auto gearbox will be standard, making this the first Ferrari not to offer a manual – so the equipment choices are likely to concentrate on the interior.
