Jalopnik 
Enter your username and password.
Detroit, 4:44 PM
Fri Nov 27
3 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors:
tips@jalopnik.com
Editor-in-Chief:
Ray Wert | Email | AIM
Road Test Editor:
Wes Siler | Email
Weekend Editor:
Murilee Martin | Email
Associate Editor - Houston:
Matt Hardigree
Associate Editor - Detroit:
Ben Wojdyla
Editor-at-Large:
Mike Spinelli
Contributors:
Mark Arnold
John Krewson | Email
Andy Didorosi
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
07/28/09
Sigh, I guess that beautiful engine will have to hide the shame of riding on the back of this donkey of a car.
07/28/09
so "vanity without purpose" is very likely an overstatement...
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
-The conjoining of the two major lines at the rear of the doors.
-the way the car squats very low (is this factory ride height?)
-minimal front overhang
-rear which evokes Enzo yet doesn't copycat it...it is a proper mesh of Enzo and F430 rear ends
What I don't like:
-garish black insert covering engine intake. A relief is needed with all that black but the silver horse just seems like something that came out of a Fiero/Ferrari conversion kit.
-I love the way the rear line begins at the termination of the door but it just seems to go too high and too long. That flat surface reminds me of a bass boat for some reason. Probably looks better in real life.
07/28/09
(add Italian accent as appropriate)
Engineer: "So what do we do about the exhausts? How about the classic dual exhaust? It's great for flow and it improves horsepower. Eh? Classic duals eh?"
Designer: "No way, these days even a girly car like the Miata has dual exhausts, so we can't do duals. You don't want to be associated with a girly car now do you? The car's gotta have soul, it's gotta look like it's on the edge, maybe like the product of a F430 after a crazy night in District 9. Why do you think we have those LED lights? Certainly not to light the way!"
Marketing: "That's correct. The no. 1 reason our customers buy our cars is for image 'enhancement.' If they knew that a part of their car was related to stuff normal people could buy, they'd leave in packs and go to Pagani."
Engineer: "How about quad exhausts? We can do two pipes and then split into doubles?"
Designer: "Three words: Pontiac. Grand. Am. I say we go with a square exhaust."
Marketing: "I don't know. That's sort of Porsche's thing now and we don't want Italian craftsmanship to be associated with German engineering. I mean what are we? Lamborghini?"
Designer: "I know, we go with triple exhausts! Nobody has those!"
Marketing: "Hmm... brilliant!"
Engineer: "But, but, but... then you'd have to run them all in a single pipe and have them split into threes and..." (whimper)
Marketing: "I think this is genius. We'll have something that no kid in a Civic has on his car and that's going to be a great selling point. Triple exhausts it is!"
Meanwhile, ricer Johnny sees the photos of the 458 on the internet and immediately orders some tubing for his "full custom" triple exhaust.
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/29/09
07/28/09
If you have doubts about the exterior, then you should see the center console, something clearly went wrong there
Sorry about the double post.. haven't posted for long.. rusted a bit
07/28/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
"It's... it's..."
"It's over NINE THOUSAND!!!"
:)
07/28/09
If you have doubts about the exterior, you should see the center console, something definetly went wrong there
07/28/09
I think they finally got the memo at Ferrari/Pininfarina to go back to styling cars and not just engineering them. Caterhams and Elises have supercar performance, but that's all they offer. The Caterham, for instance, is a ladder with wheels. Cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis, though, offer the complete package, not just mechanically, but aesthetically. Or at least they're supposed to. If you go watch on youtube Jeremy Clarkson's review from the 90s of the F355, he talks about this, and if he doesn't and I just don't remember this well, then you can see what I mean. That car had fantastic performance while being very usable and incredibly handsome yet still somewhat understated.
This is the F355's descendant, albeit there were the 360 and 430 in between. This looks like the proper heir to the 360 throne, whereas the 430, though certainly not unattractive, looked too purpose-built. Think about Italians and everything they do. Do you really want them to try to plan everything out? Do we want Italians "exerting" themselves that way? Ethiopia, for instance? No. Lamborghinis are infamous for their oddities and tendencies to burst into flames (I'm pointing at you Gallardo, Miura). The original Miuras, being mid-engined, had the gas tank over the front wheels, and as you used up gas, the weight on the front decreased and you lost traction. Not good planning. But that didn't matter because they planned enough to make it a) mid-engined and b) unfathomably gorgeous. That was as much as was needed. Any more and it would have made too much sense to be fun.
While this car sheds virtually any semblance of past Ferraris' understatedness, it has a terrific arrogance to it that suggests it is ready to take on the Gallardo, which has surpassed the low-hanging Ferrari fruit in terms of desirability by virtue of styling. Compared to the 438, the 458 has a far more cohesive design, generally free of the excessive complexities and small, unintegrated features that have plagued the 430 and 599. The sheetmetal is simple but sophisticated. It looks purposeful but not mechanical.
From the front, the 458 looks like a relative of the Maserati MC12 with its low, wide, gaping grille. Again, uncluttered front end, with aggressive headlights. The way in which the hood (technically the boot...) sits in a valley between the exaggerated wheel wells reminds me favorably of the C3 Corvettes. Unfortunately, Ferrari could not avoid the temptation of air ducts in the wheel housings, and immediately inside the headlights. I am sure they serve very good aerodynamic purposes, but they detract for the overall appearance. And of course, that huge black insert in the grille, which supposedly deforms at higher speeds to create downforce, is just plain ugly. It's just ugly. Blech.
The side profile is fantastic and the stuff of dreams. All the angles are raked just they way you would draw your own supercar. The rocker panels below the door scream mini-Enzo (as does the whole side profile), especially right in front of the rear wheel well, and the scalloped panel behind the front wing subtly apes the 612. While from the front 1/4 angle the midsection of the car looks too low and perhaps even a bit anorexic, from the side it looks athletic and appropriately lean.
The rear is too much of a catastrophe. Large gaps in the sheetmetal, filled with grillework, look messy and patched together. The Gallardo accomplishes this approach more cleanly. This looks hurried and reverts back to the overly-purposeful look found on the rear of the 430. One of the nice features of Ferraris from the recent and distant past has been a sizeable patch of relatively flat, uninterrupted Corsa Rossa where that big chrome prancing horse laid ensconced. The 360 and 355 were certainly adorned this way. Yes, this car has some of that, but that feature is flanked on the sides by oddly shaped grilles and sits above too many contrasting concave/convex surfaces, some recessed and others not. Simply, it is not elegant.
The triple tailpipes look sweet, but they look like an addition on a jumbled rear end. Such a unique feature such as triple tailpipes should be one of a couple highlights on the rear of the car. It is unfortunate to watch the demise of the quad tail lights, but I can live with the singles, and putting them in the corners is alright, too; however, by placing them so high, the car gains unnecessary visual height much as the California looks very tall out back.
All in all, while the car looks somewhat like Motortrend rendering, it feels more like a Ferrari than the California and looks more like a 360 than a 430. That's all good. This is a eally catchy, edgy, beautiful design, but really from one foot in from each end.
07/28/09
Woohoohoo
Woohoohoo
Ferrari just hit the wall
They always had it all
One championshiop a year
Hot models with little to wear
Their dreams went out the door
With the four-fifty-eight
Lost since the death of the man
What happen to their plan?
.....
Where’s the side skirts made of aluminum
And who’s the other guy that's winning in F1?
When did reality become turbos
Whatever happened to Daytonas, Dinos
(and the GTOs)
F355s, Californias
Way before the Enzo
There were F40s and Americas
And music made by GTBs
Their models of the 21st century
They make them look totally uncool
Cause we're still preoccupied
With 19, 19, 1985
(and the GTOs)
....
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
Triple exhausts where did I see that before?
07/28/09
@BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ:
Better yet...
07/28/09
@BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ: Right here?:
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
07/28/09
http://perf-static.ferrariworld.com/pagina_cortesia.jpg
http://perf-static.ferrariworld.com/