FERRARI 458 Italia Review

When Ferrari started the development of the 458, the carmaker recreated a movie scene that never gets old. We’re talking about the part where he holds her with one arm, clears the desk with the other and then places her on the freed wooden surface to display his passion. This is precisely what the engineers did, disposing of the F430’s elements altogether and showing their love for the new project on a black sheet of screen.

At the end of it, they were so proud of what they had achieved that they invested the vehicle with the title of ambassador of their country in the supercar realm, calling it the Ferrari 458 Italia. Somebody in a Lamborghini office must’ve been pretty upset about this.

One year before the Ferrari 458 Italia was introduced, Ferrari launched a new breed, a truly junior model, the California. With its little sister catering to the needs of those whom Enzo Ferrari would’ve seen as “soft people”, the 458 could up the technical ante past the natural process of evolution.

In fact, they’ve put so much engineering into the powertrain, chassis, electronics and aerodynamics, that all of these elements battle for supremacy. As we were approaching our test car, each of the aforementioned parts of the car pushed the others aside and bragged that it was the best part of the show.

We couldn’t refuse the proposal to see which one is right and this is what we’re going to investigate over the following chapters. However, as we inserted the key into the ignition, a process that feels outdated in a car like this, the ECU winked at us, hinting that it is actually the ruler here.

We could’ve believed it, but we just said “neah” and pressed the red engine start button on the steering wheel.