FERRARI California Review

Let’s face it, there are quite a lot of people who buy Ferraris just to cruise around. Some do it to pursue their dream of owning one, others want to pose, while certain owners simply aren’t comfortable with performance driving. Thus, many of the Horses never truly get to Prance, with brief spirited driving being the climax of their tasks.

You simply can’t ignore this kind of thirst, so Ferrari took a dive into its gene pool, retrieved the 1957 250 GT California nameplate and brought it back to life. Word has it that this was supposed to be a Maserati, but ended up being too expensive and so they turned it into a Ferrari.

We don’t care about such chit-chats. Instead, we prefer focusing on the fact that the California brought quite a lot of firsts for Ferrari, from direct injection and a dual-clutch gearbox to a folding metal roof and a multilink rear suspension.

2013 was a special year for the California, as Ferrari let its engineers have their way with the thing. The Italians noticed that some the California owners, many of which were new to the brand, were complaining about the need for a sharper experience. Thus, the revamp brought a classic recipe: more power and less weight. Moreover, for those Californians who really took performance seriously, Ferrari introduced a Handling Speciale package.

We were very eager to see how the California performed after its brief trip to the gym, having driven the standard car a few years ago. Aside for the option of having a Silver-painted grille, the refresh didn’t change anything in terms of appearance, so the first impression was the same.

Modern Ferraris always fall a bit short of the aesthetic expectancies one would’ve had for them one or two decades ago, at least here in our office. Nonetheless, the clean way in which the Italians integrate aerodynamic elements into their styling can’t be ignored.