2011 Ferrari 458 Pics

2011 Ferrari 458 Italia
2011 Ferrari 458 car wallpaper
2011 Ferrari 458 view

Ferarri's new lust-worthy 562-hp supercar hits 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. It's indisputably attractive, but it is also derivative, as though it had been concocted from the best parts of previous great Ferrari designs. Let's see what it can do on real roads.

The Specs
Ferrari's early cars were dominated by V12 engines. But the Italian sports car maker inherited its first V8 from Lancia in 1955, and its mid-engined V8 sport coupes have been the backbone of the company's model range for the last 35 years. Strictly speaking, the first road-going production-V8 Ferrari was the wedge-shaped, Bertone-designed Dino GT4 of 1973. The most recognizable was of course the Pininfarina-designed 308 launched at the 1975 Paris Motor Salon--a car that starred quite prominently in the hit TV series Magnum PI.

Since then, this series of uncompromising mid-engine V8 driver's cars has dominated Maranello production. This year, the F430 will occupy over 70 percent of Ferrari's annual global output, which is expected to be down just 6 percent, at 6100 cars--not bad in this economy. Next year ushers in the seventh model in the series, the all-new 458 Italia. Also a Pininfarina design, the 458 uses an all-new aluminium chassis expected to be in use for the next decade.

Look closely and you'll recognize bits of all sorts of good-looking Ferraris in the 458. If the result may not be exactly pretty, it is certainly attractive--even those bizarre headlamps, which combine a total of 40 light-emitting diodes stacked above the main projector units.

Under the gauze-like aluminium coachwork there's a lot of serious thinking in this new chassis. Aerospace aluminium alloys give strength with light weight, although there is still a steel crossmember at the front. The suspension is upgraded with an L-shaped lower control arm for the front wishbones and new links for the multilink independent rear suspension. The result is a stiffer car, with much more accurate control of the wheel geometry and lateral movement. Brakes are Brembo carbon-ceramic rotors. Despite all the chassis unobtainium, this 3274-pound car is 300 pounds heavier than the outgoing 430. Ferrari engineers blame the latest U.S. crash-test requirements and the Getrag twin-clutch transmission, which, for the first time ever, is the only option.

The engine uses the same basic castings as last year's Ferrari Californiamodel, but the machining is different, with a longer-stroke crankshaft giving 4.5-liters instead of 4.3. The pistons and tappets get low-friction coatings, and the crankcase is divided into two air chambers to minimize pumping losses, which also requires two scavenge pumps for the dry sump. Ferrari uses valves in the intake manifold to open up different plenum chambers and increase low-end torque, and valves in the muffler that reduce back pressure and create lots of lovely noise through the trio of exhaust snaps.

This motor is a fairly insane beast, with the 90-degree, double-overhead-cam, 32-valve mill producing 562 hp at a screaming 9000 rpm and 398 lb-ft of torque at 6000 rpm--a huge increase over the 483-hp F430. The 458's top speed is 202 mph, with 0 to 62 mph in less than 3.4 seconds and 0 to 124 mph arriving in just 10.4 seconds. That means this Ferrari can run to nearly 130 mph before a Toyota Priushits 60 mph.

So never mind the current F430; this car is faster to 60 mph than a Ferrari Enzo and less than a second slower than that epochal million-dollar car to 124 mph. Yikes. What's more, Ferrari has even managed to improve the fuel economy and the 458 achieves 17.68 mpg (U.S.) in the NEDC combined cycle, although around town or if you start using the performance, you'll struggle to better 10 mpg (U.S.).

Aerodynamics play a big part in this performance equation. With a Cd of 0.330, the 458 is one of the most slippery Ferrari models ever, but that's not the whole story. There are deformable winglets on the lower grilles which bend in the airflow at high speeds and direct more air under the car rather than into the radiators. The engine and transmission coolers are ducted into the rear spoiler and then the air is jetted out through the tail, which reduces aerodynamic tumbling at the rear. Even the engine bay is vented with high-pressure air from the rear-wheel arches. Downforce at the top speed of 202 mph is equal to 794 pounds, almost a third of this car's curb weight.

Where Mercedes-Benz and Porsche have been going back to basics with their sports cars, Ferrari has unashamedly upped the electronics quotient with the 458. The revised suspension provides more accurate wheel articulation, and the steering rack ratio has been made quicker--a mere two turns lock-to-lock. To prevent such a quick rack from feeling too darty at speed, the safety systems (stability control, electronic differential, electronically adjustable dampers, ABS and the engine and transmission controls) are all handled by the same master electronic control unit which speeds responses and allows more tailored intervention. Chassis calibration settings on the steering wheel switch include; Wet, Sport, Race, Traction off (with only emergency stability intervention) and `everything off' for the brave, or the very stupid.

Matteo Lanzavecchia, Ferrari's chief dynamics engineer, says that the new systems make the 458 easier to drive and safer, but one can't quite escape the conclusion that they also reduce the gap between the car's capabilities and the point where the owner might run out of talent. For the future, Ferrari is working on even more advanced chassis control systems inspired by the Northrop Grumman B-2 Stealth bomber, where they engineer an unstable but dynamically superior car and rely on electronic intervention to prevent drivers from getting into trouble.