Car Throttle

In the rankings of current automobiles, the Ferrari 458 is near the top for performance.  It's a seriously fast car.  A combination of engineering, Italian want-factor, and space ship styling puts it on the top of a lot of people's Christmas lists.  Even though it's the "baby" Ferrari, it can smoke 99% of cars on the road.  A 4.5L direct-injected V8 in the middle cranks out 562 horsepower, with a 7-speed twin clutch automated manual banging out shifts at the 9,000rpm redline.  Car & Driver tested a 458 Italia against it's two closest competitors - the McLaren MP4-12C and Porsche 911 GT2 RS, and it put a hurting on their test equipment - 0-60 in 3.0 seconds flat, 0-100 in 6.5, quarter mile in 11.0

The Ferrari 458 Italia is, by most accounts, already one of the most desirable cars in the world.  The mix of jaw-dropping styling, spine-tingling sound and acceleration, modern luxury, and cutting-edge technology means there's not much to criticize except the price tag.  So how do you make something many judge as perfect to be even more desirable? Well, cut the roof off.  Sort of.  While the F430 Spider (and the 360, 355, and 348 before it) all used power-folding cloth tops, the 458 Spider uses a metal lid.  Unlike most folding hard tops, there's very little origami occurring.  The roof is one single piece that hinges behind the passenger compartment, the tonneau flips up from the rear, and the roof flips under it, above the

Ahahaha, oh my. An "entry level" supercar - right, that makes sense.  It used to be there were sports cars that normal people could afford (Mustang, Corvette, Porsche 944, etc), and Supercars that only oil barons and filthy rich Enron executives could afford (F512M, Countach, Cizeta Moroder, EB110.)  As the industry moves along, though, we've actually developed upper and lower echelons of the supercar.  It's funny to think of something costing nearly a quarter-million dollars as being "entry level," but despite all the insanity of the Ferrari 458 Italia, it's not the craziest thing they make. There didn't used to be a lot of choice here, either - you could pretty much get an F355 or an Esprit, and a few others have crept in here

Ferrari is doing an all-out blitz for the new 458 Italia. The Italia, like the F430 that it replaces, should be the biggest seller of the Ferrari lineup - the bread and butter car, if you will. The 458 Italia takes cues from the Enzo and recently-introduced Ferrari California. The changes from the previous car are significant, but it still is recognizably Ferrari. I'm still warming to the front-end styling though. It definitely isn't the most beautiful Ferrari ever produced. Like the California, my favorite view of the 48 Italia would have to be the Enzo-esque rear-end. Ferrari has made a new video of two 458 Italias racing around a track, one red and the other yellow. It proves to be more interesting than the last video I posted

A new Ferrari hitting the street is a bit more exciting than most other automotive debuts. I mean, do you care that there's gonna be a new Chevy Aveo?  No.  But have you been holding your breath just to see a few more photos of the prancing horse's latest and greatest?  I bet you have! Well go ahead and exhale, because Ferrari has put out more information, and a ton more pictures, on the upcoming 458 Italia - the replacement for the beloved F430. Although the  car's official debut it still pegged at the Frankfurt Auto Show, Ferrari really can't keep the tiger in it's cage, and has been slipping out little details the last few weeks to keep everyone excited - as if it's necessary.  It

Ferrari's mid-level F430 sports car has been around since 2004. In supercar terms, that's approximately equal to "eternity."  Ferrari recently released a few details and computer renderings of the F430's replacement, as well as a name: 458 Italia. The 458 Italia occupies the same spot in the Ferrari lineup, mainly that of the serious mid-engine V8 sports car.  Like most new cars these days, it offers more of everything: more power, more gears, more technology, better fuel consumption and emissions, you name it.  While we haven't seen any in-the-flesh pictures of the 458 Italia, I can tell you this: it's going to be fast. Motivating the 458 Italia is a new 4.5L direct-injection V8, derived from the new DI 4.3L V8 in the gaudy California Spyder.