About the Ferrari 458
Rumour has it that when McLaren was developing its MP4-12C supercar just after the turn of the century, it had a couple of Ferrari F430s in as benchmark comparison models. The British engineers stripped these down, re-built them and made sure that their car would knock Ferrari's finest into the middle of next week. There was only one problem. They used the wrong benchmark. Nobody, you see, in Woking - nobody in the supercar industry - was quite prepared for just what a massive step forward the F430's replacement, this car, the 458 Italia, would prove to be. Apparently it all went a little quiet at McLaren back in 2010 the first time they got hold of a car for appraisal. The supercar game, they realised, was tougher than it at first seemed.
This 458 proved to be one of those rare 'right first time' designs. You see, what Ferrari understands - and some of its rivals have yet to grasp - is that with building a supercar, 90% of the challenge is getting the intangibles right. The styling detail, the sound, the tactile feel, heck, even the smell. In this car, every one of these things is exactly as it should be, which is why this model established itself so firmly as a benchmark in the supercar sector in its period.
It's as charismatic and exciting as every Ferrari should be, but better built, higher-tech and more beautifully appointed than any of Maranello's V8 supercars from the past. These were stepping stones to the model you really aspired to but this one is a journeys' end in itself if a classic Ferrari is what you've always wanted. More extreme machines have rolled from the Modena factory gates, but few of them have been faster than this one and none have been easier to drive or more daily usable. It's this blending of practicality with such pure operatic drama that makes the 458 what it is. Drive this and in comparison, a McLaren MP4 feels like a domestic appliance, a Porsche 911 hopelessly outgunned and a Lamborghini Gallardo positively ancient. In truth nothing really comes close. Because in truth, nothing is ever quite like a Ferrari.
