Car Enthusiast Thread

[Mushiki]

Working on a Cooling Panel for my FC

... and porting

 

[Mushiki]

 

[aria]

Talk about glowing review:

August 19, 2010
Ferrari 458 Italia Has Enough Superlatives to Match the Sticker
By LAWRENCE ULRICH

MONTICELLO, N.Y. -- HEAT pouring from its carbon-ceramic brakes, the Ferrari 458 Italia rests its heaving lungs at Monticello Motor Club, preparing for more shrieking laps to come.

Perspiring and exhilarated myself, I have a moment to appreciate Ferrari’s newborn beauty in repose at this private road course tucked below the Catskills.

Today, as club members romp at this challenging track, the scene resembles an improptu Ferrari family reunion: there’s the Italia’s beach-bum cousin, the California convertible; its just-retired predecessor, the midengine F430; and from the traditional gran turismo side of the clan, a 599 GTB Fiorano with a V-12 engine.

Not wanting to bruise anyone’s feelings, I keep one thought to myself: my baby, the 458 Italia — all right, so I’m just the nanny — is definitely the prettiest. The smartest, too, thanks to the latest Formula One diet of Ferrari racing technology. And the Italia is also the second-least-costly Ferrari (after the California) at $230,275. That base price undercuts the 599 by over $100,000.

What I’m about to say might enrage the guy struggling to keep a roof over a 10-year-old Chevy. But if you have that kind of money, the Italia — unlike some high-priced, half-baked exotics — is worth every penny. The car’s sensory experience is nearly unfathomable; barreling Woody Allen’s Orgasmatron over Niagara Falls might get you close.

Stumbling from the 458’s cockpit after hours of g-force frolic, it’s easy to get caught up in woozy hyperbole. (See above.) But even with endorphins normalized, I declare the 458 is the best sports car I’ve ever driven, the current state of the art. Or maybe that’s the art of the state, given that Ferrari’s chairman, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, named the Italia after its homeland. Italy should cut Ferrari a check for such product placement.

The Ferrari certainly buffs Italy’s reputation for high design. It may also represent a revival of Ferrari’s legendary styling form, which had shown signs of becoming secondary to remorseless function. Even some Ferrari owners agree that recent models, including the F430 and the limited-edition Enzo, were becoming less purely sensuous, a pulse-quickening quality that had always elevated Ferrari above more cold-blooded sports cars. (I once parked a Lamborghini Gallardo next to an F430 and asked a few dozen passers-by to judge which car was better-looking. To my surprise, only a few men, and not a single woman, chose the Ferrari).

The Italia should find more love from either sex. The striking carrier-deck rear end also recalls the departed Enzo. But while that forceful styling suggests, truthfully, that the Italia can match or outrun that $650,000 supercar, the old Ferrari flow is back in the steamy suggestion of its Mediterranean curves. The Italia says that beauty doesn’t have to be sacrificed to modern performance.

The design also inhales cool air for the engine, brakes and aerodynamic downforce — while dispersing gearbox heat and smoothing turbulence at the rear — without a profusion of scoops and nostrils. In the nose, a pair of rubbery winglets deform nearly an inch at high speeds to reduce drag and lift.

The cabin is all about the driver, with every control and display angled that way. Passengers are clearly meant to sit in awe, thankful to get a ride. A saffron-colored tachometer nods to tradition and a 9,000 r.p.m. red line, but it is flanked by a Ferrari first: twin digital displays that flash everything from performance parameters to navigation maps and iPod playlists.

A few critics have griped that these displays seem more Honda than Ferrari. But as with Lamborghini and its modern Audi-based screen controls, I’m just grateful they work, in only mildly awkward style. In some Italian cars, you’re lucky to find the AM radio.

Continuing the Grand Prix fantasy, the Ferrari’s steering wheel houses so many controls that there’s barely room for the pretty pony at the center. Fire the red start button, and LEDs trace the rim of the wheel to to chart the engine’s upward progress. The manettino — not an obscure pasta, but Italian for “little hand” — controls settings for Ferrari’s remarkably transparent F1 Trac stability and traction systems, in tandem with an electronic differential that dynamically apportions torque between the rear wheels. Another switch adjusts the Ferrari’s magnetic-fluid shocks for especially bumpy roads.

Even the turn signals and wipers are controlled by steering-wheel buttons. The steering column eschews stalks entirely, leaving huge paddle shifters for the dual-clutch, seven-speed automated manual transmission.

Citing indifference among potential buyers, the Italia does not offer a conventional manual.

While I’d still prefer a clutch (and if you’ve got a quarter-million to spend, why shouldn’t Ferrari cater to your whims?), the Italia’s transmission is a piercing riposte to My Left Foot purists.

Drivers can fire off buttered-lightning shifts until their fingertips ache. But even the pure automatic mode makes an amazing show-and-tell: it is murderously aggressive when driven hard, snapping off firecracker double-downshifts and holding gears as high as 8,000 r.p.m. Especially in the Ferrari’s racier performance modes, the Italia is so loudly oblivious to community noise standards that I often reverted to manual to avoid attention.

Yet owners may volunteer for 2 a.m. diaper runs just to hear that six-figure exhaust note. It’s one part classical, one part metal thunder, like a duet of Pavarotti and Chris Cornell. A trio of exhaust outlets, reminiscent of Ferrari’s old F40 supercar, open the outside pipes to unleash sound under hard throttle.

In the center of a space-frame chassis lies the source of that racket, a flat-crank, dry-sump V-8 that makes 562 horsepower and 398 pound-feet of torque from just 4.5 liters of displacement. That’s an industry record in power-per-liter for an engine that breathes naturally, without air-cramming aid from superchargers or turbochargers.

Ferrari claims a 3.4-second run from a standstill to 60 miles per hour, a few ticks faster than the F430, and a top speed of 202 m.p.h. But the edge over the F430, as well as most other sports cars, isn’t raw numbers. Instead, the Ferrari opens an unmatched window onto how a champion driver must feel. It’s like waking up to find you can trade groundstrokes with Rafael Nadal, and even rip one past him on occasion.

On Monticello’s 4.1-mile, 22-turn course, the Italia shrieks past 160 m.p.h. on the back straight, thrillingly composed even as it brakes into bends and catapults out with shuddering force. Ferrari claims the newest F1 Trac and E-Diff deliver 32 percent more longitudinal force leaving turns than the F430, and the seat of my pants doesn’t argue.

Nor does Bill McMichael, the track’s chief executive, who is awaiting delivery of his own crimson Italia. And while I’m expecting a measured appraisal on Mr. McMichael’s first trip in a 458, he instantly pegs the car above his own F430 Scuderia. “Even from the right-hand seat, I can tell there’s more grip, more power, better body control,” he said with enthusiasm as we rolled into the pits. “It never puts a foot wrong.”

One problem must be mentioned. I had driven this identical car to Monticello a week earlier, when a wire worked loose and fried on hot metal. That put the car into limp-home mode before the engine shut down entirely. In the Ferrari’s defense, the rigors of track laps can take out any car — though that caveat wouldn’t have prevented a few choice Italian curses if I were the owner.

On this trouble-free day, the Ferrari seduced everyone it met, including club members whose opinions might translate into sales. One is Mr. McMichael, whom I can’t help but jealously imagine practicing in his new Italia, whacking seconds off the eye-popping lap times he recorded in previous Ferraris.

“So,” Mr. McMichael asked with a grin, “should I cancel my order?”

Fat chance.

•

INSIDE TRACK: Beauty and beast.

 

[snk`]

I saw the Italia 458 at very close glance in the roads here, and damn.. that car is just too mind blowing to stare at on the road. It was in white, and it's probably the only Ferrari in white I ever thought looked as good as in red.
Renting one here for a day would cost you 7000AED, which is about 1900USD.

Car rental regulations are gay over here, but I won't be surprised if this car is on a renting spree.

EDIT: just read the whole story, fuck... I heard that problem is very common within Ferrari's, they're definitely not for daily usage.. probably just good to stare at. :P

 

[Mushiki]

That car is impossibly exquisite -- except for the hood. Those angles simply don't work.

 

[aria]

That car is impossibly exquisite -- except for the hood. Those angles simply don't work.

I agree, it looks a little strange... particularly how they handled that black space next to the headlights. They might as well call it a bug collector.

 

[Mushiki]

I agree, it looks a little strange... particularly how they handled that black space next to the headlights. They might as well call it a bug collector.

Just removing that longitudinal groove at the middle of the hood would make it look much better.

 

[not sonic]

those headlights are really ugly too.

the lines on the side of the car remind me of a hyundai. like the tiburon or maybe genesis.

 

[Mushiki]

those headlights are really ugly too.

In pictures they look terrible, but in person they do work design-wise.

They do take the whole "vertical headlight" trend to an extreme though...

 

[aria]

They were stupid then, they're stupid (and dead) now, but this commercial was famous:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZuNRv2X7jc

 

[OrochiEddie]

I'm not sure what to make of the looks of it. In some ways I think it is glorious looking, but in other ways it looks like some goofy concept car. I remember watching the review of it on Top Gear and not being to determine whether it was a masterpiece or something a 6 year old came up with.

To be honest, as plain as it was, I liked the 612 Scaglietti.

 

[aria]

I'm not sure what to make of the looks of it. In some ways I think it is glorious looking, but in other ways it looks like some goofy concept car. I remember watching the review of it on Top Gear and not being to determine whether it was a masterpiece or something a 6 year old came up with.

To be honest, as plain as it was, I liked the 612 Scaglietti.

It looks like Ferrari and Aston got together and had a kid.

 

[OrochiEddie]

I hate Japan

 

[ferrarimanf355]

Speaking of Italian cars, I want a Fiat 500, specifically the electric vehicle version shown off a couple of months ago.

 

[K_K]

now that i'm living in europe and can drive over here i've found. and once i can get a job i want a car, a car you can't get in the states. i know what i want, i just don't know which i want. i want AWD, at least 240 horses, and a light enough car to where its all still fun. i don't want an evo, or STI because well insurance here is twice as bad as the US on cars like that. i'm tempted towards an alfa romeo brera 3.2... or the safe route. a subaru legacy 3.0R. i haven't been in this thread so i have missed out on a bit, and also never mentioned that i did get rid of the markVIII last year around july. and traded up for an 01 audi A6 4.2 liter.

i gotta tell you that AWD bug bit me with that car. the handling, the cornering, the ability to just throw it into a bend and know the car was made to fly through a turn at full throttle. after the quattro i can't go back to rear wheel. its just so much more fun to me bashing my way through corners like a stuck pig. even though the car had that heavy audi V8 up front. it delivered its 300 horses, to all 4 wheels amazingly well and never once did i feel it lose its balance. plus on the inside it was pure class. i'd like another audi here, but the problem here is that unless you go for the S4 you'll get some FWD, diesel, boring, car. and the S4 would be a bit rich for my blood. unless i can land a good chef job. but so far the chef jobs i've found are either not up to my level of experience, or well too advanced.

so this is why i've brought it down to either the alfa or the scooby. i think the scooby will win the fight. 3 liter flat six, 240 horses, 6 speed paddle shifters, its cool in all the right places. plus subaru has been making AWD right for years. its just well, the alfa like so many alfas is just so out there, different, and well beautiful. i don't know. i know the alfa would fall apart at every turn and break down constantly. and the scooby would last me for years. i just, its like a moth to the flame. you can't not want it. i'm not looking to spend more than 10,000 euro, and that's great because the irish only buy brand new cars. so a decent used one from 04-08 is a bargain.

 

[OrochiEddie]

Ford Focus RS (I think that is the high end one) 4 weel drive, I don't think its 240 hp, but they're cheap fun cars.

 

[ferrarimanf355]

Ford Focus RS (I think that is the high end one) 4 weel drive, I don't think its 240 hp, but they're cheap fun cars.

The Focus is FWD only.

 

[K_K]

Ford Focus RS (I think that is the high end one) 4 weel drive, I don't think its 240 hp, but they're cheap fun cars.

nah man its front wheel drive too. plus the focus RS is the car of a douche here. much like old evo V's and VI's here. i also thought about a celica GT-4 but i'd like something a bit newer and not something thats already entered the collector market. i don't plan to be buying the car for another 6 months to a year, but i like to have my sights set na'mean bro?

 

[K_K]

so another car to keep on the radar for anyone like me, who isn't out to buy something new but something used and under the general scope of vision. the lexus IS300, and the jaguar Stype 4.2 V8.

the lexus has the appeal of a lightweight saloon with the holy grail of modifiable engines: the toyota 2JZ. the inline six that has been known to crank out over 1000 horses when tuned right. its definitely an investment of a car, and with a good turbo or supercharger would do well at selling in a few years time once people figure out what all they get for their money.

and the jag. a ford built 300 horse, V8 powered, luxury car. what this car does, and does well mind you. is hang out on the fringes of M3 territory for M3's of the same age. it says "sure you can pay that kinda money for a 5 year old car, and be put in a shite insurance bracket, and have everyone see you as a douche. or buy the jag and slip under the radar" and i know i know why buy the look alike, or wanna be when you can get the real deal? well i owned a jag once some years ago. a 1977 pile of rust and headaches. i fell in love with the leaping cat then. own one once, you will too.

 

[NeoSneth]

The problem with japanese engine is they rev like a motorcycle, and I already have 2 motorcycles. The interiors of the IS series is pretty nice though.

The last few years of Ford owned Jaguar, their reliability was over lexus. I looked at some of the later yeared R models because of the infusion of Ford parts. Plus the wood interior looked more natural than any other brand.

 

[K_K]

The problem with japanese engine is they rev like a motorcycle, and I already have 2 motorcycles. The interiors of the IS series is pretty nice though.

The last few years of Ford owned Jaguar, their reliability was over lexus. I looked at some of the later yeared R models because of the infusion of Ford parts. Plus the wood interior looked more natural than any other brand.

well i'll let you in on a little secret on jaguar's wood. it's real haha. i doubt it but it was real on the 77 i owned. real cherry, nice deep tones on it. that is if it wasn't sun damaged with cracked varnish like so many other cars of that same age.

and see thats why i like the ford owned jags. they were built with quality in mind for the first time since the 60's as far as jaguar goes. and i've loved those cars since i was a little kid. i'll have another one, someday. its all a matter of when and what model.

and as for the IS yeah the inside is killer. i love the chronograph gauges, and the pop up satnav. its a very nice car, and i know that 2JZ is a kind of high revving hot running motor, its still a solid piece of engineering and responds to tuning incredibly well. i mean it gets like a 200 horse jump when turboed. its a great motor. or at least i've always felt that way. plus no one does inline 6's anymore. they're to quote obi wan kenobi "an ancient weapon, from a more sophisticated age" and its true. the smoothness of an inline six, it can't be beat. and if i'm honest with you, the simplicity of working on one. i don't know i might hunt down an IS300 when its time to go car shopping.

 

[K_K]

so i've been living over here quite a while and have noticed something. people here will not buy a car that isn't a manual. its like in the US when you're trying to sell a manual, people see that stick, and walk away. here people see the PRNDL2 and walk away. i don't get it. i mean i understand that the manual gets a bit better gas mileage, and might weigh a bit less. but 1 or 2 MPG, and a few pounds more isn't that big a deal i'd say.

maybe its just personal preference of the people. and don't get me wrong, i love a manual when the time is right. when i'm driving as quick as i can round bends and corners, i like to be shifting and blackfooting and using all the clutch and acceleration technique i know to make things run as smooth as possible but keep a quick line through a turn. but on that same note when i'm sitting in traffic, i don't want to be shifting and hitting the clutch, and dicking around with it. for a daily driver i want the auto, or really one with paddle shifters on the wheel so i can play around if i choose to. but for just getting from A to B or work and home i want to do as little work possible. when i'm going to work, i want to go there fresh with hardly a thing on my mind. when coming home i want to sit back, let the leather seats cradle me, and unwind on the drive.

now when the weekend comes. i want the feel of the wheels and ability to control the nuances of speed and flick through gears like i'm a pro driver. but here in europe i guess this is all superceeded by a sense of "this is cheaper, buy it" as opposed to a genuine love for cars, and all they can be and do for you. and hell it makes it easier for me when looking for a daily, automatics just sit on the lot here no one to love them. whereas manuals get driven to shit here. which brings me to another thing i've noticed. people here hate doing regular maintenence. oil changes, brake fluid, new tires, any of it. they hate doing it or getting it done, and instead grind down their car til it falls to bits and buy a new one. i really am ashamed of a pure lack of car culture here. but i guess i can't blame the irish, heck a lot of people here hadn't ever owned a car until the mid 90's. damn shame.

 

[NeoSneth]

aren't most of their mechanics, rather.... mechanical. Do they have the same tools to diagnose issues.

I bet there is a maintenance reasoning behind the manuals as well. They prolly also believe the manuals still save on gas since they are paying quite a bit more than the US per liter.

Those are my guesses. But I doubt you will a love of cars like the US outside of the US....

 

[K_K]

aren't most of their mechanics, rather.... mechanical. Do they have the same tools to diagnose issues.

I bet there is a maintenance reasoning behind the manuals as well. They prolly also believe the manuals still save on gas since they are paying quite a bit more than the US per liter.

Those are my guesses. But I doubt you will a love of cars like the US outside of the US....

i've never met any mechanics here or been to a garage so i don't know what the differences in their auto repair systems and setups are. i do know that there seem to be two different types though. there's the shade tree mechanic here who somehow owns his own shop. and then the test certified, matching jumpsuit wearing, highly educated mechanic who owns a chain of shops. its not like the US where you can go to walmart or jiffy lube or wherever and get your oil changed for pennies. it seems more that the car was always something for people who are a bit more well off and didn't catch on for everyone until the late 80's. and roads and auto shops had to try to make leaps and bounds to catch up. its why there will be strange intersections and stupid roundabouts where really the only thing needed is a stop light and a bit better driver education. its also why in a year here loads of people are killed in accidents. because people here just don't know how to drive.

and no there's no real car culture here. there are young kids who have a bit of love for their cars but they use it as more of an excuse to go driving fast and smoke pot. as opposed to doing like my friends and i would do in highschool. where we'd hand out in the 7-11 parking lot, drink slurpees, and stare under the hood of one of our cars and talk about all the things we'd love to do when we had some money. there's small pockets of people who modify and thrash their cars around. but its not on a grand scale. here a car is just transport. and the cheaper the better. manual tranny, no AC, no CD, seats and a steering wheel. its utilitarian, and well archaic. unless you're rich, the nissan micra is your ride. though i'll say this: in time, given the chance, and if petrol were to get a bit cheaper i could honestly see this place having some sort of auto renaissance where people start to really love and care about their machines. until that day though i guess i'll be the only one holding out that little bastion of car love and a desire to never be put in that FWD shitbox. people here call it stupid, but i refuse to ever drive something i'm not happy with. i'll walk and take the bus before i spend my hard earned money on a peugeot 206

 

[NeoSneth]

how long have you been over there btw?
i remember your visitation post where you had some girl over there...and then you disappeared.