Maranello's mid-engined beauty, the 458 Italia, is the first Ferrari to bear the name of its home country, which indicates the importance the car occupies in the sportscar maker's hierarchy.
Successor to the F430, the innovative 458 made its world debut at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show and among other things is notable for being Ferrari's first direct-injection engine to be mid-rear mounted in a road car.
Powered by a normally-aspirated 4.5-litre V8 producing 425kW at a high-revving 9000rpm along with 540Nm of torque, it is claimed to hit 0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds and max out at 325km/h.
Drive is to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual clutch transmission and grip's enhanced by an electronic diff (E-Diff) and traction control, resulting in a claimed 32 percent increase in longitudinal acceleration out of corners.
Designed with the input of former F1 champion Michael Schumacher, the Italia features an all-new motorsport-inspired design in its steering wheel and dashboard.
It recently went on sale in South Africa and we managed to bag the R3.2-million car for a road test from importers Viglietti Motors, which recently built an impressive new showroom in Bryanston.
HOT UNDER THE COLLAR:
Driving a red Ferrari, and especially this red Ferrari, invites hyperbole. The sense of occasion threatens to overwhelm evaluation of the car in cold, clinical terms. It's difficult not to be charmed into fawning submission by the 458 Italia's outrageously beautiful Pininfarina-penned lines, the triple exhausts, and the V8 on view under the glass engine cover.
It's like being put into a jacuzzi with Maria Sharapova and being expected to talk about tennis.
But let's try. Let's wedge ourselves into that low-slung cockpit, grasp the Formula One-inspired steering wheel and press the red start button.
The V8 fires up with a bark before settling into a smooth idle. We know from that initial snarl that some angry acoustics are on the way, and so it will turn out to be, but not for now.
Let's ease ourselves into the situation first, get comfortable with one another. Select first on the steering-wheel paddle shifter, feather the throttle. The Italia moves off smooth and graceful, easing its way through urban traffic without feeling snatchy or jerky as some supercars do.
The car's calm and civilised, happy to play the commuting role without chomping at the bit for some pace, although even at low rpm the V8 behind your back emits a low-pitched growl full of menace. Smooth gearshifts, smooth ride. With its suspension on the bumpy-road setting, the 458 glides along with respectable comfort for a sportscar, filtering the bumps in a spine-friendly fashion.
Civilised.
Yet brutal when you want it to be.
The road clears, it's time to whip this prancing horse. Boot the throttle and the calm reverie disappears in an explosion of sound and fury as a banshee wail takes over the world. Driving distills into two actions: keeping the pedal pinned to the floor and yanking the next gear every time the tacho needle nears the 9 000rpm redline. “Whraaap! Whraaap! Whraaap!” The hardcore howl is in perfect harmony with the hardness of the acceleration.
The normally-aspirated Ferrari is perhaps not as neck-whippingly quick as a Porsche 911 Turbo at high altitude (we can't confirm this as Ferrari doesn't allow its cars to be independently performance tested - Porsche does), but it's close. At sea level it will be game on between the two cars.
The gooseflesh-inducing howl is my favourite part of the Italia, closely followed by the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, a fine piece of engineering which fires through its gears as smoothly as a ticking watch. All gearboxes should be made this way.
The “manettino” control knob on the steering allows you to select from five different settings which modify the suspension settings, stability control, electronic differential and the change speed of the transmission.
You can be a hero and switch off all traction assistance if you feel you're Fernando Alonso, but even in Sport mode - the second most harmless of the five settings - the Italia bails you out of trouble without being overly nannying, allowing a touch of wheelspin as you boot the throttle through tight corners.
We didn't get to explore the Italia's top speed but in the mid 200s the car displayed rock solid straightline stability. It has winglets in the nose that deform at speed to create downforce and reduce drag and at 200km/h there's no less than 140kg of downforce.
The Italia begs for a racetrack. Along with all its power and vocal charm it has the alert responses of a thoroughbred sportscar, with quick and direct steering providing an intuitive connection between the driver's arms and the front wheels.
The old cliché about feeling part of the car applies here; you're in the heart of the action. In the jacuzzi with Sharapova, with no talk of tennis.
RECALL:
In September last year Ferrari officially recalled all 1248 of the 458s sold to date after it was discovered that an adhesive found in the wheel-arch assemblies caused much-publicised fires.
In certain circumstances the glue could begin to overheat, deform the heat shield, and hence moving closer to the exhaust, causing the wheel-arch lining to catch fire.
Owners who had reported fires received new cars, and all other cars, including those headed for South Africa, were modified replacing the adhesive with mechanical fasteners. -Star Motoring