The award-winning Ferrari
458 Italia sports car has picked up yet another prize in
the UK, this time winning the Best Performance Car
Award from What Car? magazine.
What Car?
Editor-in-Chief, Steve Fowler, said that: ‘There is no
better car to drive than the Ferrari 458 Italia – it’s a
simply breathtaking combination of technological and
styling excellence that results in a truly thrilling
driving experience. It’s a Ferrari you can trust to
impress on road or track, or even if you’re popping to
the shops. It’s fast, nimble, tactile, beautifully made
and comfortable, too – a worthy What Car? Award
winner.’
What Car?’s
“Best Performance Car” award follows on from a raft of
other awards in the UK for the 458 Italia including the
Daily Telegraph’s “Car of the Year”, CAR’s
“Performance Car of the Year”, Fifth Gear’s
“Fast Car of the Year”, BBC Top Gear Magazine’s
“Supercar of the Year” and “Car of the Year”, GQ
Magazine’s “Supercar of the Year”, MSN Cars
“Car of the Year”, and Auto Express’s
“Performance Car of the Year”, making 2010 one of the
best years for Ferrari’s haul of industry awards in the
UK.
The Ferrari 458 Italia
was revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September
2009 to critical acclaim. Following an extensive
international media test drive programme in Maranello,
the home of the Prancing Horse, the sports car has been
the subject of many enthusiastic reviews, with its
handling, road holding, ride comfort and performance all
being subject to many superlatives from the world’s
leading journalists.
What Car? Verdict
It's in a league of
its own. There’s no shortage of great, usable supercars
out there, but Ferrari and the 458 Italia are simply
untouchable. The 458 continues a line of mid-engined V8
Ferraris stretching back to the 1970s but, great though
some of those cars were in their day, they now appear
distinctly analogue against the digital-era 458.
Ferrari’s latest V8 is a 4.5-litre direct-injection unit
bellowing out 563bhp at 9000rpm and 400lb ft of torque,
80% of which is available from 3000 to 9000rpm. It’s
linked to a seven-speed paddle-shift gearbox that swaps
cogs at the speed of a bullet when you’re tramping on,
but it also has a programme that makes the 458
ridiculously civilised in traffic, considering what it’s
capable of. So, you can dawdle along at 30mph in seventh
gear – yes, really – but lying semi-dormant beneath your
right foot is the trigger to what is tantamount to an
explosive device. If you can find a clear stretch of
road you’ll be in licence-threatening territory in a
couple of seconds or so – and you should hear the
shrieks and barks it makes as it piles on revs. It
curdles the blood.
The chassis takes advantage of every trick Ferrari has
learned from electronic-era Formula One and a few more
besides, but unlike Ferraris since time immemorial it
has multi-link rear suspension instead of the classic
double wishbones. The result is even better contact
between rear tyres and road, immense cornering power and
a ride that some sports saloons can’t match. Depending
on your level of ability, you can vary the electronic
assistance the car provides, adjust the firmness of the
ride and even operate the lights, indicators and wipers
through switches on the steering wheel. It’s not quite
what Fernando Alonso puts his hands on every other
Sunday, but it’s as close as you’ll get in
a road car.
The surprising thing is how well it all works. In fact,
you don’t have to make any concessions to the car.
Almost anyone can get comfortable behind the wheel of a
Ferrari these days, and the futuristic yet simple cabin
is nicely trimmed. It’s a colossal achievement that
McLaren’s MP4-12C is going to have the devil’s own job
to surpass next year.
