Ferrari 458

Stop the press! Ferrari has officially unveiled the 458 Italia, the long awaited successor for the mid-engine Ferrari F430, and the design is leaving our editorial staff speechless! The super car looks impressive from any angle as it has a design that has never been seen before on a Ferrari model. The high performance sports car comes complete with a new engine, improved aerodynamics, upgraded handling, and improved instrumentation and ergonomics inside the cabin.

The wedge shaped body was penned by Pininfarina, while the interior was left up to the work of Donato Coco, Ferrari’s Chief Designer. While you might say that the exterior is more or less based on the traditional Ferrari lines, there are also a few revolutionary new ones, all intended to improve the car’s aerodynamics. The front end features a single wide mouth opening to let a specific amount of air in paired with a vent on either front fender. Out back there are a pair of large ducts just before the taillights, all designed with aerodynamic contours and partitions that direct air directly into the radiators and away from the new flat underbody. The nose also sports small aeroelastic winglets which generate downforce and, as speed rises, deform to reduce the section of the radiator inlets and reduce drag.

Under the hood Ferrari has placed a 4.5 Liter V8 engine equipped with the traditional Ferrari flat crankshaft that gives the mid-engine sports cars their signature top end bark. The unit produces 570 HP at a rather high 9000 RPM which gives the future super car a power output of 127 HP/Liter. Weighing in at only 3,042 pounds, the new Ferrari will rocket from 0 to 60 MPH in just 3.4 seconds and won’t stop until it hits a top speed of 202 MPH.

The base price for Ferrari’s new supercar is £169,545 – or around $275,000 in the latest exchange rates. And that’s just a ‘simple’ version of the 458. Should you wish to put more add-ons to the supercar, then you’re more than likely to hit the £200,000 mark - $325,000 – which, if you must know is well in reach of the selling price for a 612 Scaglietti.

But hey, if you have that kind of money, who’s to keep you from spending a few thousand more on some pretty nice extra features like steering wheel-mounted LEDs, electric seats, an alcantara trunk lining, and, of course, an additional wheel or two.After all, nobody ever said that the price for owning a Ferrari comes cheap.
-Top Speed.com