Ferrari 458 Italia Price

The speed limit on New YorksPalisades Interstate Divided highway is 50 miles (80 kilometers) perhour, on the contrary interchange habitually sweeps along much faster.

My Ferraris speedometer stays firmly pegged at 48 mph.

A minivan rockets by, end on the left. A small boy putshis nose to the window, opens his mouth wide and waves. Perhapsthis is the initial real-life Ferrari hes continually seen -- or maybejust the initial one driving so slowly.

The 458 Speciale Im testing is painted a enthusiastic red.Its plus got racing stripes, fundamentally doubling down on theattention thing. Im fully sure, for instance, the PalisadesInterstate Divided highway Watch strength of character procure remark. In imitation of altogether, would youpull more than a Honda Civic or this $288,000 supercar?

So, two miles under the speed limit. No problem. Ivebeen looking forward to the Speciale ever since it was announced lastyear at the Frankfurt motor show. Better, Im headed to theracetrack, the speed-appropriate rank to let its 597 horsesroam free.

Exotic-car manufacturers feeling to say their models are racecars for the street, on the contrary this Speciale from Maranello, Italy-based Ferrari SpA comes perilously close.Its a faster, leanerand further focused model of an before now fast and lean supercar, the458 Italia. In new lexis, how in this area an further dose of extremewith your excess?

Ferrari historically has made two types of cars: those with12-cylinder engines placed under the abut hood, and those withV-8s in the center, behind the driver.

The previous are generally grand-touring cars, supreme forzinging across Italy on the Autostrada, even as the latter arebest on the racetrack, where dexterity and short burden difficulty nearly all. 8,000 Rpms The mid-engine situation affords supreme weigh up, allowingdeft changes in direction. It plus sounds fabulous keening at8,000 revolutions per minute just behind your head.

Ever since the beforehand 2000s, the Fiat SpA (F) unit has produced hard-core versions of these mid-engine V-8 models, including theChallenge Stradale based on the 360 Modena and the 430 Scuderiafrom the F430. Still, in imitation of initial driving the conventionalItalia a number of days before, I couldnt think how Ferrari wasgoing to one-up itself.

Then, hubris, they called it the Speciale. Technique to point outwhere youre going to hit a residential home run prior to youre even at bat,Ferrari. Best bring the goods.

So, yes, Ill be needing a racetrack to squeeze altogether thejuice from this vehicle. Top-Dollar To-do A connect of hours later, experimental on the contrary unmolested by thelocal constabulary, I succeed at the Monticello Motor Club inupstate New York. There is a small to-do among members. TheSpeciale is like a special-grade bludgeon ready here, and this isthe initial time anyone has seen it. Gaze, multimillionaires aretaking mobile-phone films of my vehicle.

Owners wont race the Speciale. Ferrari has a 458 model forthat, the Challenge, and its own race series. In its place, many willdrive it up to a private racetrack like Monticello, spend theafternoon slinging it present at phenomenal speeds, then ambleslowly back residential home. Its like a day of golf, only with helmets,spiking adrenaline and paramedics constantly on call.

The Speciales $288,000 starting price is prior to gasguzzler taxes or destination charges. My test model comes to$336,210. The obvious question is, what makes it that much morespecial than the $234,000 Italia?

Further power, clearly, as sure an ingredient as cream andbutter in whichever French dish. The Speciale gets597 horsepower and398 pound-feet of torque from its 4.5-liter V-8, which is trulysignificant for an engine without the aid of turbochargers orsuperchargers. Slick Flaps It plus looks further intense than the Italia, with a bigscoop in the sexy hood, dartlike fins hanging off the fringe thathelp channel way of being, and a flipped-up trunkspoiler. Ferrari isknee-deep in slick R&D, and like an airplane, the Specialeemploys a series of flaps that variously not built up, lock or deployto keep the vehicle better planted on the asphalt at area of high pressure velocityor manufacture it easier to turn at let down speeds.

Very cool and trick and altogether, on the contrary the stuff youll actuallynotice is that the vehicle has no carpeting, no data lines and nonavigation system. Theres no leather, bolt heads are exposed,and nearly all things you touch are made of carbon fiber. Your feetrest on a sheath of aluminum.

Ferrari was relentless in pursuit of burden savings, so theSpeciale is more or less 200 pounds (90 kilograms) lighter than theItalia thanks to criteria like the minimalist interior. (Askingowners to lose a the minority pounds would be rude, one supposes.) Yet,unlike its predecessor, the track-oriented 430 Scuderia, theSpeciale still feels luxurious and precious. 150-Mph Affair On the contrary ultimately, this isnt a vehicle to gawk at or brag about.Its a vehicle to drive hard, to pummel, to fall in feeling with at 150mph.

I strap on a helmet, switch the steering-wheel-mountedcontrol to race, and cylinder ready. The V-8s song is alreadytickling my limbic system. Much of the charm of driving a Ferraricomes from the sound alone.

Yes, its fast. Yes, the carbon-ceramic brakes are great.But its a technical uphill corner when the Speciale suddenlycomes alive underneath me. Ive taken this turn in real racecars and in McLarens and Porsches and Corvettes. You constantly haveto let off the gab here and be patient.

In the Ferrari Im still on the accelerator, left wheelsriding the shortening, gaining speed in its place of shedding it. Whatmanner of physics is this? Maranello Lovely Call it Maranello lovely. The brains of cars are becomingever further like artificial intelligence, with electronicstability and footing control to keep drivers ready of trouble.This habitually means acerbic power at important moments.

Yet Ferrari has specifically tuned the electronics to allowthe vehicle to slide, to wag its tail ready, to let the driver havemore fun, even as still charge the vehicle in check -- and fromspinning off the track.

They know there are limits to buyers driving skills, andthe might of a vehicle like the Speciale would put nearly all of us wellover those limits. So the system fundamentally intuits what a driverwants to do, and then arm-wrestles with physics to manufacture ithappen.

Ferrari dubs this Fringe Slip Angle Control. Nearly all ownerswill simply call it fun. It lets you move away with things youmight not reflect possible, or that are less than prudent in a carthis expensive.

In imitation of Ive through a number of efficient, fast laps, I startto play -- a little further gab at the exit of a corner here, aquick waggle of the steering wheel there. The vehicle gets a littlesideways, drifts through corners.

Its not the fastest technique present, on the contrary its earning me allkinds of imaginary style points.