Top Car

January 2016 |TOPCAR.CO.ZA 33

LOVE

Looks, interior,

steering, chassis

HATE

Wemissthe 458’s

chase tothe redline

VERDICT

Likethe outgoing

458, but radically

different todrive

Much has been made

of tu rbo character,

but make no mistake,

the 488 is an epically

fast,prop erFerrari

And 14 seconds later it looks like this. Roofup or down,
it’s one beautifully proportioned Italian

Some things haven’t changed. The new

Spider looks awesome – I had reservations

about those side scoops when I first sa w the

pictures, but in the metal they look the

business. The interior is a tweak on the 458,

still brilliant and full of character. But drop

that roof and you hear the changes as you

start up – the engine has a deeper note, more

like a burb le than a mechanical whirr. Once

you’re rolling, that burb le becomes a

trombone, rising with th at immediate

torque – and no, there is no lag. But the way

the torque comes in has a stra nge effect – I

found myself shor t-shiftin g, pulling the

paddle earlier in the rev range to change up,

riding the torque. In the 458 – and especially

the Speciale – each gear was wrung out to

the redline, just for the electrif ying noise

and drama you got at the higher revs. That

kind of excitement is missing from the new

turbo V8. Okay, it is mind-boggling fast – I

mean, terrifyingly, brutally fast, borderline

too fast on these ro ads, with corner after

corner coming at you like targets in an

arcade game. With so many hairpins, so

much steering lock and so much torque, the

traction controlwas blinking

constantly, asilent indi cator of

the gargantuan torque

available. I turned the traction

controloff with th e little

manettinoswitch on the

steering wheel, and sure

enough the 488 will oversteer

out of any corner, anywhere,

second or third ge ar, uphill or

downhill, eyes tight shut or

wide open in terror.

Thankfully, the gorgeously ba lanced and

supple chassis, along with th at super-fast

and accurate steering, allow you to gather it

up in a lovely arc, but you have to be

seriously on your toes.

Again, this kind of casu al oversteer is

different to the outgoing 458, which would

slide but only with moredeliberation, more

revs and morecommitment. The 488 is a

drift monster, as well as a cruiser.

So it’s different – but what about better or

worse? That’s like asking, do you want to

ride a wasp or a warm, buttered frog?

Personally I’m a wasp man:

I loved the 458 Italia beca use

it was spine-tingling, in a way

I don’t feel the 488 Spider is;

and I still stand by my claim

that the Speciale was the best

Ferrari for all eternity. But

that doesn’t mean the new

488 Spider isn’t a mind-

blowing experience, and a

sensational car to drive. It

simply isn’t a 458.tc