Ferrari 458: The wagers of sin, or fun with schadenfreude

I think we all understand the psychology surrounding rich guys and their exotic cars. Simply put, we hate them. If not hate, then we – i.e., non-rich, non-exotic-car driving plebes (Ask me about my Subaru Forester!) – feel intense jealousy. But our emotions are conflicted, because we don’t want to live in a world without Ferraris and Aston Martins, and so somebody has to buy them. We only resent that “they” are not “we.”

Rarely has the envy, jealously and schadenfreude taken so ugly a turn as it has with www.wreckedexotics.com’s contest betting on the date of the first crash involving the new Ferrari 458. The 458 Italia – a stunning, heartrending beauty of a sports car, the successor of the F430 – will officially debut at the Frankfurt auto show this month and will go on sale in summer 2010. Wreckedexotics.com is offering $500 to the person who comes closest to guessing the date the first 458 will get augered into an innocent tree or parking meter. It’s kind of like an office pool for the delivery date of a colleague’s baby, but this is betting the baby will be ugly.

According to wreckedexotics.com – a deeply demented website that specializes in photos of pranged mega-buck cars – the F430 has been involved in 96 documented crashes since 2004. The 360 Modena has been involved in 403 crashes since 1999 – which tells me the F430 drivers aren't trying hard enough.

By the way, put me down for April 18, 2010. April is the cruelest month, after all.

-- Dan Neil

Photo credit: Ferrari 

 

Ferrari releases images of its Italian greyhound, the 458 Italia

Now that images of Ferrari's spanking new mid-engine V8 berlinetta -- the 458 Italia -- have hit the virtual wires, the problem with the outgoing F430 Modena becomes comparatively obvious: The F430 is thick-waisted, otiose, a slug, straining the seams of its red livery like an overfed Vatican cardinal. It didn’t seem so before – indeed, the sight of an F430 hit one’s brain-case like scarlet lightning and the sound of its flat-crank, 483-hp V8 could rouse long-dead relatives from their slumber. But now I see what a truck it was.

Here, here, is a proper Ferrari.

The 458 Italia – debuting in September at the Frankfurt Motor Show – is the slinkiest road-going Ferrari ever, with a fluid, flowing, barely-there bodywork that clings to the car’s chassis like a red silk scarf in an F5 tornado. Spectacularly low and wide, with a huge dynamic energy as the folds of the car come together at the rear-quarter panel (note the absence of air intakes over the rear wheel arches), the 458 Italia is a rolling clinic of Ferrari design cues: the Enzo tail lights and general posture, the 612 Scaglietti contour line, the sharkish snout of a Dino. And all of it sketched with lighter-than-air graphite.

The lightness isn’t purely visual: the 458 Italia weighs in at 3,046 pounds, a feathery mass pitted against the car’s direct-injection 4.5-liter V8 (thus the name "458"), seven-speed clutchless manual transmission and Ferrari’s latest driving electro-dynamics, including systems-integrated versions of E-Diff and F-Trac, which help the car generate an astounding 32% more longitudinal acceleration out of corners. To unpack that a bit, it means you can get on the gas even earlier coming out of a corner and the car will instantly sort out each rear wheel’s max torque capacity. The factory says seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher helped with the fine tuning. Should be quite the roller-coaster.

 The 458 gets it done in a straight line too: 3.4 seconds to 62 mph and a top speed of 204, with the backing of the 562 HP at 9,000 rpm (52 hp more than the F430) and 398 lb-ft of torque at 6,000 rpm. And the electronically maximized brakes aren’t bad, either: 62 to 0 in a mere 105 feet.

 The official release, with dizzying factoids and technical detail, after the jump.

-- Dan Neil

Geneva Motor Show: Ballistic Switzerland

Feeling blue? In these troubled times, some use Prozac, others use Zoloft, or Budweiser. For car enthusiasts, nothing cheers them up more than horsepower; for them, this year's Geneva Motor Show is the mother of all happy pills.

Speaking of blue: In recognition of its centennial year, Bugatti on Tuesday unveiled its one-off Bleu Centenaire, with its unique gloss and flat paint scheme in the traditional French racing blue. Mechanically identical to the off-the-lot Veyron –- 1001 hp, 253 mph –- the Centenaire has polished anodized aluminum brightwork and lacquer-red brake calipers, “snowbeige” leather interior, park distance assist and a rearview camera. As one of the only humans to have ever parallel-parked a Veyron, I cannot tell you how exciting the last two items are. And all that for a mere $1.7 million. We’ll take that in petrodollars, please.

A footnote on the whole “centenaire” thing: Yes, it’s been 100 years since dear old Ettore opened up the doors of the old factory in Molsheim, France. But the press release is slightly misleading on the company’s ancestral home. The current factory is...

Top 10 turkeys of the L.A. Auto Show

The L.A. Auto Show runs through Thanksgiving weekend, which seems appropriate, because there is a lot of turkey on the show’s menu. From Honda’s hydrogen-powered hypercar -- a guess that’s tofurkey, of a sort -- to a huge, steroid infused, poultry-yellow Rolls-Royce that is lacking only a wattle, the show’s collection of large, flightless birds is certainly worth a, um, gander.

I know, I know. You’re stuffed. You’ve loosened your belt, maybe even undone your trousers … ahhh. But perhaps there’s room for one … more … tiny …morsel?

>>Click here for the complete list: Top 10 turkeys of the L.A. Auto Show. After-dinner chit-chat can commence in the comments section.

-- Dan Neil

Photo: Honda's tofurkey, er, FC Sport concept. Credit: Gabriel Bouys / AFP / Getty Images

Vroom vroom ... Is that your phone ringing, or your Maserati?

Look, it's science. What are you going to do?

A few months ago, Up to Speed's Colin Ryan told you about a study that evaluated the effect of exotic car engine sounds on men's and women's ... um, hormone levels, let's say. A small group of men and women were tested before and after listening to recordings of roaring engines sounds from a Maserati, Ferrari and a Lamborghini. The animal-in-pain sound of a VW Polo was included as well, just for contrast.

Ferrari: Doth he protest too much?

"It's a Ferrari," declared Massimo Fumarola, Maranello's product development director. "Its DNA is Ferrari," he added. A few moments later, he said, "It's a 100% complete Ferrari."

I soon lost count of how many times he and other Ferrari execs assured us the Ferrari California, in its U.S. premiere at the L.A. show, was a...Ferrari.

Crawling from the (Ferrari) Wreckage

Wrecked Ferraris don’t fade away -– they just end up on EBay.

The 2003 Ferrari Enzo that actor Eddie Griffin famously plowed into a wall during a promotion for the movie “Redline” has been put back together and recently was offered for sale on the online auction site.

The asking price was $1.2 million. It got 59 offers -- ranging from $950,000 to “$2 and a box of double-stuffed Oreos,” said seller Matt Groner, owner of Matthews Auto Sales in Houston. It didn’t sell and the auction is now closed, but Groner said he was negotiating with five potential buyers and was close to a sale.

Groner acknowledges that putting a value on collector cars that have been extensively damaged is controversial. The car was valued at $1.3 million before it was wrecked.

“It’s a car that has a history of hitting a wall, and some people will run away from it for that reason,” he said. “Other people who know how we fix cars will appreciate the car has been put back together.”

Griffin wrecked the car during a practice lap at a celebrity charity race at Irwindale Speedway in March 2007. The event was promoting “Redline,” a film about high-end exotic cars that Groner said “may be the worst movie I’ve ever seen.”

This isn’t Groner’s first brush with celebrity-tinged auto wreckage. He bought the Mercedes-Benz that actress Lindsay Lohan crashed on Sunset Boulevard last year, later selling it for a price “in the low $100,000s.”

-- Martin Zimmerman

Photo: Aftermath of the crash. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times