Why the Cali needs a redesign!

if the 2 seats were not there I would not have bought the California.

I do use it to stick my two kids in every once and a while

 

In a pinch, the car can carry kids, which is an option a lot of spouses want. The car used to have a back seat delete/bench instead option. I do not think it sold well, and was discontinued. I tried to get it on my '16 and was told no.

 

Moreover, I do stick on or two chicks in the back if needed after a night out.

and that is for short trips, so yes I have to put the front seat forward so driving position is not optimal, but anything better than walking.

 

How is not safe for kids in the back? I didn't know that.

 

I don't think you get the 2+2 design. The 2+2 format was never meant to be completely practical. None of the Fcars are supposed to be completely practical. It would be a really bad idea to do so. Exotic "supercars" cannot be entirely practical or else it would not be an occasion to drive them. You would not be as engaged as a driver if the car is totally practical.

As it is, you are encouraged to pack lightly for a road trip, give short joy rides or do some light shopping with the Cali... but the true purpose of the car is for solitary driving pleasure as well as the occasional cosy trip for two. Put great emphasis on "cosy", and not practical.

If they were completely practical, they would be completely crippled as performance cars and be completely fugly to boot. If you want a roadster (i.e. a 2-seater), you get smaller cars with shorter wheelbases, smaller trunks (have you seen the "trunk" in the F-Type?). Try drawing the Cali with a big trunk - where are you going to put the Webasto roof? It's going to look silly.

OTOH, if you need a 4-seater GT, the Maserati GranTurismo is what you want especially as a convertible but then you have to haul around the extra seats and longer wheelbase when you go on your fun drives... which I always do by myself, not with passengers along for the ride. Performance driving with passengers is a dangerous thing to do. It's too distracting.

This is why the Cali hits the sweet spot. It can be as sporting and as fast or faster than a roadster and it can still take you and your sweetheart on a romantic road trip.

 

Agree with all of the above comments: In a pinch, you can squeeze in a small body or two -- that occurs for most just a few times over ownership, but helps. But more importantly (for my purposes at least), I can fit 2 golf bags plus a pull cart on the rear seat OR put the rear seat down and fit 2 golf bags through the trunk if traveling with the roof up. I do this practically every weekend day in summer and is one of the main reasons I chose the California over a 458 spider (telling my wife to meet me at the club didn't seem like a wise plan). I also windsurf - I've picked up new sails, masts, booms etc down on the Cape in the California...nice way to travel and it worked. Wouldn't want to see Ferrari lose the 2+2 design. Now, make the styling more like an F12? Add a manual opton?? I'd trade up.

 

You probably won't get alignment on your request .. sorry chief. Outside of the obvious Ferrari reasons one of the key factors I am in line for a Cali and not a 911 Turbo is for the 2 seats plus the trunk. I get to drop my boy(s) off at school (10 min drive) and race up to the golf course for a quick round or rush off to work. I am also 6'3 and the car is comfy inside, its quite literally a car that has few competitors if any at all!

Some of my friends think its safe to put the booster seat in the passenger side of 458, 488, or F12 but I just found that its definitely not safer and moreover its illegal here in Ontario if they are under 8 - not many people know that, go figure!

 

+1

 

I bought the Cali solely for my twin boys that are 8, so they can enjoy the ride along..plus I sold it to the wife as a family car

 

I forgot to mention there's another plus to the 2+2 seating design - I believe it results in a lower insurance premiums for the car because the car gets put into a lower risk category or something along those lines. It's essentially a 4 passenger car like a sedan, as opposed to a 2-seater sports car.

 

I came from the Maserati Granturismo convertible which I dearly loved. It had two real seats in the back which were hardly ever used but a longer wheelbase which had the predictable impact on fast, hard cornering. Still ,it was a lovely car and the sound was far better than just about any current Ferrari. BUT, I wanted at least 100 more HP than the existing 435 and crisper handling so when the Cali T came out at 553 I was popped. Plus, the handling is far superior although the sound of the Maserati at any speed is simply incredible. So, you have options. But, hacking the Cali T shouldn't be one of them. It is a great car as is.

 

So the Masser and old Cali sounds better than the 458, F12 and FF?

I think that's a personal opinion.

 

No, you read that wrong.

Steve was just saying he liked the Masser's sound (not "the Masser and old Cali sounds") better than all the current Fcars. The Masser does have that classic cross-plane V8 muscle car sound that you can readily conjure up at street legal speeds. FWIW, I find my Cali30, when I "get it excited" and drive it at "proper engine speeds" it can easily sound like an F1 race car and car make hard downshifts like 599XX / EVO track cars. You just have to make sure conditions are safe when you try to scare yourself like that.

The NA Masser and NA Fcars both produce their own distinctive sounds. When even a 4-seater or 2+2 can do those things, life's not too bad. So I think the Cali's seating/space design is perfect. It shouldn't get smaller or bigger.

 

I feel like an ass pointing out something so obvious...

BUT...

use the "rear seat" as exactly what it is... a leather lined parcel shelf. Use it as a trunk.

Voila Ferrari already took care of you. The intent was we can either make this trunk bigger or we can have some "just in case seats" and possibly get better insurance rankings as well as offer something that no one else does in this segment (other than porsche) and if the owner wants more trunk space... he can just put his bags there instead of people.

Whats wrong with putting a few soft bags in the back...

 

If it did not have 4 seats, I would have kept my Maserati. I am not going to choose between my boys. I have had 4 people in the car for an hour at a time. Yes it sucks, BUT they chose to Ferrari rather than my truck. California is about perfect !

 

Seriously. Could I fit two 5'7" women in the back?

 

My opinion... No, not comfortably if at all. Although when my Dad was a young man he once managed to fit 8 people in the jump seat of his Austin Healey 100/6, so I guess it just depends on how determined you are (or how drunk they are).

 

I'll add my 2c here. I bought my 2010 Cali new almost 6 years ago - my kids were ages 8 & 6 - and they fit in back. It was a lot of fun being able to take the whole family around in a Ferrari, with the top down. I also had an F430 then, and I found I was leaving it home - a lot - because I had to choose my passenger.

Nowadays, I still love my Cali. It's not the fastest, or best looking car, but I love the NA sound and it is plenty fast for me as a GT. My F430 got less and less use, so I eventually decided someone else should enjoy her, so I sold it.

With my kids both being over 5' now though, I'm back to choosing. They really don't fit in back. It isn't so much the legroom - I'm only 5'6" so I don't need the seat back very far. The problem is the upright seating stance, noted above. They can't sit up without their head cocked sideways, when the roof is closed. And when the roof is open, I'm worried about whether it is safe enough as their foreheads are at or above the windshield rim.

So - if there was a way to squeeze in maybe 2 more inches of rear seat room to give the back seats some rake, that might help - though maybe heads would be against the back glass then. I can't tell. Packaging is definitely tight - and I'd rather they not make the car longer.

Maybe Ferrari needs a GTC4Lusso/Spider!!!

 

We all have personal opinions.
But, personal observations are not opinions.
The Maserati sound at low speed or high when foot comes off the pedal is glorious and I do miss it. My 2016 Cali does not even begin to match it.
Nor do other current production Fcars that I have experienced in mass drives with others.
But, I love my Cali.
It is the best/finest car I have ever owned.
I'm proud to own and drive it.

 

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I believe when the Cali is eventually redesigned it will be the first to use the new modular platform

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