The DUMB 458 features

aside from all the points mentioned above...Come on Ferari, surely you can use a much higher quality material for the car keys! They look beautiful, but feel very cheap...Maybe offer an option (for lot of $$$ I am sure), so that you can get it in red CF?

 

My change would be the horn location. The 70% of the time your driving without your hands at 10:00 & 2:00... Who cn remember the horn buttons are where they are located when you really need them! The center of steering wheel would be better for me...

All in all... Not much to complain about!

Rb

 

Ah, you mean 9 and 3? I actually have my hands there 90% of the time, I think that's how Ferrari designed the wheel (and every other manufacturer).

 

I'll second changing the horn to the center. 9 and 3 does me no good in parking lots when I've turned the wheel and changed hand positions, and that's right about when I need it the most. I don't want to waste a second hunting for the damn horn, by then its probably too late. Same with the turn indicators. I like the steering wheel on the McLaren better -- horn is in the center and turn indicators on the stalk. They need to stay in a predictable place.

And put a center console in it so my passenger can operate the nav and playlists. Another thing I like about the mac better.

 

+1. After years of driving cars other than modern Fcars, my instinct is immediately to press the steering wheel boss. It is just an automatic reaction and it is a really annoying feature of no benefit.

 

For what it's worth I think there are two many buttons on the back of the steering wheel. I think the windscreen wiper and headlight buttons are a hard nut too.

 

added to the list....
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I totally agree, and why do you have to turn the key and then press the start button? Keyless go been around for years.

And while I'm moaning, I might as well complain about the hood release lever on my black 458 it's red and you can see it through the gap when it's closed. At least make it black?

I think I'm done (for now).

 

Paint the lever black or put black tape around it. Cheaper than painting the car red.

 

Silly as it sounds I like having keys to start the car.

But I think their should be no key hole in the door. I can see why they did it though. If you have a dead battery, you need a mechanical non-electric way to get in the car.

 

Does that mean that the 458 does not come with a parking break? The way I understand your post, with car wash mode off it would seem that there is an automatic parking brake that engages when the ignition is off with the car in neutral (with the car wash mode "on" disabling this brake)

 

Apparently best way to get your car stolen

 

Just so you know. The Pit Speed Control or Cruise Control works pretty simply. You first turn on the Pit Speed control then you push the pit speed button in once to lock on the current speed and you turn it left or right one turn at a time to decrease (left) or increase (right) one mile per hour.

I drive thru school zones a lot and use the Pit Speed control a lot. And granted it is not the best out there by design, but what do you want for a formula one race car, that is where the factory pulled it from, hence the words Pit Speed Control, below the button.

And look for the green speedometer graphic just to the left of the Tach once you turn the pit speed control on. It is lit and green when the pit speed is on and available to be locked in to a speed and it is off and dark when the Pit Speed is not enabled. I am trying to think, if it does anything when the pit speed is actually engaged to lock in a speed. Can't remember if it does or not and this might be one of the things that annoys you and me now that I think about it

 

hahahaha

 

I finally thought of something.

It pertains only to those who still like English measurement units over metric. It bugs me that the oil and coolant temp gauges are calibrated so oddly that you have to do mental contortions to figure out what the temps are.

 

I've moaned a lot on this thread about the dumb things on my 458 and for some, I'm sure they may think I'm a selfish guy who not satisfied with one of the best super cars in the world.

Well I have to say for every dumb thing their is on a 458, their are hundreds of amazing things which makes this car better than anything else I've ever driven. It even saved my life.

I was driving from Switzerland to England through France in the rain, around 3am cruising at 100mph on an almost empty highway. I've already driven about 400 miles and not consenctrating as I drove down a steep decline towards a right hand bend.

At the bottom in the middle of the bend was a sea of standing water. As I hit it the car aqurplaned towards the centre barrier, I instinctively steer full lock right to avoid crashing into the barrier at high speed, but the car kept running straight towards the barrier.

Then the standing water must of got swallow enough for the car to get grip and immediately veered right and across the centre lane sidewards, almost immediately the traction control stepped in and violently straightened the car and me to safety.

I thanked God, that I come out of this safe and without damage to my car, but my thanks really go to Ferrari for making such an intelligent car. It truly saved my life and for that, I forgive all the dumb things that remain my 458.

 

I don't like

1) The cruise control: biggest waste of money ($1,100 P/T), I regret putting it on, it provides no feedback and frankly you don't need it

2) The warning sound, half the time i don't know what it is warning me about (key in the ignition, no seat belt when the car is on or what?) but it annoys the f out of me when it keeps beeping. There must be a way to shut it off but I don't know how to do it

3) As above but the parking sensor warning sound, is there a way to turn it down?

4) How you cannot switch the audio system off, why does it have to be either on radio or CD or iPod and it cannot be just off, again I have only had it for 4 weeks so I am still learning there might be a way to switch it off

5) SatNav operation is stupid. The zooming is no good in my opinion and half the time I don't know what it's doing (again I am a beginner so this must be my ignorance)

6) I have gone into "carwash" mode a few times by accident I am still not 100% sure how the parking brake works I just make sure after I switch off it goes to P before I run off

But I do like the yellow tacho I have no problem seeing it for some reason daytime or night time, the cup holder seems fine if you put a bottle of water there instead.

Despite all of the above, I absolutely love my little red car, whenever I put the foot down half the time I don't even know how fast I am going or where I am on the SatNav system, what song I am listening to but I am just super happy...

 

Interesting, cruise control is the one option I wish I had on our 458. Help me understand what you mean by "no feedback"...we have it on the FF and it's actually pretty good.

You can completely turn off the audio/satnav, hold down the menu button (left-most button) for 5 seconds, it turns off completely.

IMHO the SatNav itself is about average or slightly better; the downfall is the lack of documentation and poor menu navigation.

Frankly, 1K+ miles later (including some long highway time), I have learned more; a lot of things in this car are better, some are just-as-good but different, takes some time to figure out how to use, let alone if you like it, but this is like blowing off Cindy Crawford because she has a mole.

 

I just caught your story. That is a big WOW. Thanks are due to Ferrari as you say, but also to you that you hadn't shut the TC off. I knew a person with a Carrera GT who trashed it badly in the rain, having the (more primitve) TC in the off position. Not smart.

 

for some reason those stories (about not using technology) always remind me of this:


[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjGXn249Fc0[/ame]

 

The turn signal and the horn button on the steering is a PITA.

 

Yeah, the TC works well. I was pushing hard on some mountain roads and had a bit of oversteer. I usually drive in sport mode. The car snapped back in line very quickly. I'd like to attribute this to my driving skill, but the Ferrari is much more adept than I. I love having the cruise control. I don't know how cruise can be good or bad. It just is. I kinda like the sat nav. The infotainment is indeed a bit fidgety, but hey, it's Italian.😃

 

I know how it works. But all the other decent cars give you some indication of the speed you've selected and when cruise is actually on or off. Holding the pit speed button down turns the cruise control ability on or off (after a good 2 seconds or so) but that green cruise conrol indicator doesn't go off when cruise control itself is disengaged (i.e. when you press the brakes) so sometime the only way to know if it is turned off or not is to tap the brakes. That's not very smart.

 

I'm not a fan of the two modes for the turn indicator buttons on the steering wheel.

If you push the button quickly, then the blinker blinks 2 or 3 times and turns itself off (this is the lane change mode).

If you hold the button down longer, then the blinkers continue to blink until you make the turn (like at an intersection).

I find that I am always visually double checking to see if the blinkers went off, or stayed on, like I was hoping they would.

It would be a lot better if they just dsabled the lane change mode and you had to push the button again after the lane change to turn off the blinker.
.

 

I think you have the blinker operation wrong. You use the upper part for self cancellation and the lower part for after turning (or visa versa). That's why it's shaped the way it is with one side sloping upwards.

I don't have the car with me to check it but you might want to look at this again. It's not what I believe happens. For me, I just push on and then push off when I turn or change lanes.