I'll start by saying I love almost everything about my 458. If I had to choose one thing though it would be the lines/exterior styling. I most dislike the creaks and squeaks, but I guess that will take some getting use to. Other than that it's been pretty amazing so far.
Here we go again. Not biting this time other to say VIVA FERRARI and the ultimate dream is to have one.
458 Spider 2012 Likes The responsiveness of the na engine The sound at 9,000 rpm The LEDs on the steering wheel The Bumpy road button The looks are great from EVERY angle Love the diamond cut wheels...best looking wheels SF has ever made IMVHO Tan Daytona interior with double red stitching is gorgeous. Red cavalinos. All electric seats very comfortable Air temp and pressure on each tire Rear window goes down with the top up so you can hear the engine/exhaust music With the active differential the car pivots in the twisties on mountain roads Dislikes Navigation is not user friendly The a/c is sub par for a car this expensive
Sorry, if this thread gets some negative vibes. Wasnt my intention. Just really interested in other owners thoughts. But I wanted to add that this is my favorite car I have owned to date. I love your list Phil!
Loveeeeeeeeee everything about it - the italia. Faster to list the negatives Hate the electronic hand brake, you cant even open a door without having it automatically turned on, extremely annoying if you want to roll the car in neutral etc. Hate sticky buttons Dislike creaks
Love too many things about the car. Dislike the random creaks, squeaks and rattles that the car is developing at the 15k mile marker, makes the car feel ‘fragile’ or ‘delicate’.
I love my ferrari its always been a dream of mine but.. I agree with V35 the thing i most dislike is the fragile feeling which makes me drive it less. Although I have to say 1/5 of my driving is on track, ive already gone through 1.5 set of brake pads in 2500kms. Other than that, with the 488 my dislikes are: Lower redline I think the gears are too short 1-6 and 7th is very long Suspension is too soft for the track Not being able to flash the ECU via OBD
LOVE so many things about my 2014 458 Spider. Likes • Spine-tingling sound (especially with valves open - thanks Forza!) • Shorter gearing makes it so much fun on the street, and keeps my outta jail. 0-40mph has more drama than 0-90 did in my 991.2 GT3! • Gear shifts. This is my first DCT, and I'd never imagined paddles could be as fun as a manual. With these, they are! • The look on peoples' faces when I "give 'em a show" - going WOT and letting the sound echo off of buildings, etc. It's an expression of pure entertainment! Dislikes • Cowl shake (drove a 488 Spider for a few days in Italy last weekend, and didn't notice it being much better) • Seat side bolsters susceptible to heavy wear due to ingress path • Incessant multi-beeping when in reverse • Lack of exhaust burbles and pops in my post-2011 car • Touchy throttle at very low speeds Might be not he verge of fixing those last two soon... I'm so dang grateful to have this car in my garage. Been outta the country on work for 6 months, and I miss 'er more than any other single thing back home!!!
2015 488 GTB - I love the engine and do not care about the low redline. Brakes, steering, road holding are also very good for me. I hate the electric handbrake, and don't like the necessity of having the car plugged to the charger everytime (I desperately miss the master switch we had on older cars).
2011 Italia: Pros: Everything, except: 1) Infotainment is anything but user friendly. 2) AC could be better 3) JBL Premium sound is pretty underwhelming. I actually think 458 Sat Nav isn’t as bad as some owners depict. With respect to the 488: Pros: Everything, except: 1) I don’t own one yet (my unicorn: 488 Spider, giallo over nero, racing seats). Kind regards, Nuno.
I am curious if anyone is an audiophile here? I love music and prior to owning any exotics cars in the past I always valued an awesome stereo and speakers in the car. I just tend to get bored on very long trips (>3hrs) of just hearing the engine and tire roar (after a while it sounds monotonous and starts to make me sleepy). So far with the exception of the AMG GTS I haven't found too many cars with excellent speakers. I'm gonna Bluetooth my Samsung to my 458 but haven't bought the converter yet. How do you like the sound that comes out? Thanks.
I owned a ‘13 458 Spider and a ‘17 488 Spider Pros: 458 - 9000 redline, NA V8 488 - Instantaneous torque, ‘burps and gurgils’ on downshifts Negatives (both cars): Backup camera limited by camera angle, screen blocked by steering wheel and screen size TOP ISSUE BY FAR - battery/electrical drain while parked
I love everything about my 458. I really have no dislikes about my 458, aside from the circuit board in the steering wheel dying- I forget what they call it- the turn signals stopped working, the bumpy road button etc. Easy to get fixed, just annoying. Battery drain- this is a Ferrari thing, I have just gotten used to it- just plug in tender. Suggest upgrading from factory. Ctek 7002 is a good upgrade. Radio- I have the hifi in my car and I think it actually sounds pretty good! Sure its not audiophile level, but from the 430 hifi- this is a world better. And I think its a solid improvement over the standard 458 radio- which is the real question to ask. I also think its a lot easier than going after market. The newer cars do have better sounding stereos, but I find the 458 hi-fi to be good enough for me. Bluetooth via convertor- its not so good- I just use an older iPod that I load my playlists into. The stereo in the 458 won't compete with a modern Mercedes. These cars are very different in their design philosophy.
I can never really tell for sure if the turn signals are on or not.. The green turn signal indicators are too close to the speedometer, which protrudes out from the dash, and blocks the turn signal indicators, which happen to be too small and too close on either side of the center speedometer. I have to tilt my head around the speedometer to confirm if they're on. It's made more difficult in direct sunlight, when the indicator lights become almost impossible to see. My car is too loud to hear them, but since the turn signals are buttons and not a stick, you can't physically feel whether they're on or not either. More of an inconvenience than anything.
2014 / 458 spider: Pros: 1) Responsiveness and gear shifting is just amazing 2) Aggressiveness which makes it and exciting car to drive 3) Weight distribution 4) Rev over 3k...not to mention over 8k.....sound is priceless 5) Firm suspension if used as daily driver and I have race seats which can't imagine not having in a 458 6) Direct steering 7) Precise braking power You get the feel of a race car as well as the overall enjoyment of driving it. The 458 will never get you bored unlike the 488. Cons: 1) Cowl shaking and lack of overall body support in a spider is noticeably, but certainly not the deal killer 2) Front fins and taillights are a bit outdated at this day and age. Such insignificance is probably not worth mentioning and always subjected to personal taste I have spent spent time in a 488 while considering acquiring one. Pros: 1) The overall facelift is more suitable for my taste.....just my personal opinion 2) Less shifting required 3) Torque delivery is felt on acceleration, making it felt like you are being pushed by a tsunami ...car is FAST !!! 4) Braking has improved over 458 Cons: 1) Lower redline 2) Gargling and popping noise while downshifting. Car sounds like it is drawing and grasping for air 3) The loud turbo whistling sound at acceleration 4) Soft suspension 5) Understeer 6) Not as responsive as the 458 7) Overwhelming electronic management assist is taking all the fun out of driving the car 8) Sound is ok, but doesn't have that crisp, that oumph .....nowhere near the 458 To my surprise I found the 488 boring after relatively short time driving it. It felt comfortable to drive, more like a daily driver. This is not something I would expect from a mid engine Ferrari, rather a California or a Lusso. As result, I knew right there and then that trading a 458 for a 488 would be a downgrade, which is extremely rare when it comes to a Ferrari.
I will definitely consider myself an audiophile as well as musically savvy. From an actual audiophile standpoint, all Ferrari stereo systems are pure garbage. Yes, you can spend a lof "upgtmrading" to what they call the "Premium" system, but fact is that the speakers, the hardware and the installation is poor. While it says JBL! PRO on the tin, don't for one second think this bare any resemblance to theJBL! Pro that made the great studio monitors and PA systems of the 70's, 80's and early 90's. It is just a bunch of cheap Harmon Kardon speakers with a bit of electronics to tune it up a bit. There's no sound staging what so ever with neither the base or upgraded system. The sound is harsh, distorted, undefined and tiring. With the upgraded system you get reflections, phasing issues and enough comb filtering to part the hair on a bald mans head. You can stream bluetooth music just fine. The resolution of the system is not capable of showcasing the difference between low rate mp3 and high resolution audio anyway.
Touchy throttle Maybe l am getting used to the car so l don’t notice it but now l drive around town in WET mode as the ride is softer and the gear shifts are smoother. When on the highway it is RACE mode or SPORT mode. No touchy throttle over about 40 mph.
Agreed. The 458 doesn’t like low and/or constant speeds. But after a while, one learns to modulate throttle input. Actually it isn’t the throttle that is touchy, imho. When you lift off even the slightest, pads come into contact with discs, to maximize stopping time and power, and that’s the reason for the “discomfort” most of the time. Kind regards, Nuno.
Too many pro’s to list Cons: not many actually, indicators are a pain, I never really know if they are off or on, the odd squeak and rattle occasionally, radio/sat Navi - pathetic. But I’m blind to this cars faults, I have BMW’s and Porsche’s both are better built, equally as fast in a straight line, and easier to live with - but this car really gets under your skin, couldn’t drive it everyday, but it’s a real antidote to the Tesla, hybrid, turbo economy world that’s now being forced upon us like it or not - my sip of brandy at the end of a fought week, it reminds me that cars did have souls, characters and felt alive, before everything had to suddenly become user friendly, and accessible to everyone who could master the basics of driving.
Not sure that is entirely correct. The 458 Italia and Spider are the only two Ferraris I have ever driven that exhibited this behaviour. I also found that the Speciale did not have this issue, and had a throttle that is easier to modulate. I also drove a 458 with a Novi tune, and the throttle sensitivity seems to have been dialed back there as well. Not sure if Ferrari intended the throttle to be so sensitive - I don't think so. I definitely don't think it adds anything positive. I've driven all sorts of strange and fun cars over the years, including some track oriented stuff with really explosive throttle response, and while that could make them a challenge to drive, it still felt more in control. Of all the things that I find great about the Italia, the throttle sensitivity is definitely something I don't like. It's not like a race car, it doesn't add rawness, it doesen't make the car actually perform better. I see it as an error, not a purposeful addition. Had it been that, I'm sure Ferraris before and since would have had it. Only Ferrari I've been in that showed even a remotely similar tendency, is the F12. And even there, it's only a fraction of the hypersensitivity of the 458. Just my personal take on it.
True on all the Ferrari’s it seems ... those darn turn signals get forgotten. It’s funny when you’re following another and their blinker is on for several miles. Then I realize mine’s on too.... Sent from my 16M
The turn signals are actually funny. I only seldomly signal when turning, because when I turn the wheel 180 degrees, I don’t know what is left and what is right anymore Being afraid to signal right and go left or the other way round, I don’t at all. Some people show me the middle finger at times, in appreciation I guess. Kind regards, Nuno.