458 Ferrari 458 Seat Options Explained

I've seen blue thread, at least on the Cavallino.
I'd drop one of the two sections that describe the seat controls, but thanks, nice page!

 

Steven, first of all thanks for putting this together. Really cool! Like you, I love the research stage when buying a car (I call it the 'hunt'), specially if it's a Ferrari! I wish I'd run into your page before I bought mine.

One thing I missed from your page is a section dedicated to WHY you'd choose one model or another. I'd write about the potential use cases. For me, I made a mistake in buying the seats I have - see picture. While I'm very happy with my Ferrari overall experience so far (458 spider, 1st Ferrari and bought back in Oct 2020), I really wish I had purchased the CF racing seats. I'm not too worried about looks (mine are gorgeous). But the fact is that I like to really drive my cars, often hard and track them too. I also own a GT3 with comfort seats but they hug me much more and the bolsters give me better support than the 458 fully electric ones.

Based on this, I should have gone for the racing seats. I know... this was silly on my part and I should have known about it and certainly test driven both options. I simply took for granted that the fully electric ones would have been supportive enough, just like the GT3s. Will not make that mistake again.

Here's another piece of info for your page: It's important to make the right call because changing the seats is not an easy task. There are threads dedicated to it and it seems Ferrari makes it very hard. So I'd love to change mine, but I don't think I'd be 100% certain it can be done and keep all the electronics working properly. Not even my Ferrari dealership has confirmed this for me.


Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

From the research I've done, it's certainly best to buy the car with racing seats rather than trying to change them afterwards. My next Ferrari will certainly have them.

 

Thank you to both petrolhead#32 and intownrunner. It is great when people go to the effort to produce this kind of research. Well done!
PS I have found the CF seats work for trips on the 'twisties' and on long distant runs.

 

Wow, what a fantastic encyclopedia for 458 seat options. Well done!

It was a $2,400 option, but with the CF seats you could get a manual height adjustment lever that raises the seat. Otherwise all you can do is move the CF seat forward or backwards. Seat height is not an issue for most guys here, but if you are short, or have a short partner who would like to drive the car, the manual height adjustment lever is a nice thing to have (it should have been standard with the CF seats but Ferrari knows how to squeeze every dollar out of every customer. I wish I had this in my car. I don't believe you referenced this option in your write-up.

 

You did a fantastic job. When I was looking for a car I told myself I would only have racing seats, no question, no debate, the end. Keep in mind this was before I got to sit in the seats or see them IN PERSON. The racing seats look incredible in pictures but in person not as cool as I wished. I was surprised by this and encourage anyone looking at these cars to definitely look and sit in the seats before you make your decision, you may not know what you’re missing.

I drove two cars, one with the Daytona seats and one with the racing seats. The Daytona seats are absolutely incredibly comfortable, not to say that the racing seats weren’t, just not as much. In person I fell in love with the Daytona which I thought I wouldn’t like in person. Just another perspective here and not trying to single out someone’s decision. I am a very anal person and thorough with checking all options. I like how the Daytona are a timeless classic seat in the last timeless/classic/sporty Ferrari NA V8.

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Curious if F8 seats are interchangeable with 458 seats.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Nice summary of the seat options. You might have missed this. On my F8 carbon racing seats, there is a lever on the left side of the driver seat, that I can toggle up or down that raises or lowers the seat manually. It is not on the passenger seat.

 

One other item - You talk about the Cavallino stitched on the headrest. You could have ordered them in two sizes "standard" (might be small) and large. In your pictures you can see there are two sizes. Just an FYI

 

Also note that one benefit of non-electric seats is the ability to slide the seat back and forth really quickly. I'm only 5'8" but prefer to slide my seat all of the way back on all of my cars ('99m3, '11 m3, '05 elise, '15 speciale) for easier ingress/egress....it also saves wear on the side bolsters. You wouldn't really do that with an electric seat because whirrrrr whirrrrr whirrrrr.....you'd be there all day and probably accelerate wear on the motor which is probably $$$.