It is £1,500 on the California in the UK for the HELE and the stop-start. For some reason they are separate items but you must order them together. I guess the price should be very similar on the 458
You would save Tax and Insurance money in Europe nowadays if your car produces less emissions, never mind improving your gas mileage I know, if you buy a car that is worth more than 300,000 US$, you should be able to afford the Tax and Insurance, but still . . . Greetz, Joseph
A very good point, the 458 with all it's amazing systems is complex enough, why introduce a new level of complexitiy if you live in a built up area. From some of the other posts it's aleady proving to be problematic on new cars, what's it going to be like on 2-3 year time...
The stopping and starting of the motor?-----What the "HELE" is Ferrari trying to do? You buy a Ferrari to be a Ferrari. I hope this is not the future of this manufacture. The "green" movement is a valid structure that works with enviromental issues aimed mostly at the gross polluters. With that said, Ferrari does not come to mind when I think of gross polluters. Ferrari will truly regret this option due to maintence/repair issues just waiting to happen. To much code written that will assuredly have bugs. I could be wrong but I think not.
I really don't see the big deal here. You can turn it on and off as you want. If you're commuting in a traffic jam, what's the big problem? Hele systems are on many cars in Europe now and there doesn't appear to be a problem with them. The only issue really is the cost benefit (is it worth the money for saving fuel). In Europe where gas is 2 or 3 times the price in the US, I can see the advantage.
Thats my point. Do we "Ferrari owners really drive our vehicles like we drive our chevy's?" or better yet drive/own Ferrari's as our fleet of work cars? I think the gas saving "Hele" system might have a purpose, but not on our beloved Ferrari's I know you can turn it off, however you are still riding around with a piece of Equipment that adds wieght to your 458. Is this Eq mandated? if not, I think it is mostly a feel good move on Ferrari's part. We buy our Ferrari's not really worring about gas prices--------at least thats the way I bought my Ferrari. Just my thoughts
But, why not let OWNERS decide if they want the benefit or not? It's an option, right? Is it any different than Navigation or Satellite radio? Why not give them the choice? What's so wrong in that? This is what I do not understand when it comes to new technological benefits. I'm not picking on you but sometimes Ferrari owners seem like they can't get their heads out of the 60's.
I know most of the members here may be from the 60's but my wild times were in the late 70's early 80's. My life style that I used to lead back then gave me PRE-mature greyhair. That is why I use the moniker "greyhair". But I have to say your response gave me a smile Choice is always good and you are right in letting the buyer decide. I thought it just doesn't seem practical comming from Ferrari. They could of spent that time more wisely in finishing the design of how the sides flow to the rear of the 458.
I have a similar system on my daily driver, a '12 CLS 63 AMG, and it is completely useless. I drive my car in AMG mode with sports traction on, and it is a pain to set every time I start my car. If I wanted to save on gas I would have bought a diesel. In stop start it feels like a V6. That being said, perhaps this is Ferrari's way of getting around more stringent emissions/ fuel consumption regulations? Perhaps that is why we see smaller engines with turbos and hybrids in more and more sports cars. But really, I can't see why anyone would want this option in a Ferrari.
If Ferrari is going to offer more practical cars, such as the FF and California, items like this will be offered. Those cars are intended to be daily drivers; as many owners here have pointed out, the 458 is so GOOD that it, too, is often utilized as a daily driver. I'm not sure about your daily drives, but mine includes a number of long stoplights where this sort of technology would be welcomed. If you are driving the car hard, or stuck in a major traffic jam, the system will not engage. Not only is it an option, in that you don't have to get it at all, but it can be turned off even if you do get it. It's a nice piece of technology and you can expect to see it as standard equipment on most, if not all, cars over the next 10 or so years. Yeah, it seems silly to offer such a thing on a high-performance sports car, but it is a nod to future technology and it's nice to see a company like Ferrari offering it. Surely it will continue to get better.
Interesting. How can that be? It needs a battery and it needs a starter still. I can't see how it can reduce weight unless they use a different lower weight battery. I think the idea is not a bad one. If you drive in a lot of stop and go traffic, I can see it. But, I worry about the battery draining with the AC on or some other restrictions. The HELE can be turned on and off with the push of a button to it doesn't need to work everytime. Let's face it... fuel economy on this car sucks. Something that does not take away from performance but increases economy is hardly a bad idea.
HELE has been discussed here before and in at least one country (Netherlands I think) there is around a $12,000 dollar reduction in list price on a 458 if you buy the HELE option and possibly a reduction in annual tax. Lower co2 emissions means lower tax even if you always intend to leave it off. I think there was list prices of cars with and without HELE published here. The system also disconnects the alternator when it is not needed and a few other things as well. I think the extra wear on components with the system on would outway any mpg based co2 benefits in the long run.
It's the Dutch that will let you pay $15k less to buy an option you can switch off, nice. http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=354914&highlight=HELE
I have a '12 E63 wagon. If you drive your CLS in AMG mode, you have to press the AMG button every time you start the car, and the stop/start disables automatically. Your issue is with the AMG button, not stop/start. Ferrari has to offer stop/start as an option so that it can sell cars in markets that require it. Most new models coming today have stop/start as standard to enable the manufacturers to meet ever tightening corporate emissions targets. We can expect to see it as standard on all new Ferrraris soon like Porsche are doing.
