Should I get a California?

I always liked the hood scoop on the NA Cali. It's a nice nod to the classic era F cars...T

 

I have never been in a T, is the interior that much better than a high optioned Cali NA? Do the T’s have higher seat options? I have seen Cali NA’s with Daytona seats and some with a diamond stitch pattern seat option that’s beautiful.

 

For me, the question isn't "styling", it's a question of turbo or NA.

In the DC area, my EVO turbo worked well. Sitting at long traffic lights, it was an econobox engine, till the turbo spools up.
But living in the mountains, spooling the turbo to get up hill is fuel you don't get back going downhill.
The turbo EVO gets terrible mileage in the mountains.

I've been dithering on this question for a while.
I hardly ever drive the 328 around here, as this is GT territory, with few fast corners.
(The roads here go up and down, but not so much left and right. ;p)
But the notion of replacing a 328 with a California seems like the stupidest trade ever.

I'm just about to the point where I'm thinking of keeping the 328 and replacing the EVO with a California.
But I hate to see the 328 just sit in the garage.

 

If you were still in the D.C area, you would go with the NA Cali?

 

If I was still in the DC area, I'd be driving the 328 more often.
I'm mostly considering a California because my drives now are either quick 2 or 3 mile trips around town, or 90 miles to the city on the superslab: GT driving.

As mentioned earlier: the California is the best Maserati of recent years.

 

But to more directly answer your question, the turbo can help improve your fuel economy when sitting at long traffic lights.

But you have to make sure your trips include a chance to spool up the turbo.
I had to replace the turbo on my Celica AllTrac in urban MA, because it got gummed up from all the slow traffic, and then cooked itself when I did finally spool it up.

And, if you're buying a Ferrari, gas mileage isn't your priority anyway.
When I was commuting in Xtal city, I spent way too much time idling at badly timed traffic lights.
(DC area traffic lights were so long that people would start texting and not notice when it went green -- which just backed traffic up even more.)

Personally, I like the flatter torque curve of NA engines.
Turbos tend to be pretty peaky, so you need to shift a lot.
Of course, with the twin clutch transmission, that's not a lot of work in a Cali-T, but you do have to keep it in the torque band.

I haven't really seen comparison torque curves on the California vs Cali-T mills.
But my NA 328 and Alfas had nice wide torque bands.

 

Cali T:
In a world-first achievement, the new Ferrari turbo V8 provides an instantaneous response, augmented by blistering performance, impressive torque, and a signature soundtrack, clearly attesting to a classic Ferrari engine with all the fuel efficiency of a turbo.

The 3.8l V8 delivers 553 hp (142bhp/l, a leader in this category) and a maximum torque of 557 lb/ft in 7th gear. Despite an output of 70 extra horsepower and a massive 49% more torque, fuel consumption has fallen by 15%. As a result, range has increased approximately by 20%.

The use of the F1 derived flat-plane crankshaft and innovative twin-scroll turbines, along with the cutting of overall mass and inertia has also virtually eliminated turbo lag. The torque curve increases constantly across the rev range due to the proprietary Variable Boost Management software that adjusts torque delivery to suit the gear engaged.

Cali T has gobs of torque and is very linear in delivery (not peaky) Drove them both performance and handling of the T is head and shoulders above the Cali.

 

Yes, I saw that same verbiage from the factory sales brochures.

A web search only produced software "computed" curves ... "based on factory data".
"The Horsepower / Torque Curve below was generated by the ProfessCars(TM) software, based on the factory data:"
https://www.automobile-catalog.com/curve/2012/1612985/ferrari_california_f1.html#gsc.tab=0
https://www.automobile-catalog.com/curve/2018/2044070/ferrari_california_t.html#gsc.tab=0

I'd still like to see what a rolling road produces.


Oh, wait: I just realized that neither the Cali or the T have a hand brake.
For an old fashioned geezer like me, that's a potential disqualifier.

Maybe I just need to drive my 328 more.

 

All valid complaints against the platform, which is definitely not aimed at the same target market as other Ferrari cars. All I know is that we can pull a 10 or 12 hour day driving in our Portofino and arrive relaxed and not drained. But when we get to the twisties it's nimble and eager to turn in. It's playful and wants to rotate in all the right ways. It's no F8, but I can dance with the car's balance better than in some other more pedigree Ferraris I've driven.

Everywhere we go in it we are met with smiles and enthusiasm. If there's a stigma against these cars, nobody's told 99.9% of the planet.

 

Yes.