458 Speciale first impressions

I took delivery of my Speciale about two weeks ago (thanks to Continental Autosport outside Chicago!!!), replacing my 2011 Italia. Now that I've had some time to live with it and put several hundred miles on it, I can finally begin to form some opinions on it and compare it to the Italia. So here are my thoughts, for what they're worth.

Engine/performance: I'm still taking it a little bit easy on the motor, but thus far it feels somewhat stronger than the Italia over the entire rev range. Not a night and day difference at this point, though like I said I'm not running it at/close to redline for any length of time yet, nor have I been keeping the revs high. So I expect it to start to feel stronger as I start to use the motor more. Like the Italia it just wants to GO, all the time . No other cars have ever seemed that way to me...they just want you to go faster, no matter what. I know the shifts are supposedly quicker (both up and down), but I can't say that I noticed any difference. They were already quick to start with.

Handling: The car feels flatter, lighter, and more nimble than the Italia. I haven't had a chance to push the car hard enough yet to dip into the new SSC, so I can't comment on it. Hopefully soon . Steering feel is very different; the Speciale's has more weight to it and it's not as twitchy as the Italia's. It also communicates more of what is going on, though some of this may also be because the new tires communicate more as well. The car reacts immediately to steering inputs, as did the Italia, but the Speciale feels less nervous doing it. The new brakes are awesome, I think there's a lot more potential there that I haven't even begun to tap into yet. Brake feel is very good. Throttle response is very different than it was in my Italia. The Italia was slightly psychotic in its throttle response; inhaling while my foot was on the throttle was enough to break the rear tires loose . And it was a huge challenge to keep a constant speed on the highway, since any slight change in pedal pressure led to big changes in speed. All of this is gone in the Speciale. Throttle response is very linear, and you need to move the pedal further to get the same response from the car. I thought I read somewhere that Ferrari tweaked throttle response in Italias after 2011 because people complained about how touchy it was. So I suspect what I'm noticing might be the same throttle response Italia's have had for a few years now, not something that's new for the Speciale. And it's probably "better" now, but at this point I prefer it the old way . It made the car feel quicker.

Exterior: I think the car looks awesome. Much better in person than in pictures. In the pictures I liked pretty much everything about the car except the front end. It looked squared off and flat. I preferred the front end of the Italia to it, even though I'm no fan of the Italia's front end, either. But in person, you realize the front of the Speciale isn't flat at all. It's got angles, curves, and depth, and looks very good. Much better than the Italia IMO. And every other angle looks better as well (again, IMO). The new wheels look good, but I can't quite figure out the finish on them. They seem to mark easily and are a pain in the butt to clean; the surface almost seems porous. It's like trying to wash a chalkboard. The Speciale still looks like a 458 (obviously), but more aggressive and sporty. I think it's the best looking car out there....I still wander out into the garage and look it . Almost forgot: the stripe . I got it because I just feel like the car ought to have it. Others will disagree, and that's great. The strangest part about it, though, are the number of people who come up to the car and just want to talk about how much they love the stripe. It's the first thing they notice and for a lot of people seems to be the only thing they care about. Stripes are more popular than I thought they were, apparently .

Interior: Not as luxurious as the Italia, obviously, but still a nice place to be. I had Daytona seats in the Italia, and I definitely prefer the racing seats in the Speciale. They're comfortable and provide much better support. I'm not a huge carbon fiber fan, but I like the CF doors, console, dash, etc. Though I have to say I'm surprised by how much the doors weigh. You see all that CF and you assume that = light, but it's not. Maybe I'm just too used to doors in race cars, I don't know... Sound system works. iPod is still supported, though no special cable is needed now. Nav system seems the same, though I never really used it in the Italia so I can't tell if anything has changed. The telemetry system looks very cool, but I haven't had much time to play with it yet. The HomeLink was easy to program (took about 3 minutes), which was good news. I know it took me awhile to make it work in the Italia, and I know others had problems as well. Whether this means the problems have been sorted out or I just got lucky...I don't know. Finally, lack of a glove compartment is kind of a pain. I'm all for saving weight, but it would be nice to have some place covered to put things. Storing paper towels in the storage nets in the doors or behind the seats looks pretty crappy. All in all, though, the interior is not that different than the Italia.

Sound: The exhaust note is very different than the Italia's. It sounds deeper and kind of PO'ed. It's still got an edge to it and is very Ferrari-ish, but with more behind it. Unfortunately it lost some of the sharpness of the Italia, which I kind of liked. So it's trade-off. I think both the Speciale and Italia sound fantastic, but they are very different.

Though I've only had it a couple of weeks, I can say already that it's an amazing car. I don't miss the Italia at all. The Speciale just feels tighter and is more involving to drive. It looks, sounds, and drives like a more aggressive Italia, which I suppose is good because that's what it's supposed to be. For me that's what I'm looking for. Others might not. Certainly the Italia is a fantastic car as well, so you can't go wrong either way.
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Thanks!! Not sure how much help I'll be here:

1) Yes and no. The exhaust is louder in general, so it's always louder. But it's definitely the case that it's a lot quieter if you're not on the throttle or keep the revs down.

2) I didn't use the Bluetooth audio streaming in either car, so I can't say anything about any differences, though I know it does work in the Speciale.

That reminds me of another thing, though: as you'd expect with the lack of insulation, there's a lot more road noise in the Speciale than the Italia. It's not objectionable IMO, but it is there. And there's A LOT more wind noise. Sounds like a waterfall most of the time. I think it's not just less insulation, I think it's the result of the airflow over the car.

 

Thanks for your comments! I've posted some interior pics on this thread; sorry they're not better.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/458-italia/442303-458-speciale-picture-thread-8.html

Everyone has their own opinion, but I'm not a big fan of the technical fabric. I left a little bit on the dash just for variety, but I personally don't like the feel of it or the look of it. At the same time, maybe leather is not in keeping with the "purpose" of the Speciale, so a lot of people probably disagree with my choice there . I like alcantara, but I have it in other cars and my issue with it (especially for seats and wear areas) is that the fabric seems to crush and look worn even when it isn't. To be honest, though, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the choices....if you have one you like best, I'd go with that.

I haven't seen the gold finish in person, so I don't know if it would have the same issues. I would assume not, because to me that finish looks like it's been clear coated. But I'm going off of pictures, so it's a guess. I don't think my comment on the wheels being a pain to clean should change anyone's mind about which wheel to go with. Mostly I was just surprised.

 

Thanks! I've added a few more pics to the 458 Speciale picture thread here: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/458-italia/442303-458-speciale-picture-thread-8.html

ttn27, right now I'd say it's not night and day as far acceleration and throttle response goes. In terms of handling and braking, I think they're very different. I also expect the engine performance differences to become more apparent when I begin to drive the car harder. To put it in perspective, right now I'm taking it somewhat easy most of the time, and I'm regularly chirping tires in 4th gear without even trying. That never happened in the Italia unless I tried to do it. So there's more power available even at lower revs and there's less weight to move. And the tires on the Speciale are much stickier than those on the Italia. So I think the differences will be more pronounced once I put a couple hundred more miles on the car and really get to push it hard for longer amounts of time.

I also really want to experiment with the car under braking, the setup on the car is very impressive and so far I haven't even challenged them (though I tried).

 

Hi Christian, the Speciale is definitely louder than the Italia, but I don't think it's a problem. The exhaust is louder, there's more road noise, and more wind noise. But you can still talk and can still hear the radio. If you leave the car in Sport mode and keep it under 3000 RPM it's...well, I can't say quiet, but not too loud at all . It's comfortable, but still sounds like a sports car. Put it in race mode and step on the throttle, and of course it gets a lot louder . And at highway speeds you'll notice the wind noise, and depending on the road surface you'll hear that as well. Again, to me none of those are objectionable, but there's less insulation in the car so more outside noise is going to get through.

 

I'm not sure why my experience would reassure you, most people consider me to be an idiot . It's interesting to me how divided people are on the stripe, at least here on FChat. Like I said, most people I've seen in person really like it. I'm not entirely sure why it's such a point of discussion, after all there are quite a few cars running around with stripes. I guess it's just that there's nothing subtle about it; it's going to make the car get noticed that much more. But even without the stripe, the car is going to get noticed anyway.

I was considering TDF, NART, or another blue for my car (along with a few other colors). I think it looks great in those colors. Obviously I'm no expert, but I've always been a fan of blue and silver, so I think silver would look good. But the white works as well. With the white, the center section would be NART blue, which might look cool with the TDF car. So either works IMO .

Congratulations and good luck with the car!!! Post pics when you get it!