And it's ugly. Let's get that established nice and early. Recent Ferraris have been rather too conservative and bland, all coming up considerably short of beautiful. Ferrari once basked in the world's admiration for the wild and sensual aesthetic of its cars as well as for their engineering and success on road and track. It's really just been the last bit of late. I'm not much of a Ferrari fanboy, but I still think this vacuum of bellezza is a tragedy because I acknowledge and feel the marque's considerable presence deep in the essence of everything it means to love cars. The Ferrari F430 is a prime example of all this. It's an amazing, orgasmic piece of engineering. But it's wrapped in a body that deserves, at best, a "pretty." Even the Scuderia's sheetmetal can only get a "mildly badass" descriptor. Unfortunate really since it delivers a hugely badass driving experience.
And now the F430, which set the benchmark in its class, has sold in record numbers and has (for better or worse) come to define the modern Ferrari, is due for replacement. The F430 was at least a technical and sales home run, and stepping up to the plate: the 458 Italia. Nice name. And it'll be an amazing technical achievement, I promise. It uses more exotic materials and more fancy electronic bits than its daddy, and it will boast more power while achieving better fuel economy. And get this; there are even some black plasticky bits in the front air dam that deform beneath the weight of the airflow at high speeds to become more aerodynamic for those conditions. WOW! I'm not joking that bit genuinely turns me on. So it's shaping up to be a great car then. Except for just that: it's shaped up rather poorly. See for yourself:
Ferrari 458 Italia: Front 3/4
Ferrari 458 Italia: Rear 3/4
And now the F430, which set the benchmark in its class, has sold in record numbers and has (for better or worse) come to define the modern Ferrari, is due for replacement. The F430 was at least a technical and sales home run, and stepping up to the plate: the 458 Italia. Nice name. And it'll be an amazing technical achievement, I promise. It uses more exotic materials and more fancy electronic bits than its daddy, and it will boast more power while achieving better fuel economy. And get this; there are even some black plasticky bits in the front air dam that deform beneath the weight of the airflow at high speeds to become more aerodynamic for those conditions. WOW! I'm not joking that bit genuinely turns me on. So it's shaping up to be a great car then. Except for just that: it's shaped up rather poorly. See for yourself:
Ferrari 458 Italia: Front 3/4
Ferrari 458 Italia: Rear 3/4Okay so it ain't catastrophically ugly. But neither is it properly beautiful. Quite apart from it likely costing nearly two hundred thousand dollars, it's a Ferrari. It continues an epic heritage, and I'm sorry but it just doesn't look up to the task. Long-time Fezza partner Pininfarina dropped the ball again. It's far too swoopy...in fact mis-swoopy...hyper-mis-swoopy. It's awkwardly curvaceous. The rear lights look odd stuck out far at the corners of the butt cheeks, which are the only un-swoopy bit of the whole design. The door panels look pinched. The front air dam looks like a catfish's mouth. The in-line triple exhaust, while cool, seems a random attempt to inject stylistic uniqueness. Honestly, I don't care about what's exactly wrong with how it looks. I'm irked that it looks wrong at all.
Despite my fierce anger toward Pininfarina and Ferrari, I do have one compliment. It's a fairly radical stylistic departure from the F430, itself an evolution of the 360 before it, and that an unfortunate misstep from the 355. I wouldn't call the 458 more aggressive, but it's more ballsy an effort on the part of the design team. And I applaud that; it's wonderful. I just wish it was also beautiful.
Despite my fierce anger toward Pininfarina and Ferrari, I do have one compliment. It's a fairly radical stylistic departure from the F430, itself an evolution of the 360 before it, and that an unfortunate misstep from the 355. I wouldn't call the 458 more aggressive, but it's more ballsy an effort on the part of the design team. And I applaud that; it's wonderful. I just wish it was also beautiful.
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