First we'll deal with the
controversial bit.
This car belongs to Ferrari.
And I'm probably not supposed
to be driving it.
But I'm not going to
dwell on that.
Someone kind of subcontracted
it to me, let's say.
And if I'm offered
to drive in a
Ferrari I don't ask questions.
I just drive it.
The problem with this situation
is that I'm now at
least a year late to reviewing
the Spider.
You've all read about it and
watched the video so you need
to see something different.
Now I've searched YouTube and
there are lots of beautiful
shoots and factual films, but
there isn't much bad behavior.
I've, therefore, decided in
the interest of original
programming that I'm going
to drive this car
like a complete idiot.
[CAR ENGINE]
[TIRES SQUEALING]
[CAR ENGINE]
[TIRES SQUEALING]
[CAR ENGINE]
Well, I have to say, it's dead
impressive for a car with a
conventional construction
that's got no roof.
570 horsepower, at about
1550 kilograms, at
little bit less, actually.
It's just as fast as you ever
wanted a car to be.
Very direct steering.
I've got the suspension in
full firm at the moment.
But I might just try and soften
it off a bit and see
what it does.
[TIRES SQUEALING]
It might make the car
a bit lazier.
[CAR ENGINE]
I hope you can get some
of this noise.
Because it's--
[CAR ENGINE]
That's the defining
aspect of the 458.
It's normally aspirated.
It makes a noise that
the McLaren just
can't hope to match.
[CAR ENGINE]
The problem with these flippin'
Spiders these days is
they kind of undo my argument
that you have to have a hard
top on the driving front.
I mean, I don't have any
doubt that the Coupe is
a little bit better.
But the difference is
not night and day.
[CAR ENGINE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
This car is barely
a convertible.
The roof aperture is so small
it's more of a targa really.
And it's quite a fussy shape
from some angels.
Those rear buttresses rise
unexpectedly high.
And those ultra-low profile
tires leave annoying amounts
of vacant space in
the wheel arches.
And this particular example has
63,000 pounds of extras on
top of the 200 grand
list price.
The titanium wheel bolts
are 1,900 pounds.
[CAR ENGINE]
But it's just, it's a very,
very exciting car.
It's very obedient, the
steering's fast.
The controls lack quite
a lot of feedback.
But it's really interesting how
quickly you can kind of
adjust your inputs to the
speed that they require.
[CAR ENGINE]
Ha, ha, ha!
[CAR ENGINE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Now I have to apologize, because
I haven't talked about
the clever folding hard
top or the neat gear
shifts in auto mode.
I didn't have the time.
Because remember, I was too busy
driving the 458 Spider
like I was in some sort
of computer game.
But in doing so, I can now tell
you that it's an absurdly
good car to drive.
You can chuck it around like
a cheap rally car, and that
shouldn't really be possible.
Of course I could never buy a
convertible Ferrari for all
the obvious reasons.
But I could just about
forgive anyone who
bought one of these.
[CAR ENGINE]