bradley emmanuel

The ‘458′ part of the new Ferrari Italia’s name is derived from the mid-mounted 4.5-litre V8 which produces 562bhp at 9000rpm – that’s 79bhp more and 500rpm higher than the F430. According to Ferrari, the 458 Italia is its highest-revving road car ever which goes some way to explaining why the 0-62mph sprint time for this entry-level Ferrari is a faintly ridiculous 3.4secs. Torque stands at 398lb ft at 6000rpm.

More powerful than a 430 Scuderia and faster shifting too
We already know the Ferrari 458 Italia is more powerful than its F430 predecessor, but it’s also more powerful than the hardcore 510bhp F430 Scuderia. It even shifts cogs quicker than the Scud, which does it in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 0.06sec.

The seven-speed double-clutch gearbox is shared with the Ferrari California but we’re expecting its application here to be a lot more aggressive. Though still no ardent green campaigner, Ferrari has managed to tweak the fuel injection system to reduce emissions of this supercar to 320g/km.

Ferrari 458 Italia is an F1 tech-fest
Just when we thought Ferrari was losing its way with the folding tin-top California, Modena makes us fall in love with the prancing horse all over again.

Lets start with the Pininfarina design, which not only marks a return to form for Ferrari – it looks a bit baby Enzo from the back while those three exhaust pipes remind us of the Ferrari F40 – but it’s also incredibly aerodynamic thanks to the use of Ferrari’s F1 wind tunnel.

See those black intakes in the front bumper? Well they deform at high speed, to reduce drag and feed air though the radiators ahead of the front wheels. Ferrari says this improves high speed stability significantly, and at 124mph, the Ferrari 458 Italia is able to generates 140kg of downforce without the use of any ugly spoilers.

The brakes also feature a new system called ‘prefill’, which quickens the contact response and helps reduce the stopping distance from 62mph to just 32.5 metres. Oh, and then there’s the double wishbone front suspension set-up and the multi-link rear end, which were both tuned by some bloke called Michael Schumacher and should make it pretty agile. We’ve already started saving for the estimated £150k asking price.