Ferrari 488 GTB: New era or start of the end

It's going to be an exciting year for Ferrari. Here is the new 458 replacement which, after last years Californina T, is the car in which Ferrari is bringing the turbocharger to its mid-engined supercar sector, it's heart. And it's doing everything to show that this new turbocharged era will be better than the natural one. So, the car. In my opinion the styling is spot on, and the addition of the air vents and active flaps only serve to make it look ready for purpose.

The new 3.9 litre ( below 4 for tax reasons) twin-turbo motor makes 661 BHP, which is considerably more than the 458 Speciale and just more, suspiciously, than the Mclaren 650S, clearly its biggest rival.  Not only that but it also weighs in at 10kg lighter than the standard 458 and manages to drop 15% of its CO2 emissions as well. A pretty impressive feat, I'm sure you'll agree. From an impressive car. All of the hard work from the Ferrari engineers has meant that it is supposed to feel more like a naturally aspirated car too. 0-62 is achieved in 3 seconds (admittedly the same as the 458 Speciale) but when the two cars reach 124 the 488 will be 1 whole second in front! Top speed is 205. Plus some physics warping by the engineers, with the 488 achieving more downforce yet reduced drag. How is that possible? Anyway, lots of trickery.

And the 488 will be ready for production this summer. So not long to wait. To see whether 458 owners will be kicking themselves or not.

Nev