Ferrari 458: Smooth operator

Buy a Ferrari 458 for $534,000 and it will take a year to arrive. Photo / Jacqui Madelin

Forget driving a Ferrari 458 in Europe. What about a scrappy New Zealand back road or the next best thing, a gnarly stretch of rural Aussie swervery? How does the suspension cope then, eh?

Pretty damn well, if my Hunter Valley drive is anything to go by.

This sculpted slice of a car was dwarfed by Sydney rush-hour traffic, the magnificent 419kW/540Nm 4.5-litre V8 muted as we left the seven-speed, double-clutch auto to do its stuff. It's capable of low revs but a bit jerky at round-town speeds - yet not infeasibly noisy or uncomfortable.

This cabin helps, with gorgeously stitched leather lavished over shapely seats and dash, with iPod and CD drives, air vents and indeed everything you expect from a daily driver.

But this is no daily driver and as the road curled into countryside the 458 cut across it, a fantastic sounding searing yellow streak. The V8 was howling behind our ears as the revs rose, the savage performance delivered by a lot of clever behind-the-scenes tech.

A special coating on the engine internals cuts friction and therefore energy wastage to improve fuel economy and emissions. Sharp body cut-outs act like dimples on a golf ball, breaking up the air "boundary" to fly faster and directing air to improve downforce. There's a lot more techno-geekery, but you can ignore it when driving. Save the race-car modes for the track and stick to sport or track to hamstring stability and traction aids, sharpen the engine, gearing and e-diff, and harden the suspension.

You can hit trouble on a typical Down Under back road, particularly over the savage bumps of our test route where the circuit-honed chassis skipped across ripples and couldn't keep the tyres down. Hence the "suspension decouple" switch for the magnetorheological dampers to soften damping and stick rubber to road for better grip.

Now you can pour on power over bumps that'd flick most sportsters into the weeds, and let this feral engine loose. The same switch slightly improves round-town comfort, though you don't buy this car for that. You buy it because it's an automotive Nureyev that'll flatter an average driver and sing siren songs to a good one. That it'll still take you to work in the morning is quite an achievement, though it's one you must wait for.

Order a $534,000 458 today, and it will take a year to arrive.

Ferrari 458 Italia

We like
Fantastic engine and handling package; can be driven fast on real-world
roads.

We don't like
We can't afford one. It makes the speed limit feel irrelevant.

Powertrain
4499cc 90-degree mid-mounted V8, 419kW at 9000rpm, 540Nm at 6000rpm, seven-speed double-clutch auto drives rear wheels.

Performance
0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds, 13.3l/100km (claimed).

Safety
Four airbags, stability and traction control, ABS brakes.

What it's got
Satnav, air con, iPod and CD, lots of engine and performance-monitoring
functions.

Vital stats
4527mm long, 230-litre boot, 86-litre tank.