Item: Ferrari 458 Italia 2010-2015
Rating: 5

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With a Pininfarina-designed body, a naturally aspirated V8 mounted directly behind your back and a truly exhilarating driving experience, the Ferrari 458 Italia remains the definitive supercar of the early 2010s.

So good is the F430’s successor that residual values remain strong, which is why the 458 is best snapped up now before modern classic status takes hold and renders it a near-unaffordable collector’s item.

The 458 sports what many will regard as the classic Ferrari layout
Matt Prior
Editor-at-large

Given the fact that list prices for newer 296 GTBs and Purosangues are falling by the week, the 458 should make for a solid investment too.

Sure, those cars are more powerful and much faster on paper, but the 458 will certainly nip at their heels – and because it predates the hybrid era, it delivers a sensory experience that its modern equivalents can only dream of.

A 0-62mph time of 3.3sec and a top speed of 210mph mean it’s still a ridiculously quick car and its Getrag-engineered dual-clutch automatic gearbox is the ideal wingman to the 458’s intoxicating 4.5-litre V8, which makes 542bhp and 398lb ft of torque.

You can access 80% of the Ferrari’s power as early as 3250rpm, but you won’t be swapping cogs as low down as that because this heady V8 lump will rev all the way to 9000rpm. Watch for skipping gears on the test drive, though, because the dual-clutch auto can suffer from electric gremlins (see ‘Buyer beware’, right).

While the fabulous V8 and slick gearbox endow the 458 with plenty of drama, its chassis balance and handling make it a true driver’s car – and one that’s far sweeter than cheaper Ferraris of yore.

Whether or not the dampers are in their ‘bumpy road’ mode (handy for Britain’s unkempt roads), the 458’s body is controlled and tight, and despite the steering being light and quick, it’s communicative and precise.

The 458 handles with a supreme level of agility matched by only the Noble M600 – and yet the Ferrari is the far better-riding car. And the trick electric differential and suite of driving modes – controlled via the tactile manettino on the steering wheel – mean the 458 can be either a laid-back daily driver or exciting track car, to suit your mood.

The Brembo-sourced carbon-ceramic brakes provide plenty of stopping power too. Just make sure you’ve got £10,000 stashed away when you need to replace them.

You can pay less than £100,000 for a high-mileage car, but for around £125,000 you’ll have access to a broader choice of colours, interior trims and cars with a main dealer service history.

If your future 458 will spend most of its time on track, carbon buckets and Alcantara trim are must-haves – and try to avoid carbon exterior elements because you don’t want gravel and the like forcing unwanted (and expensive) repairs.

Opt for leather and comfort seats if you’re after a grand touring ambience. Sunseekers are likely to be drawn to the open-air thrills of the 458 Spider, which commands a slight premium over the coupé. Whatever your choice, the 458 is a landmark supercar that has tumbled to such accessible levels (in a relative sense, of course) that it’s impossible to overlook.

Why not snap up this hedonistic Ferrari, set the sat-nav for the North Coast 500 and bask in its brilliance all the way to John O’Groats.

Verdict

Model tested:

Rating: 10

Used Ferrari 458 Italia 2010-2015 review

The new standard that supercars are now judged

Good

Accessible performance

Excellent balance

Sense of occasion

Bad

Expensive

No manual

Ergonomic slips

DESIGN & STYLING

Pros

Pininfarina design majors on aerodynamics and downforce

Spider's aluminium roof is 25kg lighter than 430's fabric set-up

Cons

No movable rear wing

Any observations about the Ferrari 458 Italia’s styling were entirely subjective, but the consensus was that it marked a return to sensational-looking Ferraris.

With a flat undertray, but without any obvious aero aids, the 458 generated more downforce than the F430 (360kg flat out) and yet it was also more aerodynamic.

The 458 Italia is one of the most striking Ferraris in an age
Tim Dickson
Chief sub-editor

One obvious change from the styling of the car it replaced was that the intakes for the engine bay cooling had been moved from the car’s rear flanks to the undertray, improving the overall efficiency and the operation of the rear diffuser.

The striking air intakes on the 360’s and F430’s rear haunches were dropped in favour of a triangular intake that blended into the tapering windowline. It a more elegant solution.

Clever aerodynamics hadn't harmed the beauty of the car: the distinctive vent that ran up to the headlight allowed air in to cool the brakes and then fed it out of the channel on the other side to reduce lift over the front arches.

Then there were the inlet wings. These angled air upwards so enough was pushed through the radiators at low speeds but they also deformed to reduce drag at higher speeds, when you didn't need such a large inlet area for adequate cooling. These wings also generated downforce.

Ferrari claimed that the small lip on the boot delivered plenty of downforce, hence a movable wing was never fitted.

Finally, there was a touch of Enzo in the 458’s overall design, particularly in the shape and position of the rear lights (although the Enzo had twin units). Vents below the rear lights were for radiators to cool the gearbox and clutch.

Having said all this, the 458 Spider arguably upped the desirability stakes even further. Its aluminium roof was 25kg lighter than the 430's fabric set-up, and could be retracted in just 14 seconds. While it lost the Italia's glass engine cover, the cohesive packaging of the roof meant choosing a convertible Ferrari was no longer rife with compromises.

INTERIOR

Pros

Modern, high-end and driver-focussed cabin

Just enough storage for a European road trip

Cons

Button-heavy steering wheel takes some getting used to

Fixed gearshift paddles

If you sat in the F430 and then stepped into the 458 Italia, you would feel as though you had skipped two generations of Ferrari rather than one. Everything in the 458 felt modern and exuded a sense of handcrafted workmanship that was missing from its predecessor.

The protruding, almost abstract-looking vents gave the dashboard the appearance of wrapping around the driver, and with most of the controls placed on the steering wheel or to the right of the driver, it was an extremely driver-focused cabin.

It’s hardly high up the priority list, but it’s still impressive how much clobber can be stowed under the 458’s nose
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

It took some familiarisation to get used to the indicator, windscreen wiper and headlight controls being placed on the steering wheel, but in practice it was a convenient set-up. There was the problem that, with lock applied, the required button could be out of thumb’s reach but, given the 458’s quick steering, it was rare to need to shuffle the wheel.

Visibility wasn’t great; looking straight ahead was fine, but the three-quarter view at junctions was a little awkward. Space for luggage wasn’t bad, though; there was some storage behind the seats and a deep, if narrow, boot at the front.

Our test car came with carbonfibre racing seats, which were pricey by any standards but also hard to fault, other than for their lack of height adjustment.

A vast personalisation scheme meant that the success of any Ferrari 458 interior would depend on its owner’s choices. Anything from materials and colours to the width of the stitching could be personalised. Even so, we thought that the standard kit could have been slightly more generous. Sat-nav should have been standard on a car of this price.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

Pros

Responsive, supremely fast and rich in character

Builds revs in a predictable and linear fashion

Carbon-ceramics deliver unwavering stopping power

Cons

Some may exist but we couldn't find any

Think of a set of performance criteria that a modern supercar should meet in the late 2000s and it's likley you would have drawn up a list of performance figures that all but mirrored those of the Ferrari 458 Italia.

Its 0-60mph time started with a three, its top speed started with a two and, on the way, it passed 100mph in around 7sec. The standing quarter mile was covered in less than 12sec and breezed past 150mph before a standing kilometre was out.

By moving the Manettino to the ‘low grip’ setting, you keep also the exhaust flaps closed for longer. Useful if you don’t want to attract too much attention
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

More impressive than the numbers themselves, though, was the way with which the Ferrari 458 went about setting them. Not too many years ago, extracting 562bhp from a naturally aspirated 4.5-litre engine – some 125bhp per litre – would have produced an undriveable, snarling fire-breather of a powerplant. Not too many years before that, it would never have happened in a road car at all.

So it was a testament to advances in production, materials, injection and electronic technology that the 458 happily spun into life without drama and, as early as 3000rpm, was pulling with as much torque as the outgoing Ferrari F430 gave in total – and this was despite a redline of 9000rpm.

Most remarkable of all, perhaps, was the speed with which the 458 built its revs. There was no hang, no lag. You asked of the throttle and the engine delivered in an utterly predictable, linear fashion.

Ferrari was and old hand at tuning the sound of a flat-plane cranked V8 so that it sounded like more than just two four-pots screwed together, and thw 458's engine was no exception. This area of ltaly tuned induction and exhaust notes like nowhere else on the planet. The 458 was an aural as well as a technical triumph.

As with the California, the 458’s power was directed to its wheels via a dual-clutch transmission that, some might say (although not us), diluted the thrill of a single-clutch robotised manual. The efficiency with which it went about swapping cogs came with no loss of mechanical feel.

The 458, like all Ferraris at the time, came as standard with carbon-ceramic brakes capable of stopping it repeatedly, from high speed, in no time at all.

RIDE & HANDLING

Pros

Agile, supple-riding and stable

Can be enjoyed at sensible speeds

Cons

Speed and lightness of its rack robs it of some feel

Until the Ferrari 458 Italia, the two best-handling mid-engined cars on sale were the Lotus Evora and Noble M600.

The Ferrari hadn’t totally eclipsed them but it sat very comfortably in their company. But the 458's dynamic repertoire was far broader than that of its British counterparts.

You’ll be surprised by the lack of progression when brushing the 458's carbon-ceramic brakes, but when asked to do a more serious task, the Brembo-sourced items are thoroughly up to the job
Matt Prior
Editor-at-large

For a start, the 458 rode better than the Noble – no surprises there – regardless of whether the two-stage adjustable dampers were set to normal or the softer ‘bumpy road’ setting.

Regardless of setting, the 458 was (for a supercar) a supple-riding thing whose fast, light steering, at 2.0 turns lock to lock, instantly felt agile. That didn't translate to a nervousness around the straight-ahead, mind.

It just meant that it felt more willing to turn than the Noble M600 and Lotus Evora (and any other rival), despite being heavier. It was true that the speed and lightness of its rack did rob the 458 of some of the intimacy enjoyed by the Lotus, Noble and, say, a Porsche 911 GT3, but a surprising amount of feel found its way to the rim.

There was enough, certainly, to make the 458 enjoyable even at the sensible speeds that road conditions generally allow. Such was the 458’s ability that you could cover ground at a fair lick without delving into the depths of its reserves as you would have to in a GT Porsche, a Lexus LF-A or, dare we say, the Noble, despite its power advantage.

Even when modest things were being asked of it, the 458 was tactile enough to reward. Closer to its limit, it had all the poise, and more, that we’d come to expect from a mid-engined V8 Ferrari. Rivals that did things better were few and far between.

It was a similar story when evaluating the Ferrari 458 Spider, although with a smidge less intensity. Ferrari had softened the dampers slightly in the transformation from Italia to Spider, but otherwise the suspension was identical. While a slight tremor through the bodyshell could be felt on really rough roads, the structure always felt resolutely stiff.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

Ferrari's official claimed economy ifor the 458 was 20.6mpg, although in reality you’d be lucky to achieve that. The CO2 rating was predictably high at 307g/km.

Prices for used examples start below £100,000, but spend this much and you'll end up with a high-mileage car with a patchy service history. We'd aim for cars priced from £120,000-£130,000: most cars in this price range have a full service history, have covered around 15-20k miles and look to be in excellent condition.

VERDICT

Verdict

Model tested:

Rating: 10

Used Ferrari 458 Italia 2010-2015 review

The new standard that supercars are now judged

Good

Accessible performance

Excellent balance

Sense of occasion

Bad

Expensive

No manual

Ergonomic slips

The Ferrari 458 Italia was proof that, when it came to building road cars, Ferrari was definitely on a bit of a roll at end of the noughties.

But even considering the wonderfully desirable 599 GTO, arguably it was the 458 Italia that was Ferrari's greatest achievement.

Everything Ferrari does best, only more cutting edge. A landmark car.
Matt Prior
Editor-at-large

That wasn’t simply because the 458 weaved scintillating ground-covering pace with impressive practicality but also because, for all of its technology, it remained an interactive and deeply satisfying car to drive – be that at three-tenths on a back road or fully committed at your favourite track.

It could hold its own in handling terms with some of the best-handling cars we’d ever driven, notably the Lotus Evora and Noble M600, while its performance was at a level that matched, and in many cases beat, hyper-expensive and hyper-exclusive supercars.

The interior was more usable and more interesting than ever before, and with a notable step up in quality. And almost as impressive as the 458’s sheer pace was its ability to do more mundane driving chores without batting an eyelid; this was an extremely comfortable car that rode superbly.

The junior Ferrari was now every inch the complete supercar.

Matt Prior

Title: Editor-at-large

Matt is Autocar’s lead features writer and presenter, is the main face of Autocar’s YouTube channel, presents the My Week In Cars podcast and has written his weekly column, Tester’s Notes, since 2013.

Matt is an automotive engineer who has been writing and talking about cars since 1997. He joined Autocar in 2005 as deputy road test editor, prior to which he was road test editor and world rally editor for Channel 4’s automotive website, 4Car.

Into all things engineering and automotive from any era, Matt is as comfortable regularly contributing to sibling titles Move Electric and Classic & Sports Car as he is writing for Autocar. He has a racing licence, and some malfunctioning classic cars and motorbikes.