Finally, I viewed two 458's in the flesh
My dealer had them just delivered yesterday. One red and the other black.
The 458 looks as good in person as it does in the pictures. The black unfortunately hid the styling of the car. The red looked too much like most Ferrari's because a red Ferrari is a red Ferrari and you tend to look past the styling. Both had the side skirt option grey. Actually it looked good contrary what I thought it would look like.
The interior design is excellent. It is a huge improvement over the 430 and 360. BUT, I thought the Daytona seats did not look right with the upgraded design interior. The racing seats in the pictures suit the car better. However, when these cars were ordered, the racing seats were unavailable because of supplier issues. Otherwise, the interior materials are the same as the 430 or appeared to be so.
There were several 430's and Scuderia's in the showroom. I know I am going to get some flack on this but I thought the Scuderia looked as good if not better than the 458. The 458 has a feline/feminine appearance whereas the Scuderia has a race car/aggressive looking posture. The 458 is pretty; the Scud manly.
They started the 458 up for me and WOW what a sound! Absolutely fantastic! You cannot appreciate how good it is on video. You need to hear it in person.
Finally, my sales person says to me "I know you are a Spider guy and we don't expect to get any until 2012, would you be interest in the coupe?" I told him I thought I had already expressed an interest and he told me he thought otherwise. However, he said now that he knows I am interested in the coupe, he would keep me in mind. I told him if it was a long wait then forget it. He said the remaining allocations at the dealership (four) for 2010 were spoken for but was confident I would order early next year. I agreed.
Iain, don't get mad at me but they also had two California's on the floor. They were sitting next to the 430's, Scud's and one Spider Scud. They should not have been there. You looked past both of them. They just disappeared.
But according to the sales person they are selling well.
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