Ferrari 458 Italia – more details and new photos

Ferrari has released new photos and more details of the Ferrari 458 Italia

Much of the new detail focuses on the interior of the 458, which we did get to see in the video (sort of), but Ferrari chose to not release pictures when the first news came in on the 458. Ferrari have revised the whole cockpit experience quite extensively. Gone are the column stalks, to be replaced by buttons on the steering wheel for indicators, full beam, flash and wipers. The shock settings are now down by the start button and the gearbox paddles are longer to make shifts easier.

Secondary commands are located in pods each side of the dash and full instrument displays in the centre of the dash. The right satellite pod on the dash has controls for the infotainment, the Bluetooth connection, sat-nav, digital speedo and rear parking camera. On the left pod are the optional cruise control, buttons for choosing the video setting of the left-hand dash TFT screen and the on-board computer interface. Basically, a total re-work of the driver experience.

Also included is Vehicle Dynamic Assistance which monitors significant parameters when the 458 is set in Race, CT off and CST off. The VDA monitors operating parameters with three displays to tell the driver the state of the 458 – WARM-UP (operating temperature too low), GO (ideal operating conditions) and OVER (one or more components are no longer at their optimum level and need cooling).

The 458 Italia gets more interesting with each release. But it is going to have to be something special with the imminent reveal of the new McLaren P11, which looks set to define a new benchmark in this sector.

By Cars UK