Highlights
How does one begin to write a review of a new Ferrari? There is no more iconic nameplate in the automotive world. Wouldn't an objective road test, including criticisms, be a bit like evaluating the Sistine Chapel?
The red coupe settled into a smooth rhythm, the radii of the various corners being of little concern to it, as if it regarded such low velocities with disdain. Fast or slow, the steering was incisive, the cornering forces almost neck-straining, the braking enough to scrape the front spoiler. Really, what can one say about such a car? For most owners, access to a track is almost mandatory to even approach its limits - and to get rid of the "need for speed" that driving it would constantly create.
Given the roads, the F430 handled itself with aplomb, never feeling at all skittish at the occasional....okay, frequent....extra-legal speeds it happily delivered. Never has a speed limit seemed so low, nor has the absence of the local police been more appreciated.
Visibility out, while not that of a sedan, is reasonable, especially with there being no rear spoiler of any kind to block the view. All the aerodynamic trickery on the F430, developed in the F1 program, is under the car.
I've left the, perhaps, most contentious aspect of driving the F430 to the end. The one I drove, just like, I am told, about 75 percent of the F430s ordered, was equipped with the F1 gearbox that features electro-hydraulic clutch (read, no clutch pedal) and paddle shifters on the steering wheel (read, no gear shift between the seats). Ferrari's technical people at the event were quick to emphatically point out that this is not a mere automatic transmission like the one found in that pedestrian German sports car; it is a full manual box that requires you to shift it.
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