Ferrari California - H.R. Owen H.R.Owen Ferrari Ferrari California

Ferrari California - Press Coverage

Quick links to the latest Ferrari California press coverage and reviews:

Cream of Surrey Magazine, 12th Jan 09

We opt for Sport first expecting the ride to be firm and maybe even a little twitchy over uneven surfaces but instead it is supple and well balanced. In fact, it is superb. Sicilian roads are throwing everything at us, from pot holes to ice rink smooth surfaces. The bumps are absorbed well and there’s no clattering or banging to be heard as they are met.
 
As we climb up towards Erice, the noise being emitted by the four tailpipes is bouncing off the stone walls lining our route and what a noise it is. Deep and throaty, this is a good 60-a-day habit, filter less mind. Pah! Pah! Pah! The gears are exchanged like rounds of gunshot and the connection between driver and car is now coming together.

We are in 7th gear and far from hanging around as we approach a series of tunnels. The roof is still down, the wind deflector behind us is up and not a hair is out of place. Decelerate and the tunnel becomes a surround sound spectacular.
 
I like the way it looks even though it may not be the prettiest filly. Inside, the craftsmanship is superb, beautifully stitched leather abounds and the seats although again, quite fussy, are supremely comfortable and have more buttons on the side to alter how much you are held in than I’ve come across before. The perforated leather on the steering wheel is classic Ferrari and lovely to hold.

Car Dealer magazine, 18th Dec 08

In the current issue of Car Dealer magazine, there is a 3-page review of the Ferrari California by Richard Aucock which is very positive - and includes several specific comments about his driving impressions of the car:
 
One thing, above all, convinces you not. The astounding noise its 453bhp V8 makes – the howl from the all-new engine is simply stunning. Performance is explosive and the thump in the back when you change up – accompanied by a sharp exhaust crack – is totally intoxicating.
 
It’s easy to access too, thanks to the all-new dual clutch gearbox. This is best driven with the paddle shifts, and is smoother than the F1 transmission in other Ferraris. it also changes gear almost instantaneously, there’s simply no perceptible delay. It’s astounding.
 
Then you get on to the bits Ferrari always does well: the interior has superb seats and is extremely stylish. The folding roof is clever, and its speed makes the trade-off of a slightly heavy-looking rear end worthwhile. The rear seats fold, so the boot is surprisingly big, and the details smattered throughout the interior – well, they’re simply delightful.
 
All told, the California is breathtaking. It’s not the car we expected, but is all the car we hoped for, and so much more. The shift in emphasis hasn’t spoiled it – if anything, it’s made it all the more compelling. So much so we wouldn’t be surprised if some even defect from F430 into it… and that really would be confusing. But totally understandable.

What Car? Magazine, 16th Dec 2008

In the current issue of What Car? magazine, there is an excellent four-page feature on the Ferrari California which occupies the 'What Car? Star Car' feature pages - a first for a Ferrari. Associate Editor, Roger Stansfield, recently had the chance to drive a California in the hills around Maranello the day after it had snowed quite heavily, which not only made for some entertaining driving experiences but also some beautiful photographs of a red car in the snow - quite appropriate for the Christmas issue! The article includes the following very positive comments about the car:
 
On the face of it, the Ferrari California is simply a fourth string to Ferrari's bow - a car that will allow the company to expand sales to 7000 a year withough having to increase production of the current models and threaten their prized exclusivity. In reality though, it's much more significant than that.
 
This is the first of the new-age Ferraris - a model that reduces CO2 emissions and fuel consumption, that's more usable than any Ferrari ever, and that will exert a far broader appeal.
 
The exhaust note leaves no doubt this is a Ferrari V8.
 
Sure, the damping is supple, so you notice only the sharpest scars in the road; the steering is light enough to let you park one-handed (but not too light to fog the messages it sends to the driver); refinement is so good (apart from some high-speed wind and road noise) that you could easily forget exactly what it is you're driving; and the cabin is beautifully trimmed, bluster-free with or without the top in place, and ergonomically sound.
 
You can amble along with the traffic in seventh gear at less than 40mph; alternatively, you're free to stretch the engine to 8000rpm before having to upshift. In between, it feels like it has infinite flexibility. There's also a six-speed manual, but why would you?
 
...we drove the California in anything but Californian weather. It had snowed the night before, and it was freezing. Even in such conditions, though, driving the California is stress-free.
 
In fact, the California is more than one car. It’s a coupe, convertible, hard-edged sports GT, supple cruiser or commuter car, quiet and civilised or vibrant and exciting – and equally brilliant in each role. It’s quite different from any other Ferrari in history and, therefore, likely to draw people from outside the marque’s current coterie. ‘It closes the cycle of our current product strategy,’ says di Montezemolo. Which leads us to think they’ve left the best till last.

CNBC European Business Magazine, 8th Dec 08

What’s really remarkable is that Ferrari has managed to achieve its mixed brief so convincingly. At the centre of that achievement is Ferrari’s new seven-speed, twin-clutch, paddle-shift transmission.
 
It allows Ferrari to deliver the same rapid-fire shifts customers expect from a paddle-shifter, while also delivering seamless automatic operation – crucial for the more conservative buyers Ferrari hopes to attract. The result is Jekyll and Hyde character. Drivers get to be feral beast or smooth cruiser depending on their mood.
 
The California is beautifully balanced, even at its extremes of grip and traction, and although the steering could do with a touch more feel, the car rides with amazing composure and precision, particularly if you’ve specified Ferrari’s sensational magnetic damping system. Speaking of efficiency, a claimed 13.1/100km and 305.6g/km of Co2, are very impressive given the performance.
 
Yet despite everything, Ferrari still claims a full order book, insisting that any recession will scare off the speculators and reward authentic customers. Maybe red still represents Ferrari after all.

GQ magazine - 5th Dec 08

In this month’s GQ magazine, Jason Barlow writes about his experience of driving the new Ferrari California in Sicily, and is overwhelmingly positive about the car being a “real Ferrari”, despite a few minor quibbles about the car’s styling:
 
Well used to having the tiniest detail of its business picked over by critics and fans alike, Ferrari’s top brass have been pricklier than usual about the California. Why? Because on the face of it, this is the equivalent of a major rock band unleasing a long-awaited new album with the immortal caveat ‘We hope you enjoy our new jazz direction.’
 
The danger here is that, rather than leading from the front, Ferrari is blithely – and belatedly – following its rivals up a path that has no real engineering credibility. It doesn’t take long to figure out that, far from messing up, Ferrari has actually delivered its most rounded new car in years.
 
The biggest concern of all was that, in chasing the Botoxed wives of Beverly Hills dentists, the California would have traded handling and performance for comfort and refinement. In fact, Ferrari has miraculously given it all four. Push the red starter button on the chunky, alloy-rimmed steering wheel and the 4.3-litre V8 erupts into life with the customary Ferrari zeal. Squeeze the throttle and the revs rise with the usual instant, elegantly engineered enthusiasm.
 
Instead, it combines the silkiness of a conventional automatic with the aggression of a race car. Dual-shift transmissions represent a major step forward in car design, but the very thing that makes them so impressive – their smoothness – can also leave them feeling soulless. The Ferrari California’s system is anything but.
 
It’s hugely fast, of course, but there’s also a delicacy and finesse to its controls that elevates it to a point that even rivals as good as Aston Martin or Lamborghini can’t quite reach, and, with carbon ceramic brakes as standard, it stops with the same conviction that it goes.
 
Aspiring Kimi Raikkonen’s will still yearn for the truly epic 430 Scuderia. As far as everyone else is concerned, Ferrari has probably never made a better car than the California.

Motor Sport Magazine, 28th Nov 2008

In this month’s Motor Sport magazine, Andrew Frankel describes his experience of driving the new Ferrari California in Sicily, and comes away very impressed, despite some initial scepticism about the car’s design, technical statistics and purpose, concluding the California is certainly a “fine Ferrari”. Other positive comments include:
 
But perhaps more cogently, Ferrari seems to be a business in very good shape at the moment. I’ve been doing this long enough to remember the days when Ferrari said it would never build more than 3,000 cars each year. Then it was 4,000, then 5,000… And in the first year of full production of this new California, the number of cars wearing the little yellow badge nosing their way out of the Maranello gates will approach 8000.
 
When you drive the California, what strikes you most is how Ferrari has used it to embrace a whole raft of new technologies, from that roof past its direct injection engine to the seven-speed , paddle-shift, double-clutch gearbox while, at the same time, never losing sight of the fact that, above all, it must be a Ferrari.
 
The car also handles beautifully. A mid-engined Ferrari – even one as unfeasibly good as a Scuderia – is not a car in which to turn off all the electronics and start taking liberties: sooner or later it will find a way to repay your impertinence. But the California is not like this: its natural desire is to understeer just a little, which is exactly how it should be, but when called upon to be a little more demonstrative than this, it doesn’t skid, flick or lurch into a slide – it simply eases gently through a generous period of neutrality and flows into oversteer. I can’t remember when I last felt so confident driving a Ferrari with such abandon, but I suspect it was either in an original 550 Maranello or never.
 
But perhaps what I liked best about the California is that if you’re lucky enough to be on the right roads, you can behave like this all day until it’s time to go home, whereupon you can raise the roof in 14 seconds, soften the dampers and cruise back to base with a level of comfort and refinement that befits fully Ferrari’s claim that this is a proper GT.

Auto Italia, 7th Nov 2008

In the December issue of Auto Italia, there is a very positive review of the Ferrari California by John Simister who recently drove the car on the International Media Test Drive and was clearly impressed by several aspects of the car’s personality and appeal:
 
The sound these emit is different from that of any other Ferrari to date, with more emphasis on the lower frequencies to suit the California’s likely usage around town but still the even, four-cylinder-like note that comes from a V8 crankshaft with 180° crank throws.
 
Into gear via the right-hand paddle – the new transmission has controls identical to the F1-shift’s – and our task of delighting the local Sicilians can begin. They love a Ferrari, the louder and more flamboyant the better.
 
Getrag, well used to double-clutch transmissions, is Ferrari’s development partner here, and the new seven-speed, rear-mounted transaxle is short, compact and uses high hydraulic pressures for speed and precision of shifting. It works beautifully; the automatic mode is responsive, always smooth and never indecisive. And the manual mode is a joy. Switch the manettino to Comfort (in a Ferrari!) and the shifts are slightly slurred, even though there’s no actual break in torque delivery. Move to Sport and the focus sharpens, with an instant engine-note change instead of a brief glissando, a keener throttle and a touch less power assistance for the steering.
 
So it’s meant to be quieter, is it? All is relative in Ferrari-world, for the California howls and blares and screams in fine F430 fashion once it’s really roused. It has a silence bypass valve, of course, opening around 3500rpm under load so it gets under the EU noise-police radar. Yes, the aural drama is more contained when you’re ambling, as occasionally you might, but the howled vowels and sharp-edged constants are still right there.
 
At big speeds, top-down, there’s very little buffeting. Stop the car – it must be stationary for what follows – and raise the roof, watching while the bootlid reverse opens and two stacked panels manoeuvre themselves into what makes a coupe. It’s a convincing transformation, the coupe-ness as credible as the spider-ness was 14 seconds ago. Back at speed again, wind noise is negligible and you’re in a rather wonderful GT.
 
All of this comes with a ride quality of remarkable suppleness, thanks to clever damper calibration and suspension designed for lots of longitudinal compliance combined with high lateral stiffness.
 
Know your customer. That’s why Ferrari has launched the California. Luckily, and slightly unexpectedly, it’s also a thoroughly covetable car.

Financial Times Weekend, 2nd November 2008
 
The 21st-century cars are now beautifully built and have that air of solidity once exuded by almost no one but Porsche.
 
The California might not have the ear-splitting yowl of a 599, but its V8 bark can still make people’s heads turn 200 yards away. And it really does fly: 60mph comes up in under four seconds.
 
Flick it into ‘sport’ and engine, suspension and steering response sharpen and the cars leaps forward as willingly as any of its stablemates.
 
Given the way Sicilians responded to the car – had they had been carrying flowers they would have strewn them in its path – if Norman had pitched up in one, Erice would have welcomed him with open arms.

Daily Mail, 2nd November 2008
 
Ye Gods, it was a fantastic drive (providing you have the magnetic suspension dampers and the Pirelli tyres and can afford 9.5mpg if you are going it some).
 
The ‘musica mechanica’ of a Ferrari is a unique part of the car’s personality and the California really sings.
 
The California is a fast, long distance tourer more than an out-and-out sports car. But it still puts your face into a rictus grin after a series of curves.

Top Gear Magazine, 29 Oct 2008

This car has a lot of stuff going on, a big, noisy eye-party that can force your brain into neutral with the sheer number of slats, scoops, slashes and strakes. ... No instant attraction here, then, more raised eyebrows and pursed lips and gawping. It's not a pretty car in the traditional sense, especially with the roof stowed, where the necessity of hiding the roof sections swells the rear to, ahem, generous proportions. ... Roof up, there's more cohesion, more lusty sportiness, and it slims the whole car down by giving your eye a line to follow ... Saying that, the longer you spend with it, the more it grows on you - you pick up more of the little details every time you move 10 degrees.
 
It channels the power via a new Getrag-fettled seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox - a first on a Ferrari - the bigs news being this offers an F1-style shift with an auto-mode that actually works. Properly, without burning out a clutch in one three-point turn.
 
So I start to feel pretty positive as we listen to a 'proper' Ferrari burble-cum-bark pootling out to some open countryside. The California is living up to the brief: comfortable, easy to drive, and it feels, dare I say it, more civilised than any Ferrari before. It's not intimidating.
 
...it is possible to say with some conviction that it feels beautifully balanced. ... What shines through, though - despite Sicily's best attempts to hide it - is the fact that the California is still, even with the attempt at GT-ness, a very focused car.
 
That Mercedes SL we were talking about? Well, despite being more of a driver's car in the current generation, it can't come close to a California. Ditto the Bentley GTC. The Aston comes closer, a Porsche Turbo Cab even more so, but neither feel anywhere near as encouraging, and so wantonly vocal about it.
 
You'll still find yourself visiting 8000rpm, and snapping through a couple of gears for no other reason than it makes you feel really good about driving a car like this. There doesn't have to be a point. If you like things loud, crackling, and electrifying, it becomes the point.
 
So, despite hefty misgivings at the start, I have to say that Ferrari has cracked it. ... This is a proper, God's honest, marrow-deep Ferrari - it just comes in a more subtle flavour.
 
But the best bit? This is still a car that will make you laugh out loud and put a smile on your face broad enough to hurt your cheeks. Which, at the end of the day, is all we can ask for. And all we ever wanted.

CAR Magazine, 28 Oct 08

...Ferrari's build quality is now seriously impressive. Parts that photograph well but that you suspect might feel cheap, such as the central spar running along the centre console, are not only tactile but substantial too.
 
Twist the old-fashioned key, thumb the steering-wheel mounted starter and breathe a sigh of relief as a familiar noise filters through the cabin. It certainly sounds like a Ferrari, both in tone and volume. And it feels like one.
 
So with no judder, no whiff of burning clutch and - important this - no reason for the non-car literate to suspect that this is anything other than a proper torque converter auto, the California glides away. What happens next is even more impressive. You lean on the throttle just a little, noticing the near-absence of any chassis flex with the roof down and the F1 box slips into second gear almost imperceptibly. ... Anyone who claims a dual-clutch box is too refined to be exciting (that's you, Lamborghini) needs to drive this car.
 
The California is going to work perfectly mooching around LA or Shanghai. But the fact is that this car is far too good for the sort of life it will likely lead. Because, I am relieved to tell you, the California is every bit as good as we feared it might not be. Think of the California in the context of its rivals and what Ferrari has produced can only be applauded.
 
The California is not a Scuderia because it was never meant to be and to criticise it for that is to miss the point. It's aimed at a very different customer, the sort who wouldn't dream of setting foot on a circuit. And in terms of fitness for purpose, it more than hits the mark. It pulls off the luxury trick, delivers the necessary refinement and won't be remotely intimidating for buyers new to the marque.
 
And yet it is, emphatically, still a Ferrari.

City AM, 22 Oct 2008

Time to put the roof up. The California offers more space than the F430, headroom is generous, as is the boot. The growl of the engine is deeper, the top notes muffled and the overall feels a little firmer. Switch to Comfort mode and the steering feels softer. Change to fully automatic, you have an altogether different driving experience.
 
Now a series of hairpin bends arrive as I climb up from sea level, blip blip, a little tail-happy as I power out of the corner and for the purposes of our pictures here, I must this again downhill. Any excuse, right? The steering tightens up as power is laid down and the S-bends are dispatched, cleanly and melodically. Check route map. Autostrada. Excellent. And along come the tunnels. I change down to second gear just before the entrance of the first, clicking the paddles and darting towards the spec of light at the end. Pow, pow, like gunshots. what a fantastic noise, the sharpness of the cracks through gear changes blend with a deep guttural roar and I’m back out in the sunshine in seconds.

Sunday Times, 19 Oct 2008

As you settle into the leather seats, hand-stitched by Poltrona Frau, the Italian currier, and flip the paddle-shift DCT (dual clutch transmission) out of neutral, you know you’ve been seduced in only the way a Ferrari can.
 
The instrument panel backdrop matches the piping on the seats and the seatbelts. There’s a dedication plaque on the dashboard waiting for your name to be inscribed. Come and drive me and don’t pay attention to those other cars, it says. That’s always been Ferrari’s appeal, of course. However much you try to rationalise it, you want it because you want it.
 
To judge by the interest the car received at the Paris motor show, Ferrari seems to have hit the mark.
 
The first impressions are promising. Flip the gearchange through first, second and third and the engine quickly rises from a burble to a howl, with an acceleration that feels as though a large pasta chef has appeared from nowhere and sat on your chest.
 
Give the car a chance and it’ll prove it’s not just for West Coast show-offs. it reaches 60mph from standstill in less than 4sec – quicker by a whisker than the F430 – thanks to its seven-speed DCT, which changes gears almost instantaneously, and a traction control system borrowed from Ferrari’s Formula One team. Drive it gently and it will pirouette gracefully through even the tightest hairpins. Turn up the power and you can slingshot the car between apexes with the accelerator, gears and brakes working in unison.
 
There’s a good argument for saying Ferrari, in the California, has built a performance car that, unusually, is as aesthetic as it is functional. Every component has been precision sculptured. Even the disc-brake calipers are colour-matched to the bodywork while incorporating a clever engineering feature to reduce drag. It’s a convergence of CP Snow’s two schools of though, art and technology. And unlike in most supercars, you can go for a blast, then swing by the supermarket and bring home the shopping in the boot.
 
A 6-minute video review of the Ferrari California can also be viewed via the following link:
 
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/videos/article4961501.ece

Autocar, Car, Top Gear and MSN Cars websites - 17 Oct 08

Following the first drive of the Ferrari California in Sicily this week, the UK media has returned with fantastic impressions of this incredible new car which promises to attract new customers to the Ferrari brand.
 
Autocar
 
If you are fortunate enough to have the means to do so, it should be right at the top of your list.
 
When I think of driving the California, and then of driving any of the cars that could possibly stand as a rival to it, I can conclude only that if anything is worth that level of outlay, this is.
 
The fact I'd even have one over the undoubtedly quicker F430 Spider, because of its better balance and its superior usability, should tell you everything you need to know about whether this is a worthy bearer of Ferrari's prancing horse.
 
Indeed, it's a stretch to see how the qualities of a convertible, a GT and a sports car could be combined better than this.
 
The full review of the car can be viewed via the following link: http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/FirstDrives/Ferrari-California-4.3-V8/235414/
 
CAR
 
What a day! What a car! The California is by no means perfect – it's pricey and we can quibble over the finer points of the handling, brakes and rear packaging – but it's hard not to be impressed by the California. Especially when we were so skeptical before. It's everything that a slightly softer Ferrari should be and brilliantly judged to tempt buyers out of top-rung Merc SLs and the like. The folding metal roof (Ferrari's first) is well executed, the boot space is truly astonishing and the interior a roomy, comfy place to be. That the California also manages to pack the mother of all V8s, with fuel-miser direct-injection present and correct, and hit the bullseye first time with the superlative new transmission is quite a feat. Don't believe the doubters who say this Ferrari is too soft. It's not. It's nigh-on perfect for its target market. That leaves this road tester deeply impressed.
 
The full review of the car can be viewed via the following link: http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Drives/Search-Results/First-drives/Ferrari-California-first-drive-CAR-review

Top Gear
 
So I wasn’t convinced by the press shots, and the thought of a more gentle Ferrari made me wince. But, thank the Lord, the California is a brilliant thing.
 
The new 7-speed gearbox is ace, the 454bhp V8 engine is torquey, revvy and very, very loud, the handling is tight and extremely Ferrari. It might not be the fastest car in the range, or the most extreme in the ‘sporting’ stakes, but it works and puts a smile on your face just as broad as any of the others. Which is a big win, in my book.
 
And it drives beautifully. Where a Merc SL is so much better in it’s latest guise, it still can’t hold a dynamic candle to the Ferrari in the feel stakes. You operate a Merc, you bond with the Ferrari. And it sounds glorious, wrapping you in a warm fog of noise. Possibly too loud for some, I’ll wager. And at £145k you’ll have to want one – you can get a hell of a lot of car for this sort of money.
 
But the point is that Ferrari have succeeded in making a slightly gentler car, a more usable car, a car less likely to want to smack you in the mouth if you screw up, without diluting the Ferrari experience.
 
The full review of the car can be viewed via the following link: http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/ferrari-california-driven
 
Full coverage of the Ferrari California first drives will be featured in these magazines in the next few weeks.
 
MSN Cars
 
Stunning new Grand Tourer offers credible alternative to Ferrari F430 for those seeking more creature comforts.
 
The full review of the car can be viewed via the following link: http://cars.uk.msn.com/Reviews/article.aspx?cp-documentid=10165378

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