October EVO Magazine 458 test results

458 - EVO magazine Performance Test.

 

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In Octobers edition of EVO magazine UK there is a Performance and Track test of a 458.

 

Here's some of the there recorded results;

 

0-30 1.6

0-60 3.2

0-100 6.8

0-130 11.0

0-160 17.5

 

1/4 mile - 11.2 at 128.8mph

 

100-0 4.0sec 342ft

 

 

Total weight - 1546kg

 

Front - 42% - 649kg

 

Rear - 58% - 897kg

 

 

Bedford Aerodrome West Circuit;

 

458 - 1.20.3

Murcielago LP670-4 SV - 1.21.3

430 Scud - 1.21.7

Gallardo LP560-4 - 1.22.5

Carrera GT - 1.23.3

GTR - 1.23.6

 

Faster than a 599 or F430S in any measurement, state of the art tech, confidence-inspiring electronic nannies for the amateur...what's not to like?

 

Well, the absolutely hideous look of the car from any angle is a bit of a negative.

 

But if you can get past the face-only-a-mother-could-love, the 458 is definitely impressive based on what we've heard directly from a few early adopters combined with the pro mag tests.

Faster than a 599 or F430S in any measurement, state of the art tech, confidence-inspiring electronic nannies for the amateur...what's not to like?

 

 

 

 

And

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.a...458%20Marlow%29

That is a dramatic improvement to the front of a stock 458 chaos, who makes that kit?

 

That is a dramatic improvement to the front of a stock 458 chaos, who makes that kit?

 

 

Darwin

That car is fookin fast!

Is anyone really surprised that the 458 has gone straight to the top of the class? Lamborghini right now has no answers - the brand is at a low point with a low-tech Gallardo now overdue for replacement and the "excitement" of the Estoque to look forward to. Thank god the Jota is nearly here.

Is anyone really surprised that the 458 has gone straight to the top of the class? Lamborghini right now has no answers - the brand is at a low point with a low-tech Gallardo now overdue for replacement and the "excitement" of the Estoque to look forward to. Thank god the Jota is nearly here.

 

Truthfully, no. It's hard to compare the two right now, Ferrari's budgets are nearly unlimited (within their profit/loss restraints of course) and their management is unified towards a single goal. FIAT doesn't intrude much, and F-car brass is left to produce great cars the way they want.

 

Lambo on the other hand has clearly been operating on a shoestring budget from VAG the past couple years as they struggle to figure out a way to make the company profitable with a 60% drop in sales volume versus the boom. Rehashes, bolted on CF bits, improvements to existing tech instead of adoption of new tech (e-gear refinement instead of dual-clutch for example) with no significant new model intros aside from the boutique Reventon, etc, all show that Lambo is doing the best they can under the circumstances of a very tight leash.

 

Hopefully the next flagship is competitive, because the 599's replacement is coming soon also and is rumored to be even more amazing a leap upward than the 458 is to the 430...

Lambo on the other hand has clearly been operating on a shoestring budget from VAG the past couple years as they struggle to figure out a way to make the company profitable with a 60% drop in sales volume versus the boom. Rehashes, bolted on CF bits, improvements to existing tech instead of adoption of new tech (e-gear refinement instead of dual-clutch for example) with no significant new model intros aside from the boutique Reventon, etc, all show that Lambo is doing the best they can under the circumstances of a very tight leash.

 

This is the thing that has been bugging me lately on here. The amount of people saying Lambo having no money, they need to do this that and the other but how many years out of the x many years Lambo has been around, how many have been profitable?

How long was the production cycle on the Diablo? It has been like that for years and we still loved them.

The state Lambo is in not anything new.

 

I am sure the 458 is a very capable car, I am sure it has many fans but I look at it and it just leaves me cold and in my opinion it looks like a Japanese manufacturer tried to make an automotive hammerhead shark.

The LP560 spider is just better than pretty and it will be a classic, the proportions on the side profile are just so perfect. Can you say that about the 458? Will the 458 still look modern in 5 years time?

Not starting a pissing contest but that's the thing the 458 will not be here in 5 years it's replacement will be here by then. Lambo simply doesn't have anything at this time I'm interested in. Had a Gallardo, and Murci, now what? I love both brands and have owned both I'm just not going to buy 10 different Gallardo's and 5 different murci's of ever increasing msrp's and going to be happy or excited about it. Just my .02.

Not starting a pissing contest but that's the thing the 458 will not be here in 5 years it's replacement will be here by then. Lambo simply doesn't have anything at this time I'm interested in. Had a Gallardo, and Murci, now what? I love both brands and have owned both I'm just not going to buy 10 different Gallardo's and 5 different murci's of ever increasing msrp's and going to be happy or excited about it. Just my .02.

 

That's the same point I got to. I've had 2 G's and an LP640 and there was nothing new to go to. The Murci replacement will be too much money and probably too much car for me. The 458 suddenly looks good value with SV performance and new tech.

Not starting a pissing contest but that's the thing the 458 will not be here in 5 years it's replacement will be here by then. Lambo simply doesn't have anything at this time I'm interested in. Had a Gallardo, and Murci, now what? I love both brands and have owned both I'm just not going to buy 10 different Gallardo's and 5 different murci's of ever increasing msrp's and going to be happy or excited about it. Just my .02.

True. The 360 lasted only 5 years then the 430 came out in '04, now the 458. I've said it before an I'll say it again, you have to admit, Ferrari just does so many things "right" on so many levels. The only thing they've missed is the visual design of the 458 (although the side profile of it isn't so bad).

True. The 360 lasted only 5 years then the 430 came out in '04, now the 458. I've said it before an I'll say it again, you have to admit, Ferrari just does so many things "right" on so many levels. The only thing they've missed is the visual design of the 458 (although the side profile of it isn't so bad).

 

The thing is that the F430 was Ferrari's version of the LP560 - a mid-life update for their five-year-old entry-level car. But Ferrari make such an effort to differentiate the updated cars from their predecessors that most people perceive the 430 as a new car, whereas the LP560, with its mildly tweaked body, same name, modest performance bump and virtually identical interior, is just another Gallardo. Nobody was complaining about the F430 being old, stale and overdue for a replacement in 2006, but that's where we are with the Gallardo at an equivalent point in its lifespan.

I understand that Ferrari has several orders of magnitude more cash to spend than Lamborghini does, so we couldn't realistically have expected any more from the 560 on the engineering front. But I bet that if Lambo had invested in a new, very differently styled bodyshell, swapped around some interior bits and slapped a new name on top of the LP560's upgrades, they'd be selling a lot more of them right now, because it would seem like a fresh product.

 

 

Anyway, edging a bit closer to being on topic, CAR Magazine has a gallery of shots online from their recent trip in a 458 from Maranello to Woking. Some of them are really stunning.

The magazine (which I received my subscription copy of yesterday) also has a very interesting, long and in-depth article comparing the 458 with the upcoming McLaren MP4-12C, featuring lots of interviews with members of the teams behind both cars (they even get them talking about the rival's car in a few places).