| Monday, January 18, 2010 |
19:31 - Ow, my Eye-talia
http://www.roadandtrack.com/tests/impressions/2010-ferrari-458-italia/
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I'm having a hard time understanding why everyone's so gaga over the Ferrari 458 Italia. Even Robert Cumberford, in this month's Automobile, has a fawning Design Analysis where he describes it as a car that bucks the trend in its predecessors of "playing it safe", in which "once again originality, beauty, and excitement are synonymous with the hallowed name" of Ferrari.
I don't know. I'm not feeling it.
Seriously? That bubble top, which looks to be designed for seven-footers? The seating position nearer the front wheels than the rears? The proportions on this car just leave me feeling creeped out. Compare this side view to the 355:
Just a bit more elegant, to my eyes. Sure, the 458 is more audacious, but audacity without grace describes many of history's greatest catastrophes.
And then there's this:
That's really the best shape they could think of to deal with the rear quarter-panel windows and the up-sweeping curve that defines their lower edge? It looks like a guy pulling up the collar of his turtleneck to hide his receding chin.
This is of course leaving out all the other aspects of the car, like the total lack of a manual transmission. Sure, "purists can howl all they want, put the people who actually buy Ferraris have voted", as the Automobile article accompanying the design analysis all but gloats. Still, one has to wonder whether Enzo's approach to the road car business really was this mercenary—anything it took to fund the race team—or if he'd be smacking heads around if he were free to wander about the factory today.
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Brian Tiemann
