California EVO - Ferrari California

[Merc1]

Rating:

It may wear a prancing horse badge, but is it a true Ferrari?

We know that Ferrari can do extreme, passionately focused and engaging, but can it do novel, versatile and cosseting? Perhaps more pertinently, should it? The California takes Ferrari into new territory, into a region of the market that is defined by the cars already in residence. There are expectations, then, and the California is equipped to meet them, but can it nail the demands of the class and still be unmistakably a Ferrari?

It’s a question that seems to bother Ferrari itself. A predictably confident press conference detailed the key features of the car, namely a torque-biased evolution of the F430’s 4.3-litre V8 with gasoline direct injection (GDI), a new DSG-style seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, a folding metal hardtop and a new suspension design developed with ride comfort in mind. These are all firsts for Ferrari, and I detected a faint whiff of anxiety in the ranks.

The California takes the company outside its comfort zone and invites comparison with a range of impressive adversaries including the Porsche 911 Turbo Cabrio, Aston Martin DB9 Volante, Bentley Continental GTC and Mercedes SL, which in SL63 AMG form offers a hurtfully powerful V8, seven-speed paddle-shift gearbox and folding metal roof. We’ll come back to that later. The 453bhp California charts at the low end of the power table, yet when it arrives in the UK in the middle of next year priced at £143,320 it will be more expensive than any of them.


Full Review: EVO - Ferrari California


M

 

[bmer]

As expected the California has much different kind of character than other Ferraris. It's best suited for long-distance driving. Therefore the fact that it got 4.5 stars from EVO was a surprise for me, I was expecting 3,5 to 4 stars but not 4.5.