Tune into a home buying show on HGTV for any amount of time and you'll quickly discover the best methods used by real estate agents to help sway the minds of the picky and particular. Foremost among them: Reveal the best aspects of the home first; even if that means trundling through the front door blindfolded in order to see the back yard at the outset.
Well, I'll sing the same song with this car, the Ferrari California. The pictures at the top of this post showcase the new Ferrari in the best light. Moving downward, the California disappointing design closes the show. Ferrari's cars are so good now that a little mayhem in the studio stile is barely relevant to a 23-year old point guard in the NBA who wants to impress friends and foes while at the same time enjoying serious horsepower and the magic of an Italian supercar.
Thus, for the sake of no one in particular, The Good Car Guy has written an exhaustive Lowdown with the purpose of clarifying the California. Populist views seem to state that the Ferrari California isn't the Ferrari we, the paupers, thought it should be. On the other hand, Sales Stats will likely bear out a different truth, one that clearly designates the California as a massive earner for Ferrari.
FERRARI'S FACTS
1 - Californias are larger in almost every key dimension than their stablemates, the Ferrari F430 & 430 Spider, except for width where the F430 spans an extra inch or so.
2 - Most definitively, the California's unique-at-Ferrari ability is the retractability of its hardtop, a feat that can be accomplished in 20 seconds; or brought back up in 19 seconds.
3 - Ferrari says the California harks back to the 250 California of 1957, a car they say was "born to race".
4 - Seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher was involved in the California's dynamic setup since the project's inception.
5 - When sucked to the ground by 70 kilograms of downforce at 200km/h, the California is likely releasing far more than its official figure of 310 grams of CO2 per kilometre.
GOODCARBADCAR'S LOWDOWN
1 - Nobody is yet demanding Priusesque fuel efficiency in their Modenese convertibles. This Ferrari's 11mpg performance in Car&Driver is laughable nonetheless.
2 - How do 453-bhp cycling through a 7-speed direct-shift gearbox result in an EPA city figure of 13mpg and real-world fuel economy of 11mpg? Blame the California's folding hardtop for packing on the pounds for the weight disparity between the California and the 430 Spider; 772 pounds lighter.
3 - Full of bad angles the California may be, but the successful angles are very good indeed. Bring the top up then walk away from the car in a diagonal line from either headlight and turn around. Looks nice.
4 - Californias can top 190 miles per hour (over 300km/h) and accelerate to 60mph with the type of ferocity that, only two or three years ago, belonged to the hardcore supercar. Label this super if you like; it's still far from hardcore. Yet 100 miles per hour is here and gone in 9.1 seconds.
5 - Ferrari has priced the California at the bottom of its convertible range. However, the California is not the Dino impoverished auto scribes yearned for. In the U.S., a no-options California is $197,350. Sacrifice the folding hardtop and you can save $10,425 on an F430. It'll be more fun to drive.
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