Ferrari Takes You Inside the 458 Italia

The paddles don't move with the wheel? Really? That seems low-class for this F430 successor when I think the G37 and BMW3s have that!

I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one, fuhteng. I find paddles that move with the steering wheel to be very aggravating. Making them longer and easy to access seems like a good idea.

To each their own crowb (: I don't think I've ever driven a car with them, so I don't know, it just struck me as odd. The 458 is #3 on my want list with whatever tranny you want to drop in it (#1 - F430, #2 V8 Vantage).

Having paddles that are attached to the wheel seems like the wrong idea in a street car. the turning ratios in street cars are nothing like the turning ratios in race cars where lock to lock is only maybe a full turn but a road car is sometimes close to three full turns. This way changing gears in a turn is easier because its always in the same location not on the bottom or other side of the wheel. Just my thoughts. I think the GT-R's are also stationary.

It looks like even mighty Ferrari is now pandering to the iDrive-type nav system (check out the screen to the right of the tach).

Another over-the-top Ferrari interior...they're so classless these days. Totally not my style.

"I know it's a stretch but am I the only one that sees hints of the instrument cluster/dash from the Honda S2000?"

I can see a slight resemblance to the S2K interior however the 458 and S2k are both F1 inspired.

@clarkma5

+1, nice to finally see a blog that hasn't been drinking the Ferrari Kool-Aid! I got verbally bashed at other blogs for mentioning that this Ferrari may not be as good looking as the previous ones.

Plus on a side note, I drove the F430 once and the horn placement (same place as the 458) is absolutely horrible! Every time I made a turn I would accidentally hit the horn, especially if you driving spiritedly. Now with near 20 buttons on this steering wheel it seems like a ergonomic nightmare!

That is one butt-ugly dash/instrument cluster. Looks like it was designed by MINI!

The dash does not look that bad but in a way it looks very cheap. At least the steering wheel has a nice shape but the buttons kind of ruin it.

I don't understand why they put the turn signals on the wheel when a stalk would have been fine.

It looks inconvenient and albeit a lot of people will find it counter-intuitive.

Although I am really looking forward to this car, I'm not sold on the interior. I've never been a fan of "driver focused" interiors. Not sure why. Also, why the hell would they get rid of the itdicator stock? Seems like a change just for the sake of it.

Is there a speedometer? Am I missing it?

As for the paddles, at least if they're stationary you know where you are while you are turning the wheel. I've driven paddle shifters that turn with the wheel and while turning you don't know where the paddles are! ;) Since you're not supposed to cross your hands anyway while turning leaving the paddles stationary is actually easier while driving fast.

I think the gearbox paddles are still located on the stalk. They are barley visible behind the thumb rests on the wheel.

I think the sentence "the most notable feature is the lack of control stalks mounted to the steering column" is only referring to the lack of stalks for indicators, and such. I do not believe they would consider the paddles "stalks".

Also if the paddles were in fact on the steering wheel I doubt they would have said "The Italian car design firm also made the gearbox paddles longer, making shifting easy regardless of what angle the steering wheel is positioned". If they were on the wheel, making them longer would have little to no effect.

Recent Ferraris all have fixed paddles and I think its the correct set up. You know where they are at all times, regardless of the rotation of the steering wheel.

Did Kenwood boombox department design this?

This is easily the ugliest dash I have seen in a very long time.
It looks soo busy and hyper in the way it was drawn with all it's incohesive angles and surfaces....really ugly! I see no harmony anywhere in there. like they ran out of time to finish the job!

As much as I like the exterior of the 358 Italia, this interior could very well be a deal breaker!
Fortunately I am not exactly in the market for a Ferrari right now.

The wheel looks fine but the dash seems to have taken a bit of the "mod pod" look that the original Isuzu Eclipse had in spade. It looks kind of cheap-O to me.