Kief Cars

The Ferrari 458 Italia has been introduced at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, currently ongoing in Germany. The sports car was codenamed the F142 and was long rumoured to be named the F450, but it will be called the Ferrari 458 Italia. The car takes its name from the engine, a 4.5 litre V8. The Ferrari 458 Italia has a 7 speed dual clutch gearbox which directs power to the rear axle. The car’s aluminum structure helps keep weight under control.

The Ferrari 458 Italia will be capable of doing 0 – 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds. According to Ferrari the car is “a completely new car from every point of view: engine, design, aerodynamics, handling, instrumentation and ergonomics, just to name a few”. The Ferrari 458 Italia is just over 4.5 meters long and just over 1.9 meters wide. The car will be able to reach a top speed of +/- 325 km/h (202 mph). Despite the engine being bigger than the ones used in the Ferrari 458 Italia’s predecessors, the emissions are reduced and the car is quite economical. The car is capable of travelling 100 km on 13.7 liters of fuel. This sports car promises to be one of the most memorable Ferrari vehicles, in my opinion. Because of the price tag on this vehicle, it’s highly unlikely that we will see many of these cars on the roads of South Africa. It will probably cost more than R2 million here if it’s ever released here.

The Ferrari California was released as a grand touring sports car at the Paris Motor Show in 2008. The car is 2 door hard-top convertible. The Ferrari California is fitted with a 4.3L V8 motor. The car revives the “California” name used for the Ferrari 250 GT from the late 1950s. This the first Ferrari with a V8 front engine, the first Ferrari with 7-speed dual clutch transmission, the first Ferrari with a folding metal roof, the first Ferrari with a multi-link rear suspension and the first Ferrari with direct petrol injection. This car has been awarded the 2009 Best New Convertible award by the Du Pont Registry. The Ferrari California has a top speed of 310 km/h (193 mph) and can do 0 – 100 km/h in under 4 seconds. The car was officially launched at 2 cities, in Los Angeles in the USA and Ferrari’s home town of Maranello in Italy in September 2008.

Since one has to pay over $200,000 for this vehicle, the Ferrari California will never be in the grasp of my budget, but a boy can dream. This truly is one of the most beautiful Ferrari sports cars and convertibles I’ve ever seen. It came as no surprise to me when I found that the Ferrari California had been sold out until 2011. Ferrari is going ahead with production for 2,800 cars in 2009 and 3,000 cars in 2010. According to sources at Ferrari, 60% of buyers who ordered the car have never owned a Ferrari. This means that Ferrari have definately made an impression with this car. It saddens me to say that one will not find a car like this listed on a classifieds website. Owners of Ferrari Californias will probably hold on to their investments than re-sell them as bargains. The collector types will probably store their Ferrari California and take it out for a spin once a year.

This was the Ferrari model driven by Will Smith in Bad Boys 2. The Ferrari 575 M Maranello was produced by the Italian car maker between 2002 – 2006. This model was an update for the Ferrari 550 Maranello. This sports car boasts a 5.7 litre V12 engine and is capable of reaching 327 km/h (203 mph). The car can reach 0 – 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.2 seconds. In my opinion, this is probably not a car for the faint-hearted.

This definately is one of my favorite Ferrari’s. This is thanks to the car chase scene in Bad Boys 2. I can imagine that there’s probably nothing on earth like putting pedal to the metal in the driver’s seat of a Ferrari 575 M Maranello.

Related Links:
Ferrari – Official Website

The Ferrari F50 was introduced in 1995 to celebrate Ferrari’s 50th anniversary. The F50 is a 2 door, 2 seat convertible with a removable hardtop. It was fitted with a 4.7 litre naturally-aspirated 60-valve V12 engine. There were only 349 units produced between 1995 and 1997 of this vehicle. Let’s face it, your average man on the street can’t afford a car like this, but it’s still nice to look at.

Here a few pictures of the Ferrari F50:

It seems that I’ll have to look for second hand sport cars for sale in the classifieds since I can’t afford this beauty of a car.

Related Links:
Ferrari – Official Website.