Hi- New member + California review
Discussion
Hi gents
So I can't really introduce myself in the lounge as it's blocked off for 14 days, so I thought I'd do so here. I took delivery of my California a couple weeks ago and took a trip down to the coast in it (I'm in South Africa), so got to enjoy lots of roof down, seaside, sunshine.
Anyway This was a review I've put together of my impressions of the car so far:
Alright I’m going to try do a decent photo shoot at the old hoon venue in the coming week, but i thought i’d lay my thoughts down in the interim.
Some will remember that i drove one around June last year and was left a little disappointed. However deposits were paid so i amended my spec to something that would be easier to sell on, and continued with the order i’d placed previously.
Roll on December 2009 and I have an SO and baby to get from jhb to zimbali, and would really like to have a convertible at the coast. So I take it for myself.
It must be said that to find a convertible that is able to do the above isn’t all that easy. In fact the only other heavy hitting sports car that can is the BMW M6 cab. I stand to be corrected?
It must be said that Ferrari clearly set out to create a practical, usable car and in this respect they have succeeded. The rear seats have usable leg room, head room not so much but with the roof down it can accommodate 4 on shorter trips. Boot is massive with the roof up, and can handle beach bags/shopping/bits and pieces with it down. It also has fold down seats, the aperture is small due the pop up roll bars on either side, but for golf clubs or whatever its great. Isofix on the two back seats.
To carry on the practicality theme it has nice attention to detail. The front seats move forward when you flip the backrest forward (and back again of course), the funky floor console which manages to have a swoopy cool looking metal design actually incorporates really handy, open rubberised stash space, without looking too ‘practical’. This is actually a problem with a lot of cars of all types that in order to create stylish design, they’ve omitted open storage space around the floor and centre console. On longer trips when you got garage cards that need to be at hand for toll booths, cell phones floating around and other bits and pieces, it really comes in handy.
In addition it has a touch screen infotainment centre. The unit is actually the mysomething from Chrysler, but who cares, its about the best system i’ve experienced. Built in hard drive, usb ports, a gazillion arb functions, phone, voice activation, ipod (optional) so it goes. And more impressively for an exotic in south Africa, it has working navigation!!!
Other bits and pieces include memory elec seats and wheel (think i paid extra for that though as part of the sports seats) electro-chromatic mirror, rain/light sensor, full colour screen in the instruments to tell you whats happening in the cars life, parking sensors (optional), tyre sensors (optional) cruise control (optional), spare wheel (standard, but just gets dumped in the boot, a foam/compressor kit is fitted under the boot floor however) bixenons, dual climate control, etc etc etc.
Funnily enough while the above is expected on something like a golf GTI, it’s actually really impressive on an exotic and unexpected. Go figure.
The folding metal roof is quick and has a clever origami design and it basically just works well.
Were this to be a bmw 3 series convertible competitor, yeah it would get my thumbs up. But it is of course a Ferrari with the associated price tag, so the driving experience which will follow is the make or break.
While the ideal drivers car is undoubtedly a stripped out racer, a far more rewarding ownership experience for many is a car that can be used in as many situations as possible, but still provides a great driving experience.
As mentioned the cali does a great job of being accessible, it handled to trip to kzn and back with ease, luggage and people.
Was quiet on the open road, roof seals well, 7 gear box enables you to keep the revs (and noise) low at cruising speeds. It has some issue no doubt, the central locking button is on the roof, the electric parking brake button is by your ankles as is the Hill hold which has an LED you obviously can’t see. But never the less it does have all of these functions, the hill hold specifically is really handy with a dual clutch manumatic gearbox.
Ok it’s practical. Get it? But if only it was that simple, because not only is it trying to be practical for the owner, the rings such a car has to jump through in terms of legislation these days is insane. Front design is limited hugely by the need for pedestrian protection. The boot needs to have a massive opening to be able to accommodate the roof which requires the traditional round rear light to be incorporated. But then of course there needs to be separate light units at the back as your tail lights and indicators have to be fixed. Then you’re trying to accommodate a 2+2 with a decent boot.
It carries on to the gearbox and engine. In order to comply with emissions legislation, the engine is now a direct injection unit. It has a rather rough fuel cut off when coasting. Noise legislation complicates things with the exhaust.
Intense.
So the driving. Well you get into the optional fancy seats and it feels good. Great range of adjustment, sporty, everything feels good. You have a turn key ignition and then a red start button on the steering wheel. You also have the infamous Ferrari ‘knob’. On the cali you have less settings than other models. You only have comfort, sport and all electronic aids off. Hooter buttons are by your thumb rests, it all feels good. Big yellow (optional) rev counter in front of you. Speedo to the side, big LCD screen to the other side giving you an exact speed read out, oil/water temp etc etc.
There is a lot of ‘feel good’ factor to the experience of just driving the car around a parking lot for example. It does comfort well, 7 gears keep the noise and urgent nature of the high revving engine under control, the practical concerns, the good visibility, good sound system, it’s a great cruiser. The gear box is no less smooth than a well sorted automatic.
But drive it like a Ferrari and its a different story. Launch control and sport mode. Off the line is puts its power down perfectly, gearchanges are brutally quick but effective, engine finally starts making some proper noise and it feels like its sucked its belly in to reveal a 6 pack instead of the slight boep that was there before.
Perhaps the greatest test of a sports car is a simple off the line full blast. Many exotics fall short with the gearbox, traction and chassis shortcomings. This is fantastic.
I’ve always been a fan of paddle gearboxes because it allows you to change gears all the time and without thinking, this gearbox is very smooth and very fast. But admittedly about fugging time Ferrari got it right.
However, there is an issue. The dry weight is 1630kg and it has only 338kw and 485nm, both of which are very high up the rev range. Now I know the fancy launch control can post sub-4 second 0-100’s, but it just doesn’t have that “omg somebody just wacked me with a baseball bat” kind of power. It’s a huge short coming, because while it may be fast, it doesn’t feel hugely fast and it also needs to be driven hard to go fast. It is just really lacking that thump, if you know what I mean. It’s a sprinter and i seem to prefer my cars to be more like super heavyweight boxers.
So as an ultimate driving machine, no, it needs more power. And it only needs more power. The chassis is great, the steering is great, the brakes are carbon ceramic brembos as standard and are about the best of the type i’ve experienced so far in terms of cold braking and urban situations, but seems to be just as good once being punished.
I feel I’m being unfair in my criticism about the power because it err’s on the side of a car where all of its components can clearly handle more power, rather than the other way around. Which means that take it on a twisty road and you can literally rape it without ever going too fast or over-driving it.
But I guess I’m old school. I like to be able to put my foot down and feel power coming from under the bonnet, not speed coming from fancy gearboxes and clever tricks.
HOWEVER. As I am a dad and I do like to have a daily driver that is a little special and exotic, but still need it to be urban/baby/shopping friendly, it fulfils its role so well that it is a completely unique car on the market.
If I needed to summarise this car in once sentence, i’d simply say it should have been branded as a masarati.
So I can't really introduce myself in the lounge as it's blocked off for 14 days, so I thought I'd do so here. I took delivery of my California a couple weeks ago and took a trip down to the coast in it (I'm in South Africa), so got to enjoy lots of roof down, seaside, sunshine.
Anyway This was a review I've put together of my impressions of the car so far:
Alright I’m going to try do a decent photo shoot at the old hoon venue in the coming week, but i thought i’d lay my thoughts down in the interim.
Some will remember that i drove one around June last year and was left a little disappointed. However deposits were paid so i amended my spec to something that would be easier to sell on, and continued with the order i’d placed previously.
Roll on December 2009 and I have an SO and baby to get from jhb to zimbali, and would really like to have a convertible at the coast. So I take it for myself.
It must be said that to find a convertible that is able to do the above isn’t all that easy. In fact the only other heavy hitting sports car that can is the BMW M6 cab. I stand to be corrected?
It must be said that Ferrari clearly set out to create a practical, usable car and in this respect they have succeeded. The rear seats have usable leg room, head room not so much but with the roof down it can accommodate 4 on shorter trips. Boot is massive with the roof up, and can handle beach bags/shopping/bits and pieces with it down. It also has fold down seats, the aperture is small due the pop up roll bars on either side, but for golf clubs or whatever its great. Isofix on the two back seats.
To carry on the practicality theme it has nice attention to detail. The front seats move forward when you flip the backrest forward (and back again of course), the funky floor console which manages to have a swoopy cool looking metal design actually incorporates really handy, open rubberised stash space, without looking too ‘practical’. This is actually a problem with a lot of cars of all types that in order to create stylish design, they’ve omitted open storage space around the floor and centre console. On longer trips when you got garage cards that need to be at hand for toll booths, cell phones floating around and other bits and pieces, it really comes in handy.
In addition it has a touch screen infotainment centre. The unit is actually the mysomething from Chrysler, but who cares, its about the best system i’ve experienced. Built in hard drive, usb ports, a gazillion arb functions, phone, voice activation, ipod (optional) so it goes. And more impressively for an exotic in south Africa, it has working navigation!!!
Other bits and pieces include memory elec seats and wheel (think i paid extra for that though as part of the sports seats) electro-chromatic mirror, rain/light sensor, full colour screen in the instruments to tell you whats happening in the cars life, parking sensors (optional), tyre sensors (optional) cruise control (optional), spare wheel (standard, but just gets dumped in the boot, a foam/compressor kit is fitted under the boot floor however) bixenons, dual climate control, etc etc etc.
Funnily enough while the above is expected on something like a golf GTI, it’s actually really impressive on an exotic and unexpected. Go figure.
The folding metal roof is quick and has a clever origami design and it basically just works well.
Were this to be a bmw 3 series convertible competitor, yeah it would get my thumbs up. But it is of course a Ferrari with the associated price tag, so the driving experience which will follow is the make or break.
While the ideal drivers car is undoubtedly a stripped out racer, a far more rewarding ownership experience for many is a car that can be used in as many situations as possible, but still provides a great driving experience.
As mentioned the cali does a great job of being accessible, it handled to trip to kzn and back with ease, luggage and people.
Was quiet on the open road, roof seals well, 7 gear box enables you to keep the revs (and noise) low at cruising speeds. It has some issue no doubt, the central locking button is on the roof, the electric parking brake button is by your ankles as is the Hill hold which has an LED you obviously can’t see. But never the less it does have all of these functions, the hill hold specifically is really handy with a dual clutch manumatic gearbox.
Ok it’s practical. Get it? But if only it was that simple, because not only is it trying to be practical for the owner, the rings such a car has to jump through in terms of legislation these days is insane. Front design is limited hugely by the need for pedestrian protection. The boot needs to have a massive opening to be able to accommodate the roof which requires the traditional round rear light to be incorporated. But then of course there needs to be separate light units at the back as your tail lights and indicators have to be fixed. Then you’re trying to accommodate a 2+2 with a decent boot.
It carries on to the gearbox and engine. In order to comply with emissions legislation, the engine is now a direct injection unit. It has a rather rough fuel cut off when coasting. Noise legislation complicates things with the exhaust.
Intense.
So the driving. Well you get into the optional fancy seats and it feels good. Great range of adjustment, sporty, everything feels good. You have a turn key ignition and then a red start button on the steering wheel. You also have the infamous Ferrari ‘knob’. On the cali you have less settings than other models. You only have comfort, sport and all electronic aids off. Hooter buttons are by your thumb rests, it all feels good. Big yellow (optional) rev counter in front of you. Speedo to the side, big LCD screen to the other side giving you an exact speed read out, oil/water temp etc etc.
There is a lot of ‘feel good’ factor to the experience of just driving the car around a parking lot for example. It does comfort well, 7 gears keep the noise and urgent nature of the high revving engine under control, the practical concerns, the good visibility, good sound system, it’s a great cruiser. The gear box is no less smooth than a well sorted automatic.
But drive it like a Ferrari and its a different story. Launch control and sport mode. Off the line is puts its power down perfectly, gearchanges are brutally quick but effective, engine finally starts making some proper noise and it feels like its sucked its belly in to reveal a 6 pack instead of the slight boep that was there before.
Perhaps the greatest test of a sports car is a simple off the line full blast. Many exotics fall short with the gearbox, traction and chassis shortcomings. This is fantastic.
I’ve always been a fan of paddle gearboxes because it allows you to change gears all the time and without thinking, this gearbox is very smooth and very fast. But admittedly about fugging time Ferrari got it right.
However, there is an issue. The dry weight is 1630kg and it has only 338kw and 485nm, both of which are very high up the rev range. Now I know the fancy launch control can post sub-4 second 0-100’s, but it just doesn’t have that “omg somebody just wacked me with a baseball bat” kind of power. It’s a huge short coming, because while it may be fast, it doesn’t feel hugely fast and it also needs to be driven hard to go fast. It is just really lacking that thump, if you know what I mean. It’s a sprinter and i seem to prefer my cars to be more like super heavyweight boxers.
So as an ultimate driving machine, no, it needs more power. And it only needs more power. The chassis is great, the steering is great, the brakes are carbon ceramic brembos as standard and are about the best of the type i’ve experienced so far in terms of cold braking and urban situations, but seems to be just as good once being punished.
I feel I’m being unfair in my criticism about the power because it err’s on the side of a car where all of its components can clearly handle more power, rather than the other way around. Which means that take it on a twisty road and you can literally rape it without ever going too fast or over-driving it.
But I guess I’m old school. I like to be able to put my foot down and feel power coming from under the bonnet, not speed coming from fancy gearboxes and clever tricks.
HOWEVER. As I am a dad and I do like to have a daily driver that is a little special and exotic, but still need it to be urban/baby/shopping friendly, it fulfils its role so well that it is a completely unique car on the market.
If I needed to summarise this car in once sentence, i’d simply say it should have been branded as a masarati.
Nice Cali!
I had a similar view of the Cali when I drove it:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I had a similar view of the Cali when I drove it:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
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