Ferrari's early cars were dominated by V12 engines. But the Italian sports car maker inherited its first V8 from Lancia in 1955, and its mid-engined V8 sport coupes have been the backbone of the company's model range for the last 35 years. Strictly speaking, the first road-going production-V8 Ferrari was the wedge-shaped, Bertone-designed Dino GT4 of 1973. The most recognizable was of course the Pininfarina-designed 308 launched at the 1975 Paris Motor Salon—a car that starred quite prominently in the hit TV series Magnum PI. The engine uses the same basic castings as last year's Ferrari Californiamodel, but the machining is different, with a longer-stroke crankshaft giving 4.5-liters instead of 4.3. The pistons and tappets get low-friction coatings, and the crankcase is divided into two air chambers to minimize pumping losses, which also requires two scavenge pumps for the dry sump. Ferrari uses valves in the intake manifold to open up different plenum chambers and increase low-end torque, and valves in the muffler that reduce back pressure and create lots of lovely noise through the trio of exhaust snaps.
This motor is a fairly insane beast, with the 90-degree, double-overhead-cam, 32-valve mill producing 562 hp at a screaming 9000 rpm and 398 lb-ft of torque at 6000 rpm—a huge increase over the 483-hp F430. The 458's top speed is 202 mph, with 0 to 62 mph in less than 3.4 seconds and 0 to 124 mph arriving in just 10.4 seconds. That means this Ferrari can run to nearly 130 mph before a Toyota Priushits 60 mph.
So never mind the current F430; this car is faster to 60 mph than a Ferrari Enzo and less than a second slower than that epochal million-dollar car to 124 mph. Yikes. What's more, Ferrari has even managed to improve the fuel economy and the 458 achieves 17.68 mpg (U.S.) in the NEDC combined cycle, although around town or if you start using the performance, you'll struggle to better 10 mpg (U.S.).
