Ferrari F8 Reviews

Russian dash-cam footage may dominate the world of viral motoring videos, but the Middle East still wins when it comes to truly crazy car culture. Whether it's hypercars abandoned in the desert or rich Saudi Arabians posing with supercars and their pet tigers and lions (seriously, that's a thing now), the Internet is awash with very wealthy people doing very silly things. DON'T MISS: Crazy truck jump | video This young kid hooning a Ferrari 458 Italia around a dusty parking lot is the latest, and we're just as confused as you are. Who owns the Ferrari? How do two kids -- the one driving and the one holding the camera -- get access to such a thing? ALSO SEE: Watch a Jaguar XJ220 hoon around a farm | video Luckily, despite shouting what we assume is the Arabic for "watch this!", the kid manages to avoid destroying the 458 as he zips around the parking lot. Impressive age of the driver aside though, it's a bit of a disappointing video. Any true hoon would have turned off the traction control first... Watch video here.  

Hybrids, for a long time, were synonymous with everything that isn't fun about driving--commutes, traffic, gas mileage, and penny pinching. Lately, they've taken on a new high-performance sheen, perhaps nowhere as much so as at Ferrari.The LaFerrari hypercar is, put simply, obscene in its perversion of hybrid technology. We love it. It's a 708kW, no-all-electric-mode, sub-three-second-to-100km/h, more than 350-km/h-top-speed, this-clearly-isn't-about-saving-the-planet hybrid. But don't call it an electric car, or Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo might get a bit cross with you.Why? According to Bloomberg, di Montezemolo doesn't believe in electric cars. Presumably, that means he finds them unsuitable to Ferrari's mission of exclusive performance rather than merely unsuitable for reality.With examples like the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electric Drive out setting sub-8-minute Nordschleife laps, it's clear EVs can be made quick, if not quite truly fast, but then you'd expect it of a 560kW/1000Nm supercar, whatever fuel delivers that power. Unfortunately, the maximum range of the (roughly) US$550,000 SLS AMG Electric Drive is just 250km even with much more temperate use, and it takes about 20 hours to charge without the optional quick charger. Perhaps that's what di Montezemolo is talking about.Ferrari, meanwhile, is already joined at the upper end of the exotic hybrid segment with the McLaren P1 knocking out similar acceleration and top speed figures, despite sporting just 673kW, and the Porsche 918 Spyder making do with 653kW yet still achieving similar performance.Whose machine will reign supreme? Allez hybrids!www.motorauthority.com 

Ferrari’s hardcore 458 Italia, the successor to the 430 Scuderia, has been revealed as the new Ferrari 458 Speciale.

A 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4*S NART Spyder set a world record on the weekend for the highest price paid at auction for the Italian brand.One of just 10 built, it went for US $27.5m ($29.9m) with buyers fees under the hammer of the RM Auctions event in Monterey, California.That’s still short of the highest price ever paid for any car – again a Ferrari – which is the US$35m ($38m) for a private sale in June last year for a 1962 Ferrari GTO 250 race car originally built for British champion Stirling Moss.However the NART Spyder – named for the North American Racing Team – still went for nearly double the RM Auctions estimate of US$14-17m, and millions more than its original asking price of about $15,000.One of an edition of just 10, the Ferrari 275 GTB/4*S NART Spyder was reportedly sold to Canadian fashion Lawrence Stroll – the business brains behind the Tommy Hilfiger brand. 

Ferrari is very picky about who it will afford the opportunity of purchasing its latest supercar. The newest of the mad machines is the LaFerrari, and you need a green light from the automaker before you shell out the big bucks needed to buy it.One Filipino man hopes to add the LaFerrari to his garage... so he was forced to first buy the new F12 before he even has a shot at the LaFerrari. The cost of a F12 Berlinetta is around $836,000 in the Philippines. That's an awful lot of money, especially when spending it doesn't ensure that this well-heeled chap will even get a chance to spend more money on the LaFerrari. Still, if you have that close to a million to spend on one car you possibly didn't want as your main goal, then you likely also have enough to spend more than that on another that is the real target.The automaker apparently requires LaFerrari potentials to have at least five prancing horse-badged automobiles in their stable, and this man figured the F12 would fit the bill. We can't feel too bad for the guy, especially considering his new purchase provides him with plenty of power. Ferrari’s newest flagship, the LaFerrari, is the fastest and most powerful road car ever launched by the company.With 715 kilowatts and more than 900 Newton metres of torque delivered by its V12 hybrid drivetrain, the LaFerrari will accelerate to 100km/h in under 3.0 seconds, hit 300km/h in 15 seconds and go on to reach an undisclosed top speed in excess of 350km/h. We assume he takes his accountant for a spin around the block, and then proceeds to drown out his or her voice with the go pedal. That's what we'd do at least.www.motorauthority.com 

Last week, Spanish authorities arrested eight individuals for running a supercar replica business, where mostly fake Ferraris were built using humble Toyota parts and then sold for upwards of 40,000 euros (approximately $60,000).We have no doubt the people buying the fake cars knew they were fake, but as Ferrari points out, this wasn’t like a reproduction of fine art but just forgeries pure and simple. The practice, says the automaker, is akin to those “fake Hermès bags sold in the streets.”While most fans of the Prancing Horse are unlikely to be fooled by the replicas, to the casual observer we wouldn’t be surprised if the cars were believed to be the real deal.Don’t agree? Just take a quick look at this video from the Spanish National Police, which was posted up on World Car Fans. It shows just a handful of the 19 replicas that were seized last week (17 Ferraris and two Aston Martins) and shows just how deceptive the cars actually were.Not only are the cars’ styling and proportions accurate, their exhausts have been tuned to sound like a genuine supercar. Our only question now is: Who were actually buying the cars?www.motorauthority.com 

We see numerous replica supercars come and go, including some that could fool even an expert’s eye, but rarely do you hear of the cars’ builders being busted by the cops, despite the obvious copyright infringements and other breaches of the law that typically go hand in hand with replica supercars.  That wasn’t the case for the unscrupulous builders of these replica Ferraris, who were arrested and had the contents of their workshop in Valencia, Spain seized by the local authorities. A total of 19 cars, most of them Ferrari F430 replicas, though some Aston Martin models were also present, were seized by police. Eight men were arrested and charged. The cars were sold over the Internet and were priced from 40,000 euros (approximately $59,300), according to the police. There’s been no mention of what donor vehicles were used for the replicas but a Toyota engine was visible suggesting one of the vehicles may have been an MR2. The mid-engine Toyota is a popular choice among replica supercar builders. The replicas themselves were made from fibreglass and featured highly detailed engine bays, the police said. We can see that Ferrari wheels and even Ferrari-labeled brake callipers were also copied. www.motorauthority.com  

I could be suffering from 'F' lag. It's like jet lag, but you get it from spending too much time in a Ferrari. A couple of days is all right but any longer than this and you simply won't want to give it back.It leaves this horrible, gnawing feeling in the pit of your stomach  an emptiness that just can't be filled. I started to feel this way shortly after handing back the keys to the fabulous 458 Spider on Friday afternoon. The first day you're too cautious to enjoy the experience, the next day you start to get the hang of it and by the third day you and the car begin to bond  then just as suddenly it's over . . .VALUEBig breath. It kicks off from $588,000 with various carbon fibre bits and pieces extra for ludicrous amounts of money. Not even my surgeon mate who owns a Porsche can afford one of these babies. This is a bloke who works 90 hours a week and can remove a brain tumour through your nose. In which case, what the hell hope is there for a paper bagger like me?DESIGNIt's incredibly low and wide, almost too wide for our driveway gates which in part contributes to its fantastic handling. Push the button and the Pininfarina styled, mid-engined sports car magically transforms into an open topped roadster, with two seats  one for you and anyone game to be your passenger.There's a penalty for this convenience because you lose the transparent engine cover of the hardtop. Most people comment on how quiet the car, that is until the baffles open and the exhaust gives full vent to the V8. Then you can hear it coming from a block away.ENGINEIt's powered by a 4.5-litre naturally aspirated V8 that delivers 419kW of power at 9000 revs and 540Nm of torque at 6000 revs, enough mumbo to propel the mid-engined Spider from rest to 100km/h in a withering 3.4 seconds. The old 'quarter mile' takes 11.4 seconds and it has a top speed where permissible of 320km/h.The state of the art V8 features direction injection and a dry sump, with fuel consumption of 11.8 litres/100km from the 86 litre tank. Although it has a trip computer, the one thing it doesn't tell you is average fuel consumption  suffice to say we got just under 500km from the 86-litre tank. But, as the service manager pointed out, if you can afford to own one, you're not going to be too concerned about how much fuel it uses.DRIVINGWe were tentative, very tentative at first. But the Spider is actually very easy to drive once you get the hang of it. Several "take me for a rides" later, we were banging through the gears like a pro. The V8 is hooked up to a seven-speed twin clutch Getrag transmission that operates as an auto, or you can change gears with the large, steering wheel mounted change paddles.Doing so elicits a much more satisfying response, with a jolt each time it changes up  bang, bang, bang! The sound is to die for. Various drive modes are accessed through the Manettino flip switch affixed to the steering wheel, from wet to sport to full off for the traction system.Reverse is engaged via a button at the the foot of the centre instrument console and there is even a button for raising the front of the car so it doesn't scrape over driveways. The JBL audio system is secreted somewhere behind the dash and the controls are accessible only though the right hand of the two computer screens which doubles as a huge digital speedometer.VERDICTIt's a cruel world. How can something so spectacularly good remain so impossibly out of reach. Then again what is the point when the speed limit is 110km/h and it can do 320km/h, with plenty of cops wanting nothing better than to put your red feather in their cap   the disconnect is enormous.Ferrari 458 SpiderPrice: from $588,000Engine: 4.5-litre V8 , 419kW/540NmTransmission: seven-speed twin clutch auto, RWDThirst: 17.2L/100km (as tested), 11.8L/100km combined cycle0-100 km/h: 3.4 seconds 

A fleet of 11 supercars, which included two Bugatti Veyrons, have sold at auction for just 3.1 million euros (approximately $4.4 million) in France. The cars originally belonged to Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, but were seized by French authorities during a 2011 investigation over the alleged theft of public funds in the African nation.The cars were seized at the President’s 101-room mansion near the Champs Elysees in Paris and included the aforementioned Bugattis -- which are priced at the equivalent of $1.5 million in overseas markets -- as well as a rare Ferrari Enzo ($1.7m overseas), a Maserati MC12 ($1.5m overseas), a Porsche GT2 RS ($560,000 here), a Ferrari 599 GTO ($569,000 overseas), a Rolls-Royce Phantom ($1.1m), a Maybach ($1.1m), an Aston Martin Vanquish ($472,000) and a pair of Bentleys, including an Azure ($750,000 here).According to International Business Times, the cars were sold by auction house Drouot and most had little or no mileage on them. Considering that a Bugatti Veyron alone, even used, will set you back more than a million dollars, the winning bidders have made quite the deal. Other items seized from the President’s Paris residence included vintage wines, jewellery, and paintings by renowned artists such as Degas and Renoir.Court documents reveal that the 11 cars were among a larger fleet of 26 exotics that were shipped to France from the US in 2009 at a total cost of $12 million. Many have since been transported on to Equatorial Guinea -- despite most of the roads there being little more than dirt tracks.The documents also reveal that an arrest warrant has been issued for Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue for the charge of misuse of public funds. The government of Equatorial Guinea is allegedly trying to appeal the case and have the investigation blocked on the grounds of diplomatic immunity, since it claims the Paris mansion where the cars were seized was part of the country's embassy.www.motorauthority.com