Ferrari 488 GTB
The 488 GTB is fully turbocharged. Will it blow us away or blow up in Ferrari’s face?
A turbo? Surely a mistake. Well, Maranello’s 458 replacement gloriously proves it isn’t
So here it is: the Ferrari 488 GTB, the turbocharged replacement for the 458 Italia. It’s a car that seems to have courted controversy, simply because it introduces turbocharging into Ferrari’s heartland mid-engined supercar, following on from last year’s California T. But why the grimace and the slightly dismissive attitude to a Prancing Horse with boost? Admittedly, the 458 Speciale’s 9,000rpm, 605bhp 4.5-litre naturally aspirated crescendo will be missed, but a Ferrari with forced induction isn’t exactly new, and I doubt any of us would pass over the opportunity to own or drive an F40, 288 GTO or 208 GTB Turbo. So let’s not get ahead of ourselves – turbo Ferraris are not necessarily a bad thing, and the 488 GTB has some tricks up its newly fared sleeves to keep us happy.
For a start, and the obvious big news, the motor. It’s a 3902cc (the sub-four-litre category remaining important for tax reasons in some countries) V8 twin-turbo that makes 661bhp and 457lb ft of torque. A signifcant amount of horsepower in a car that weighs 1,370kg, some 10kg less than a standard 458. More importantly, it makes these prodigious figures while only producing 260g/km of CO2, a 15 per cent drop over the previous car, and a progressive downward curve necessary for Ferrari. Don’t forget that even though Maranello gets small-manufacturer exemptions for reduction of CO2 emissions across its products, if it doesn’t show willing, those exemptions will be revoked. With the 1999 360 Modena rated at 415g/km and latterly the 458 Speciale down to 275, the 488 is showing that Ferrari is taking care of eco-business.
Meanwhile, we get a mid-size Ferrari with a suspiciously one-potato-two-potato 661bhp, just that little bit more than, say – completely randomly – the McLaren 650S. It’s a turbocharged car that manages to rev to a glorious 8,000rpm. Big news, and probably the result of larger turbos than those on the California T: small, quick--
“It has 661bhp, just a little bit more than, say – completely randomly – the McLaren 650S”
spinning turbos cut lag but restrict the exhaust at high revs, bigger turbos allow for revs (like in the 488) but tend to introduce more lag from the throttle. We shall see how successful Ferrari has been at managing big-revs turbocharging with lag-free response.
It is also wise to point out the explicit fraternal links, because Ferrari has learned a lot from the California T. The Cali has a very complicated exhaust manifold to keep the fat-crank noise, and the 488 is likely to have the same, with the press information promising that: “Ferrari’s engineers have dedicated great attention to perfecting the 488 GTB’s sound, creating a new soundtrack that is full, clear and totally distinctive, as expected from any Prancing Horse engine.” Meaning that Ferrari are pre-empting the naysayers about dull-sounding turbo engines, which can sound more industrial than their atmospherically fed counterparts.
The 488 also gets Variable Torque Management like its bigger brother, which limits torque in lower gears – the full weight of lb ft is only achievable in 7th gear – to encourage you to seek out the upper ranges, and smoothing some of the feeling of boost. Ferrari uses a similarsounding technique in the LaFerrari, in which the electric motor is used to ‘torque-shape’ the graphs for more natural and pleasing response, and it’s a similar idea here, making the 488 react more like a naturally aspirated car. Unsurprisingly, the 488 is fast: 0–62mph in 3.0secs might be on a par with the outgoing 458 Speciale, but let them both run to 124mph, and the 488 GTB will fnd itself a second clear. Be under no illusions, 0–124mph in 8.3 seconds will be quick enough for most. Top speed is an almost arbitrary 205mph.
To help you maintain progress without suddenly fnding yourself facing entry rather than apex, there’s also the usual gamut of Ferrari’s dif and electronic tech. A new version of Side Slip Angle Control – called, imaginatively, SSC2 – is now more precise and less invasive and works with the F1-Trac dif and the car’s active damping to keep the car fat and stable “during complex dynamic manoeuvres”. For which we like to substitute the phrase: “joyous hooning about”.
The styling is the other new aspect, this time coming equipped with a huge 50 per cent more downforce allied to reduced drag versus the 458. A seemingly counterintuitive piece of physics. But the 488 gets a double front spoiler, ‘base bleed’ side intakes (which feed the radiators and intercoolers for the turbos), active aero and a ‘blown’ spoiler. There’s also a set of vortex generators underneath the rear of the car to help manage airfow, and the kicked-up difuser – which itself features active faps – has necessitated the need to move the exhausts up and away.
The initial pictures look excellent, maintaining Ferrari’s necessary familial resemblance, but updating the now fve-year-old 458’s insectile facial features and stance. It could possibly be a little… hippy, in real life, but we’ll have to wait and see. But thankfully we won’t have to wait very long: Ferrari reckons we’ll be driving the 488 GTB soon. Prices will be announced at the Geneva motor show, and it looks like it’s going to be a very interesting summer indeed.