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Giles’ 458 Italia On-Line Scrapbook

giles

giles

Active member
Giles’ 458 Italia On-Line Scrapbook

Hi Folks,
I have just bought a lovely 458 Italia.
So want to start a thread to capture running reports and photos.
It’s an October 2010 vehicle with one owner and just 3,700 miles from new in Nero Daytona with black leather and alcantara racing seats and black carpet.
It has a fully documented history of service from the supplying dealer (Maranello Sales) each and every year without fail with typically 300 to 500 miles between services.
I believe it’s still wearing factory paint all round but I guess time will tell on that one after I’ve given it to the chap who does my detailing and he can do the paint depth assessment.
My initial plans are for paint protection film on the front and get it booked into Stradale Italia for a post purchase inspection in case I need to flag anything with THJ straightaway. It comes with 12 months warranty wise platinum plus warranty, never had one of these and although people say they are as good as you get outside of a Ferrari warranty I imagine there will be plenty of caveats on that.
Photos.....
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I think that looks stunning, but I guess I’m biased!
Cheers, Giles


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hi Folks,
Thanks for the positive comments, I’m quite excited about the car and getting to know it better.
Straight away I can feel the difference between this any my (now) previous 488GTB. As well documented the purposeful deep exhaust note has been changed for a more exuberant Ferrari howl, a howl that requires the manetino (Spelling?) to be switched to Sport on the motorway otherwise it’s pretty ear splitting at 70 -75mph. I, like most people, love the noise of this car, it’s quite intoxicating!
Also immediately obvious is the calibration, in the 488 it’s a lot more refined and smooth on light city drive cycle type throttle inputs, whereas the 458 lacks that smoothness. What that gives you is a very crisp throttle response and does make the car feel special, reminding you all the time you are not just driving a Eurobox for the masses.
The ride (Bumpy road mode required 100% on British roads for both cars) on the 458 is not as comfortable at low speed as the 488 but again this doesn’t detract and in fact only adds to the race car feel and drama of the thing.
Finally on to performance, clearly the 458 is down on power to the 488 but I’ve never found myself wanting more and on the road the 488 was pretty excessively powerful and effortless. With the 458 it is almost as though you get more reward for spirited driving as you can feel like it’s working harder and you are extracting more from the car, coupled with that 458 soundtrack I’m not sure there is anything better, but again I’m biased.
Anyway, subjective personal musings aside I have some data to share and that is I took it to Sam at Stradale Italia for an inspection just to ensure that if anything needs flagging with Tom Hartley Jnr I can do so pdq. I picked it up yesterday and it has had a full clean bill of health, in fact I think he used the word exceptional in the video he sent me taken under the vehicle with the trays removed.
I’m not sure if I can post a video here but I’ll have a go.
Suffice to say, it’s a fab car and I’m loving it already.
Cheers, Giles
 
Good to hear you're so pleased with the new motor :thumbsup:

Regarding videos, easiest way is to upload to YouTube then embed the YouTube video into the thread. You do that by copying the letters and numbers that identify the video (ie the web page address after '/watch?v=' , highlight those letters and numbers then click the button in the edit options above where you type which is a grey square with a Y in it (bottom right icon). That'll effectively embed the clip into this thread, or at least give the impression it is, not sure if it actually does or just looks like it.
 
Nice One Giles, black always looks so good (when they are clean:)) Such good cars, perhaps peak mid engine V8 ferrari, for many reasons. Make sure you use this one a bit more than the last one :wink3:

For your exhaust I would highly recommend the forza valve controller, which is an easy DIY fit (plug and play), 100% reversible and IMO the best mod you can do to a 458. Having the valves open at idle and pootling around gives a lovely deep rumble. You can keep them shut them at legal motorway cruising speeds (not recommended to keep shut at high speeds) to get rid of the open/shut effect at 70/80mph or for sneaking out of the village in the morning.

See here my thread when I fitted mine (post #95) with link to their website: https://www.clubscuderia.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?59120-Goodbye-F430-bought-a-P/page10
I bought mine direct from the US - I think these are the UK distributor if you'd rather buy in the UK: https://www.supertweaks.com/forzacomponenti

And here's my cold start idle with valves open :grin: (embedding vids don't appear to work since the server or whatever it was changed)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8wq8omTNhI
 
Colour scheme not to my taste but I’m a big fan of the 458 and that is clearly an excellent example. Well bought Giles!
 
Colour scheme not to my taste but I’m a big fan of the 458 and that is clearly an excellent example. Well bought Giles!
 
Stero said:
Colour scheme not to my taste but I’m a big fan of the 458 and that is clearly an excellent example. Well bought Giles!
Click to expand...

Yes, I was initially of the same opinion until I saw it and in the flesh with the combination of the racing seats with the alcantara centre section and leather strip running through the centre line of the seat accentuated with the deep red stitching coupled with a spattering of carbon fibre I just fell in love!
On balance I think it has been really tastefully specified and as long as I keep it clean it should look sensational for years to come!
One thing I thought might look better would be the grey painted rims against the met black paint, but again in the flesh the brightness of the wheels helps the high contrast graphic of the car.

Thanks for the valve controller recommendation Mike, I know John has one fitted to his so I can have a listen and see what I think. In some ways I quite like the transition (fluctuation) between open and closed according to throttle angle and load, more of a treat when it happens? Undecided.
Please don’t shout at me when I admit to having more interest in fitting cruise control! Hahaa!
Cheers, Giles
 
giles said:
Thanks for the valve controller recommendation Mike, I know John has one fitted to his so I can have a listen and see what I think. In some ways I quite like the transition (fluctuation) between open and closed according to throttle angle and load, more of a treat when it happens? Undecided.
Please don’t shout at me when I admit to having more interest in fitting cruise control! Hahaa!
Cheers, Giles
Click to expand...

I have cruise control and often use it on the M-way (how sad)

FYI - the Forza controller has three, remote operated modes - 1. Valves always open 2. Valves always closed 3. Revert to OEM setting - behaves as per original design so no difference.
 
I have manual control of the valves on my 430. This is essential with my grandsons as they assume valve control .......so its open all the time :laugh:
 
Simon, you know it’s not the car, it’s the nut behind the wheel :thumbsup: and in any case you have the holy grail, the last manual Ferrari :grin:
Cheers, Giles
 
Stunning Combination

Black is a pig of a colour to keep clean but on a Ferrari who ever lets it get that dirty?

If i had a car 10 years it would have 37K on it not 3.7k, i never understand how people resist driving them.

I love it looks fantastic. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
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Next steps with the 458 are:
Not sure if I’ve mentioned this already but I’ve fitted a Bovee 1000 iPod connection lead Bluetooth receiver. My iPhone bluetooths music to it and then is controlled by the vehicle Media controls. Although the item itself is good I think the interface with the car is not great, getting it paired with the car is quite a challenge, but once connected it works brilliantly.

I’ve ordered some of the More Than Polish (Mark Wibberley) floor mats, black with Bordeaux edging and the 458 logo. Nothing wrong with the original mats but I’ll take them out to keep them pristine. I’ve had Mark’s mats in my other cars and they are really good quality, so a nice addition.

I’ve also booked in to have the front end PPF’d. I’m going with Gyeon film getting it done with Flawless Detailing in Coventry. This will be bonnet, bumper, wings, mirror caps, sills and A-Post including the leading section of the roof. I’ll put more details up about this when I get it done.

The service is due in October but I might wait till April for the annual service so I don’t have to take it out every year in October when normally I would SORN my cars I keep in the garage. (the 360 is taxed all year round as it lives under a carport ready for action at a drop of a hat as and when required!)

Other than that nothing to do but drive it and keep it clean.
Cheers, Giles
 
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So the service is due on my newly acquired 458.
It’s been fine every year by Ferrari Marranello Egham in Oct.
I wanted to wait until I start using it again in April as I would normally SORN my garaged cars for the winter months but I checked with Warrantywise who told me I must have it serviced as per timing or miles to keep the WW Platinum Plus warranty valid. I guess that’s fair enough so I’ve got it booked in with Sam at Stradale Italia for its 10th annual service (even though it’s only done about 1000 miles since the last service in Oct 19. Price wise I’m expecting about £650, which is fine but it’s £650 more then the 488!
Cheers, Giles
 
But well worth it Giles!

It’s a really lovely car.... I saw the car on THJ’s Instagram account whilst we were in Italy. I’d obviously no idea you’d bought it but thought it was a great buy.
 
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