Ferrari 488 GTB review, test drive

Ferrari forays into turbocharged territory with a smaller, twin-turbo V8 in the new 488 GTB. Hormazd Sorabjee gets in the driver’s seat.

Published on Aug 18, 2015 08:00:00 AM

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Turbo power

Let’s start with the good news, or rather, great news, first. Ferrari’s efforts to get the turbochargers spinning as quickly as possible with high-tech bits like a titanium-aluminium turbine wheel (to spool up the turbo faster) and ball bearings to reduce turbocharger friction have worked. I am happy to report that there is absolutely no turbo lag and this should allay the fears of many potential customers. Try as much as I could, it was hard to detect even from low revs, a whiff of laziness or delay in throttle response. Poke the drilled aluminium throttle pedal and the 488 leaps forward without a fraction of hesitation. Press down harder to dig into the meat of the powerband and the performance is utterly overwhelming. The turbo-driven Ferrari is much quicker than the 458 and performance feels like it’s now in the league of the more expensive exotics. The claimed 0-100kph time of 3.0 seconds makes it seriously fast, but when you consider the 0-200kph time of 8.3 seconds, which is not far behind the F12 flagship, you won’t be left craving for more power. Not least on the twisty, narrow and hilly roads of Emilia Romagna where the 488 GTB slingshots from corner to corner so quickly that your head (and heart) takes a while to adjust to the ferocity of power.

It’s the tremendous torque that hits you like a sledgehammer and the engine flies to its redline without any hesitation, constantly illuminating all the shift lights that run across the top of the steering wheel, F1 style. In manual mode, it’s easy hitting the limiter because the engine feels extremely rev happy and the 8,000rpm cut-off (9,000 for the 458) comes that much quicker. The gearing too lends itself to quick visits to the redline. Whilst the overall ratios are 4-5 percent taller than the 458’s, the tremendous torque of the engine would have allowed gearing that was taller still, but Ferrari didn’t want to blunt throttle response or performance in any way.

Gearshifts are quicker than before and feel more brutal than in the 458, possibly because of all that extra torque that’s shunted through the seven-speed twin-clutch gearbox. In auto mode, the ’box feels surprisingly sedate, nicely smoothening out shifts, which don’t feel anywhere near as jerky as the single-clutch transmission of, say, an Aventador.

The bad news, if any, is with the sound. The throaty growl from the exhaust still feels very sporty and anything but dull, but the high-pitched scream of the 458 is missing and that’s a shame. Despite best efforts to get the 488 to sound as spine-tingling and soulful as the 458, Ferrari hasn’t quite managed to pull it off. Turbos naturally muffle an engine and to compensate, you need to fine-tune the plumbing to improve the sound. Ferrari played around with intake and exhaust tract lengths and diametres to replicate the 458’s engine note, but there’s no getting away from the fact that the new car sounds a bit subdued in comparison. It’s only a matter of time before aftermarket exhausts start proliferating on this new Ferrari.