SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active menu down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and follow the drop-down.


This is a first sight/reveal report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. There was no driving experience. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get an actual test unit for trial. Thank you for your patience.


First Sight: 2015 Ferrari California T

Clubs in the back seat

Pics supplied
Posted: 3 March 2015

The cheat sheet
Price: R3 668 000
Engine: 3855 cc, chain driven quad cam, 32-valve, V8, turbocharged
Power: 412 kW at 7500 rpm
Torque: 755 Nm at 4750 rpm in 7th gear
Zero to 100 km/h: 3.6 seconds
Zero to 200 km/h: 11.2 seconds
Maximum speed: 315 km/h
Average fuel consumption (claimed): 10.5 l/100 km
Tank: 78 litres
Boot: 240 – 340 litres
Maintenance programme: 7 years/unlimited km; at annual or 20 000 km intervals

Today’s trivia: A Ferrari California T V8 is inherently unable to rumble like Detroit Iron but a Maserati Quattroporte GTS, using a slightly different version of the same motor, certainly does.

True Ferraristi would dismiss that statement with: “Thank heavens it can’t,” but for everything there is a reason, so gather ‘round and pay attention…

Both engines use aluminium blocks and heads with a 90-degree angle between the cylinder banks. Forced direct petrol induction is via two parallel twin-scroll, water-cooled, IHI turbochargers with individual air-to-air intercoolers. Valvetrain consists of 32 valves, with continuously variable timing on inlet and exhaust, actuated by two overhead camshafts per bank with the timing chain located on the flywheel side.

The Ferrari (F154BB) version of the engine has a flat plane crankshaft and dry sump lubrication. In order to obtain equal length pipes, the exhaust manifolds are manufactured from welded cast steel pieces and the turbocharger housing is of three-piece construction. The Maserati (F154A) version uses a cross plane crankshaft and wet sump lubrication. Turbine housings and exhaust manifolds are integrated.
 
That’s as clear as mud, but the secret is in the crankshafts and as a result thereof, manifold lengths and shapes, and finally the ignition pulses.

Cross plane cranks, like those that rumble out of Soul City, have their eight big end journals – the pieces the piston rods turn – offset from each other at ninety-degree angles. They cannot lie flat on a workbench because of their angularity and if you look at one end-on, you see a cross-like shape. So it’s cross-plane cranks - kapish?

Flat plane cranks have journals set 180 degrees apart - like a conventional four-cylinder car, just twice as long – so they can lie flat on your workbench. Got it now?  Because of its off-set ignition pulses, a cross plane V8 rumbles whereas the flat plane V8 rasps like a rampant four-cylinder, only with twice as many power beats. Manifold design has its effects, but it’s too complicated to explain here.

As any fan knows, the California name was first used in the late 1950s for the 250 GT and was revived in 2008 with the 4.3-litre, mid-front engined, two-plus-two we knew until recently. It represented a number of “firsts” for Ferrari: The first front-engined Ferrari with a V8, the first to feature a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, the first with a folding metal roof, the first with multi-link rear suspension and the first with direct fuel injection.

The good work continues with this one, but with another first; it’s the first turbocharged Ferrari engine used in a road car since the Dino-powered F40 built between 1987 and 1992.

It uses a 3.9 litre bi-turbo V8 putting out 412 kW and maximum torque of 755 Nm, an improved seven-speed dual clutch gearbox, revised Magnaride adaptive suspension and a new traction system. The car can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 3.6 seconds and top out at 315 km/h. Small turbochargers with variable boost management practically eliminate turbo lag. Once again, “maximum torque” takes on new meaning: Because of the progressive nature of Variable Boost Management, the California T delivers increasingly powerful pick-up while optimising fuel consumption.

As the car goes up through the gears, from third to seventh, the amount of torque delivered increases from plus-20 percent to plus-50 percent in succeeding gears to peak at 755 Nm in seventh. This allowed Ferrari to use longer ratios in the higher gears, helping to cut fuel consumption and emissions yet delivering increasingly powerful pick-up at the same time.

Another improvement concerns reduction of CO2 pollution by 15 percent compared with its naturally aspirated predecessor; to “only” 250 gm/km of carbon dioxide. That won’t thrill your greenie friends much, but hey, this thing puts out 560 Horsepower – let them eat THAT tofu.
 
Its transaxle architecture, with mid-front-mounted engine and all major components located within the wheelbase, makes for almost perfect weight distribution with a slight bias to the rear as per Ferrari tradition (47 percent front to 53 percent rear). Locating the engine lower in the chassis, by 40 millimetres compared with the previous California, dropped its centre of gravity; enhancing handling further.

Both chassis and body shell are made entirely of aluminium. This lightweight, highly torsionally rigid, solution is an important factor in a drop-top car, making for better performance and safety. Other elements include springs that are 11 percent stiffer, electronically controlled dampers, a steering rack that’s ten percent faster for less twirling and quicker reaction, reduced body roll for improved dynamics, improved handling and better control on the limit, and a feeling of better chassis dynamics without impinging on ride comfort.

Bringing it all to a standstill, the California T’s Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes use new pad material with a higher coefficient of friction that remains constant in all conditions. It’s also less prone to wear, so pads and discs should last, more or less, the car’s life. The system is integrated with an evolved version of 8.0 Premium ABS and ESP, resulting in extremely short stopping distances - like 100 km/h to zero in 34 metres. Ferrari F1-Trac traction control allows the car to accelerate 8.5 per cent faster out of corners.

The car features a new front fascia influenced by the F12, revised rear and interior and is also the first Ferrari with Apple CarPlay functionality built into its infotainment system. The 6.5-inch touch play screen and separate buttons control all the usual functions, while menus have been upgraded to feature simpler commands and dedicated functions.  Navigation between multimedia content and telephone contacts has become simpler to do.

We weren’t given a chance to drive – expensive kit and journalists with unknown credentials seldom mix well – so the distributors brought out a couple of cars for us to look at; one with roof in place and one retracted.

Observations: As suspected, there isn’t enough space across the width or length of its boot to fit a golf bag, so the in-built solution is a fold-down flap in the rear seatback that reveals a load-through to accommodate them. The only drawback is that the inflatable emergency wheel, on a shelf in the middle of the boot, gets in the way, so if you wish to go golfing you need to leave the spare at home. Or sling – sorry, reverently place - the clubs standing up in the back seat. The mini-heirs, who would otherwise be the only practical occupants of that space, aren’t going along for the game after all.

My second thought concerns head space. Top down, I noticed that my hairline (I’m 6’1”) protruded slightly above the top of the windscreen. With the top up, curvature of the roof afforded about two fingers’-width of space. On plebeian cars I can rack the seat down until there’s a decent fist-width of air between crown and canopy. It makes me feel safer. I guess Ferraris are made for shorter drivers, or sunny days, after all.

Overall: The Ferrari Cal-T is a purpose-made grand touring machine for devouring vast distances in the shortest practical space of time. But it can also be driven in traffic by little old ladies. It has sufficient modern electronic conveniences but hasn’t, thankfully, become enslaved by them the way its Teutonic counterparts have. And it has quirks that provide uniquely Latin character; again unlike über-efficient but soulless machinery from elsewhere.

I could happily live with one; on sunny days.

Information gathered at a manufacturer-sponsored press event.

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

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