Ferrari California First Drive (2013)

CAR GARAGE | Ferrari California First Drive (2013) | An absolute pussycat for trundling around Honolulu in comfort mode, flossing with the top down, Detroit cap proudly displayed. The updated 2013 Ferrari California is the kind of car Robin Masters, the mysterious benefactor from the "Magnum PI" TV series, would have left for Tom Selleck to drive if the show were set in present-day Hawaii. If you've been scanning the photos of the exterior updates for 2013 California, you can stop now, Because There are not any, save a piece trim color here and there, depending on the package and customer preference.  California's roughly 8000 have been sold to date, with 30 percent coming Stateside.

Ferrari Officials forcefully made the point That this is about as powerful as They want this car to get. Believe us, it's plenty, and any car with a launch button in the center console has our immediate attention. The California will launch Itself in as little AS 3.5 seconds to 60 mph and an 11.9 second quarter at 117.4 mph - a time we recorded in the previous car. Mash the gas and it's go time to 8 grand in all seven gears, flat-plane crank V-8 Wailing Madly. As the last light flashes red on the F1-inspired trick wheel, I grab the long, slender up paddle to activate Ferrari's amazing dual clutch. The shifts are infinitesimally short and land you right in the heart of the band as another power locks and loads. "We wanted to make-the automatic very useful the which is Very Important for U.S. customers," said Ferrari test driver Raffaele De Simone.

Flying down toward a tight hairpin, Progressively pressing harder on the large-and-in-charge (15.4-inch front, 14.2-inch rear) carbon ceramics, it's time for a downshift paddle Pounding. The bend tightens and the optimized ECU starts transmitting instructions furiously at a 50 percent faster rate to the car's SCM Magneto rheological damper system, ordering it to keep the California from rolling under hard cornering (you can get the SCM setup separately for $ 5,200). The package also features revised HS, Quicker steering and a stiffer set of springs all around (15 percent front, 11 percent rear).

"We did not want to go too Overboard with HS and change the mission of the car," said De Simone. Given its role as a Strictly defined GT in the brand's pantheon, Ferrari is keen to keep California from straying into the super sports car territory. Yes, we'd choose the HS option, and Ferrari thinks some 15 percent or more of Americans will, too. In Addition to the engine and handling updates, Ferrari's aluminum fabrication team got busy mixing in new alloys, implementing advanced techniques, and reducing steel use for the car's updated chassis, saving some 66 pounds off of the 3916-pound Curb weight of the 2010 car we tested.

Inside, the California has all the style and panache we've come to expect from the Italians - a small cattle herd's worth of leather; enveloping, infinitely adjustable seats; and Numerous other upscale touches. If you have more than Warren Buffett's bank, you can visit the Ferrari design center and pimp out your interior any way you want it. Bottom line, the California is a car in the which the Magnum and his mustache would feel right at home, impressing the bad guys and hot chicks alike - that is, if That crotchety old bugger Higgins would ever give him the keys.