ор Ferrari California T Handling Special 2016

Ferrari is famous for its idea of ​​producing one less car than it needs at any given time.

Demand for Italian supercars continues to grow, with the last 488 GTBs being delivered to customers in up to 12 months.

However, like most supercar companies, the great Italian marque needs something… not so great, to pay the bills, shall we say.

While it hasn't yet fallen for the SUV gimmick, the company's California T Roadster has been designed to offer potential Ferrari buyers something a little more affordable and achievable while boosting the company's bottom line.

While it lacks the firepower of a 488 or F12, the California is still a Ferrari through and through, with a raucous V8 up front, rear-wheel drive and, in the case of the California T, a metal convertible roof that gives you two cars. one.

Price and features

If you're lucky enough to buy a $409,888 California T, the first thing you'll notice is that the options list is long and expensive; There are many different ways to customize your Ferrari just the way you want it.

Our tester, for example, has an impressive $112,000 worth of extras, including carbon fiber interior trim pieces worth around $35,000.

However, some owners felt that California might be too Grand Tourer oriented.

A single finger on one of the shift paddles is apparently enough to start the change and it's all over before you can believe it.

Enter the Speciale Handling package. This $15,400 option doesn't exactly give Californians dripping fangs and long claws. However, it takes key areas of the car and improves each one a bit.

Key to the package are changes to the suspension system. The springs are 16% stiffer at the front and XNUMX% stiffer at the rear. In addition, the adaptive dampers have been completely retuned to handle a slightly stiffer spring.

New tailpipe trim system with four new matte black tips that help show you're looking at a Handling Speciale-equipped vehicle. In true Spinal Tap style, these exhausts raise the California noise level to 11.

The final piece of the puzzle is California's seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, and this is where the Ferrari engineers really worked their magic. The reconfiguration of the shift software has brought amazing results: shifts in sport mode are now almost faster than expected.

A single finger on one of the shift paddles is apparently enough to start the change and it's all over before you can believe it.

Like top-end Ferraris, the California has what they call a Manettino dial on the steering wheel, which lets you change the car's settings from Comfort to Sport to Track. Unusually, the steering wheel also has left and right turn signal switches on the spokes.

There's also a high beam flasher, as well as a button with a little bump printed on it. This little button can be directly attributed to former Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher.

There has long been a belief that a sports car must be very tightly tied to its driving performance in order to be good. Schumacher thought just the opposite and asked the engineers to provide a setting in which all other parameters of the car would be in full attack mode, and the dampers would remain in the softest possible mode.

This place is known as the Bumpy Road and is a pleasure to take on the back roads of Australia.

All other key elements of the California T, including the 412kW 3.9-litre V8 twin-turbocharged engine, massive brakes and rigid chassis, remain the same.

The real purpose of the California T is to cover long distances in comfort and style. The Handling Speciale package does nothing to blunt this; rather, it increases productivity by 10% in these key areas.

practicality

Driving the California T requires a little recalibration. The controls in the cabin, for example, are very different from anything you're used to.

Take, for example, gear shifting. Once you have the car on, with the start button on the steering wheel, you simply flick one of the paddles to shift into gear and press the buttons on the center console to switch between manual and automatic.

You also need to do the same when looking for reverse, which is also a button on the center console.

There's also no traditional parking brake, and you just turn the car off to turn it on, which is a bit unusual and confusing at first.

Indicator switches also require a little retraining of your brain in order to work correctly. If you're trying to flip them manually, you'll find the right indicator and shifter at about the same moment. It's easy to get a little lost.

California's strongest market is the US, so it's no surprise that the center console has a cup holder. A neatly integrated entertainment system sits at the center of the dashboard, and a TFT screen on the dash displays as much information as the driver needs.

In a nod to Ferrari's racing heritage, the steering wheel actually has a row of LED shift indicators that light up when the engine approaches the 7,500 rpm limit.

Driving

Out of the city and onto the back roads, the Cali T really comes to life. The steering is light but direct and incredibly rich in feedback. The brakes are powerful and beefy, never fade, and those absolutely instant shifts really add to the experience.

The howling V8 coming out through four pipes also makes the hair on the back of your head tingle. Cali's overall presence, its theatre, has also been enhanced with this amazing exhaust.

The retuned suspension package hasn't gone too far in the direction of race car stiffness either, and the bumpy road mode is a real eye-catcher.

Being Italian at its core, California is not entirely free from sinners. Having to turn the ignition control key two turns before actually hitting the start button seems a bit odd, while indicator buttons take a lot of brains and a thumb to work properly.

While this gearbox loves hard work, it can maneuver at low revs around town, and even with the exhaust off, there's still a rumble at medium load and low revs at times during cruising speeds.

Ferrari has done a great job bringing a bit of supercar magic to a car designed for new Ferrari buyers. It also has a solid fan base among owners of more powerful and jumpy Ferraris who are looking for something a little lighter in everyday life.

The Handling Speciale package doesn't turn the California T into a fire-breathing F12 chaser; rather, it takes the already excellent qualities of the standard car and subtly massages them to extract even more from the superior package.

Buying a supercar is usually just an offer, and the lists of options are long and often very expensive. However, this option is quite beneficial. You only pay a little more to let that Prancing Horse off the leash.

Will the Handling Speciale be the California T for you? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Click here for more pricing and specifications for the Ferrari California T.