Body: Ok I will admit when I first saw pictures of this car I wasn’t blown away.  It looked kind of insectish and I thought a bit bulby.  I was wrong.  It has such an incredibly well worked face and the rear is just beautiful.  You may or may not like the triple exhaust but the rest of the back is just fantastic.  The face is mean and angular and it stands hyper aggressive.  I’m not sure about the flat front at the bottom of the front of the car.  A bit of swoop might stand out more.  The side view?  C’mon, that’s just awesome.  The panels themselves are amazing.  Tight to about 1/16 of an inch.  Now I thought about that at the dealer today.  I got the opportunity to sit in an Enzo and start the engine (can’t believe they didn’t let me take it out of the showroom, grrr).  It’s essentially a race car but the gaps on the panels?  Huge!  Like half an inch huge.  Now the 458 is tight like a Lexus or something. 
Interior: Whoa this is cushy.  The seats I was used to was the R8 which were slightly slippery.  These are butter soft like suede.  They are comfortable and the lateral support at the body and the legs is incredible and will actually tighten up depending on the driving.  It’s connected to the cpu.  The driver is the focus here.  So much so that everything is pointed at him.  Vents/controls/screens, everything.  The passenger gets two vents. . . that’s it.  The nice thing here is everything is hand stitched and swathed in that butter Italian leather.  I mean it’s everywhere; roof side shelf.  The steering wheel deserves special mention.  It’s carbon fiber with a flat bottom and odd shape.  Mine is the special one so it has LED lights on the top that light up in a row as you near redline.  Sounds silly as you could just glance down but Ferrari made sure that the driver keeps all attention on the road at all times.  It actually works.  You can use the sound of the engine (and OMG what a sound) and the LED’s to get great shifts in.  Meanwhile, NO stalks.  Everything is on the steering wheel from lights to headlamps to turn signals.  Takes some getting used to but it also works very well. 
Electronics: OK from a driving standpoint the electronics are the best in the world, the cpu does everything from bringing the brakes closer to the rotor the second you take your foot off the pedal to adjusting suspension.  I mean, there’s a freaking “bumpy road” button on the steering wheel if you hit a bumpy patch, and it works!  The traction control and abs are unbelievable and can pull you out of a full slide.  From a comfort standpoint?  Well, the NAV isn’t as good as say an Infiniti or Lexus but it’s better than the M6.  Then again, my 7 year old with a folded map is better than the M6.  Interesting thing is it sits to the right of the tach which stands dead center with a gorgeous color background and Ferrari stallion.  Top Gear got it all wrong.  You ALWAYS have your speed on the left screen while the right screen can be the map or speedometer (digital or analog) or info like music or IPOD (connection in glove compartment) or CD’s or USB or phone.  There are rocker style buttons on the back of both sides of the steering wheel for volume/tracks/voice recognition (which works exceedingly well, especially after you train it to your voice).  The left screen is cool.  It shows the temperature of wheels/brakes/oil etc and lets you know when you are warming up/warm/overheated.  I doubt they will ever go red with me.  The left side also shows all the cool things like lateral speed, lap timer, and a bunch of other gauges.  The sound system?  Well it sucks to be honest.  But you can’t expect to hear anything with that engine screaming.  It’s a lot better than the F430 which to be honest shouldn’t have a stereo.  There is a optional 5400 dollar stereo system that supposedly is great and comes with 18 (wtf?!?) speakers in a row on the shelf.  Still, I can’t imagine it sounding good because you hear an awful lot of VRRRRROOOM. 
Sound: You have got to hear this thing scream.  It is hands down the best sounding engine I’ve ever heard.  It screams and is pretty darn loud until 3k.  Then it opens up the flaps and now it howls.  And the howling is a masterpiece.  It reverbs a bit when it comes down from say 6k to 4k.  I might have to record it and post it so you can hear it.  Amazing, better than the F430.
Engine: OMG who engineered this thing?  It has 570 HP and a 9k redline and seriously? It might be too much.  This thing is very hard to drive smoothly.  You find yourself moving whenever you hit the pedal.  I felt like I was approaching stop signs with 10 feet to go at like 35 mph.  Fortunately the brakes could stop a freight train.  These ceramic things are incredible.
Transmission: OK I do think I could drive this thing way way smoother if I had a manual and I keep reaching for a clutch pedal.  That being said.  Man, this is fast defined.  There is zero and I mean ZERO pause between shifts.  It goes vroooom and then you upshift or downshift and the vroom sound doesn’t even pause, it just switches octaves.  The people at BMW that designed the SMG should be hung.  It’s a dual clutch 7 speed that is race tuned that is also used in the California.
Overall: Seriously folks? This is the best driving car I’ve ever driven.  It’s not just an evolution from the F430, it’s a major leap forward.  This is the new king of the road and is superior to every car I’ve ever driven.  The only thing is, you better bring some skills to the table.  And you have to be honest with yourself because if you aren’t a great driver, this is NOT the car for you.

I forgot to mention.  The Hard Drive does record CD's extremely slow.  I thought it was pretty fast until I realized it was PER SONG.  Ah well, can't have it all!

uh...... yeah.......
 


sweet man.... I am glad that I am able to get a look at these things from an insider.... I mean there are tons of reading on cars, but nothing like a fellow member talking about his F ride.... and giving insight... I dig that tach man....wow....sweet.

can't wait to see more pics and follow up.

too funny the pics... nothing like taking the kids to soccer practice at the local park and seeing a 458 being unloaded....

more pics of the steering wheel... I think I can make out the LED warning section at TDC - cool.

pics on interior, butter suede....hehehehe engine.... I know, I know...too demanding....



damn nice man...damn nice.

Congrats Trin!
That is one gorgeous piece of driving nirvana!  I can't wait to get a ride in one!  (how bad is the headroom? )  If you want some pictures of it or any of your cars my business partner (and possibly I) will be in Cali (I believe SF) shooting some other exotics in a month or two and would love to add any of your rides to the roster if your interested!  If you want to check out some of his work here is his website.  http://rvt3.net/  Anyway, congrats on your new car!  Are you going to track it??

damn shame it is... Turbo will fix.... carfaq will love...

That G Vert seems to be attracting some lookie lou's.

Same here antz.  Car is awesome.  I think Christiano Ronaldo has one of those.