I'm not sure I've lost my mind or not.  My Ferrari guy wants the 458 back (the third one).  He said he can get me another next month but I'll be off on vacation till the end of August.  Meanwhile, the spyder should be announced in the fall and we agreed it might not be a good time to take another coupe yet.  So I'm getting the very first one of these:
http://www.ferrari.com/English/GT_Sport%20Cars/CurrentRange/FF/Pages/FF.aspx

I get the launch model which means I literally get the first one on the west coast and the 3rd one in the country (one in Texas and one in NY).
The good news: 660 HP V12 Direct Inject engine (Holy Crap!), comfortable as hell, 4wd (personally, that's not good news but. . .), decent looking front not great but decent, seats four.
The bad news: Oh man, that is not a looker. 

This is not a great looking car.  I admit, when I saw it in person I thought it looked MUCH better but . . . yeah this isn't for me.  Anyways, I'm taking delivery in September/October time frame.  No way I'm keeping this more than 3 months though. 

Yeah, it's a big girl.  Very much a GT.  I guess I'll keep it a few months.  With an 18 month wait list, it shouldn't cost me anything.  That HP number though is staggering.
LOL, I noticed we seem to be going in the same direction.  Your car gained a hatch and HP and a few cyl and AWD and so did mine!

uhhhh don't you have some work to do?  something to finish up?  like the full review with photos of your new ride?

sorry trin for the jack....

Yeah-yeah, i know
I just need to get away for a little while on an open road and find a place where i use launch control
I'm still scared to push this beast
Every time i blink, i cross 100mph mark, just insane and unexpected from this pig

I think the machine looks beautiful, except the butt end. Additionally those two tail lights look kinda' klutzy for such a beast. Yeah, I'd regret having one for a few months too...

Looks pretty good to me.  You'll have to bring it up to Whistler once the snow hits and test that AWD system.  All you need is a roof rack for your ski's.

(warning, long post coming) lol, they are keeping a "Ferrari" ski rack for me at the dealer as a Thank You.  Wow, lots of good freebies.  Dropped off the 458 today.  New owner wants the black roof so is keeping it. Got a letter from the guy building the engine and a beautiful lithograph of the car framed and a leather bound book with pictures and bios and letters from the team making it.  I send it back to them so they can put pics of the car as it is being built.  Also, getting a mini toy version of the car with exact stitching, brakes, etc as mine.  Finally, got a nice email from head of development inviting me out to test it on the famous Ferrari track that is on the roof of the factory.  I just might do that.
OK, so technicals?  Man where to start.  Engine I suppose:
Totally new mid front mounted 6,262cc Direct Injected V12 giving 660 CV at 8k rpm and w weight power ratio of 2.7kg/cv.  Torque is 683 (wtf!) Nm at 6k rpm with 508 Nm available all the way from 1k rpm up to 8k rpm (wtf!!). Top speed in the 210 range and low 3's 0-60.  Split injection control for optimal air fuel mix and fuel pulverization. Highest production weight power in the world.  Highest compression ratio in segment at 12.3:1.  Combustion control system that uses ionisation current to boost power output while reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.  Utilizes new HELE system with Stop/Start which cuts out the engine during short stops and then restarts it in 230 Millisecs.  Optimised gear shift pattern, intelligent engine fan control, constant fuel pump capacity control cuts fuel consumption to 15.4 liters per 100km and CO2 to 360 g/km which is a 25% reduction on previous Ferrari V12. Finally, engine geometries and materials bring intake and exhaust sounds into the cabin unless you switch it off.
Transmission:
Car has TWO yes TWO transmissions.  First off, it's all wheel drive but the main transmission is a dual clutch 7 speed. No electrohydraulic gear box at all.  The AWD system weighs 50% less then ones from say Audi.  Front gear transmission runs two gears and it's own dual clutch that keeps the rear wheel drive unless it feels slippage then it xfers power to any wheel that needs it.  It doesn't just xfer power to the wheel though, it adjusts power throughout the wheels to compensate. E-Diff is now integrated into the gearbox itself and has it's own CPU that controls E-Diff and F-1Traction. ie, Grip under any conditions. AWD system is called 4RM.  Normally AWD is fitted to a front engined car. 4RM allows the retention of the traditional mid-front engine with rear transaxle connected to the engine by a single driveshaft. Combined with the Power Transfer Unit for the front wheels connected directly to the engine and located over the front axle.  The PTU is the revolutionary piece.  Placing a separate transmission over the front wheel axle and getting power and torque directly from the crankshaft means more grip faster.  Heck, the thing even has it's own independent clutches to synchro the traction.  Finally is the Manetinno allowing all kinds of modes from Snow to Wet to Comfort to Sport to Race to "hold onto your ass, I'm turning all this fancy crap off and you will now slide if you want to" (technically "ESC Off").  Suspension is all new and third generation SCM3 or Ferrari Magnetoheological Suspension System using a fluid which changes viscosity by an electronically controlled magnetic field generated inside the damper and has it's own CPU adjusting in 1 millisecond.  ESC can intervene during braking on all four wheels completely independently.
Design: Aerodynamic efficiency of drag coefficient Cd 0.329 to downforce of 0.200 is 0.608 or the highest ever achieved by a GT.  Airflows are channeled out of the wheel arches and over the car to create downforce and relieve upforce and channels it into the air inflow.  Airvents beside the rear lights also reduce pressure in the wheel arch while reducing wake turbulence.  There's even air vents along the bumpers to change the air flow.  Rear diffuser with a new airfoil and side channels with an inverted curve that ensures that the depression area remains uniform across the entire width of the undertray.
Seriously guys?  This reminds me of the "S" Class Benz where they just dump every tech thing they can come up with into it.  Sad thing is, I'll never use most of it.  I don't care what they say, I'm not driving it in the snow! Launch party is in Tahoe and supposedly we will drive a test car in snow and on a frozen airport strip.  That's going to be a hoot.