It has been a couple of years since I have been out of the Ferrari game, but I have certainly kept in touch with many of my customers. One such customer came into the new dealership I work in with his wife, and he showed up in his brand new 488 coupe that he had just taken delivery of a few days earlier.

This particular customer of mine has bough a few Ferraris from me over the years. He is a younger guy, and has been doing well in the lasik business. He first bought a 430 coupe from me, then upgraded to a 430 Scuderia. There were probably 1 or 2 others I am not thinking about. He has owned some other very serious machinery over the years, such as a 911 Turbo (which he drove all year round). He also had a seriously modified Corvette, to the tune of about 800bhp. He then had a ZR-1. There was also a McLaren and a Nissan GTR. Truly a car guy.

I used to kid that I would leave the Ferrari world if they ever turned to turbos again. That isn’t the reason I left, however the timing of my departure happened to coincide with the introduction of the turbo-charged California T. It is the last model Ferrari I drove fairly extensively at a Ferrari product training event. I walked away thinking there was progress from the outgoing California, but it didn’t feel like anywhere near an almost 100bhp increase.

It took me a bit of time to warm up to the 458 when it was introduced. The front end took some time to grow on me, with its active winglets. The driving dynamics, however, were astounding. I then later got to drive a 458 Speciale, a car I ended up declaring as the very best sports car I had ever driven. Enter the 488.

It is hard to believe that the 488 has 100bhp over the 458. The jumps in horsepower from model to model have been very impressive – 85bhp from the 360 to 430, 95bhp from the 430 to the 458, and now about 100bhp from the 458 to the 488. Can they keep making such jumps? I mean, where does it end?

Anyways, I didn’t drive the 488 for more than 10 minutes, but it was more than enough to see where the mid-engined V8 line has come to. Needless to say, it is stupid fast. Effortless. The dual clutch transmission shifts even faster. The confidence and security you typically get in a Ferrari is felt even more in the 488. That is the major difference between Ferraris and most other high-end exotics, and that is how confident and secure the car makes you feel when driving with enthusiasm, and Ferrari is, hands down, way ahead of everybody else.

So as much of an advancement that the 488 is, personally I would probably still prefer a 458 Speciale, particularly the convertible (Aperta) version. Now when they finally introduce the “Speciale” version of the 488, that may very well change!