Driving the Ferrari California T, a window to the future

We expect some cars to be great: others, even more so. A brand’s history often dictates the level of expectation we place upon them. Which means it’s especially tough being Ferrari. Because if there’s one automaker where anything less than utterly, mind-bendingly spectacular is unacceptable, it’s a car from Maranello.

The California, first debuting as a stand-alone model in 2008, is Ferrari’s most successful car in history, with more than 10,000 sales during its term – in part due to its sub-$200,000 starting price tag. Worryingly for Ferrari, 70 percent of those buyers were new to the brand. And I say worryingly because the California has never been all that good, meaning those new customers weren’t experiencing the mind-bendingly spectacular Ferrari they may have expected.

As Ferrari’s most “affordable” vehicle, it was too clumsy on its feet and decidedly ugly in the flesh. For 2015, there’s a revamped California. And it arrives with a “T” in its name for turbo – the first turbocharged Ferrari since the iconic F40.

This is big news; it foresees the future of Ferrari (and indeed all manufacturers, many of which are downsizing and implementing turbos as well). There is a difference between how the turbos were applied in the F40 versus the California T, however. With the F40, they were designed to eke out all 471 hp, whereas with the Cali, they’re purely to appease fuel efficiency regulations.

The concern is that this may dampen that high-revving Ferrari madness we all love, while adopting a dollop of bothersome lag. And the 3.8-liter twin-scroll turbo V-8 seen here forms the basis for upcoming models, including the 458’s replacement. It’s a sign of the times: Naturally aspirated motors will in the not-so-distant future become extinct, thanks to fuel mandates around the world.

So this motor’s success is important, and Ferrari has been working on it for years. The eye-watering statistic is that it boasts 49 percent more torque than the outgoing California, complementing its 560 prancing ponies with 557 lb.-ft. But there’s an asterisk with that. The full 557 is only available in seventh gear. In lower gears, it’s artificially limited — not to spoil the fun, but to feign a lack of turbos. By regulating torque, and fiddling with the mapping to match Ferrari’s desired torque curve, it offers the sensation of requiring high revs to extract its full potential, making it feel like the 7,500 rpm redline is higher than it actually is.

And 7,500 rpm is sky high for a turbo motor. But even still, from behind the wheel, you do miss those extra revs (the 458 tops out at 9,000 rpm). Fuel efficiency jumps 15 percent compared to the outgoing model, which is the whole point of this experiment anyway.

But does it neuter the Ferrari experience?