Thursday, June 12, 2008

Ferrari F430 in Shanghai

Some very lucky Shanghainese was obviously about to take delivery of his Prancing Hourse!


Wikipedia
The Ferrari F430 is a high-performance sports car produced by the Italian automaker Ferrari to succeed the 360. It debuted at the 2004 Paris Motor Show.
European left-hand drive sales began in November 2004, but right-hand drive sales did not start until Spring 2005, and the United States did not get the F430 until Summer 2005.


Overview
The F430's chassis is heavily based on its predecessor, the 360. Also, the next car that will be after the F430 will be the F450. Internally, both cars are referred to with the same model number (F131), though the F430 has the Evoluzione tag attached to show that it features some major changes. Internally, the car is simply known as the "Evo".
The MSRP for a Ferrari F430 is between $168,005 - $227,000 in the United States. The F430 is sold starting at about £120,000 in the United Kingdom, approximately €175,000 in the European Union.

Safety issues
While the F430 meets or exceed all NHTSA guidelines, the car reportedly lacks sufficient protection for shorter passengers as well as children. The company requested an exemption from the airbag design requirements, which was eventually granted, allowing the car to continue to be sold in the US.

The F430 has displayed a notable engine irradiation problem for early model years. This issue regards an engine-overheating flaw which caused a fire in the engine bay, usually leading to the destruction of the car. The catalyst for the fire is the sustained high-RPM work of the engine. The massive heat exhaust flowing through the exhaust manifold may come in contact to a variety of hoses or oil perspiration which act as the fuel for the combustion.

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