The newest Ferrari supercar is called simply the LaFerrari, an unusual name perhaps, but not one that would deter well-heeled customers from purchasing one of the 499 units offered. (All are rumored to have been spoken for already, despite an expected price tag of $1 million.) Introduced at the Geneva Motor Show, the LaFerrari is not only Ferrari's first-ever hybrid, but also its fastest-ever road car.

With sincere apologizes to Messieurs Lamborghini, Porsche, Bugatti, and Pagani, a car magazine without a Ferrari gracing its pages could not possibly have the word "Fantasies" emblazoned on its cover. Simply put, there are fantasy cars and then there are Ferraris. In the presence of a Maranello masterpiece, every other marque loses some of its luster. Even Ferrari's hometown is a cross between an automotive Vatican and a flat-plane-crank version of Vegas, with gift shops, shrines, and museums celebrating the prancing horse. Devotees fumble with their cameras every time a red sports car screams down the narrow streets, turning unleaded holy water into the holiest of hydrocarbons.

Over the past decade, Ferrari road cars have experienced enormous growth in build quality, speed, and handling. Two years ago, the 599 GTO showed its taillights to the famed Enzo, beating the supercar around the Fiorano test track by a thick second.

The Ferrari California has been on the market for three years now, which means the time has come to give Maranello's first-ever front-engine eight-cylinder GT some attention. At Ferrari, the march of progress is denoted by increased power and reduced weight -- and both are here in the 2013 California.

How time flies. It's already been a decade since the Ferrari Enzo rewrote the sports car rulebook. Although its major elements -- a carbon-fiber structure, a 650-hp V-12, and active aerodynamics -- have hardly become commonplace, new supercars have challenged Ferrari's king-of-the-road status. Never fear. Ferrari will restore order come 2013 with a stunning high-tech flagship.

Although production has already began on the redesigned Ferrari California, the Italian automaker will show the front-engine V-8 powered grand touring 2+2 convertible at the Geneva Motor Show before it goes on sale. Ferrari says the new California should be faster than the current model thanks to a weight reduction, and modest bump in power.

After weeks of whispers, teasing, and leaked images, Ferrari has finally unwrapped its latest 12-cylinder gran turismo. The new 2013 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta effectively replaces the aging 599 GTB Fiorano, and will make its first public debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.

Amedeo Felisa is pressed for time. He has been in the office since 7 a.m., and now he's almost ready to go home for dinner, only to return again for the final 9-to-11 p.m. session. Felisa loosens his already loose tie by another inch, leans back in a high-tech yet creaking leather chair, glances at his wristwatch. What about the rumored entry-level Ferrari, the reborn Dino, a $175,000 sports car that would sit quite comfortably below the 458 and the California? The CEO-cum-chief engineer grins a steely grin, hits his ballpoint pen hard on the desk, then puts his poker face back on and slowly shakes his head. "You don't want to understand, do you? Believe me, there is no such Ferrari. We have no intention of increasing our production volume beyond what it takes to satisfy the growing demand of new markets like China and Russia." So, no response to the changing times? "I didn't say that," Felisa quips, and this time the broad smile is genuine. "The weight of our cars has to come down, the aerodynamic efficiency must improve, and now that Formula 1 is about to agree to switch to six-cylinder engines, a downsized powerplant may become acceptable for our next entry-level road car."

Sum Up

The 458 was all new last year; it's the latest in a long line of Ferrari sports cars with a mid-mounted V-8 engine. The 458 succeeded the F430, which itself replaced the 360 Modena, the model that more than any other put Ferrari back atop its pedestal as the maker of the world's finest sports cars. The 458, like nothing else on the road today, is an intoxicating cocktail of knife-edged performance and computer-controlled driving bliss. The pistons in the direct-injected V-8 displace 4.5 liters of volume. (That, plus the number of cylinders, begat the name 458.) Redlined at 9000 bellowing rpm, the engine produces a staggering 562 hp, enough to accelerate to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds -- and on to a top speed of 202 mph. (The Spider manages "only" 3.5 seconds and 198 mph.) Thanks to its looks, its sound, and its heritage, the Ferrari creates a scene wherever it goes. Driven in anger, it emits none of the high-pitched sweetness of its V-8 predecessors; the direct-injected eight yells a baritone wail. It corners as if each tire had negotiated its exclusion from the laws of physics, demonstrating razor-sharp reflexes and chassis balance that no engineer could have dreamed of a decade ago. As Ferrari moves further into the computer-controlled future, there's no chance to mourn the manual transmission. The 458 is about speed, and it speeds like no other sports car in the world.

If you want a Ferrari with a manual transmission, the California is your only choice. That's kind of ironic, since stick-shift cars have a reputation as the transmission choice of "real car guys" and the California is earning a reputation as the "housewives' Ferrari." It may be the soft-core alternative to the mid-engine 458 Italia, but the California still has enough brio to run with the best. The force behind the magic is a direct-injected (also Ferrari's first) flat-plane-crankshaft V-8 spinning out 454 hp at a lofty 7500 rpm. The engine doesn't crackle, bark, or scream the way other Maranello V-8s have, but that's why this Ferrari presents itself as a more civilized alternative than those undeniably insane mid-engine cars. The California's retractable hard top (another first for Ferrari) stores in fourteen seconds and leaves enough trunk room for two rollaway bags or one golf bag. A finished cargo shelf behind the front seats can be replaced with two very small rear seats -- perhaps for small children. The rear-mounted, dual-clutch automatic transaxle is tuned for smooth shifts, and the light steering won't bother the driver with too much feedback. The California, in fact, is so well mannered you might wonder how it came from the same company that built Scuderias, 16Ms, and 599GTOs. Of course, now you also know why it has earned its reputation as a Ferrari for the fairer sex.

It looks far better in person than it does in photos, but the FF probably won't win any design awards. At least not for its styling. What's underneath is a different story. Ferrari's first all-wheel-drive system is a simple, elegant solution to a big engineering challenge: how do you send power to the front wheels of a car with its engine behind the front axle and the transaxle in back? Simple, you add a second transmission onto the front of the engine. The two-speed front transmission, or Power Transfer Unit, allows the FF to send torque to the front wheels without heavy driveshafts or differentials, and a built-in torque vectoring capability allows the FF's computers to adjust the car's cornering attitude. It's brilliant. The FF's V-12 engine is no less impressive. It is Ferrari's first direct-injected twelve and uses six-into-one headers that were first seen on the 599GTO, which means it's a screamer. It revs to 8200 rpm, and its torque peak of 504 lb-ft occurs at a lofty 6000 rpm, but it's already making 370 lb-ft at 1000 rpm. In other words, by the time the tach needle hits one grand, the 6.3-liter V-12 is twisting out more torque than the California's V-8 does at its peak. And that speaks to the drivability of the FF. With four large, comfortable seats, a spacious, gorgeously finished cargo space, and four-wheel drive, this is truly the first Ferrari you could drive every day.

Choosing The Winners
What's the best car? Everybody wants to know. It's a difficult question, really. There is no single best car. But when you drive as many different new vehicles as we do, people expect you to have an answer, and we do. The best new car introduced in the past year is our Automobile of the Year. For 2012, the winner is the Audi A7.

Without question, the Ferrari 458 Italia is the best car I have ever driven. You might assume the Italian supercar earns that distinction on sheer performance and sex appeal, but the truth is that the 458 is a much more complete car. Its excellence is in how it combines measured balance with raw capability unlike any other vehicle. The 458 Italia is sophisticated but visceral. Aggressive yet refined. Elegant and brutish. With the Spider, Ferrari aims to add one more contradiction to the 458's achievements: a convertible that's also a coupe.

If you are in the market for a Ferrari convertible, but find the California lacking in aggression, fear not: the Italian automaker has official pulled the wraps off of the new 458 Spider.

There's a new way to get sunburned in a Ferrari, as the Italian maker of exotics has announced the 458 Spider, a convertible version of the 458 Italia. The Ferrari 458 Spider is mechanically identical to the Italia coupe.

Two days, two totally different driving experiences, two key questions.

Can the new McLaren MP4-12C dethrone the Ferrari 458 Italia?

And how do these two high flyers compare to the sports car establishment?

True, it would have been nice to include the exciting new Lamborghini Aventador, and perhaps even the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, in this contest, but we had to draw the line somewhere. That's how the 1200-hp Bugatti and the $390K Lambo fell off the grid, as did the Gumperts, Koenigseggs, and Paganis of this world. In the end, we picked the following six competitors: Audi R8 5.2 coupe, Ferrari 458 Italia, Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Spyder Performante, McLaren MP4-12C, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, and Porsche 911 GT2 RS. Past masters like the Nissan GT-R, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, the Jaguar XKR-S, and the Aston Martin DBS would arguably also fit in, but for clarity and compatibility we decided to concentrate on the newest and most advanced variations of the breed. The showdown was staged on the "world's fastest" racetrack in Rockingham, Northamptonshire, England (day one), as well as on the most challenging rural roads of North Wales (day two). Ready for the ride of your life? Then come aboard, buckle up, and take a deep breath.

The readers of Automobile Magazine might think that we editors get to drive Ferraris frequently, but that is not the case. True, I've been to Maranello more than once, and I've driven more than one Ferrari on Ferrari's famous Fiorano test track. In fact, I attended the media launch for the 458 Italia back in November 2009 and stayed at a hotel that was across a roundabout from the Ferrari factory. However, we have plenty of editors and staffers who have never been to Maranello, among them copy editor Rusty Blackwell, who solemnly informed me that, in his entire six-year tenure at Automobile Magazine, we'd never had a Ferrari in the office test fleet. Thankfully, Ferrari North America Public Relations Manager Matteo Sardi sent a 458 Italia test car our way for four brief but brilliant days in mid-July. We made the most of it because this was a Very Big Deal here at 120 E. Liberty Street.

Yeah, yeah, we know -- you hate hatchbacks and wagons. Mmm-hmm. We’ll pretend to listen -- and we’ll even ignore that crossover parked in your driveway. You know, the one with the hatch in back and the station-wagon shape? Whatevs, ya big hypocrites.

Ferrari claims the nameplate applied to its 2012 FF stands for four and four, but it may well be an acronym for first and first. Not only is the it Ferrari’s first all-wheel-drive production model, but the FF, which debuts at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, is also the brand’s first wagon -- or shooting brake, if you prefer.

I ruefully said goodbye to the Ferrari 458 Italia in Row U, Section 6, of an underground parking garage in Portsmouth, England, an ignominious close to a journey that had begun in Maranello, Italy, and culminated with a thrilling dash up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex: four days and four countries of driving bliss. I said goodbye to the incarnadine beauty and marched straight out to the hotel. It was like choosing not to look at a dear one lying in an open casket, preferring instead to remember the good times and all the grace. Having soared too close to the sun during the past four days, I now went forth without wings.

Into the bizarre, often tacky, lowest-common-denominator world of the theme park steps a new player. Having mastered Formula 1 and the supercar, Ferrari is getting into the family-fun business.

The new California from Ferrari offers a 7 speed transmission that is build for performance coupled with a V-8 motor that make a perfect marriage of power and smooth acceleration. This model offers a retractable hardtop that makes it a great cruising vehicle for those that love to go with the top down.

Ferrari has been making some of the most visually appealing and powerful sports cars in the world for many years now. The 201 458 Italia is no different, this gorgeous looking car offers a totally new design that is possible one of the most attractive that has ever been put together by the Ferrari team. This very sexy car comes with all the heavy duty rubber burning power equipment that you would expect from a Ferrari and packages it very nicely inside of an amazing looking body.

The Fiorano from Ferrari is another smaller car with jet like power from this well known supercar manufacturer. The Fiorano offers some of fastest performance of any model and is offering an engine that cranks out over 600 horsepower. This vehicle is made for intense speed and it delivers. The 0 – 60 rating is under four seconds and it can also propel you form 0 – 120 in about 10 seconds flat. This is one of the fastest cars on earth, which is sold to the public that is. Much of the engine technology used in this model is barrowed from Formula 1 motors and this shows when you sit in the driver's seat and touch the gas pedal.