The 458 Italia is powered by a 4.5 L (270 cu in) V8 engine derived from a shared Ferrari/Maserati design, producing 570 PS (419 kW; 562 hp) at 9,000 rpm (redline) and 540 N·m (398 lb·ft) at 6,000 rpm with 80% torque available at 3,250 rpm.[4] The engine features direct fuel injection, which is a first for Ferrari mid-engine setups in its road cars. The 4.5 L V8 in the 458 currently holds the world record for most power per liter in a naturally aspirated production car engine.

Just think if we could have received the same ratio Liters to HP out of our 5L. What in the heck are they doing with that 270cu in, other than 9k redline? We'd be at 633HP na!!!!!

 

How long will it last as a daily driver though?

 

YEAH but the 458 ferrari is base price at 230k $$$ how much u going to want to pay for the F if produce 550 hp ? 120k to 150k ? or 65k plus IEH for another 5k and get extra 100hp. I can live with that .

 

Or do you want to risk your car busting into flames while driving on the highway?

That was a low blow, especially as I LOVE the 458.

 

Rest assured that the IS-F engineers did not start with the goal of "Let's see how much power we can squeeze out of a 5.0L engine." If that were the goal, we would have ended up with a car that was more powerful, more expensive, and less reliable.

Though I was not there (of course), I bet the goal was to make an engine that had class-competitive power with Lexus reliability and a cost that the market would bear. Mission accomplished.

 

I agree about the reliability part. I also understand it probably wasn't cheap and I'm not comparing the costs of producing one vs the other. I just can't think of another N/A engine in production that is even in the same ballpark of 127HP per liter. I'm just amazed at the accomplishment of it. Some of you hardcore engine guys (not me) know what some of the biggest differences are to do this? Better breathability, higher rpm's, and tuning? Are those the main factors in getting this "small" engine so strong?

 

The 458 engine is definitely a remarkable feat of engineering.

Now for those of us with car budgets still in the 5 figures, I would love to see a new Honda S2000, but this time with a high revving 3.0l inline 6. I bet Honda could reliably push 330+ hp out of it and still keep weight to a minimum. Unfortunately I don't think that is in the cards.

 

BTW, the LFA's engine is 4.8L and has 135 more hp than the 5.0L IS-F.

 

Good question. I do know that in the supercar arena, you don't earn your stripes unless you find yourself on the freeway with your car on fire.

 

V10 though right?

 

Previous record holder: Honda S2000, F20C. 2.0L and 240 HP with 9K RPM = 120HP/L. introduced in 1999. Way more reliable than any Ferrari, a daily driver and an MSRP of $35,000.

 

Sort of. Motorcycles have been WAY better than this for years. My 1984 500 Interceptor had a 12,500 rpm redline and pulled all the way to it. 600cc bikes have been making over 100 hp for a long time now. It's all a question of balance - how much torque do you want and how high do you want to set redline? Why do you think F1 engines suddenly went from 10,000 rpm to 18,000 rpm when the FIA banned turbos? Half the torque, twice the rpm, same power, now we just fix the torque problem with gear ratios (that's why we have gearboxes anyway) and we're running the same speeds without turbos...

Consider the 500cc two strokes in F1 bikes (before MotoGP) making 200 hp from a half a liter. That's making power with a small displacement!

 

That's nothing... my 2.5 cc RC car engine makes 2.5 horsepower. Now we are talking 30-40,000 rpm nitromethane. So that's 5000 hp for a 5.0 liter engine.

The thing is though if you multiply 4.5 liter by 9000 rpm and our 5.0 by 6800 rpm, you'll see that the Ferrari is going through a proportionately more air (and fuel) relative to the horsepower numbers. The ferrari probably has a less restrictive exhaust too so all in all, the ferrari engine isn't making more power magically - it's doing it by burning more fuel and relative efficiency is really about the same. For my daily driver, I would seriously rather have a big engine that is less stressed (like a Viper V10) than the 458 Italia engine.

 

I always think the same thing... How does Ferrari do it? Same go's for the F430... (although the 458 makes more hp per liter)...

But.. This is really engineering at its best. Im a huge Ferrari fan myself. Wait till you drive the 458... does not feel like a 4.5 n/a lol...

its a BEAST.

Reliability and longevity obviously won't last nearly as long as the ISF however..

 

psh...you wanna know power? Check out good ol american drag racing. Top Fuel Nitro dragsters make 8000-10000hp, roughly 6000+lbs of torque off of a 500 cubic inch engine (roughly 8.2L, V8).

The supercharger alone probably requires the power of 800-1000 hp just to keep that going...hit the throttle and you get probably 50psi of boost.

If you've never been to a NHRA Top Fuel drag race event...I'd recommend you go....it's crazy red neck, but if you're into horsepower, look no further. I went last year with my friend...I think we were the only asians there. LOL! We should have worn our rice hats...LMAO!