2006 Ferrari F430 Test Drive

Road Rapture

A recipe for celebrity, without annoying paparazzi.

Exterior

If you don't think this car is one of the most luscious pieces of art on four wheels, it may be time to check for a pulse. Yes, it's audacious and screams, "Look at me!" in a way that some prospective buyers may find a touch loud. But there's another Ferrari for the discreet: the more subtle 612 Scaglietti.

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The waist-high F430 Spider's ground-hugging body demands a tip-toe pace up every parking ramp, mall entrance and speed bump, to preempt the gut-wrenching crunch of scraping front bumper or floor panels designed to increase aerodynamic downforce and stability at higher speeds.

Blacked-out air inlets in the front bumper evoke the 1961 Ferrari 156 F1 race car. Ghosts from a half century of Italian racing and design beckon from beneath the glass rear engine canopy, dressed up with Ferrari red cam covers and a chromed oil cap.