If the Ferrari California was broken in any way at all, it has now been fixed with a healthy spoonful of forced induction.  That’s right folks, you are looking at the first turbocharged Ferrari since the mighty F40, and it comes to us in the package of the “baby” model for the 2014 Geneva Motor Show. Well it seems that the baby has grown up because the California T’s new 3.9L twin-turbocharged V8 makes 552hp and 523ft/lbs of torque to the previous version’s 485hp and 372ft/lbs of torque…. if that isn’t a substantial increase, then I don’t know what is.

I drove the original version of the Ferrari California, the one with a measly 452hp and 358ft/lbs of torque, and I never once felt it was lacking for speed. This new California T is a major change, though, and not just because of the raw numbers. The real difference will be in the car’s drivability, now with all that extra torque available lower down in the rev range. It will be a Ferrari unlike any we have seen in quite some time, if ever.

I think the California, as a grand touring car, is the perfect initial application for Ferrari’s return to turbocharging. Much of its competition utilizes forced induction at this point, and I think it will be interesting to see how Ferrari has tailored the characteristics of this turbo engine to meet their standards of responsiveness. That said, while I am nothing but optimistic here, I’m sure there will be many livid self proclaimed “Ferrari Purists” who will write entire doctoral thesis in Facebook comments about how the new California T marks “the end of Ferrari” and how “Enzo is rolling over in his grave.” 

In my opinion, there are some companies we can absolutely trust to execute a car properly, one big one is Porsche, and another is Ferrari. The big story here is the change in the car’s powerplant, and what that means for future Ferraris. That said, I would like to add that I think the face-lifted California is much prettier than the old car — the headlights are much less awkward. Evidently (from the video below), Ferrari’s designers took heavy inspiration from the legendary 250 Testa Rossa, and the California is definitely better for it. 

I’m sure that there are a variety of reasons for Ferrari making a return to forced induction. The most obvious of which is emissions regulations, but Ferrari is only a small part of the massive Fiat Group, so I doubt that’s entirely it. In truth, turbocharging is just a more effective way to make a fast car these days. The turbo setup in the Ferrari F40 is crude by today’s standards, with lots of lag and wonderful flames erupting out from the exhaust. The Ferrari California T will surely take advantage of modern technology which eliminates (or almost eliminates) lag altogether, so this will basically just mean a faster California with a much wider effective power band.

Now, what’s not to love about that?

-Article by Nick Walker