By the time you touch redline, both horsepower and torque have dropped back by about 10 percent. However, the perfect selection of gear ratios in the six-speed puts you right into the fat part of the power curve with each upshift and delivers the giddy thrill of spinning the tires hard enough on the 3-4 gear change to bring the "ASR" traction control into effect--at 100 mph! The charge continues right on to the 186-mph top speed, and gets you there in total confidence, thanks to a chassis with titanium-ingot-solid structure and 51/49-percent front/rear weight distribution.
Drive it like a demon, and the 456M is one kick-ass tire-smoking mama. But behave yourself, and the revised version of Ferrari's 2+2 (the "M" is for Modificata) is as refined as a true GT car should be. From the Pininfarina bodyshaping with carbon-fiber and aluminum panels to its ultra-sumptuous all-leather interior, no one does Grand Touring better. The M version delivers a slight styling change to the front end, redesigned spoilers and air ducts, improved anti-dive characteristics of the suspension, a smarter ABS/traction-control system, and some minor interior changes. Lazier, urban bound, rich guys can eschew the six-cog manual in favor of a four-speed automatic (as our test car in California was equipped), which takes a bit of the edge off the performance razor yet accounts for 70 percent of 456 sales. Hmmm.
Topped with the new Grigio Ingrid silver paint (originally mixed for Ingrid Bergman's 1954 Ferrari 375 Mille Miglia), the highly exclusive 456M (fewer than 400 to be built in total) represents a great way to burn a quarter-million-dollar hole in that big lottery you're sure to hit. Better order yours now, just in case.