One of our great customers came to us with their 2012 Ferrari 458 Italia. It was in desperate need of an upgrade. The navigation was stuck in England, so when driving in Christchurch, it showed you were in the water. It also didn’t have full connectivity to his phone – a huge frustration in our hyper-connected world.
We love working on Exotics. Such a pleasure! But there are challenges. The big challenge with Ferraris is sourcing the right parts. It’s not hard, but it takes some time to ship, fit, test, fit, test (you get the idea). We sourced parts from around the globe for the Ferrari 458: official Ferrari parts from Maranello Italy, connectors and adapters from the USA (shout out to Mike Niday at Scuderia Audio), and of course, parts from our amazing New Zealand suppliers.
What were the issues, and how did we fix them?
Issue: No connection to the mobile phone, no music, and the wrong navigation
Fixed: Installed a wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto adapter to the factory system
The goal when upgrading Exotics, like this Ferrari, is keeping the factory look while adding new functionality. In the 458 we tapped into the factory screen with an Android Auto/Apple CarPlay adapter. This adapter also gives navigation functionality via your favourite app. The car was bought from the UK, and the navigation system stayed there. The simple act of installing phone integration tech puts her back on New Zealand soil.
Issue: Hard to see out the back window when reversing.
Fix: We installed a new reversing camera in a discreet location
The Ferrari didn’t come fitted with a reversing camera, and believe us when we say it was hard to see out of the back window. We installed a high-quality reversing camera tucked away to maintain the vehicles iconic appearance. We tapped into the freshly installed adapter to automatically display the reverse camera when in reverse.
Issue: Hard to hear the music above the powerful engine
Fixed: Installed a subwoofer and Amplified DSP neatly behind a custom-built panel
The engine is one of the top-selling points in this car. You want to hear it. But after a few hours on the road, you may want to listen to something else. To help with that, we installed a new slimline ZeroFlex FLX-184SQ 8″ subwoofer and Zapco ADSP-Z12iv-10a 10-channel digital signal processor. We built a custom panel to ensure the interior looked original and the sound resonated.
Not everyone has the means to buy a Ferrari. But you can get much of this functionality through a simple phone integration upgrade. Find out about how you can get Apple CarPlay/Android Auto in your car.
