The year 2008 was a big one for Ferrari, as far as what it gave to the world in the Ferrari California. What it gave us was a lot of new features: front-engine V8, retractible hardtop, double-clutch 7-speed transmission. And it was the last to carry a Ferrari classic, the manual gearbox. So the California pushes ahead while looking, or at least glancing, back.

What makes the California a unique car is that it’s a “grand tourer,” meaning it can go fast and look good, and do both for many miles of road. This situation is helped out by the fact that it’s a “2+,” meaning a two-door with a backseat. The driver’s seat is still where everyone wants to be, but if you can’t do that, at least you’ve got more seats available to watch the show.

The California recalls a 20th-century ancestor, another great Ferrari with a sort-of backseat. Back in the late ’50s, the 250 GT California rolled onto highways and into dreams. You may know this car from the 1986 John Hughes movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” The red car at the center of that film was a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California, one of something like 100 such cars built. And lest you worry that the car’s swan-dive at the movie’s end was a great crime against Ferrari: the car was a replica.

But anyway the Ferrari folk liked the car, and the name, and so it was passed on. It could’ve been called the Des Moines, but the California seems way cooler. And in any event it’s definitely a 21st-century machine. This new California goes zero-to-60 in a bit under four seconds, tops out at 193 mph, and is Ferrari’s most aerodynamic car yet.

This is a big car, and a fast car, but it’s not one of the really mean Ferraris. The California has actually gotten a rep as a car that plays as nice as it rides. It looks good, sure, but not crazy. It has speed, but not that mind-numbing kind. And it has been said to have, by some, a large ass.

And yet the Ferrari California lacks for nothing: speed, handling, room for friends (even if they may have to be kind of small friends). The car’s destiny lay in the long highway, the cross-country trip. The quick jaunt from state to state. It may be the fastest family car in the world. Or maybe “family car” isn’t quite right, but anyway the California is the car you want to share with your loved ones — who can see it all from the backseat.

Computers and Preeminence of a Ferrari, find more at Charles Granere‘s.