We just adored the Ferrari 488 GTB. With the 488 Spider they’ve added a retractable roof, kept the right-hand drive, and made what should be the perfect tool for those who seek the hedonistic lifestyle.
But taking off the roof can knock the edge off the handling, which would be a disaster. Has it been averted, and if so by how much?
The basics are still there. The twin-turbo 3.9-litre V8 with the seven-speed auto is the same as in the coupe. That means this is the most potent Spider to date, with 660bhp. Which means you can reach 62mph in precisely 3.0sec.
The new car only needs to keep the GTB’s DNA and we’re home and dry. It does. We are. The performance is simply immense, immediate, almost impossible. And it’s accompanied by the sort of sound that will make you leave the roof open or, if it’s closed, you can still have the rear window down. Listen to the sound as it howls up and down, falsetto with bass, sound and fury.
The car still handles incredibly well, letting you hang the back out with some confidence, letting you know exactly what it’s doing, even if the scenery is passing at the sort of speed that implies someone’s been playing with the fast-forward again.
But. But you know what’s coming.
They’ve taken the roof off and so weakened the structure, which they’ve then reinforced, and then backed off the suspension a touch to compensate. You are aware of this.
Whether you’re tooling along with the sun bouncing off your head, or you’re attacking a B-road with the sort of venom you’d normally save for the squash court, the 488 Spider is a sensational device to be driving. How can you not find it utterly beguiling?
But if Ferrari has made the sky the limit with this convertible, they’ve done the same thing with the prices. Is it bourgeois to talk about money? Aren’t most owners beyond such things? Want. Have. Simple. But the protestant in many of us may cavil at how Ferrari treat their customers.
The asking price is £204,411, which is what it is, fair enough. But our test car had some extras, and that raised the price to £282,728. Really? Apple CarPlay costs £2400? That’s just a bought-in service. Parking cameras front and rear cost nearly £3500, again they’re hardly Ferrari-made items.
But once we’ve finished griping, we can still smile at the memory of that engine wailing up the road, in what is a remarkably wonderful Ferrari.
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