Hot on the heels of Ferrari’s excellent but divisive Purosangue, the Italian sports car maker has unveiled a model that harks back to its most romantic roots. This serene machine is the forthcoming Ferrari Roma Spider, a soft-top convertible that instantly becomes the brand’s most delicate and tasteful model.
Ferrari Roma Spider: a soft-top convertible
Open-top motoring is a core component of the brand, not least because of its association with Formula One. The Roma Spider is a direct replacement for the Ferrari Portofino M, which in turn replaced the California T. Both of those models had a folding hard-top, and the decision to switch to a fabric roof is partly about heritage, partly about efficiency.
The last soft-top Ferrari was the mid-engine 2010 F430 Spider, but the Roma Spider’s true front-engined predecessor is the Ferrari 365 GTS4, dating back all the way to 1969. Modern fabric roofs have come a long way since the late 1960s. The electric mechanism opens swiftly and silently in just 13.5 seconds, and a clever wind deflector keeps the occupants unruffled.
This is helpful, because the Spider shares its hard-topped sibling’s performance ability, with an entirely unrelaxing top speed of 199mph and a 3.4 second sprint to 62mph. That’s all down to the twin-turbocharged V8 engine under the long, shark-nosed bonnet, the sound of which is obviously given a fillip when the roof is down.
Unusually, the Spider also carries over the coupé’s vestigial rear seats (what Ferrari calls a ‘2+’ configuration). While the rear headrests flow into the structure and form of the tonneau cover, they’re also substantially higher than the front seats, emphasising rather than cloaking the raised rear deck that houses the roof mechanism.
Roof up, and the lines of the coupé are approximated, if not matched precisely. The rear screen is cleverly folded away with the rest of the roof when not in use, and the compact mechanism ensures there’s still enough space for long-distance luggage requirements (and you can always stash bags in the back seats as well).
In its early days, Ferrari explicitly pitched its open models to the endless skies of the American West Coast, starting with the original 1960 250 GT SWB California Spyder. The new Spider looks set to continue this tradition of combining glamour with grit.
Ferrari Roma Spider, available from late 2023, price tbc, Ferrari.com
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