The newcomer is called the 488 Spider, and promises to turn the driving thrills up to 11 by adding visceral wind-in-the-hair thrills to the standard car’s scorching performance and balletic handling. More importantly, with the roof down the Spider places the driver even closer to the brand’s latest turbocharged V8 engine.
Like its 458 predecessor, the Spider uses a folding metal hard-top, which means that whether the roof is up or down, the drop-top 488 looks every bit as gorgeous as the coupe. Above the waistline, a pair of sharply creased flying buttresses replace the coupe’s clear glass engine cover, but elsewhere the Spider looks virtually identical.
At the front there’s the same low nose, gaping air vents and slim, swept-back headlamps, while the heavily sculpted rear wheelarches feature vast inlets that force air to the car’s twin-turbochargers. And as we’ve come to expect with modern Ferrari models, the Spider is much more than a pretty face. Careful sculpting of the panels and tweaking of the car’s underside have helped engineers perform the neat trick of both boosting aerodynamic downforce and reducing drag. The car is lighter, too, weighing in at 50kg less than the 458 Spider.
That’s impressive, but for many Spider owners the really important figure is the 14 seconds it takes to stow the roof. Prod a button on the dash, and the aluminium panel flips gracefully up and over, before sliding unobtrusively beneath a panel ahead of the engine cover. Despite its clever mechanism, the folding roof actually weighs around 25kg less than a traditional fabric covering. Plus, neat packaging means that even when the hard-top is stowed, there’s still space for a handy luggage tray behind the front seats.
More importantly, opening the 488’s strikingly styled cabin to the elements puts the driver at the centre of the action when they press the bright red starter button and the mid-mounted V8 yelps into life.
The 3.9-litre engine is carried over unchanged from the GTB, which means you get the same race-derived flat crank design, twin IHI turbochargers and monstrous 660bhp power output. Yet it’s the thumping 760Nm torque figure that dominates the performance.
The old 458 was fast, but the 488 is on another level. Peak torque arrives at just 3,000rpm, which means the Spider explodes out of corners with real violence. It doesn’t matter what gear you’re in or what speed you’re doing, the Ferrari pins you into your seat and fires you down the road. What’s really surprising about this display is that torque delivery is actually limited in the lower gears to help deliver a smoother and more linear acceleration. And it works, because there’s absolutely no turbo lag – the engine responds to the throttle with almost the same scalpel sharpness as the old naturally aspirated 4.5-litre unit, but with far more mid-range muscle. The 0-62mph sprint is demolished in an astonishing 3.0 seconds flat, while the top speed is a heady 203mph.
And then there’s the noise. Any fears that the addition of turbos would have diluted the traditional Ferrari V8 soundtrack are banished the moment you squeeze the throttle and the needle on the rev counter races around to the 8,000rpm redline. From a deep bark through to a spine-tingling, hard-edged howl that’s overlayed with a subtle whistle from the turbos, the 488 never fails to keep your ears entertained. This mechanical orchestra is conducted beautifully by the faster-acting seven-speed gearbox, which rips up and down ratios with every pull of the large, column-mounted paddles.
Of course, there’s more to the Spider than beautiful looks and brute force. Head down a twisting back road and you’ll discover it's every bit as involving and agile as the coupe.
Chopping the roof off any car normally weakens the chassis, which has an adverse effect on handling. However, Ferrari’s engineers have added plenty of strengthening to the Spider’s structure, with the result that it boasts the same torsional rigidity as the coupe.
The upshot is that you get the same ultra-quick and direct steering, staggering grip and deliciously neutral balance. The standard adaptive dampers serve up rock-solid body control, while twisting the steering wheel-mounted manettino controller unlocks ever more focused driving modes, including the latest-generation Side Slip Control that allows you a little sideways slide before the electronic stability control smoothly intervenes. Yet even with the safety net switched off, the Spider is beautifully balanced and approachable. A further highlight is the LaFerrari-sourced carbon ceramic braking system, which is perfectly progressive and provides eye-popping stopping power.
Slow things down a little and the Spider turns into a perfect cruiser. A powered glass wind deflector helps keep buffeting to a minimum, the adaptive dampers soften to smooth out bumps and imperfections in the road, while the effortless turbocharged torque allows rapid yet relaxed progress.
Key specs
- Model: Ferrari 488 Spider
- Price: £204,400
- Engine: 3.9-litre V8 twin-turbo
- Power/torque: 660bhp/760Nm
- Transmission: Seven-speed dual clutch, rear-wheel drive
- 0-62mph: 3.0 seconds
- Top speed: 203mph
- Economy/CO2: 24.7mpg/260g/km
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