WHEN IN ROMA...

Don’t go thinking the new Roma is a fixedroof Portofino – this one’s for the drivers

IT’S NOT A PORTOFINO WITH A FIXED ROOF.’ That’s what Ferrari told us last November when it unveiled the Roma. “Seventy per cent is new. It’s a GT with a sporting edge; it has Side Slip Control and a five-setting Manettino with a Race mode…” Being healthily sceptical, only when we’d driven it would we know exactly what sort of Ferrari the Roma is.

Less than 20 minutes after setting off, the answer is that the Roma is a very good Ferrari because in just a few miles it’s ticked all the important boxes. You’d never guess that it shares anything with the Portofino except maybe its flat-plane-crank V8, though even that feels utterly different in character.

The first clue that dynamically the Roma is going to be a bit special comes within a few metres. Getting the car off the flatbed transporter and pointing ourselves up the hills, all that comes through on small broken roads, is a soft, quiet pattering. A little further on, there’s some unavoidable, horribly broken asphalt and this also rolls beneath the Roma’s wheels with remarkably little fuss. But don’t go thinking that the Roma is some sort of lazy GT that has a chassis made of pudding, a coupe that has prioritised ride comfort above all else. As the day will prove beyond doubt, this ride quality is a result of superb wheel control and comes with satisfying dynamic precision rather than at the expense of it.

Rolling away, the steering weight felt a little light, but that was the last time I thought about the heft at the wheel, a sure sign that it’s very well judged. It feels connected right on centre, responsive to the smallest inputs, but it’s not jumpy, not overly bright. In no time at all the Roma feels direct and confident yet calm and refined.