Ferrari F8 Tributo Spider

A fearsome spider that won’t try and bite you

- Ben Barry

ENGINE 3902cc V8, DOHC, 32v, twin-turbo

POWER 530kW @ 7000rpm

TORQUE 770Nm @ 3250rpm

0-100KM/H 2.9sec (claimed)

WEIGHT 1400kg (dry) PRICE $536,888

LIKE: Superb engine and gearbox; brilliant electronics; forgiving chassis; ride quality

DISLIKE: Sound doesn’t match the performance; 488 Spider quite similar to drive

IT WAS AS MUCH a compromise as it was a convertible when Ferrari launched the 208 GTS Turbo in 1983. Now a largely forgotten if seminal footnote, the 208 was Maranello’s first turbocharged convertible and a preview, some four decades early, of this new F8 Spider. The removal of the 208’s roof made it wobblier than a coupe, but the real compromise was the engine, a gruff, laggy 2.0-litre turbo V8 that knocked 26kW from the near-identical 308’s 188kW and ducked the 38 per cent VAT that Italy levied on that car’s bigger 3.0-litre V8.

But compromises and the new F8 Spider? I’m struggling to think of any as the Ferrari and I fly across this rolling landscape with sun beating into the cabin, bringing an almost obscene 530kW to the boil with flicks of long paddle shifters fixed to the steering column. Squeezing the F8’s perky throttle, it’s the insatiable surge of midrange performance – 770Nm from 3250rpm – that’s the real giveaway that we’re dealing with forced induction, rather than a mushy throttle, finger-drumming turbo lag or any lack of enthusiasm for revs. Only Ferrari makes turbo engines so responsive.