Ferrari Roma Spider

FIRST DRIVE Italian brand hits the bullseye with drop-top grand tourer

- Steve Sutcliffe

THE Ferrari Roma Spider is not a car AE one that many will ever see, let alone get to drive. But for the exceedingly fortunate few it is without doubt one of the sexiest and plain best open-top grand touring cars that (an awful lot of money can buy right now.

Based unashamedly on the Roma coupé, the Spider costs £210,313 and boasts the same 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 engine and eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox as its fixedhead sibling. It costs almost 30 grand more, however, because even in the rarefied world of Ferrari ownership, prices have gone up since the coupé was unveiled three years ago. Plus it has more than a few extra bits and bobs - both above and beneath its distinctive new composite bodywork - that distinguish it beside the fixed-head.

The new hood, for example, is a work of art. Not just because it can be raised or lowered at up to 40mph and takes just over 13 seconds to glide into position, but also because it's made from cloth this time, and is subtly colour-coded to match whatever paint you specify on your Spider. It also provides very good refinement and eschews the folding hard-top design of the previous Portofino M, which the Spider broadly replaces within Ferrari's line-up.

Beneath the skin the Spider has undergone numerous modifications to make up for the fact it has no roof. There's a partially new rear subframe and the sills have been heavily reinforced to make the body stiffer. So although the torsional stiffness is still down by around 30 per cent compared with the coupé, you wouldn't necessarily notice it on the move.

The overall weight distribution has also shifted fractionally towards the back (it's now 48:52 as opposed to 50:50 in the coupé), all of which means the Spider is slightly softer and deliberately less aggressive in its overall responses.