Ferrari Roma Spider Review

2024 Ferrari Roma Spider | A Classic & Exotic Review

Thanks to Charles Hurst Ferrari in Belfast for supplying the car.

There is a particular kind of embarrassment reserved for people who claim not to care about Ferrari’s. You see it on their faces at traffic lights, the double take, the nudge to whoever is sitting next to them, the phone coming out. Children scream at it, grown adults too. Everyone, regardless of whether they know a camshaft from a crankshaft, understands immediately that something significant has just gone past. That is not nothing. In fact, for a car that a certain stripe of enthusiast has been quietly dismissive of – “too soft, too grand tourer, not a real Ferrari” – it is rather a lot.

The Roma Spider arrived as Ferrari’s attempt to build a proper open-top GT, and the result is a car that blows expectations out of the water. The silhouette is beautiful in a way that the photographs undersell, the Rosso Imola paintwork helps considerably – and at 6’2″ I had no meaningful complaints about the cabin, which is more than can be said for most mid-engined alternatives. Getting in and out requires no particular athleticism. The driving position is natural rather than theatrical. Ferrari has actually made a car that is easy to live with, and the establishment does not quite know what to make of that.

What it has not done is compromise on the things that actually matter. That twin-turbocharged V8 is a fascinating piece of engineering. In eighth gear on a motorway it is so hushed you could mistake it for something German, the kind of refinement that makes the two hour run from Dublin back to Belfast feel effortless. Drop three gears on an empty stretch of road and the character changes entirely. The turbos build audibly, the revs climb with urgency, and the noise that arrives is not the theatrical excess of something trying too hard but something more satisfying. A sound with a point to it. There is very little lag in the traditional sense. Ask for power in the right gear and it is simply there, without negotiation.

The eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox deserves particular mention. In its more aggressive settings it is snappy and dramatic, shifts under heavy load arrive with a crack and a pull that is entirely addictive. Yet with that same gearbox, at lower revs and in Comfort mode, it’s almost imperceptible in its changes. The ability to be both things without feeling confused about which one it is represents a level of sophistication that the big flashy headline figures alone do not convey. Ferrari has been making dual-clutch gearboxes for a long time (since 2008 I believe!) and it shows.

The chassis tells a similar story. In the wet (and on Irish roads there is rarely a shortage of wet) the Roma Spider is confidence inspiring in a way that 612 horsepower normally isn’t. Warm the tyres and it finds grip with a reassuring certainty. In Race mode it corrects slides tidily, without fuss, without the intervention feeling like the car is catching you out. The steering in Comfort mode is light but not absent, it communicates just enough to understand what the front axle is doing. Over speed bumps and broken road surfaces (1,000,000 potholes around my house), even without front lift, it is more composed than it has any right to be. Irish back roads, which have defeated considerably more focused machinery, do not trouble it.

The roof is hydraulic, with no wind buffering at speed when the wind deflector is deployed in the rear and it operates quickly and smoothly enough that the question of whether to raise or lower it feels casual rather than an event. The answer, for the record, is lower it. The sound improves appreciably with open air above your head, and the Roma Spider’s soundtrack is already its greatest asset. Unfortunately a few days in Ireland in May is not a reliable source of roofless weather. The boot is usable (only when the roof is up), adequate for a weekend away or a food shop.

The infotainment is where the Roma Spider’s case begins to struggle. For a car at this price point it is underwhelming in a way that is hard to ignore, slow, occasionally buggy, and CarPlay connectivity that can take the better part of five minutes to establish. The touchscreen engine start button on the steering wheel is a gimmick that replaces one of the most satisfying tactile experiences in motoring — the old red starter button — without offering anything remotely comparable in return.

None of which is sufficient reason not to want one. The question of whether it represents the best use of this money (there are rivals that make stronger arguments on paper) is a legitimate one. A 911 Cabriolet is more precise. An Aston Martin Vantage Roadster is more dramatic, when it works. But neither of them park outside and make children scream and adults forget themselves on a Tuesday afternoon in Dublin City. The Roma Spider is a long way from being an entry-level “supercar” in any meaningful sense. It has 612 horsepower, the better part of a genuine GT car’s comfort and an engine note that you think about on the drive home. Put it this way, cross-country, roof down, summer somewhere in Europe. There are considerably worse ways to spend this kind of money.

SPECIFICATION | FERRARI ROMA SPIDER

Engine: 3,855cc twin-turbo V8 Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch, rear-wheel drive Power (hp): 612 @ 7,500rpm Torque (lb ft): 561 @ 3,000rpm 0–62mph: 3.4 seconds Top speed: 198mph Weight: 1,580kg (kerb)

Car supplied by Charles Hurst Ferrari, Belfast