Car Review: Ferrari 488 Spider

Convertible supercar attracts no end of attention – and dishes up plenty of drama

(Ferrari)

This is the 488 for people who want to be seen. There’s no such thing as a 488 for people who want to blend in, obviously, but the GTB is the driver’s car and the Spider is the attention-seeker’s car.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course. But we beheld the Spider a lot and it looked more and more beautiful all the time, not least in the Blu Corsa paintwork that would add £7000 (yes) to the bottom line.

And plenty of other people liked it too. Our test drive was a series of interactions with new-found fans who came up to talk, take selfies, touch it lasciviously, that sort of thing. You might need to be a pop star or footballer to afford one of these; but if you’re not, it’ll make you feel like one.

(Ferrari (Ferrari)

In this, the drop-top Spider is a more effective pull-tool than the GTB. Which itself is no mug at these matters. It’s just so gloriously showy – and its twin-turbo V8 is just so gloriously loud.

It’s just glorious full stop, too. The 3.9-litre unit makes 560lb ft at 3000rpm and 670bhp at 8000rpm, but while the latter figure does illustrate how mightily it revs the former one hardly hints at its epic reserves of heave at the bottom of the rev range.

It’s mated to a surgically accurate seven-speed auto, too. And the result is a level of acceleration that feels more like being controlled by an on-off switch – yet somehow isn’t harsh at all, just relentless and relentlessly fast at the same time.

You can use the Spider’s huge speed to great effect, too, because the 488’s chassis is a masterpiece and on top of that it’s aided by an array of techno tricks to manage traction, lock the diff, control slides and so on.

All the same, the lack of a hard roof means there’s a touch of shimmying in the chassis and steering when you hit bigger bumps, or you’ve got the suspension loaded up on the way through a corner and suddenly run into a series of pot holes. The car’s structure groans and so might you – because this will be the bucket of ice water that keeps you from cutting loose behind the wheel.

It’s still a 488, and still therefore a supreme car. But it’s a step down from the GTB, so what you gain in admiration you lose in dynamics.

But you do gain a lot of admiration. And even with the roof down, there’s next to no noise in the cabin – save of course from the devilishly lovely howls and shrieks and pops and bangs from the engine, which is the sort of noise anyone with a soul can enjoy.

Ferrari Spider - rapidly convertible

Anyone with a soul and, of course, someone extremely generous as either their employer or their dad. At a squeak under £205,000, the Spider carries a premium of about £20k on the GTB – but the car we tested here was specced beyond its list price to the tune of another eighty grand. That paint was just the start, clearly.

Approaching half of the extra is accounted for by various carbon fibre components, which is a pricey way to save about 100kg of kerb weight. But it does mean our Spider was lighter than a standard GTB, which is something not many convertibles can boast of.

It still doesn’t match the tin-top for dynamic marvels, however. If you want a supercar with a totally sorted chassis, it’s not for you.

But if you want everyone, yourself included, to know you drive a supercar, it’s perfect. The thrills and the spectacle are all there. And so to is a car which, despite everything, is still world-class to drive – and drop-dead gorgeous to look at.

(Ferrari (Ferrari)

FERRARI 488 SPIDER

Engine: 3,902cc V8, twin-turbo

Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto, rear-wheel drive

Power (hp): 670@8,000rpm

Torque (lb ft): 560@3,000rpm

0-62mph: 3.0sec

Top speed: 203mph

Weight: 1,420kg (with “lightweight options”)

MPG: 24.8 (NEDC combined)

CO2: 260g/km

Price: £204,400 (£282,728 as tested, comprising Apple CarPlay £2,400; Adaptive Frontlight System £1,440; Aluminium brake calipers £864; carbon fibre engine compartment £4,512, carbon fibre B-pillar trim £2,112; carbon fibre diffuser £5,472; carbon fibre sill cover £4,896; carbon fibre driving zone inc. LEDs £4,320; carbon fibre 'tunnel bridge' £1,632; carbon fibre door panels £3,396; carbon fibre kick plates £1,152; carbon fibre upper tunnel £2,304; carbon fibre dash inserts £3,840; embroidered headrests £720; titanium exhaust £1,440; carbon fibre front spoiler £4,320; floormats with embroidered logo £768; Scuderia Ferrari wing shields £1,056; electrochromic mirrors £960; parking cameras £3,456; passenger display £2,592; special colour £7,104; 20-inch chromed forged wheels £3,552; aluminium rev counter £557; Daytona carbon fibre race seats £6,144; sport seat lifter £1,440; premium hi-fi system £3,552; colour on request for seat stitching £432; interior colour for upper part of passegener compartment £1,344)

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