FORLI, ITALY – The press presentation for the new Ferrari 488 Spider spans 58 (brain-scramblingly detailed) Power Point slides covering the V8 roadster’s heritage, under-the-skin trickery and the buyer profile. The slides explaining the latter pique my interest. More people buy the roadster version of Ferrari’s core V8 model range than the coupe (except in China, where the hard-top version is seen to be more prestigious). Traditionally, chopping the roof off a vehicle results in structural losses that have to be resolved with extra bracing, which in turn adds mass and so could dull the driving experience and outright performance. Ferrari has had to incorporate additional bracing both front and rear that, in combination with the mechanism that folds the solid roof in just 14 seconds, adds 50 kg. Do buyers of V8 Spider models know they’re, in theory, buying a compromised car? Do they even care? Or, has Ferrari’s engineers been able to retain the dynamic sparkle and mind-numbing performance that so impressed us in first our drive of the 488 GTB (CAR, November 2015)? I can’t wait to find out the next morning…
Wednesday dawns dark and damp. It rained during the previous evening and more showers are expected later on our route through the hills of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, a stone’s throw from Ferrari’s base in Maranello. I’m a trifle worried; the 488 Spider will be the most powerful production car I have ever driven. It also happens to be rear-wheel drive – only two contact patches will be tasked with transferring 760 N.m of maximum torque (limited in the lower gears to optimise sound quality) to Italy’s greasy, pockmarked roads.
Parked outside are eight Spiders in shades of red, white and yellow, and one painted in the spectacular new paint colour, Blu Corsa. The hue perfectly offsets the car’s gorgeous lines. The 488 possesses visual drama in spades and the proportions are millimetre-perfect. The pair of flying buttresses behind the seats’ headrests are unique to this vehicle – the GTB instead has a more flowing profile and, sticking to tradition, puts the V8 on full display through a glass cover.
UNDER THE SKIN
Ah, that V8. The biggest talking point when the 488 GTB was revealed at last year’s Geneva Motor Show, it’s now turbocharged. Two IHI blowers feed air into the 3,9-litre flat-plane crank engine to produce 492 kW between 6 200 and 8 000 r/min. The 458’s 4,5-litre unit developed 419 kW, but at a stratospheric 9 000 r/min. I drove a 458 Spider a few years ago and my lingering memory is of that powertrain’s scalpel-sharp top-end response and spine-tingling yelp at the redline. It’s time to find out whether the 488 Spider can impart similar awe…
Some roads in Italy are in a shockingly poor state, and it would appear the organisers of the launch managed to include all of these routes in our drive section. Yet the Spider isn’t fazed. Diligently following orders, I keep the steering wheel-mounted manettino dial on the wet setting, which engages a more involved profile for the stability control system and softens the dampers, among other tweaks. But so expertly judged is this setting that I don’t mind not mining the depths of the chassis in the more focused modes or experiencing Side Slip Control 2.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
Minutes after departing the starting point, I’m driving the Spider like it’s a Lotus Elise. The engine is spectacularly powerful, but the long-travel throttle pedal makes metering out thrust a doddle. The steering, which has been taken directly from the 458 Speciale, is quick – it requires just two turns lock to lock – yet feelsome and impeccably weighted. Body movements are deftly controlled, yet the ride remains supple even on the worst stretches of the route and I simply can’t detect any body flex. And the Spider knows how to have fun. The stability control system allows a degree or two of slip in wet mode, which is straightforward to correct thanks to the lightning-quick response of the steering rack – the vehicle acts on inputs in a mere 0,06 seconds. However, overcook it into a turn, as I do a few times, and the back steps out in a predictable manner that’s never intimidating, but always thrilling. I’ve never felt this secure driving a supercar this hard, and that on sodden roads.
And as for that V8… Yes, it doesn’t sound quite as wonderful as the 458’s, but the difference is incremental and the new unit responds to throttle inputs with alacrity. When the rev needle hits 8 000 r/min, the V8 screams loudly, sonorously, confidently.
The engine is but one part of a whole that’s so startlingly superb – and which shows no apparent compromise in its transition from hard-top to roadster – that I simply don’t know how McLaren or Lamborghini can answer the questions it asks.
