Meant as a recent tackle the stylish, pleasure-seeking Italian life-style of the Fifties and 60s, Ferrari’s 2025 Roma Spider can be at residence in an American surroundings that harks again to a earlier mannequin title, the California.
Ferrari retired the California in 2017, when the convertible two-door four-seater that wore its title exited manufacturing. The Portofino adopted that very same 12 months, its title chosen to conjure pictures of the Italian Riviera. It launched important structural and mechanical enhancements, ultimately doubling as the inspiration upon which Ferrari constructed the beautiful Roma Coupe. Nevertheless, after driving the Portofino’s successor, the Roma Spider, by Los Angeles, it’s clear that its Californian spirit transcends the title.
You’d be shocked at how little of an impact chopping the roof off a automotive can have on its character. Take an Aston Martin DB12 or a Porsche 911 Turbo S, morph them into Volante and Cabriolet kind, and the use case stays the identical. Simply stash some sunscreen within the glove field, and also you’re good to go. This isn’t the case in relation to the Roma Spider. Its transition from onerous high to convertible utterly adjustments the way you drive it and, extra importantly, the place.
Take the Roma Coupe, marketed closely by Ferrari after the spirit of La Dolce Vita. Its low, sloping roofline and Sixties-inspired curves conjure pictures of pulling as much as red-carpet premieres or extravagant events hidden deep inside the metropolis. It captures the essence of the Bond impact that’s pushed Aston gross sales for many years. By proudly owning one, you would possibly inherit a number of the traits of the brooding, mysterious character that may drive one on the large display screen.
In distinction, though equally positioned as La Nuova Dolce Vita, the Roma Spider trades late-night escapades for sunny days on the West Coast. It’s mechanically equivalent to the Coupe, drawing energy from the identical 612-horsepower, 3.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8. Nonetheless, it encourages a much more relaxed angle behind the wheel. The place the Coupe is an athletic GT, encouraging you to bounce up a canyon street with simply manageable slides, the Spider desires you to take issues down a notch.
Its dry weight determine rises from 3,245 kilos for the Coupe to the three,430-lb Spider. An additional 185 lb just isn’t an inconsiderable sum, however it hardly issues on this automotive’s case. If efficiency is what you’re after, its 3.4-second dash to 62 mph ought to nonetheless be a lot, as will its 199 mph high velocity. That is nonetheless a front-engine, rear-drive Ferrari, and its dual-clutch computerized strikes by gears quickly. You may even gentle the rears if you need.
As an alternative, you’ll need to put the highest down, have interaction the built-in computerized wind deflector, and luxuriate in its comfy magnetic trip suspension on a cruise up the coast. So far as grand touring goes, it has the Coupe beat by way of versatility. Its roof stows in 13.5 seconds at as much as 37 mph, bringing you nearer to the observe emanating from its quad exhaust ideas. Its inside is the perfect of any present manufacturing Prancing Horse, sporting a separate central infotainment display screen that considerably will increase its usability. The cabin isolation is great regardless of, in my tester’s case, buying and selling its predecessor’s metallic folding roof for a denim one.
Ferrari went to nice lengths to make sure that the rear headrests move seamlessly into the redesigned rear deck and its consideration to element pays dividends. The Roma Spider is beautiful in its personal proper. Nevertheless, this tester’s Verde Masoni Opaco exterior, black wheels, and large fender shields lean extra into sporty territory than a sublime cruiser. Nonetheless, the Spider retains the identical sloping roofline that makes the Coupe a stunner.
This tester begins at $272,970 however, due to a hefty choices record, reaches an as-tested value of $435,809. The Ferrari Roma Spider’s persona breaks away from the Coupe in welcomed methods. It’s nonetheless a beautiful two-seater that makes implausible V8 noises and is as fast as you’d need from a Ferrari. Whereas its weight good points have an effect on its dealing with, it doesn’t cease it from being a superb grand tourer, the best automotive to benefit from the West Coast sunshine. In any case, its affect over the Prancing Horse dates again to the sensational 250 GT California Spyder of the Fifties.
Stats:
- Engine: 3.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8
- HP 612
- Torque 562
- Drive Rear-Wheel
- Transmission 8-Velocity Twin-Clutch Auto
- 0-62: 3.4
- Prime Velocity: 199 MPH
- Base Worth: $272,970
- As-Examined Worth: $435,809
This text appeared in our March 2025 Problem.
Introducing the February 2025 problem of duPont REGISTRY, #478, starring the all-new Lamborghini Temerario. To get your arms on a replica, both purchase a single problem or subscribe.
