When Ferrari unveiled the Roma back in 2019, the Maranello-based supercar maker gave it the tag line “la nuova Dolce Vita”, or “the new sweet life” in English. Think driving through the windy roads with the magnificent Italian Alps as backdrop – and yet, half of the view is covered by the car’s (admittedly very attractive) sloping roof.
No, what you want is a convertible grand tourer, where you can soak in not just the beautiful surroundings and fresh air, but also the growl of the Ferrari V8. Luckily, the Ferrari Roma Spider is now here for you to do just that.
Uniquely, the Ferrari Roma Spider here utilises a fabric roof instead of a hard-top like most of the marque’s recent convertible models. In fact, it’s the first front-engined Prancing Horse with a soft top since the 365 GTS4 from 1969.
The soft top can be erected or stowed away in just 13.5 seconds at speeds up to 60 km/h, and is made out of a special multi-layer fabric that’s said to offer “acoustic comfort on a par with retractable hard tops”. A wind deflector is integrated into the rear bench’s backrests, and can be deployed with just a touch of a button – but only when you have no rear passengers on board.
Thanks to the roof now being chopped off, Maranello had to add several reinforcements to the rear of the chassis in order to ensure it still drives like a Ferrari. Still, with all that plus a whole folding roof mechanism, the Roma Spider only weighs 84 kg more than its coupe counterpart.
To accommodate the new roof, the section directly behind the rear seats have been redesigned with a body-colour band that runs across the base of the roof, dividing the carbon fibre active spoiler from the roof and rear screen in the form of a “seamlessly integrated tonneau cover”.
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The active rear spoiler also had to be redesigned and recalibrated for roofless driving, with three positions that increases in downforce the faster you drive. Fortunately, the rest of the Roma’s sultry body lines are mostly unchanged, including its signature long bonnet and low-slung, shark-like front fascia.
Also unchanged is its cabin design, which mirrors basically the coupe’s interior in its entirety, including the 8.4-inch portrait infotainment display in the middle sandwiched between two separate cockpit-like areas for the front passenger.
The all-new Ferrari Roma Spider is powered by the same 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine, making 620 hp and 760 Nm. Power is sent to the rear wheels exclusively via an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. Not that you’d really care in a topless grand tourer, but the Spider here does the century sprint in 3.4 seconds, onward to a top speed of over 320 km/h – identical to that of its coupe counterpart.
Pricing for the Ferrari Roma Spider is not announced yet, but expect it to come at a premium over its regular coupe counterpart – the regular Ferrari Roma is priced from RM968,000 here in Malaysia, before options, duties, taxes, and insurance.
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