New Ferrari Amalfi Spider review: an intoxicating drop-top

Verdict

Like its coupe sibling, the Ferrari Amalfi Spider is a supercar in all but name. It’s the model created to introduce customers to the brand, their first experience of Italy’s most famous export. But with a 631bhp V8 propelling it from 0-62mph in 3.3 seconds and on to 199mph, and with dynamics to match, there is nothing entry-level about Ferrari’s new Spider. 

Is there such a thing as a ‘base model’ Ferrari? Can a car that costs £227,500 before you have touched a single option be considered the ‘poor man’s’ choice? Ferrari thinks the former is true, and as with the Roma Spider that it replaces, the new Amalfi Spider is designed to be the stepping off point for Ferrari customers looking to start their Maranello journey with an open-top car. It’s not a bad place to begin.

Unlike the 296 GTS and 12Clindri Aperta, the Amalfi Spider is a fully fledged convertible, with a fabric roof (five layers of material interspersed with three layers of rubber, all pulled over an aluminium and steel frame) that retains as much of the coupe’s silhouette as is possible. In profile it has a look of a roof-chopped thirties hot rod (that’s meant as a complement by the way), and even at the rear the new slim rear window helps hide the bulk of the roof and blend neatly with the new full-width light bar. Less successful is how the new chunky diffuser, which along with the active rear wing helps reduce lift and even generates 110kg of downforce at 250kmh (155mph), integrates into the design. It does stick out a bit.   

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Getting you to that downforce-generating speed and beyond is the Amalfi Spider’s 3.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine that benefits from the same upgrades as the coupe. That means its turbos now spin 6,000rpm higher, at 171,000rpm, to generate a power output that’s just 20bhp shy of a V12 Enzo from 20 years ago. It’s a ferocious engine, and what it lacks in aural gratification, thanks to ever tightening emissions regulations requiring more and more filters, it makes up for with electrifying pace. 

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However, a key remit for the Amalfi was calming the performance delivery in the car’s Wet and Comfort drive mode settings in a bid to reduce the ‘spikey’ nature Roma customers found uncomfortable. Even so, this front-engined rear-drive roadster still feels brutal when you start to explore the performance it offers. 

Initially the throttle response feels a little slow, not as pin sharp as you might expect with the first 20 per cent of throttle opening not exactly fueling the accelerative flames. But build the revs beyond 4,000rpm and the torque blends into the engine’s power and within a couple of blinks the change-up lights are appearing on the top of the steering wheel rim in quick succession. In Comfort the eight-speed gearbox shifts gear a few thousand rpm shy of the engine’s limiter and hits home with an unexpected smoothness. But the Amalfi still builds pace with a supercar appetite for speed. 

The engine electronics, along with changes to the spring and active damper rates combine to calm the Amalfi Spider when introducing it to some tighter turns or a road that never straightens and requires constant driver input. It dives into corners cleanly, settles smartly and you can drive out of each turn with little or no shock to the system. Any nervousness or spikiness that Roma customers were weary off is no more.

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Not that this means the Amalfi has gone soft, because in Sport and Race it remains a full-bodied son of Maranello. The fixed roof is gone but the steering has lost none of its accuracy, the chassis balances grip with a ride quality that even on the toughest surfaces of our Greek test route made Ferrari’s famed bumpy road mode almost redundant. As you start to enjoy the car’s balance and explore its limits, it remains intuitive, engaging and rich in feel. Venture into the Race setting and higher still by using CT Off and the Amalfi Spider demonstrates a devilish streak that requires you to be on top of all that is happening beneath you. 

Regardless of drive mode, it’s an intoxicating experience, although perhaps not as much with the roof open as you might expect with its muted V8 soundtrack. With the roof open, windows up and wind deflector in place there is next to no buffeting, and with the roof closed you’d be hard pressed to know if you were in the coupe or Spider. It’s harder still with both sharing the same upgraded interior, including the new landscape HMI screen that’s more intuitive to use, but is now also home to more of the controls, which is annoying. 

If Ferrari’s remit was to make the Amalfi Spider more usable more of the time than the Roma that it replaces, it has nailed the brief without compromising that core Maranello DNA. It's a fine GT car blended with a thoroughbred powertrain and chassis that makes this latest addition to the stable so much more than an entry-level model.

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