Supposed as a up to date tackle the stylish, pleasure-seeking Italian life-style of the Nineteen Fifties and 60s, Ferrari’s 2025 Roma Spider can also be at dwelling in an American atmosphere that harks again to a earlier mannequin identify, the California.
Ferrari retired the California in 2017, when the convertible two-door four-seater that wore its identify exited manufacturing. The Portofino adopted that very same 12 months, its title chosen to conjure photographs of the Italian Riviera. It launched important structural and mechanical enhancements, ultimately doubling as the muse upon which Ferrari constructed the attractive Roma Coupe. Nevertheless, after driving the Portofino’s successor, the Roma Spider, by Los Angeles, it’s clear that its Californian spirit transcends the identify.
You’d be shocked at how little of an impact chopping the roof off a automobile can have on its persona. Take an Aston Martin DB12 or a Porsche 911 Turbo S, morph them into Volante and Cabriolet type, 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 arduous high to convertible fully 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 photographs of pulling as much as red-carpet premieres or extravagant events hidden deep throughout 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 few of the traits of the brooding, mysterious character that will drive one on the large display.
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 bop up a canyon street with simply manageable slides, the Spider needs 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 isn’t an inconsiderable sum, however it hardly issues on this automobile’s case. If efficiency is what you’re after, its 3.4-second dash to 62 mph ought to nonetheless be lots, 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’ll be able to even gentle the rears if you’d like.
As an alternative, you’ll wish to put the highest down, interact the built-in computerized wind deflector, and luxuriate in its snug magnetic journey 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 notice emanating from its quad exhaust suggestions. Its inside is one of the best of any present manufacturing Prancing Horse, sporting a separate central infotainment display that considerably will increase its usability. The cabin isolation is great regardless of, in my tester’s case, buying and selling its predecessor’s steel folding roof for a denim one.
Ferrari went to nice lengths to make sure that the rear headrests circulation seamlessly into the redesigned rear deck and its consideration to element pays dividends. The Roma Spider is attractive in its personal proper. Nevertheless, this tester’s Verde Masoni Opaco exterior, black wheels, and big 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, because of a hefty choices listing, reaches an as-tested worth of $435,809. The Ferrari Roma Spider’s persona breaks away from the Coupe in welcomed methods. It’s nonetheless a stunning two-seater that makes implausible V8 noises and is as fast as you’d need from a Ferrari. Whereas its weight positive factors have an effect on its dealing with, it doesn’t cease it from being a wonderful grand tourer, the perfect automobile to benefit from the West Coast sunshine. In spite of everything, its affect over the Prancing Horse dates again to the sensational 250 GT California Spyder of the Nineteen 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
- High Velocity: 199 MPH
- Base Worth: $272,970
- As-Examined Worth: $435,809
This text appeared in our March 2025 Situation.
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