Ferrari Roma Spider review: Ferrari's open-top 'cruiser' takes on Irish roads in winter
A Roma for the senses
Nobody likes to be proven wrong. But I’ll gladly put my hands up and admit that I was. You see, when the invitation came in from Ferrari to join it on a driving adventure in the south of Ireland, I couldn’t stop my eyebrow from rising at the idea of a road trip at the wheel of the open-topped Roma Spider in my home country. Ireland is referred to as the Emerald Isle for very good reason, and all that greenery is made possible by copious amounts of rain. Mix in tight, twisty roads, and a 600+bhp, rear-wheel-drive luxury super sports car doesn’t seem an ideal fit.
Still, the Roma is designed to be the everyday Ferrari — if that’s not an oxymoron — and no doubt the folding roof is well engineered. And anyway, the Purosangue (Ferrari’s not-an-SUV SUV) was also going to be on hand if the deluge was too much for a convertible to handle.
Ferrari must have strong links to the Vatican or the weather gods, however, as what transpired was three days of mercifully clement conditions during which almost the only time the roof went up was while parking the car for the night.
The Roma Spider looks almost as good as its coupé sibling when the roof is in place, but obviously it’s at its glamorous best with the hood stowed. Though you can’t see it from afar, the droptop’s fabric is a classy weave of colours to give it an unique appearance and even texture. How many other convertible roofs have you felt the need to fondle at every opportunity?
Naturally it moves electrically, taking 13.5 seconds to raise or lower, according to Ferrari. And if you get caught out by a rain shower when moving along in traffic, worry not, as the operation can be done at speeds of up to 37mph. As if driving a Ferrari wasn’t attention-grabbing enough.
The low-slung roof impinges on rear-seat headroom, but in truth, the two seats back there are that in name only, as legroom is non-existent no matter how generous the front-seat passengers are feeling. Most owners will think of it as an especially well-appointed shelf for small items of luggage to augment the main boot behind. And anyway, you can’t use the rear seats if you want to deploy the wind deflector. Which those with expensive hairdos most certainly will want to do.
Up front, the Roma Spider’s cabin feels suitably upmarket and while it’s very obviously a Ferrari, it’s one which has been designed for drivers who spend plenty of time on the road. The materials used are first rate, and while there is a sporty theme throughout, it’s also comfortable and spacious with loads of adjustment in the seats and steering wheel.
Given the convoluted interface Ferrari installs on some of its cars, it’s a relief to find a simple, easy-to-use touchscreen in the middle of the Roma’s dashboard, while the front-seat passenger gets their own display above the glovebox to either admonish you for bending the rules of the road or egg you on, depending on your relationship and their disposition.
Regardless of this car’s grand tourer positioning, it’s still very sporty from the driver’s point of view. The flat-bottomed steering wheel is thick-rimmed and features massive gearchange paddles behind, along with the familiar “manettino” drive mode switch. Thankfully that’s still a physical thing you twist, though it’s a shame Ferrari replaced the chunky engine-start button of old with a touch-sensitive alternative.
And plenty has already been said about Ferrari’s use of turn signal buttons on the steering wheel instead of traditional steering column stalks for the indicators. Just no. Distracting you from that in the Roma is digital instrumentation. If you don’t have it set up to show the large yellow rev counter front and centre, then you’re doing it wrong.
Admittedly, the Roma Spider is designed to appeal to a wide swathe of buyers, some of whom couldn’t care less what a rev counter is for. Thankfully, it’s an easy car to just jump into and drive in its default settings. While there is a “Wet” mode for driving in especially poor conditions, the standard driving mode is “Comfort” and at that level, the Roma is docile, comfortable even on challenging Irish road surfaces and over speed bumps and the like.
The steering has plenty of assistance so you’ll not need to be a gym bunny to park the car and the throttle pedal gently responds to input, requiring you to put your foot quite far down before full performance is unleashed. Anyone could drive this car in this guise, and it’s a lovely place to while away the miles.
A glance at the technical specifications is enough to suggest there’s more than just a mile-munching GT to this car. Under the bonnet is a twin-turbocharged 3.9-litre V8 producing up to 611bhp. Ferrari went to great lengths to ensure responsiveness despite the use of turbocharging, and the combination of relatively small twin-scroll turbos and a flat-plane crankshaft (which increases vibration) means response to your right foot’s demands is crisp and dramatic, notably so in the Sport and Race driving modes. Indeed, it takes concentration to drive smoothly at low speeds in those settings such is the immediacy of the power delivery.
Even so, if you like cars even slightly, you’ll soon learn to default to at least the Sport level in the Roma, as the car feels far more alive when you do so. Doubly so when you switch the gearbox into manual mode. The only transmission offered is an eight-speed auto, but you’ll sit up and take notice when you learn it began life in the Ferrari SF90 Stradale.
It’s a dual-clutch system and, while it manages to slickly, unobtrusively shift ratios in Normal mode, it takes on a completely different personality when used with the gearshift paddles in conjunction with the more focused driving modes. The famous banshees of Ireland couldn’t hold a sputtering candle to the scream emitted from the exhaust as you home in on the engine’s red line.
Bloodcurdling it may not be, but it certainly stirs the senses. And your ears are allowed unhindered access to the noise when the roof is down, making a very strong case for the Spider over the coupé, even in “temperate” climates such as this one.
It’s not just noise, either, as this car can dispatch the 0-62mph sprint in just 3.4 seconds. Still think of it as the “baby” of the Ferrari lineup?
If you’re waiting for the “but” as the chassis struggles to cope with the demands of Ireland’s mountain roads, you’ll be in for disappointment, as the Roma is remarkable in a wide variety of conditions. Cleverly, even when you’ve reached for one of the sportier driving modes, it’s possible to summon up the “Bumpy Road” setting by pressing down on the manettino switch. This has the effect of softening the dampers and yes, you lose a little body control at the same time, but it means you can use more of the performance even when the road surface is truly awful.
All that power goes to the rear wheels but it’s well contained by all manner of computer-related acronyms, allowing any driver to push this car to its limits. Ferrari didn’t scrimp on the components either, as the Roma features an electronically controlled rear differential (which controls torque delivery between the wheels), the sixth generation of its Side Slip Control System (which allows the rear end to break traction) and something called Ferrari Dynamic Enhancer, which is designed to make you feel like a driving hero at the wheel without the risk of quickly becoming a zero in a boggy Irish ditch.
The Roma Spider allows the driver to just get on and enjoy themselves. In fact, it turned out to be the perfect Ferrari for an Irish road trip. Who knew? Not me. Next I’d like Ferrari to disprove my theory that living with the 12Cilindri for a year would be absolute hell.
Related articles
- If you were interested in our review of the Ferrari Roma Spider, you might like to read our review of the Ferrari Purosangue
- Also check out our video walkaround of the extraordinary Ferrari SF90 XX Stradale
- And have you seen Ferrari’s electric car plans? It also confirms it will continue producing V6, V8 and V12 engines beyond 2030
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