First front-engined soft-top Ferrari in more than 50 years to arrive in Australia inside 12 months
As anticipated from a cryptic teaser released last week, the all-new Ferrari Roma Spider has emerged ahead of an Australian landing either late this year or early in 2024.
Unlike the Ferrari Portofino M, which is currently the supercar marque’s entry-level convertible and uses a retractable hard-top, the 2024 Ferrari Roma Spider becomes the first front-engined model from the Prancing Horse to feature a fabric roof since the 1969 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 ‘Daytona’ Spider.
The five-layer roof on the convertible version of Ferrari’s entry-level coupe is designed for maximum refinement and strength, prompting Ferrari to claim the soft-top “guarantees occupant comfort on a par with the retractable hard-top system equipping the other spider models in the range”.
The roof can be raised or lowered in a claimed 13.5 seconds at up to 60km/h, folding down to just 220mm tall when stowed and thereby leaving room for up to 255 litres of boot space.
Designers haven’t quite been able to replicate the Roma coupe’s ‘fastback’ silhouette and roofline, but the Spider is arguably better looking with the soft-top down.
It’s also an important point of differentiation from the Portofino M, which uses the same 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 and is currently priced at $450,000 plus on-road costs.
Based on today’s pricing, that’s around the mark we’d expect to see the Roma Spider given the coupe opens at $409,888 plus ORCs.
But given the Portofino M was recently jacked up by more than $46,000 for 2023, the Roma coupe might be similarly repositioned to around $450K and the Spider handed a circa-$40K premium.
All will be revealed when local pricing and specifications are announced closer to launch.
As per the coupe, the Roma Spider features a 456kW/760kW version of the 3.9-litre biturbo V8, driving the rear wheels via an SF90-derived eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.
It can reach 100km/h from standstill in 3.4 seconds, which is the same as the coupe and a little surprising given the 84kg weight penalty brought with convertible (tipping the scales at 1556kg), while 200km/h is showing on the clock after 9.7sec.
Top speed is more than 320km/h. A bespoke wind deflector can be operated at up to 170km/h if the cabin proves too blustery on your speed run or high-speed grand tour.
In the familiar 2+2 cabin, the driver is handed a high-tech multifunction steering wheel and digital cockpit arrangement while the centre console is adorned by a vertically oriented 8.4-inch infotainment system, below which resides the retro-inspired gear selector.
Other standard equipment highlights on the Roma Spider include wireless smartphone mirroring, 18-way-adjustable heated ergonomic seats, leather upholstery, full LED headlights and daytime running lights, active rear spoiler, Side Slip Control System 6.0 and 20-inch alloy wheels.
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Keyword: 2024 Ferrari Roma Spider revealed