Ferrari Roma Spider: Timeless elegance, driving thrills and comfort

Ferrari Roma Spider
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The Ferrari Roma Spider is a timelessly elegant, high-performance car with a contemporary take on the chic, pleasure-seeking Italian lifestyle of the 1950s and 60s. This spider carries over the proportions, volumes and specifications of the Ferrari Roma’s hugely successful V8 2+ concept, but what makes it so striking is the adoption of a soft top, a solution making a welcome return to the Prancing Horse range on a front-engined car 54 years after the 1969 365 GTS4.

There’s a novel and modern take on the soft-top design that underlines the Ferrari Roma Spider’s exuberant character, with extensive personalisation options that include sophisticated, bespoke fabrics and contrasting stitching. On a functional level, the soft top deploys in just 13.5 seconds and can be actioned at up to 60 km/h. The fact that it is so compact also yields a larger boot and boosts the car’s versatility. A new, patented wind deflector integrated into the backrest of the rear bench can be deployed by a button on the central tunnel, guaranteeing exceptional in-car occupant comfort without taking up any space in the car.

The Ferrari Roma Spider retains the Ferrari Roma’s excellent dynamic characteristics: it boasts a best-in-class weight/power ratio thanks not only to its soft top, but also to its all- aluminium chassis and 620 cv V8 from the engine family that was heralded as the International Engine of the Year on four consecutive occasions. The engine is coupled with Ferrari’s universally-acclaimed 8-speed DCT known for its incredibly fast shift times as well as excellent standards of comfort and mechanical efficiency.

The Ferrari Roma Spider is not just rewardingly easy to drive, it is also extremely dynamic and responsive: this makes it the perfect companion on out-of-town weekends and longer journeys alike. Always, of course, with the exhilarating Ferrari V8 soundtrack playing the background. A number of features are designed to make this car superbly versatile, including a category-topping boot size which includes a hatch via the rear seat backrests to allow larger items to be carried, and standard wireless connectivity by Android Auto® and Apple CarPlay® Wi-Fi. Not forgetting, of course, 18-way-adjustable heated ergonomic seats that are also available with an optional neck warmer for colder days.

Ferrari Roma Spider Style:

Designed by the Ferrari Styling Centre headed by Flavio Manzoni, the Ferrari Roma Spider aims to move the “La Nuova Dolce Vita” concept beyond city limits for elegant, carefree driving ‘en plein air’. This 2+ spider boasts a sophisticated fabric soft top, which is designed not just to maintain, but to enhance the flawless proportions of the coupé on which it is based without modifying that car’s elegantly flowing silhouette.

Redesigning the coupé’s tapering, fastback roofline meant modifying the rear screen to incorporate it into the soft top so that it can fold below the tonneau cover when open. On the Ferrari Roma Spider, the original styling theme has become a body-colour band running across the base of the roof that divides the carbon-fibre active spoiler from the roof and rear screen, creating a seamlessly integrated tonneau cover. When the soft top is lowered, the active spoiler visually connects with the rear bench and head rests.

Unlike the more usual basic fabrics seen on most convertibles, a new material has been used for the Ferrari Roma Spider’s soft-top, giving it a sophisticated air. Special fabric weaves were selected and developed in colour combinations that highlight the car’s twin souls, one more elegant and the other sportier. The bespoke finish with two-tone weave draws on a palette of four colours highlighting the refined, haute couture nature of the fabric.

The optional technical fabric developed specifically for this car gives it a sporty yet very sophisticated allure with an innovative weave creating an extremely striking iridescent red finish that further enhances the roof’s 3D surface.

Ferrari Roma Spider Exterior:

The stylistic approach taken for the Ferrari Roma Spider’s exterior centres around a clean design and absolute symbiosis between its various elements. Its harmonious proportions and pure, elegant volumes are very much in line with Ferrari’s front-engined GT tradition. That said, the designers have created a modern take on those classic proportions, giving the car a sophisticated, contemporary stylishness.
Ferrari Roma Spider
The long front bonnet underscores the spare silhouette of the flanks, lending a sense of sleekness to the entire body and a dynamic look. The sober, spare front of the car looks as if it were sculpted from single block of metal, creating an overhanging, sharknose effect.
The bonnet and sinuous wings flow into one another yet also effortlessly harmonise with Ferrari’s traditional styling cues. The designers sought to preserve the minimalist elegance of the car’s forms by removing any vents or superfluous decorative features. In fact, the launch configuration does not even include the Scuderia Ferrari side shields, reflecting the approach taken with the road cars of the 1950s.

Engine cooling is guaranteed by the perforated surfaces, only where strictly necessary, creating a new interpretation of the grille concept: this distinctive solution is finished in the same colour as the bodywork, rendering it seamless with the styling. The edges of the front grille flow into two linear, full-LED headlights which lend the front of the car a distinctive character all of its own. They are traversed by a horizontal DRL strip that hints at the structure beneath the car’s skin, an element that brings a sense of tension to the entire circumference of the car.
Ferrari Roma Spider
The fastback cabin volume is compact and set back, ending in a subtle nolder beneath which the designers have created a modern take on the signature Ferrari tail. The Ferrari Roma Spider’s long rear overhang, which is a characteristic of the Ferraris of the 1950s and 60s, has been re-proportioned here, resulting in a low, compact volume which hugs the rear axle.
Ferrari Roma Spider
The wraparound tail of the car is characterised by the purity and modernity of the transom styling. Technological advances made it possible to reduce the dimensions of the tail light assembly, resulting in a minimalist and iconic design. The rear is completed by a compact aerodynamic diffuser that incorporates the fence and exhaust tailpipes.

Ferrari Roma Spider Cabin:

For the Ferrari Ferrari Roma Spider’s cabin, the Ferrari Styling Centre designers took the same approach to volumes and forms introduced on the Ferrari Roma.

Two separate spaces, one each for driver and passenger, were created in an evolution of the dual cockpit concept, which has its roots deep in the marque’s history with cars from the 1970s. The innovative look of this dual cockpit was achieved by extending the philosophy applied to the dash to the entire cabin. Hence the vision of two modules that wrap around driver and passenger and that extend and integrate with the two rear seats.

Ferrari Roma Spider Powertrain:

The 3,855 cc power unit can punch out 620 cv at 7,500 rpm, the equivalent of 161 cv/l, which it combines with the flexibility of low-end pick-up, thanks to 80% of the torque being available at just 1900 rpm.

The Ferrari Roma Spider also sees the introduction of an important evolution of the oil pump which reduces time-to-pressure in cold starts by 70%, as well as increasing the flow rate at medium revs. The same modification has also been introduced on the Ferrari Roma, demonstrating the company’s commitment to continual research and development.

Like all Ferraris in the range, the Ferrari Roma Spider delivers instantaneous throttle response. This is the direct result of the adoption of specific solutions, such as a flat-plane crankshaft, which is more compact in size with lower rotating masses to improve fluid- dynamics; compact turbines which have a lower moment of inertia; twin-scroll technology that directs the exhaust gases from each cylinder through separate scrolls and increases the pressure of the exhaust pulses for maximum power; and a single-piece, cast exhaust manifold with equal length pipes to optimise pressure waves in the turbine and reduce losses.

With eight gears and optimum transmission efficiency, fuel consumption in urban and motorway contexts has been reduced without compromising on performance. In fact, there is a noticeable improvement even in sporty driving. The main technical features that have guaranteed this result are the use of low-viscosity oil and a dry sump configuration to minimise fluid-dynamic efficiency losses (oil splashing) in addition to the use of a specially- designed differential (with the input pinion axis not offset to reduce slip speed.

The clutch module is 20% smaller than the previous 7-speed, but delivers 35% more torque, with up to a maximum 1,200 Nm of dynamic torque transmitted when gear shifting. The transmission software strategy has been evolved thanks to a more powerful ECU and better integration with the engine management software. Particular attention was also lavished on the strategies designed to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, particularly when the Start and Stop function is in use.

7 Years Maintenance:

Ferrari’s unparalleled quality standards and intense focus on client service underpin the extended seven-year maintenance programme offered with the Ferrari Roma Spider.
Juan Manuel
the authorJuan Manuel
Track racing, competing, it's in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else.