Ferrari 849 Testarossa Spider review

A lot. Spider prices start at a very precise £442,468, around thirty-five grand above the coupe. And you’re probably going to opt for the Assetto Fiorano pack, too, which brings a 30kg weight-saving thanks to carbon fibre and titanium, and more downforce thanks to new ‘twin tail’ spoilers. That’ll cost you £42k. Add a few options (racing stripe? £21,000. Carbon fibre wheels? £23,000) and you’re not getting change from half a million quid here.

But if you think of the 849 as seven-eighths of a Ferrari F80 – plus a bonus two cylinders – for one-eighth of the cost, it suddenly starts to look a whole lot more reasonable.

And besides, if you’re out to drop half a million quid on a convertible supercar, what else are you going to buy? The McLaren 750S Spider is 25 per cent down on power (and 40 per cent down on price, admittedly) and can’t do the hybrid-thing. Vanquish Volante? Entirely different beast.

The Lamborghini Revuelto pushes the Ferrari closest on handling, and trumps it for noise… but there’s no convertible version yet. Maybe never: word is that Lamborghini’s struggling with the roof packaging.

So the 849 TR Spider, then, is pretty much in a class of one. Quite how big the market is for £500k hybrid convertible supercars is a different matter.

Running costs will be horrendous, even if you charge the 7kWh battery on off-peak electricity. We imagine this will not bother the 849’s likely clientele one bit.