Ferrari Amalfi Spider review

Absolutely drop-dead gorgeous is what it is. Or at least that’s how it feels, a couple of months on from being exposed to the Luce for the first time. When the Amalfi coupe – essentially a heavy facelift of the Roma – was revealed last year, we criticised it for being less pretty than its predecessor. But if nothing else Ferrari’s internet-unifying five-seater has entirely reversed that perception. And then some.

And in the metal this convertible Spider is better looking than the hard-top, at least to our eyes. The roof has been designed to maintain the profile of the coupe, but once felled there’s something deeply appealing about the car’s proportions and exposure to a million miles of sky. Which, if the summer of 2026 is anything to go by, might soon be a regular experience for British owners. Factor 50 at the ready.

Ikr. How is the Spider different to the coupe?

Naturally Ferrari has had to strengthen the chassis and bodywork to cope with the loss of the roof, and together with the soft-top mechanism the Spider is some 70kg heavier, depending on options. That in turn has shifted the weight distribution rearwards, with the coupe’s perfectly balanced split becoming 48:52 here.

But – spoiler alert – therein lies the genius of the Spider: fundamental changes to the construction of the car have had no appreciable effect on its performance. It still knows how to vault you into the next time zone with that 3.9-litre, flat-crank V8’s torque; it still corners with lightning keenness but remarkable approachability. And with the roof in no-pictures-please mode, it’s no more wearisome than the hard-top. It’s uncanny. And ruddy brilliant.

Beyond that all the learnings from the Roma are applied here: the twin turbos spin at 171,000rpm to achieve the engine’s 631bhp and 560lb ft, the brake-by-wire system simulates tremendous pedal feel, the active wing (with three settings, all mapped to the Manettino drive modes) provides up to 110kg of downforce at 155mph for only four per cent more drag.

In fact, there’s aero trickery everywhere you look. There’s an inlet above the headlights to improve aero efficiency, as well as ‘Scarpetta’ (little shoes) fairings to do the same job around the wheels; the front splitter contains a pair of vortex generators to add downforce, plus two diffusers for brake cooling; the rear diffuser balances drag reduction with vertical load.

Meanwhile side slip control, variable boost management, adaptive suspension and all manner of clever software turn the Amalfi into a multi-faceted car without ever making you feel like a secondary player.

Does it sound better with the roof down?

Ah, well… if there’s one criticism you could level at the Amalfi it’s that the engine – albeit an improvement on the Roma’s – isn’t that characterful. Only at the upper end of the rev range does it truly start singing, by which point you’ll be half a second and one ill-timed speed camera away from having your prancing horse seized.

There are reasons for that though. The exhaust system is designed to live within tough noise limits, and customer feedback has pushed Ferrari towards something less taxing on the ears in regular driving. So perhaps we ought to be grateful that Ferrari has dealt with all that – not to mention ever-tighter emissions rules – without any of the hybrid gubbins so common elsewhere. A pure, un-electrified V8 in this day and age? Mamma mia!

The Spider’s not short of shove either. 0-62mph in 3.3 seconds is identical to the coupe, and 0-124mph in 9.3s is only three tenths down. The top speed of 199mph is agonisingly shy of bragging rights. Go on, round up. We won’t tell anyone.

What’s the damage?

£227,260 if you don’t do anything to it. Which you definitely, definitely will. And once you’ve helped yourself to the MagneRide suspension with nose lift, ventilated massage seats and enough carbon fibre to stock your own F1 team, you’ll be flirting with the outskirts of £300k. So if you end up on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and don’t bring down the tickertape, you’re not having one of these and the dream home. Sorry. Try Omaze instead.

A Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabrio and Aston Vantage Roadster are both cheaper (the latter by £50k!), but that’s of no consequence to the average Ferrari buyer. Such is the price of strangers agog with their smartphones out, and the pulling power of Maranello…

The Amalfi Spider is staggeringly good sleight of hand. It’s a tad heavier, sure, and bootspace takes a beating to accommodate the folding roof, but unless you’re the physical embodiment of a quantum gyroscope, you won’t notice any difference in performance from the coupe. Nor will you be punished for having the soft-top when all you want to do is cruise in comfort to your holiday villa. The only thing that will suffer is your wallet.

It’s just a shame that the engine isn’t as tuneful as it could’ve been had legislation and Ferrari’s own buyers not insisted on something tamer – with the roof down you want the soundtrack to match the occasion without constantly teetering on the redline. Alas, you’ll have to find your own balance between satisfaction and attention.