Ferrari Amalfi Spider review

Sublime. The material quality in here is something to behold, from the anodised aluminium centre console to however much Alcantara you’ve traded an arm and a leg for. Worth it. The sculpted dashboard provides a suitable home for the 15.6in driver display, and while you could argue the 10.25in touchscreen is set too low down, that’s a good reason to play around with it as little as possible. That’s an expensive view you’ve paid for, enjoy it.

The Roma and Roma Spider were a haptic nightmare, but Ferrari has learned the error of its ways and reintroduced buttons on the steering wheel. Including one that turns the ADAS off. Grazie a tutti. There’s a welcome return for the engine start button too, and once you’ve found the volume scroller behind the wheel you’ll never lose it.

It’s not all positive though. There are still haptic doobries for the mirrors and they’re fiddly AF (not the Corse kind). Indicators that move around remains a daft idea. And the switchgear on the central tunnel to engage reverse, manual, automatic and launch control is a supine way to command 631bhp.

Also, there’s only one cupholder. Are we sharing beverages now? The doors look spectacular but are next to useless for storage. Unless you fancy decanting your Fanta into them and using one of those comedy straws.

Will the screens drive me mad?

No actually. The driver display is vast but has refreshingly little info on it, with music and essential settings given their own space away from the speed and revs. The main screen is simple and responsive, though burying the climate settings in here is a faux pas committed so widely across Planet Car it’ll be remembered by future generations like flared jeans and mullets.

Top Gear top tip: before you set off, spend some time getting your seat position and bolster support just so. They’re so adaptive and the right setup will give you hours of comfort, and stop your back from going into spasm after an invigorating mountain pass.

Does the wind deflector work?

Yup, and highly effective it is too. You can raise it at the touch of a button, though you have to stow it manually and doing so on the move isn’t advisable. It removes most of the turbulence in the cabin but not all of it – Ferrari wanted to keep some of the hustle and bustle for that proper roof-down experience, hence the relief channel in the middle.

The roof can be opened at speeds up to 37mph, and in as little as 13.5 seconds.

And how practical is it?

A better question would be ‘how impractical is it?’ The back seats aren’t worthy of the name, but they do come with Isofix points so you might squeeze in a car seat. But most likely you’ll lob your bags back there.

The boot is 255 litres. Except it isn’t, because if you plan on folding the roof down you need to leave the top half free. So really it’s 172 litres, and the narrow gap that’s left might fit a soft bag but a suitcase is probably out of the question. Planning a weekend away? Pack light. Or wear all your clothes simultaneously, Ryanair style.