2023 Ferrari Roma Spider: Unleashing the Tastiest Ingredients on the Road
Supercars| First Drives
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This elegant drop-top boasts a thoroughbred engine and wonderfully tactile steering—I honestly wouldn’t change a thing
Published Sep 26, 2023 • Last updated 6 hours ago • 8-minute read
2023 Ferrari Roma Spider Photo by Clayton Seams
Sometimes, when things are reduced to their most essential elements, they become the most enjoyable. It’s why unplugged acoustic sessions of famous albums are so satisfying, and why a soup left to simmer off the broth for a while is extra-tasty.
Ferrari’s 2023 Roma Spider removes the aluminum roof from the achingly pretty Roma coupe that debuted back in 2019. Sans top, the Roma is reduced to only its tastiest ingredients.
Mind you, it helps that the Roma rocks a pretty good list of ingredients from which to make a car. The model’s clean, classic silhouette isn’t interrupted by a single hood scoop, exhaust vent, or permanently-mounted rear spoiler. Ferrari says the Roma’s shape hearkens back to the days of 1950s and ’60s Italy. The marque calls this modern take on the restrained aesthetic La Nuova Dolce Vita which, in English, roughly translates to “very expensive.”
Removing the roof from the Roma while keeping its looks and driving experience intact was no small feat. Higher-strength metal was used in the door sills and on the rear seat floor area to increase rigidity. This, along with the two servos needed to make the convertible top go up and down, have added some 84 kg to the weight of the car. (Ferrari says a convertible conversion typically only adds 70 kg.) The conversion adds extra mass, too, partly because the company desired to keep the Roma Spider just as comfy and quiet on the highway as the coupe.
The Roma is the first drop-top Ferrari to utilize a cloth soft-top since the F430, but driving at speed with the top up, you’d hardly know. The Roma’s soft top insulates the driver from noise and wind at par with the very best folding hardtops on the market. This is partly because there are no fewer than seven layers of fabric, rubber, and insulation between you and the outside world. The top folds down in 13.5 seconds, and can be raised or lowered at speeds up to 60 km/h. (The outgoing Portofino could only pull off that feat at up to 40 km/h.) It’s made from an almost iridescent material, which gives it a metallic shine. Frankly, the fabric looks like it belongs on a suit on a fashion runway. The top is offered in four colors, and you can even choose the color of stitching on the top itself.
Now usually, the open-top fantasy is reality-checked once you reach highway speeds and the wind buffeting becomes louder than the exhaust and the radio. To defeat this, Ferrari has come up with an ingenious new type of wind deflector that, when not in use, most won’t even notice is a separate part of the car. That’s because the wind deflector is integrated into the backrest of the rear seat! At the touch of a button on the console, the panel springs up to an angle just proud of horizontal. It doesn’t look like it would actually work, but the shape, the size, and even the location of a strategic vent hole in the setup together quite effectively calm the air in the cabin. The device reroutes air that would have entered the cabin at head level and instead diverts it harmlessly into the rear-seat footwell. The deflector can be used at speeds up to 170 km/h, and it really does work! It’s worth noting that even when not using the wind deflector, wind buffeting in the cabin is pleasingly minimal. Personally, I preferred to leave it up only when traveling on the highway, because lowering it helps you hear that amazing engine.
Two turbochargers have the divine privilege of taking common everyday air on the ride of its life. Atmosphere first flows past the subtle, body-colored front grille to reach the intakes, and then must make its way past the filters. Once pureed by the twin turbos, these lucky molecules of oxygen are rushed through the smooth aluminum interior of two shapely high-rise intake runners, before they’re mixed with fuel in eight very busy combustion chambers. The result of all this is beautiful noise. The busy idle and hard-edge wail as the revs climb are signature Ferrari. No other car sounds like this, and the byproduct of this noise is a considerable amount of power. You, of course, expect the horsepower. We are talking about a 3.9L twin-turbo Ferrari V8 after all. Due to the magic of modern turbochargers, the Roma Spider boasts a 620-hp plateau between 5,750 rpm and a screaming 7,500. Most turbocharged engines fall over and give up well before those kinds of revs, but the Roma just keeps going. And while big horsepower was expected, large rolling waves of usable torque were less expected. From just 3.9L, the Roma makes 560 lb-ft of torque, and it does so from 3,000 rpm all the way to 5,750, where peak horsepower begins. In fact, 80 per cent of the engine’s peak torque is available at just 1,900 rpm.
Ferrari says the calm lines and restrained elegance of the Roma hearken back to sweeter times of the past. But I am willing to bet the manufacturer didn’t offer gobs of mid-range turbo torque in 1965. With the top down, and the manettino dial switched to Sport, the Roma Spider is an exhilarating drive. Lean into the throttle anywhere along the digital tachometer, and the shove is immediate. With the top down, the sound of the engine envelopes you. The Roma Spider doesn’t actually have mufflers. The turbos quiet down the V8 a bit, and some new-for-2023 particulate filters in the exhaust shush the engine to an extent that mufflers aren’t really needed. When you fire it up in a parking lot, you’re very aware that this is a special car. And at full chat, the noise is so loud I can’t believe this is a stock car anyone (with considerable coin) could buy new. But the power and the noise aren’t even the best part.
The first thing you’ll notice after driving the Roma Spider for more than 50 feet is how good the steering feels. You need…
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