For those unfamiliar with Ferrari – also known as Il Cavallino Rampante (‘prancing horse’) for its brand logo – the 488 Spider made its official debut at the recent Frankfurt International Motor Show, which, to no great surprise, slackened the jaws of all who beheld it. This gorgeous supercar is the second member of the 488 family, the first being the 488 GTB introduced earlier this year in June, and also happens to be the most powerful drop-top ever created by the marque.
A Prize-Winning Stallion
Like its 458 Spider predecessor, the new 488 Spider uses a similar Retractable Hard Top (RHT) that offers the advantage of improved insulation from the elements while being lighter as well, compared to the traditional soft top. The RHT, which occupies 100 litres of space when stowed away, requires only 14 seconds to be deployed. It can even be engaged when the car is moving, albeit only at a sedate pace of around 45km/h for safety reasons.
The addition of the RHT makes the 488 Spider 50kg heavier than the 488 GTB. However, it is still 10kg lighter than the preceding 458 Spider and manages to retain the same torsional rigidity as the GTB through the use of aluminium alloys in the construction of the chassis and main body components. The new 488 Spider is also the most aerodynamic Spider ever built by Ferrari, with a record breaking aerodynamic coefficient of 1.53.
At the heart of the 488 Spider sits a 3.9l twin-turbo V8 engine that can deliver an output of 660hp at 8,000rpm and 760Nm of torque at 3,000rpm, making it Ferrari’s most powerful convertible to date. This engine is shared with the 488 GTB, but that is where all similarities end as about 90 per cent of the 488 Spider has been completely designed from the bottom up, with parts unique to it alone.
In terms of performance numbers, the 488 Spider behaves more or less identically to the GTB when the roof is raised. It’s able to hit 0-100km/h in three seconds flat (0.4 seconds faster than the 458 Spider) and can reach a top speed in excess of 325km/h; making this the fastest Spider to date. The 488 Spider also boasts a response time of just 0.8 seconds, a nine per cent improvement over the previous Spider, which in real world terms translates to the car reacting to the driver’s whims at the speed of thought. According to Ferrari, the 488 Spider is set apart from the 488 GTB by only one second when put to the test at the company’s own Fiorano test circuit.
As expected of a Ferrari, the exterior of the 488 Spider boasts the predatory and aerodynamic lines we’ve come to associate with the likes of the Italian marque. Designed by the Ferrari Styling Centre, the 488 Spider offers classic Ferrari proportions: a mid-rear engine, snarling grille at the mouth, muscular front wings and prominent air intakes on the sides for the intercoolers. Viewed towards the rear of the 488 Spider are two support pylons for the flamboyant double spoiler that channels air directly into the two radiators.
Looking inside, the cockpit is a compact space that gets right down to business. The sleek polished surfaces and dark leather finishing create an environment that strikes the right balance of luxury, functionality and user-friendliness. Everything to do with handling the car – managing the gears, the horn and changing driving modes – is managed from the multifunctional steering wheel. The complementary systems, such as the ever-useful NAV system and the radio, are operated from the central control panel. Ferrari is also particularly proud of the new leather seats, which come with fixed headrests and are sufficiently padded to cater to driver comfort on long drives or bumpy roads.
That’s the 488 Spider in a nutshell. With the car set to hit markets in the late spring/early summer of 2016, Ferrari decided there’s no better way for the world to get a preview of its latest stable member than to let a team of international journalists have a gander at the 488 Spider with a test drive across Italy’s beautiful Emilia-Romagna region.
Across Valleys and Over Mountains
Our base of operations was the Borgo Condé Wine Resort, which is as close as it gets to that picture-perfect postcard image associated with the term ‘wine resort’. Emilia-Romagna itself is in northern Italy and is roughly equidistant between Venice and Rome, and located 100km south-east of the city of Bologna.
Like an ancient Roman villa of antiquity, the Borgo Condé Wine Resort is perched near the top of the Predappio Hills, overlooking a valley. For the last six centuries, this slice of Italy has specialised in producing fine wines from grapes planted in the fertile soils of Emilia-Romagna, and the Borgo Condé Wine Resort continues this tradition with its own in-house wines.
The family-run resort is divided into three areas: the classic Italian borgo, where most of the guests are lodged; the exclusive villas that are highly popular for private functions and wedding celebrations; and La Cittadella, which accommodates the resort’s restaurants and wine shop. Apart from offering cellar tours, wine-tasting sessions and fruit picking at the vineyards, the resort also boasts a spa that uses its own grapes in it remedial tonics and therapies.
The geography of Emilia-Romagna is hilly and mountainous in nature, with the region’s many quaint medieval-like towns separated by rolling green fields and vineyards. Back in the days of the Roman Empire, this was just the sort of place where the nobility kept holiday homes, to which they would retreat in the summer to escape the suffocating heat and confines of the capital. While most of these villas were destroyed during the fall of the empire, a few scattered ruins survive to this day.
Because of its northerly latitude, the weather in Emilia-Romagna was particularly lovely during our visit in mid-October, with temperatures ranging from the comfortable mid-teens in the day to chilly 5-6°C in the evenings. The clear blue skies, crisp mountain air and lush countryside were indeed a welcome change from the grey haze that had been plaguing Malaysia in recent months.
A Run For The Money
Following a briefing by the Ferrari team on the night of our arrival, which covered all the technical points mentioned earlier in this article, we were given the chance to get behind the wheels of the 488 Spider the next morning. There were four colour variants present: white, red, yellow, and the new blue Corsa – a deep metallic sky blue that, I have to say, takes the mantle as one of my favourite hues to date.
As the media team were assigned in pairs to each 488 Spider, I opted to take the second leg of the drive and let a fellow journalist from Thailand take the reins for the first portion of the programme. I am unashamed to say that, going into the drive, I was more than a little nervous. Despite having sampled the finest offerings from other premium automakers both on and off the track on numerous occasions, I had never gotten behind the wheel of a 660hp supercar before, and I certainly didn’t want to be known as ‘that guy’ who accidentally launched a Ferrari off the side of a cliff.
Fortunately for me, my fears proved to be utterly unwarranted when the time came for me to strap in and start the ignition. Things started off tentatively at first as I acclimatised myself to the left-hand drive and low-seating position. However, it didn’t take long for man to become one with machine and, soon enough, the 488 Spider was sweeping across the mountains and the valley at a pace that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Mad Max: Fury Road.
Despite the sheer power in the engine that was just waiting to be unleashed at a moment’s notice, the 488 Spider is not a difficult car to drive. This is, in large part, due to Ferrari’s Side Slip Control 2 (SSC2) system, which seamlessly brings the hardware and software of the car together. This system is an evolution of SSC1 and, not only improves the car’s ease of handling in difficult conditions, but also increases its responsiveness to driver inputs.
Even if there wasn’t a tremendous amount of room for putting the pedal to the metal up on the mountains, what these winding roads did allow us to do was see for ourselves just how easily the 488 Spider handles less than favourable conditions. Though it is a bit of a stretch to say that the solid suspension of the 488 Spider completely nullified the bumps and potholes on the road, it certainly did a more than respectable job and, eventually, the occasional judder felt as natural as the cold wind blasting over the top of the open-air ride.
After several hours of meandering across the mountains, the terrain levelled out nearer to the coast and village roads made way for properly paved highways as we journeyed towards the seaside town of Cesenatico. Here, I finally got the chance to drive the 488 Spider on roads it was built for, and it was as glorious as one might imagine it to be.
Out on the open highway, the 488 Spider’s performance was matched only by the operatic symphony produced by its eight-cylinder engine, which gets louder and louder as the revs rise all the way up to 8,000rpm. Compared to the 458, it sounds more primal, with a bassier, deeper growl reverberating from its engine. At the same time, it’s still more than feasible to carry on a relaxed conversation – even at high speeds – when the roof is down. (To get a firsthand look and listen in on our drive, do pop over to The Peak’s Facebook or Instagram to check out live footage filmed from my GoPro camera mounted to the windscreen.)
An Icon of Modern History
Before too long, it was time for me to part ways with the newfound love of my life, and I went away with a renewed sense of appreciation for all the little details that make a Ferrari a Ferrari. It would have been all too easy for the marque to chop the roof off the 488 GTB, call it a Spider and pat itself on the back for a job well done. And, ultimately, there are enough die-hard Ferrari fans out there who would auction off an organ to pay for such a car without second thought.
But Ferrari went above and beyond this; it redesigned a completely new car from the bottom up and made the 488 Spider the best it could possibly be. And that is why Il Cavallino Rampante is, without a doubt, one of the industry’s front runners.
At the time of writing, Ferrari had yet to announce availability or pricing of the 488 Spider. But, given the exclusivity of Ferrari cars worldwide, we’d recommend that you head on over to the nearest Ferrari dealership as soon as possible if you want to be anywhere near the top of the guaranteed waiting list.
