The Gorgeous Amalfi Spider Is Exactly What Ferrari Needed

Is it just me, or does Ferrari have a bit of a desirability problem right now? The cars are objectively astounding, yet there’s lots of controversy and depreciation to go around. The love/hate proposition of the 849 Testarossa, surprisingly low resale values for the SF90 Stradale, the bits of plastic trim on the 12Cilindri, the fact that the flagship F80 hypercar only features a V6 … for a second, it felt like Ferrari had lost its object-of-desire touch, but the Amalfi Spider shows that the Modenese company still knows how to do it.

If you aren’t familiar with the Ferrari Amalfi, that’s okay, it’s basically just a heavy update of the Roma grand tourer. Think less braceface and a little more … Prelude or Prius. That’s not to say electrification plays a role here, as you still get a thumping twin-turbocharged V8 under the hood, but instead a revised front end that looks more generic yet far cleaner. Indeed, a lot of effort seems to have gone into tidying things up, from cleaner taillights to removing the weird slab of black plastic on the Spider’s trunk lid. The end result is simply beautiful, almost carrying a whiff of 275 GTB4 NART Spider. You just know that this grand tourer had devilishly handsome ancestors.

Spacer

However, you know what makes grand touring even more special? The open air. That’s why the Amalfi Spider keeps a largely vestigial pair of rear seats but swaps a tin top for fabric. Ferrari claims this five-layer Z-fold top offers the best of both worlds, stowing below deck in 13.5 seconds while offering the same sort of top-up noise insulation as a folding metal roof. Best of all, it only measures 8.67 inches thick when fully folded, which keeps the silhouette low and allows for a modest amount of cargo space in full sunshine mode. Okay, 6.07 cu.-ft. isn’t a great deal of space, but it does beat out the top-down capacity of the Aston Martin DB12. Plus, if you don’t want to ruffle your coiff too much, a motorized wind deflector can extend from the rear seat backrest. Nice.

Inside the Amalfi Spider, the big news is that, like in the coupe, buttons are back. Ferrari rightfully caught some flak a few years back for going capacitive-touch with things like their start buttons and general steering wheel controls, so now we’re in the midst of a rightful course correction. Okay, the new center stack is still screen-heavy, but everything else you twiddle is a button, switch, or knob. It’s the sort of craftsmanship you’d really expect from an exotic grand tourer, really.

Of course, usability and the promise of a hushed cabin often aren’t the reasons people buy Ferraris. That would be power, and the Amalfi Spider is right on track. Its 3.9-liter twin-turbocharged flat-plane crank V8 gains 20 horsepower compared to the variant in the preceding Roma Spider, and Magna’s familiar eight-speed, dual-clutch transaxle helps balance weight distribution while clicking off blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shifts.

Ferrari claims zero-to-62 mph in 3.3 seconds, suitably rapid stuff. At the same time, a combination of adaptive dampers, an electronically variable limited-slip differential, Ferrari’s latest stability control system, and clever aerodynamics complete with an active wing, promises to keep things composed when blasting up a mountain range. After all, this is a grand tourer, and grand touring often comes with bumps, slick patches, and unexpected gravel.

So, what we have here is a grand touring cabriolet that’s potent, more user-friendly than before, and simply gorgeous. On paper, the Ferrari Amalfi Spider ticks all the boxes. It’s a Ferrari dripping with desire, and considering how controversial recent models like the 849 Testarossa have been, this infusion of want is exactly what the company needed. Expect the Amalfi Spider to go on sale early next year, although don’t expect a bargain. The Amalfi coupe already starts at $266,810, and dropping the roof will likely only raise the price.

Top graphic image: Ferrari