14 Mar 05
I'm not expecting your sympathy any time soon, but testing a new convertible Ferrari is not something I look forward to as much as you might expect. In engineering terms, chopping the roof off any car is automotive vandalism: it compromises the car's design, undermines its structural strength and, often as not, ends up worse looking too. Every convertible on sale today that's based on a hard-top coupe has suffered a combination of these effects, and a Ferrari is no exception. Not until now, at least.
But part of the reason the F430 Spider comes so close to bucking this trend is that the car upon which it is based, the F430 Berlinetta, is so mesmerisingly good. Regardless of what you might have read in some more easily pleased quarters of the press, Ferraris aren't all good all of the time and some of them, like the F430's predecessor, the 360 Modena, were downright disappointing. But the F430 is a triumph and while the Spider version is not quite as dynamically accomplished, given the indignities its design has suffered during the decapitation process, it is - if anything - an even more impressive effort.
Of course it's entirely possible that many of those who spend around £127,000 on an F430 Spider (sales start in June and the UK price is not yet finalised) will never realise just what wonderful machines they have underneath them. They will cruise around the Riviera, past London's fashion hotspots and anywhere else where they can draw attention to themselves and, no doubt, will be very happy with that. But, unlike the vast majority of convertibles out there, this one only looks like it was built for posing. In fact this is a hardcore driving machine, which merely looks like a fashion accessory.
For lurking under that engine cover lies a 4.3-litre engine, tuned to give 483bhp at a screaming 8500rpm. Remember the Ferrari F40? In the late '80s it was the fastest road car the world had ever seen, a limited edition, thinly veiled racing car - yet it had less power than this Spider.
