What it’s like driving a S$1.1m, 720hp, open-top dream machine: The Ferrari F8 Spider
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What it's like driving a South$1.1m, 720hp, open-top dream auto: The Ferrari F8 Spider
It steers with laser-guided precision and has a mechanical grip that inspires a skilful deal of confidence, only the best matter about the F8 Spider is that in spite of the amount of power it produces, it has the power to flatter drivers of all skill levels.
The Ferrari F8 Spider is almost identical to its coupe sibling, the F8 Tributo, including that sonorous 720hp engine under the rear deck. (Photo: Ferrari)
10 December 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 11:52PM)
On the surface of things, the Ferrari F8 Spider is only similar whatsoever other Ferrari. In that it looks like a million bucks (information technology too costs that much, incidentally), goes like stink and is quite possibly the last word in sports cars.
What it is, exactly, is the convertible counterpart to the F8 Tributo, and so named as a tribute to its 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 existence the well-nigh powerful viii-cylinder engine in Ferrari'southward history, and its multiple wins in the International Engine of the Year Awards.
The biggest difference betwixt the F8 Tributo and the F8 Spider, of course, is the presence of folding hard-top. It tin can be stowed or deployed in fourteen seconds, with the vehicle on the move, at speeds of upwardly to 45km/h.
The dry weight of the F8 Spider is claimed past Ferrari at ane,400kg, which is 70kg more than the F8 Tributo. Now, you might exist wondering why an open up-topped car is heavier than one with a fixed roof, and the reason for that is how additional chassis bracing needs to exist put in to compensate for the loss in structural rigidity.
At any rate, that'due south a insufficiently modest weight increase, and if you lot accept the pinnacle up, you'll barely notice the divergence, such is the level of torsional rigidity and refinement on offer.
In evidently English, what this means is there are no (perceptible) tradeoffs between the coupe and convertible F8, relieve for the fact with the latter you have the choice of cruising around with the peak downward… and you have to pay a S$100,000 premium for the privilege.
Only, should you lot have the wherewithal, y'all'll discover that the F8 is a stunningly proficient drive and is deeply, deeply capable.
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LUDICROUS SPEED
The F8 Spider is equipped with Ferrari's most powerful V8 ever – a three.9-litre, twin-turbocharged unit that produces 720hp, which is, if y'all'll allow us to use the technical term, stupidly powerful.
Just to requite you an idea of how far the F8 Spider has moved the game on, information technology's nearly twice as powerful as the F355 GTS, its counterpart from just ii decades prior.
Equally you might await from that much power, the F8 Spider is an absolute rocket, with the benchmark century sprint taken care of in just two.9 seconds, and it takes only viii.9 seconds to bring it from a standstill to 200km/h.
Simply more than those on-paper numbers is how the F8 Spider delivers its performance. It's backed upward with a complex suite of electronics, the thresholds of which are controlled through a five-position switch in the steering wheel (the so-called manettino), assuasive in certain modes to enter controlled drifts.
Suffice it to say, you won't be doing that also much on public roads, but even driven with the merest hint of aggression, it's pretty clear the F8 Spider is stupendously competent.
It steers with laser-guided precision, without the sort of twitchiness that afflicted its predecessor, the 458 Spider, and the sort of mechanical grip information technology seems to conjure upwardly from sparse air inspires a good bargain of confidence.
And that'southward probably the best thing about the F8 Spider. In spite of the frankly dizzy amounts of power it produces, it has the magical power to flatter drivers of all skill levels. Still, that probably pales in comparison to how information technology'due south…
SURPRISINGLY USABLE DAY-TO-DAY
Back in the day, Ferraris were occasional things. They were far as well peaky, far also savage to be considered for the prosaic task of merely commuting from, say, home to work and dorsum again.
The F8 Spider, however, is a completely dissimilar brute to Ferraris of old. The seven-speed dual-clutch transmission is a benefaction in that department, taking all the guesswork out of shifting gears.
The gearbox, which is whip-crack rapid when being driven hard, is just as happy to crawl through metropolis traffic, making the F8 Spider no more than grating than any other mid-sized executive saloon.
Of grade, you'll have to watch out for its prodigious width – a fraction under 2m –which makes negotiating certain multi-storey carparks a chip of a tricky affair, but that's well-nigh it.
The F8 Spider can also perform double-duty every bit a perfectly serviceable daily commuter, which again sounds terribly mundane, but the fact it tin can practise that, and nonetheless perform as a Ferrari should, is commendable.
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A STUNNING, DRAMATIC INTERIOR
As with its daily suitability, an interior to match its million-dollar price tag wasn't always a given in a Ferrari. Fifty-fifty Ferraris from as recent as a decade agone had interiors with wobbly panels and garish, hard black plastics.
The F8 Spider's cockpit, on the other hand, is as stunning as its exterior. A xanthous-backed rev counter takes pride of identify in the instrument cluster, flanked by a pair of screens that can exist configured to monitor such telemetry information as tyre pressure, engine oil temperature, turbocharger boost, or even navigation information and multimedia playback.
The quality of the cabin trim is too beyond reproach, with crisp, tactile feedback on all switchgear, plus leather and carbon fibre (if you then cull to spec into it) as far as the eye can see.
Adding to its daily suitability to a higher place is also a remarkably airy cabin, and that'south with the folding hard-top upwards. The F8 Spider has fantabulous all-round visibility, which once again, isn't a given in cars of its ilk.
Only IS THE F8 SPIDER A LITTLE Also Skilful?
Well, that depends entirely on your point of view. Objectively speaking, the F8 Spider is virtually faultless. Its engine is an accented gem, blessed with the oxymoronic traits of roughshod thrust and docility in equal measure.
Its chassis, too, is but about the finest that Ferrari has ever made, and that'south maxim something. Information technology gives up nothing to its hard-top sibling, and if you tin can spare the extra S$100,000, it'due south undoubtedly the ane to go for, given the extra visual and aural drama y'all get when you drop the top.
And topping it all off is an interior that'due south built with the same care and attention lavished on Italian designer furniture. It'southward a impact spartan, to exist sure, but then once again, one doesn't buy a Ferrari because they're expecting loads of bells and whistles. The F8 Spider has just plenty equipment to get the job done, and nothing more. Equally information technology should exist.
Simply we couldn't assist only experience that something might perhaps be missing in the F8 Spider. In that – and we realise how silly this sounds – it lacks imperfections. Part of a Ferrari's mystique is that there was ever this nagging feeling that the motorcar is ameliorate than you are, with a slight hint of danger thrown into the mix.
The F8 Spider is none of those things. In spite of its massive ability output, which seems tameable by no mortal (that is, mortals who aren't qualified race car drivers), its personality is as malleable and "friendly" as they come.
Now, we realise this, to most people, is a skillful thing. And if you are of that bent, you'll discover that the F8 Spider could well be the Ferrari you've ever dreamed of, made real.
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