2016 Ferrari 488 Spider UK first drive

Ferrari’s mid-engined missile, open to the elements with a retractable hard-top, and in the UK at last in right-hand-drive format. The 488 Spider is very much the fun-time GTB; carrying a little extra timber courtesy of the architectural bracing needed to remove the monocoque’s roof – and more obviously meant for what even the manufacturer describes as 'hedonists'.

Needless to say, such pleasure-seeking comes at a high price – the Spider starts from £204,411 and our test car didn’t stop with the options until it reached £282,728. The essentials, at least, don’t need extra ticking: underneath is the same award-winning twin-turbocharged 3.9-litre V8 and Getrag seven-speed gearbox found in the coupé, the former delivering 660bhp and 560lb ft of torque to the rear wheels.

That makes the 488 the most powerful Spider ever, and ensures 0-62mph in 3sec dead. The roof takes 11sec longer to back flip into the body, although it will do it on the move, too. Notable on our test car’s lengthy optional spec list were: Apple CarPlay (£2400), front and rear parking cameras (£3456), 20in forged wheels (£3552) and Daytona carbonfibre racing seats (£6144). Oh, and £1440 for the seat lifter, just in case you fancy ruining the driving position. 

The GTB, you’ll hardly need reminding, was one of last year’s high points: a five star car, the winner of handling day – and incontrovertible proof that the limitations of turbocharging were not going to prevent Ferrari from turning out yet another mid-engined masterpiece.

Realistically, with the allure of a stiff breeze and a better view of the sunset assured, the Spider need only replicate a few essential lines of the 488’s unimpeachable genetic code to be a triumph – and it does so, immediately and memorably.

True enough, proximity to the latest V8 is not quite as momentous as it was in the 458 Spider, where to hear the old 4.5-litre unit at 9000rpm was to hear the Almighty bellow at you through a rolled-up newspaper. Yet the sound of its replacement is compelling nonetheless, the twin-scroll turbochargers spooling slavishly ahead of a titanium exhaust-valve production of flat-plane crank falsetto.