Ferrari 488 Spider
A 488 Spider is so close to being the equal of the GTB in every regard as to make no difference. It’s 110 pounds heavier—although a claimed 55 pounds lighter than would be an equivalent softtop—the mass added by the roof mechanism and some underfloor reinforcement at both ends. Yet Ferrari claims an identical 3.0-second zero-to-60-mph time for both versions and says they’re only 0.3-second apart by the time they reach 124 mph (which the Spider manages in 8.7 seconds). More remarkably, the 488 Spider is within a second of the GTB around a lap of the company’s Fiorano circuit and with its roof raised has, Ferrari says, 95 percent of the torsional rigidity of the coupe. Beyond the need to find slightly more money, and losing the chance to see the twin-turbocharged V-8 through the GTB’s clear engine cover, you don’t really lose anything by picking the Spider.
A fascinating nonetheless, especially when the talk turned to the strange business of marketing open-topped Ferraris. Maranello is on first-name terms with pretty much its entire customer base, and officials told us, with commendable exactness, that we can expect just over half of U.S.-bound 488s to be Spiders (the number for the 458 was 53 percent). While you’ll be unsurprised to learn that 60 percent of buyers have already owned at least one Ferrari, the revelation is that 90 percent of them will be what Ferrari terms “Spider-only” customers, unwilling to even consider a supercar with a fixed roof. There are, it transpires, two very different tribes of 488 owners. GTB buyers want to drive their car solo and are far more likely to take them on track, while Spider purchasers usually drive with the roof down and a partner in the passenger seat. They are, we were told, “open-car hedonists looking for driving emotions.” We’ll leave the mental image of that one up to you, but we’d be surprised if it didn’t include gold jewelry.
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