2027 Ferrari Amalfi Spider First Drive: The Starter Ferrari Keeps Getting Better

Ferrari changes model names faster than most automakers change paint colors. In the past 12 years alone, its entry car has been called the California T, the Portofino, then the Roma, and now the Amalfi. Through all those badge changes, the basic architectural attributes—namely a twin-turbo 3.9-liter V-8 and 105.1-inch wheelbase—have remained constant.

But to call the Amalfi and its Spider variant a face-lift of the Roma, which is a face-lift of the Portofino, which is a face-lift of the California T, would miss the bigger picture. Every iteration of Ferrari’s front-engine, V-8-powered grand tourer moves closer to perfecting the species. In fact, spending those 12 years sharpening the same basic recipe is why a car like the Amalfi Spider has gotten so dang good.

Even as an update of the Roma, the Amalfi goes further than the average Buick face-lift. Mirroring the changes between the Roma to the Amalfi coupe, the Spider gains 19 hp, a heavily revised cockpit, and a rear spoiler with two raised positions instead of one. New modern minimalist fascias work well with a lightly creased version of the Roma’s sculptural shape and connect the Amalfi to the larger Ferrari family without aping the 849 Testarossa and F80’s ungainly blocky black bar. Unfortunately, the Amalfi’s front end also bears a passing resemblance to the schnozes of the Toyota Camry and the Honda Prelude.

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As Calm and Refreshing as a Mediterranean Breeze

The tifosi might turn their noses up at the most accessible Ferrari, but Maranello isn’t trying to fool anyone about what a car like the Amalfi Spider is and what it isn’t. On a scale showing how athletic each car is, Ferrari places the $300,131 Amalfi Spider at one end, as far from the $3.9 million F80 as possible. Out on the road, the Spider owns that role, hoovering up miles like the best grand tourers when you set a swift but unhurried pace.

Three layers of rubber sandwiched between the soft top’s inner and outer layers quell wind and road noise nearly as well as a metal roof, and the suspension soaks up bumps with a just-right squish that’s simultaneously comfortable and taut when the magnetic current in the dampers is turned down low. The thin-rimmed steering wheel twirls with quick and light action (as is the Ferrari tradition), which lends the roughly 3,700-pound Amalfi the feathery feel of a Miata. We like that, but it comes with an unpleasant side effect. There’s almost no sense of on center, which erodes the steering precision.

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With the Amalfi in Comfort mode, the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission races for top gear like the EPA’s sniffers are stuck up the car’s four exhaust tips. Let the transmission do its thing, and you might never know you’re driving around with bottled lightning under the hood. The V-8 is happy to hum quietly and smoothly at 2,000 rpm, never letting on that explosive fury is just a toe tap away. Except that when you plant your right foot in Comfort mode, the gearbox takes its sweet time downshifting and occasionally stops one gear short of giving you everything it’s got. After all these years, we’re still wondering if Ferrari’s transmission calibrators have ever driven a PDK-equipped Porsche.

Cracking the Lid

The Ferrari drop-top truly comes into its element when you slip off the highway, use the first roundabout to power the roof into the trunk in 13.5 seconds at speeds up to 37 mph, then ride the breeze up a meandering coastal road. The steering weights up with some pace, and the transmission obediently follows orders when you’re calling the shots with the giant carbon-fiber shift paddles. The gearbox grabs each gear with a satisfying snap that many other sports cars and supercars have erased in their pursuit of speed. The Ferrari’s programming is a rare triumph for human emotion in the era of ruthless computer efficiency.

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The flat-bottomed steering wheel with upshift indicator lights molded into the upper rim seems like overkill in this car at first blush. Then you uncork the engine. At full boil, the twin-scroll turbos now spin as fast as 171,000 rpm, up 6,000 rpm on the Roma, to help add that 19 hp to the tally. The V-8’s 631 hard-charging horsepower pull this chariot to 60 mph in less than 3.3 seconds, according to Ferrari. The car is quick. The engine is scary fast. Once it hits 5,000 rpm, the final 2,600 rpm disappear in the blink of an eye. Your only hope for nailing the timing of a redline upshift is to watch the shift lights flash in your peripheral vision.

With the V-8 tucked in behind the front axle and the transmission mounted behind the driver, the Amalfi carries its weight more like a mid-engine car than most nose-heavy grand tourers. Bend it into a long sweeper, and it playfully flirts with the limit. Apply throttle, and the electronically controlled limited-slip differential helps steer the nose into the apex. The standard carbon-ceramic brakes rein in speed confidently and with exacting precision, both in city traffic and while attacking a winding road. Credit to the engineers, because most buyers will never know the Amalfi is the first production Ferrari to use brake-by-wire.

Push the Amalfi Spider hard, and there’s only one obvious flaw in the formula: The Goodyear Eagle F1 Super Sport tires have far more grip than the seats have lateral support. Building a car that’s easy to live with every day and one that can corner this hard isn’t entirely without compromise.

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Pushing the Tech Out of the Way

Inside, designers deleted the Roma’s waterfall center stack while retaining a dual cockpit concept. As a result, the slim, portrait-orientated screen mounted high on the dash in the Roma has been replaced by a slim, landscape screen tucked low on the dash. That change has pros and cons. We like that the display doesn’t dominate the cockpit and that its positioning encourages you to look down the road rather than down at the dash. But when you need to use it on the fly, the screen is simply too low to be useful, especially considering how small it is. The switch from the Roma’s touch-sensitive controls on the steering wheel to the Amalfi’s tactile buttons, on the other hand, is an entirely positive change. Chalk up a win for common sense.

The other ergonomic foible isn’t new, nor is it exclusive to Ferrari’s grand tourer. Like too many modern convertibles, the Amalfi Spider’s window sills are so tall that you can’t hang an elbow on them. Maybe that matters less in this Ferrari than in other drop-tops, because it’s a car that’s best experienced with two hands on the wheel. The Amalfi Spider is a grand tourer with a supercar’s intensity that turns on with a flick of the shift paddle and squeeze of the accelerator. That character, not low-volume sales, is what makes this car rare and special. If you’re still turning your nose up at Ferrari’s junior car after all these years, well, that’s just outdated thinking.