It’s hard enough for automotive magazines to choose a car of the year but at Bespoke, the Ultimate Vehicle, category doesn’t just include cars, but boats, planes and bikes as well. Luckily, Ferrari made our lives a lot easier this year with their extraordinary 458 Spider.
Introduction
It’s funny really, because of all the Ultimates, the award for the best vehicle is often the most polarising. When it comes to deciding on our Ultimate Escape for instance, there’s barely a murmur of discontent when our panel of judges proposes a name. But when it comes to vehicles, everyone wants to have the last word.
“Oh my god, we can’t give it to a Ferrari, that’s so cliché,” said a colleague, after heated deliberation. Maybe she had a point. Somewhere between the Mondial and the 355, Ferraris became, dare I say it, uncool. While Maseratis, Aston Martins, even Lotuses still get Joe Public’s thumbs-up, Ferraris capture attention, but regrettably not respect. Shame really because the days of the breakdown-prone Testarossas or the downright disappointment of the 348’s are long gone. Now, this one model promises to turn Ferrari’s fortunes around. I can tell you - from first-hand experience of roaring around northern Italy in one - that the brand new 458 Spider is the best means of getting anywhere, anyhow. Not only is it far better than any other car, it beats any boat, plane or bike out there. When it comes to deals, this one is real.
Two into One
Mercifully steering clear of the in-your-face styling that make the California and the FF so difficult to stomach, Ferrari’s designers in Maranello have created in the 458 (both Italia and Spider) a car everyone can admire.
With its retractable hardtop, the 458 is basically two cars in one: a coupé and a cabriolet. Fitting a retractable hardtop to a rear-engine car can’t have been easy but the problem was solved with a swivel top, which you may remember the company first pioneered in 2005 with the 575 Superamerica. This time though, the roof is aluminium, not glass, and it’s now smartly hidden beneath a flip-up tonneau cover. What’s more, the two flying buttresses that support it are also rollover protection units and between them is an electric glass window that serves as a wind deflector when the roof is down, just like the BMW 6-series cabrio.
But why a swivel top? For starters, it’s much less bulky. It opens and closes about 30 per cent faster and its compact design permits it to fit neatly in the limited space over the engine compartment. Plus, the fact that the roof is no longer stowed vertically behind the seats means there’s now room for a rear parcel shelf, significantly increasing luggage space.
In terms of styling, the 458 Spider looks just as good, roof up or down. If there’s one negative, it’s that you have to be parked to activate the top. Irritatingly, there’s absolutely no technical reason for this, it’s just Ferrari deciding what they think is best for you. Of course, this isn’t a deal breaker but it is something the company should consider revising.
Italia vs. Spider
For an extra 50kg and another 20,000 USD over an Italia, the Spider gives you the option of driving completely topless. Mechanically the Italia and the Spider are, to all intents and purposes, identical. You get the same 4.5-litre direct-injection naturally aspirated V8 engine giving you the same 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 3.4 seconds. The negligible added weight means you get the same tyre compounds on those beautiful 20-inch wheels and even the spring rates remain the same.
So what’s the difference? In a word: character. Ferrari says that most Spider buyers use it as an everyday car; they normally ride with a passenger and rarely, if ever, take it to a track. The coupé on the other hand is more of a weekend car, driven solo, and is quite often raced. So Ferrari has tweaked the character of both cars by playing with the electronics, activated through the manettino. Also, given the open air Spider driver needs the perfect aural fix, Ferrari has retuned the exhaust to strengthen its symphonic arrangements of burbles, shrieks and growls. They also moved the air intakes away from the three-quarter mark and all the way to the rear so there’s no awkward mechanical whirring to drown out the tail-pipe arias.
Personally, the debate of sportscar coupés versus their bendier, heavier and generally compromised cabrio siblings was always a no-brainer: I’m coupé all the way. In the case of the 458, though, the engineering is so brilliant that there’s absolutely no point getting the Italia; at least not until the Scuderia comes out. So Spider it is. And make it snappy.
Pushing It
Let me begin by stating that my day with the 458 Spider took in 500 kilometres from Modena to the coast of the Ligurian Sea and back again. I drove on everything from the most breathtaking twisty blacktop to bumpy puckered roads and seemingly endless, open highways and not once was the 458 Spider out of its element. This is a sportscar so capable that it was impossible for me to find its limits. Go flying into a corner at the kind of speed that would cause any normal car to understeer straight into the bushes and the Spider politely tucks in, not even raising an eyebrow.
During a whole day of flinging this car by the ruff of its neck, the only slight negative I noticed is that the steering is so precise (which is phenomenal on winding roads) that when you’re cruising on the highway into a crosswind, you feel you have to constantly readjust the steering to compensate for lateral movement.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Now that Ferrari no longer ships with a manual gearbox, you can cruise this sportscar in automatic without guilt. If that’s what you’re after then switch the manettino to ‘Wet’ and enjoy the sophisticated and discreet comportment the Spider is capable of. I like to call this ‘stealth mode’.
If you’re looking for a little more fun, turn the dial up to ‘Race,’ which is my preferred setting. It complements more aggressive driving nicely. The only downside is that the car wails so loudly in this mode that you may be pulled over by the police. We were and not because we were necessarily speeding but because it sounded like we were. Should you gain the confidence – and it’s amazing how quickly you do – to let the tail slide out, rotate the manettino to CT-Off. Finally, if you were wondering when to use the last setting of all, ESC-Off, I’d recommend you don’t, unless you’re on a track – it’s just too expensive a machine to make a mistake with.
The Verdict
There’s no doubt in my mind that the Ferrari 458 Spider is the most amazing car ever built. It’s a potent supercar that’s both raw and refined, sophisticated yet visceral. This duality is so overwhelming that I’m starting to believe it’s the automotive embodiment of both Beauty and the Beast, all wrapped into one sleek, singular entity. Only by actually driving one can you ever understand what a thrill it is and how that translates into a rush of confidence.
In short, if you’re in the market for a sportscar, are tantalised by the idea of coupé-cabrio and have a little over a quarter of a million dollars to spare, there’s no better choice than the 458 Spider. As vehicles go, this one’s the Ultimate.
