The new Roma Spider has been launched in India by Ferrari Mumbai and it is a convertible with a soft top roof. We drove the car last month and as the name suggests, it is a Roma with a convertible soft top which operates in 13.5 seconds plus can be done on the go. It is a luxury convertible built for long distance driving while also being practical enough. You can spec the canvas roof in many colours and there is also a wind deflector.
Compared to the coupe, on the go there is hardly any change and it is pretty quiet with the roof up and even with the roof down, it is not very noisy. The interior is similar to a Roma with the large paddles and the tech heavy steering which has a lot of buttons but as you would expect it feels special here with high quality materials.
Some of the touch controls are tricky but you get used to it and then you look at the centre gear selector which is like an old-school gated manual gearbox of the older Ferraris!
With the roof down, luggage space reduces but there is plenty of it behind the seats. The engine is a 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8 with 612bhp and it is very fast along with a razor edge. It is also very loud and entertains you with its exhaust noise. You can tone it down for city use but of course thus is not a hybrid like a 296 GTS.
For everyday driving with the roof up, the Roma Spider is easy to drive and even the ride is not hard while it is not very huge also. The eight speed automatic also does a fine job for being a long distance cruiser while it will not scare you also. Losing the roof has made the Roma even prettier over the coupe and you lose little in terms of dynamics too. It is also comfortable enough while the V8 will give you the proper 'Ferrari' experience when you need it. For India, this is one of the practical Ferrari convertibles which you can enjoy when the weather is great, provided you have the money of course!
What we like: Looks, performance, quality, useability
What we do not: Steering controls are tricky to use
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