Motor Trend - USA (2020-09)

I

f you care about lap times, you don’t buy

a convertible. So if you’re going to buy a

convertible Ferrari, why not treat it like

a GT car and just enjoy the drive?

The motors and hinges and reinforce-

ments that allow you to choose your level

of enclosure add weight, but in this case,

it’s a relatively meaningless 44 pounds.

Meaningless because this car makes 710

horsepower and 569 lb-ft of torque. If we

assume, for a moment, it weighs 44 pounds

more than the coupe model we drove

recently, it still weighs less than 3,600

pounds. All this to say the pop top has

effectively zero impact on performance.

I don’t really care, but racers would.

Every ounce counts on the track. Convert-

ible buyers are not burdened with such

concerns. Freed from constructs about

what a car is for and where it belongs, you

can simply enjoy it. The when and where

don’t matter, so why not anytime and

anywhere?

Enjoy it you shall, because there’s no

way not to enjoy 710 hp. Ferrari’s trick

boost control system continues to do a

magical job making a twin-turbocharged

engine feel naturally aspirated, with a

WORDS^ SCOT

T^ EVANS^

PHOTOGRAPH

S

RENZ^ DIMAAND

AL

gloriously linear power delivery that just

keeps building and building until the

steering wheel–mounted warning lights

begin to flash. Now, you need those lights

more than ever, because although Ferrari

may have made a turbocharged V-8 sound

more melodic than most, it lacks the

drama, and you’ll run straight into the rev

limiter if you’re shifting by sound.

And you should shift. Not because you

need to, but because you enjoy driving.

The fact that the car would turn a quicker

lap time shifting itself is as irrelevant as

the weight gain. Ferrari even gives you an

incentive: The gear changes are noticeably

sharper when you pull them yourself, as if

you were slamming gears on a manual.

The smile bestowed by the drivetrain

won’t be erased by the brakes, something

the 488 always had trouble demonstrating.

Even when it won Best Driver’s Car in

2017, the 488 GTB was blemished by

YES,^ WE^ MEAN^ IT.^ YOU^ CAN^

(AND^ SHOULD)^ COMMUTE^ IN^

A FERRARI^ CONVERTIBLE.

It has cupholders, so there’s no excuse not

to daily it. Don’t bother with the race seats,

though. You’re not going to the track.

50 MOTORTREND.COM SEPTEMBER 2020

FIRST DRIVE I 2020 Ferrari F 8 Spider