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32 TOPCAR.CO.ZA|January 2016FIRST DRIVES.Ferrari488 Spider>Price(est) R4.8million>Engine3 902cc 32v twin-turbo V8, 49 2kW @ 80 00rpm, 760Nm @ 30 00rpm>TransmissionSeven-speed dual-clutch, rear-wheeldrive>Performance3.0sec0-100kph,32 7kph, 11.4ℓ/100km, 260g/km CO 2 >Weight1 525kg>On saleNowFERRARI 488SPIDERSpecial, if notactually SpecialeThere’s no elep hant in the room, but there is a 458 –and the topl ess 488 can’t ignore it. ByMarkWaltonTHE NEWFERRARI488 Spidereases itself in to gigantic, monstrousspeed like a greased frog slippinginto a ba th of warm milk. Nosplosh, no drama,just a sudden flash ofslithery movement, and with a deep croakyou’re gone, up the ro ad, disapp eared. All ittakes is a flex of your right foot, and theresponse is instant and overwhel ming; atsunami of to rque scoops you forwards in anirresistible lunge. You sense the effortlessnature of it, the lack of resistance, as thoughthe weight of the car, the buffeting air, theraw physics of it all are casu ally swept asideby this titanic engine.Compared to this slipperiness, theoutgoing 458 Speciale was like riding a waspthrough the gas cloud of an eruptingvolcano. The new 488 is a very different car.Ach! Tsk tsk Mark! Ferrari will be madwith you for making that co mparison! ‘Thisis not the new Speciale,’ they kept saying onthe Spider launch, held about 130km southof Maranello. And they’re right, of course:this is n’t a hardcore, stripped -backrace r-for-the- road, this is the Spider, the HollywoodHills Ferrari, the FrenchRiviera cruiser. Inmost territories it will account for morethanhalf of 488s sold, and since the arrival of the``````folding hardtop(introduced in the 458and continued in the newcar) it’s beenfast gainingpopularity. And you can see why – it weighsonly 50kg morethan the 488 GTB, it has thesame engine, the same 0-100kph time of 3.0seconds, the same suspension, the samealuminiumchassis... butif the sun shinesyou can drop the ro of in 14 seconds. Spiders,Ferrari tells us, are driven further thancoupes, on average, and Spider drivers aremorelikely to have their partners alongsidefor the trip. Usable and civilised, andnothing like the Speciale at all.But hard luck Ferrari, beca use I’m going tocontinue making the 458 comparison, forthree reasons. Firs t, beca use the Specialewas the last Ferrari I drove, so I can’t helpmyself; second, when I wrote that story Idescribed it as ‘P eak Ferrari’, saying no carwould ever match it, ever, from now to the``````end of time – a bold statement I feel I need torefer to. And finally, beca use the Specialewas – as every enthusiast knows – the finaliteration of the normally aspira ted V8, andthe 488 Spider is a turbo. So is it better orworse?Well, as I say, there’s no escaping, it isdifferent. Before I drove the new Spider,Ferrari gave us a technical briefing with aslideshow, and when you see the power andtorque of this 3.9-litr e turbo overlaid abovethe 458’s 4.5-litr e V8, it really hits home. Thelines on the graph were like spaghetti – notjust beca use peak power is up from 419kWto 492kW, and torque is up from 540Nm to awhopping 760Nm, it’s also the way itdelivers. Ferrari has gone to great lengths toeliminate lag in the 488, using fancybearings and titanium alloys in theturbocharger. So peak torque – and I meanBentley-style gobfuls of the stuff – isavailable from just 3000rpm. No wonder ittakes off like a wet amphib ian. And just asthe engine characteristics are so different,that in turn changes the way you drive.``````All you 458 owners outthere will feel ri ght at home.Manettinodial remainsthekey to thekingdom``````What about those sidescoops, do you like them?We had reservations, butthey work in th e fleshUPAGAINSTBETTERTHANFerrari 488 GTBDrop-top Spideris best ofbothworlds``````WORSE THANFerrari458 SpecialeLag isn’t the issue, high-rev thrills are``````WE’D BUYFerrari 488 SpiderThe458 is gone...deal withit