Ferrari SF90 Spider review

We’ll leave that to them to mull over and turn to the latest addition to the Ferrari range, the SF90 Spider. You guessed it: it’s a convertible version of the SF90 Stradale, the two sharing a chassis and powertrain but the new entrant gaining a retractable hard top that can be opened or closed in just 14 seconds at driving speeds of up to 30mph, to allow you to experience everything from silent electric-only running around town to 200mph-plus all with the wind in your hair.

Ferrari claims that its clever folding system takes up only 100 litres of space to store, compared with a usual 150-200 litres, but don’t expect to get those 50-100 litres back: luggage space remains just as stingy as in the coupé, with a 75-litre front boot big enough for the charging cable, a small rucksack and perhaps a pair of shoes. Which might already be a deal-breaker for some.

If this SF90 Spider looks familiar, you’re among the most attentive of Autocar readers. Yes, this is the car that our Matt Saunders specified for a feature earlier this year. He will fill you in over the coming weeks on what a dealer handover at Ferrari is like as the next part of that story, so for now let us consider the miles driven as part of this review as a key part of the running-in process.

Saunders’ spec includes one key difference over the SF90 Stradale that went through our road test: the absence of the Assetto Fiorano package, which transforms the SF90 into a more hardcore machine with a whole series of performance and lightweight upgrades, most notably the fixed Multimatic race dampers that are optimised for track use.

On the standard suspension set-up, the SF90 Spider does a surprisingly good impression of a high-end grand tourer. It’s unexpectedly comfortable and refined, an excellent companion over long distances. When you hear ‘1000hp’, you expect intimidation and a white-knuckle ride to follow, but they really don’t. The powertrain sophistication extends to the chassis. It’s just as well that it’s not spooked or thrown by bumps in the road, as your first, second, ninth and lasting impressions are of just how quick the car is and how quickly the road ahead of you appears.

A new volume of the thesaurus is needed to try to describe its pace and responses in almost all gears, driving modes and speeds. Let’s settle on this: a few years ago, I drove a drag racer at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and memories of that came flooding back whenever my right foot was planted downwards in the SF90 Spider. That was also true of the SF90 Stradale, of course, the chief difference here in the SF90 Spider being the possibility of putting the roof down and enjoying the spaceship whirr of electric power at lower speeds – or (far more likely given the limited electric-only range and, let’s face it, the three electric motors and battery’s main purpose being simply to add thrust) the bark of the V8 engine. The car being topless certainly adds even more drama to an already epic experience.

Plenty more is familiar from the SF90 Stradale: the incredibly quick steering and sharpest of turn-ins as the torque-vectoring front axle does its thing, the huge levels of traction and the speedometer’s ability to make you do a double take at your cornering speeds, such is the stability and effortlessness at which you can carry speeds confidently into corners.