Ferrari F8 Tributo Spider

A fearsome spider that won’t try and bite you

- Ben Barry

ENGINE 3902cc V8, DOHC, 32v, twin-turbo

POWER 530kW @ 7000rpm

TORQUE 770Nm @ 3250rpm

0-100KM/H 2.9sec (claimed)

WEIGHT 1400kg (dry) PRICE $536,888

LIKE: Superb engine and gearbox; brilliant electronics; forgiving chassis; ride quality

DISLIKE: Sound doesn’t match the performance; 488 Spider quite similar to drive

IT WAS AS MUCH a compromise as it was a convertible when Ferrari launched the 208 GTS Turbo in 1983. Now a largely forgotten if seminal footnote, the 208 was Maranello’s first turbocharged convertible and a preview, some four decades early, of this new F8 Spider. The removal of the 208’s roof made it wobblier than a coupe, but the real compromise was the engine, a gruff, laggy 2.0-litre turbo V8 that knocked 26kW from the near-identical 308’s 188kW and ducked the 38 per cent VAT that Italy levied on that car’s bigger 3.0-litre V8.