Least Powerful, Most Affordable Ferrari Yet? The Amalfi Spider's Brakes and Steering Say Otherwise

The steering wheel barely needs correcting—the car simply finds the line through the corner on its own. That's the immediate impression Robb Report's Howard Walker came away with after testing the Ferrari Amalfi Spider on mountain roads near Athens: the least powerful, most affordable Ferrari in the lineup turns out to be the most engaging car in the entire portfolio.

The Amalfi Spider succeeds the Roma Spider, which launched three years ago. Following Ferrari's usual convention, the model could have simply kept its name, but this time the brand chose to rename it from "Roma" to "Amalfi," after that rugged, breathtaking stretch of Italian coastline. Behind that decision lies a substantial overhaul in both design and mechanics—enough to justify a fresh name.

The most obvious exterior change is the disappearance of the Roma's shark-nose front end with its body-colored mesh insert. In its place is a cleaner design language that leans closer to the 12Cilindri and 849 Testarossa, with Ferrari claiming improved aerodynamic efficiency as well. The rear has also been redesigned, now featuring a three-stage active spoiler that generates up to 243 pounds of additional downforce at speed.

Power still comes from the same 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 found in the Roma, but revised turbo management bumps output from 612 hp to 631 hp, while peak torque holds steady at 560 lb-ft. It's paired with an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic and steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters. Zero to 60 mph comes in 3.2 seconds, with a top speed of 199 mph—an oddly specific number that stops just short of a round 200, for reasons Ferrari hasn't explained.

The real technical highlight, though, is the brake-by-wire system and ABS Evo carried over from the 296 GTB. Walker describes a shorter pedal travel and noticeably sharper feedback, with far more composure under hard braking—paired with standard carbon-ceramic brakes, he calls it "world-class braking." The steering has also been retuned to feel lighter and more precise, delivering what he describes as an almost telepathic connection to the road.

Inside, the changes are all about improving how you actually interact with the car: physical buttons make a comeback, and there's now a red "start" button on the steering wheel. The upright tablet-style touchscreen from before has been replaced with a 10.3-inch horizontal display mounted lower to improve forward visibility. The soft-top retains its five-layer fabric construction, opening or closing in 13.5 seconds at speeds up to 37 mph. A new shimmering fabric option called Tecnico Ottanio joins the roof material lineup, and there's a fresh color, Rosso Tramonto, an orange-red hue inspired by sunsets along the Amalfi Coast.

The car's dimensions are larger than you might expect—183.5 inches long, five inches longer than a 911 Turbo S, and only slightly shorter than the more practically-sized Aston Martin DB12. Trunk space measures 9 cubic feet with the top up, dropping to 6.1 cubic feet with it down. The rear seats are really just for luggage; no adult will be comfortable back there.

Walker describes the Amalfi Spider as having something of a split personality depending on drive mode. In Comfort, it's a quiet, torque-rich cruiser with almost no wind noise intruding into the cabin. Push it into Sport or Race and things change—past 5,000 rpm, the exhaust note deepens into a rich, guttural growl. European noise regulations keep it from screaming the way some other Ferraris do, but it still has plenty of character.

As for pricing, Ferrari hasn't officially announced numbers for the Amalfi Spider yet. Using the Roma Coupe's current $267,000 starting price as a baseline and applying the typical roughly 10 percent premium for convertibles, Walker estimates the Amalfi Spider will land somewhere around $300,000—putting it squarely between the Aston Martin DB12 Volante and Bentley Continental GTC Speed, and pricier than both the Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet and Mercedes-AMG SL 63. The verdict is straightforward: this might be the best-proportioned car in Ferrari's current lineup, and quite possibly the one most worth taking on a proper road trip.