A V8 engine produces 819 horsepower and electric motors contribute another 217.Mark Hacking/The Globe and Mail
Here’s the thing about test-driving a ridiculously fast car on public roads: You invariably come away wanting. More time behind the wheel, less traffic, fewer photo-radar cameras – in other words, more freedom.
A recent Ferrari event brought me to Tenerife, the volcanic Spanish island in the Atlantic off the coast of North Africa. There would be no racetrack component, just three-and-a-half hours alone with the new 849 Testarossa Spider and a route that ran from the coast toward the heights of El Teide.
Leaving the hotel, the road dropped almost immediately toward the ocean, where waves hammered the black volcanic shoreline. Driving the Ferrari through this landscape felt like being dropped into a Michael Bay action movie.
The 849 moved away in near-silence under electric power, ocean spray rising toward the road. Then the twin-turbocharged V8 engine entered the proceedings and the soundtrack changed completely. The only things missing were a helicopter shot at around the 10-minute mark and a supporting cast running away from an explosion.
This combination of silence and theatre is central to the car’s character.
While not uncomfortable, you get the feeling that the cockpit had been configured around the machine first and the human second.Mark Hacking/The Globe and Mail
The Testarossa Spider replaces the SF90 Spider and has more downforce.Mark Hacking/The Globe and Mail
The 849 Testarossa Spider is a plug-in hybrid pairing a four-litre V8 with three electric motors. Two of those motors power the front axle, providing on-demand all-wheel drive and torque vectoring while the third sits at the rear between the engine and eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.
The V8 produces 819 horsepower, the electric motors contribute another 217 and total output is 1,036 horsepower. Ferrari claims the Spider will accelerate from rest to 100 kilometres an hour in less than 2.3 seconds, reach 200 kilometres an hour in 6.5 seconds and exceed 330 kilometres an hour.
It replaces the SF90 Spider and uses the same broad engineering formula, intensified through more power, downforce and electronic sophistication. I did not have the good fortune to drive the SF90, in coupe or convertible form, so a meaningful seat-of-the-pants comparison is impossible. The 849 would have to stand on its own.
In eDrive mode, it can travel up to 25 kilometres without firing the V8. That figure is modest by everyday plug-in-hybrid standards, but context is everything. Passing silently through a small Spanish town – with homes, pedestrians and café tables close to the road – the ability to avoid announcing your arrival is more than a regulatory exercise. It is a peculiar and welcome form of versatility in Ferrari’s open-top flagship.
The new Spider draws heavily from Ferrari’s Sports Prototype racers of the 1970s.Mark Hacking/The Globe and Mail
The Testarossa Spider has fixed-back bucket seats.Mark Hacking/The Globe and Mail
The mood changes the instant the V8 comes alive.
The transition from electric to hybrid propulsion takes place in fractions of a second, prompted by the slightest on- or off-throttle action. There is no awkward pause or obvious handoff between the two systems. One moment the car is gliding; the next, it is accelerating with an intensity that rearranges your internal organs.
The acceleration is raucous, the braking performance immense and the sound intoxicating.
Shifts happen so quickly they are almost impossible to comprehend as mechanical events. Pull the paddle and the next gear is simply there. Hairpin turns can be approached at illegal speeds with zero concern of putting a foot wrong.
All four eManettino powertrain settings were sampled, including Qualify mode. The separate Manettino switch, which governs vehicle dynamics, also made its way into its more permissive settings, including traction control off.
Still, this was a public-road drive. The Ferrari’s limits remained far beyond anything that could be responsibly explored. During a later debrief with an engineer, I noted that drives in cars such as this often produce at least one frightening moment: a curb closer than expected, an oncoming vehicle arriving too quickly or a braking point judged too late.
There were none of these moments in the Spider, even when the road toward El Teide opened up and temptation came along for the ride.
Only once, on an undulating section climbing the mountain, did discretion become the better part of valour. The suspension was managing the rapid rises and falls in the pavement, but the Ferrari and I were moving at such a clip that we were approaching the point where its wheels and the road might briefly enter into a trial separation. Suffice to say, the pace came down.
That confidence was perhaps the 849’s greatest achievement. This is a large and exceptionally wide car, but it never felt unwieldy. Instead, the mid-engined layout, low seat, expansive windshield and thoughtful ergonomics combine to create the sensation that the driver is positioned almost directly over the front wheels.
The Testarossa Spider comes standard with Pirelli P Zero R tires that provide enormous grip.Mark Hacking/The Globe and Mail
One of the recurring anxieties in an expensive supercar is not knowing precisely where the nose ends or the corners begin. In the Ferrari, the edge of the road always felt close – but never dangerously so. The car could be placed accurately, even on narrow sections bordered by rock walls, curbs and meaningful drops.
The standard Pirelli P Zero R tires supplied enormous grip without making the Spider feel nervous or overly specialized. (This was the regular production car, not the lighter, more track-focused Assetto Fiorano version.)
The driving position did reveal one oddity: the fixed-back bucket seat was slightly offset from the pedals, most noticeable when left-foot braking. To align both feet properly, I had to angle my legs toward the centre of the car. While not uncomfortable, it reinforced the feeling that the cockpit had been configured around the machine first and the human second.
Otherwise, comfort was a surprise. After three-and-a-half hours, there was no hint of an aching back or an overwhelming desire to escape, only the sense that the retractable hardtop should be closed before sunstroke made its presence felt. For a machine capable of generating such violent speed, the Ferrari was remarkably easy company.
It also looks worthy of its revived name. The Testa Rossa lineage reaches back to Ferrari’s 1956 500 TR and the 250 Testa Rossa racers that followed from the 1957 season on, while the one-word Testarossa became a cultural icon on the 1984 road car. The new Spider draws heavily from Ferrari’s Sports Prototype racers of the 1970s, wrapping a throwback shape around a thoroughly modern powertrain.
The Testa Rossa lineage reaches back to Ferrari’s 1956 500 TR.Davide Ranieri/Courtesy of manufacturer
The 250 Testa Rossa racers followed the TR from the 1957 season on.Ph.Roberto Viva/Robertoviva@tin./Courtesy of manufacturer
A Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa during a race.Courtesy of manufacturer
The effect on bystanders was immediate. At a time when Ferrari design is being debated more vigorously than ever, the 849 Testarossa Spider is just the tonic: low, wide, unapologetically dramatic and unquestionably testosterone-fuelled.
The European price has been reported at €500,000, while official Canadian pricing has not been announced. For that money, you receive a car that can slip through town without disturbing the peace, then accelerate as though fired from a rail gun. It is brutally fast but reassuring, technically dense but simple to trust.
The only unresolved problem is the one that accompanies almost every road drive in a car this powerful: you invariably come away wanting more.
The writer was a guest of the automaker. Content was not subject to approval.
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