Ferrari F8 Spider Review _ new Ferrari Tributo convertible driven _ Autocar

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome to the inside of a car named after its engine the f8 tribute Oh or rather this is the f8 Spyder but still it is named after Ferraris v8 engine which has for the last four years won the International engine of the Year award got named the greatest engine of the past 20 years but first things first this being the spider I'm just going to stop and put the roof up so that you can hear what I'm saying a little more clearly so what is it then at the f8 Spyder well ostensibly it is the next-generation car on from the 488 which continued from the 4 5 8 488 arrived with turbochargers for the first time which continued from the 4 5 8 which content from the f430 and so on and so forth it is the latest iteration of Ferraris v8 mid-engine supercar now typically the structure underpinning that supercar would last for two generations so for 5a 488 for example however in this case is continued for a third generation if you like so if you want you could conceive this car as a very heavy facelift of the 488 now the 488 finished with the pista special edition so slightly more hardcore not as hard korres at Scuderia or speciali that came before it but a more hardcore version of the 488 and many elements of that as is Ferraris way carry over to this specifically the engine the PISA had fall apart a Ferrari Challenge Cup engine so it's got much lighter internals so it spins up much quicker there's very little turbo lag and for a 3.9 liter unit it makes a faintly astonishing 710 brake horsepower which is the same coincidentally or not as McLaren's 720s now the pista engine has been carried over largely unchanged into the f8 which is terrific there are some detail changes chief among which is the addition of two gas particulate filters as dictated by modern emissions regulations now in some cars that can mute the exhaust note and it could also limit the power so Ferrari has done some trickery with the exhaust and with the electronics to mean that it still makes ten brake horsepower peak at 8,000 rpm which is quite a lot of prey turbocharged motor and what we've always liked about the f-84 88 pista twin-turbo unique is how responsive this turbocharged engine is so not only does it rip to eight which is high for a turbo more significantly so that's four gear with just a little over two and a half thousand rpm well done and the response the pickup is really really quick Ferrari works incredibly hard to make those turbos and as likley inertia as possible and with the capacity of 3.9 liters which is you know lusty enough that means that while it's not as whip-crack responsive as an old for 5a engine and the best naturally aspirated engine saner Porsche 911 gt3 it is for a turbo unit terrific terrifically responsive more responsive I think that abortion gt2 RS more responsive than McLaren 720s and that gives it a significant advantage I think from let's face it the company who initially used to make an engine and Chuck are you free now the same is not true today hasn't been for quite some time but I think Ferraris offering in this segment to this mid-engine v8 signal has become increasingly better over the past decade better since the arrival of a new car company called McLaren Automotive costly McLaren made road cars before that but this new phase of McLaren really put the wind up Ferrari and it has really gone to great lengths to make this car spectacular ever since so underneath this still uses a largely an iminium structure now that differs from McLaren which just uses a carbon fiber tub and that's significant when we come to talking about the convertible because when you take the roof off a Spyder McLaren you can barely tell the difference the torsional rigidity thanks to them thanks to the stiffness of the shell with its high sills and everything else you can barely tell but don't think you can tell I've driven the Clarins and only when somebody's gone oh yeah this is the spider as it occurred to me that the roof comes off this f/8 as we had before I take four or five eight before it when you remove the roof torsional rigidity does come down of it now we're they closed like this the retractable hardtop that adds to the stiffness I can tell so much that it's a soft topper when you do put that roof down just notice a little bit of a shimmy between front and rear axles as if the chassis is not quite as stiff and McLaren does not have to worry however when you make a car out of a carbon fiber tub and you put a lot of strength in the seals like an aluminium tub with a lot strength in the seals it in Lotus Elise Elise Evora which is the passengers closer together and also in the McLaren they have a large center console running down the middle so fields are more cramped in Barra man although the driving position in at 720's is fantastic the Ferrari has a rather more laid-back cabin with a bit more space between the passengers or as it certainly as it feels slightly easier to get in and out of with its conventional doors for a car for two people to go touring in I think it is a nice and proposition it's also less complicated than some rivals in its drive modes basically - for the dampers one button that makes the dampers softer if you want to and then it leaves them hard if you don't and then it's got the little manettino which just changes were lucky the list of things it changes is extraordinary but they're all linked together effectively it changes how hardcore the chassis response is when you are pushing it a lot so eventually you can go to turn everything off if you want you could just turn traction control off you can have it a little bit of slip you can have it a little bit less slippery can have it in wet mode which is not very much sleep at all that's the short of it it's a very simple way to do something ultimately very complicated but for you as the user happy days you don't have to give it a second and how does it drive the rest of the time well well that's when it absolutely floppies and it really gives back in a nice honest way it's got a very straightforward chassis proposition lots of electronics involved but the actual proposition is straightforward twin turbocharged v8 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox limited slip differential at the back with electronic electronic governing of it but the fact that it is a limited slip differential means that as you turn into a corner the diff is open because it's electronic as you come out of a corner the electronic start to stiffen it up and you can just feel the car straining its line even it's sensible sensible Road speeds like this this is an approachable playful car that you do not have to be right up at the top end of to get the best out of it you can drive it at mazda mx5 speeds and get more than mazda mx5 rewards and not all sports cars are capable of doing well I think what marks the mid-engined Ferrari out from all of its rivals is the fact that it doesn't take itself perhaps quite so seriously it wants you to have a good time and others may try a lot harder to go maybe that much quicker on a circuit but how much does that matter it's not the better in every aspect I think of McLaren 720s steers more nicely probably rides a bit more smoothly a 911 gt2 RS is a bit narrower and has terrific steering as well probably nicer than this and the lab eating Oregon has a course that wild v10 engine but taken as a whole because of how much money it wants you to have and how accessible it makes its performance and entertainment still no question for me I mean not all of my colleagues agree but for me this is still absolutely the best supercar you come on\n"