2026 Ferrari Roma Spider: The Convertible That Does Not Make Excuses
The Ferrari Roma Spider solved a problem that convertible GT cars have struggled with for decades: how to remove the roof without materially degrading either the driving experience or the visual coherence of the closed car. Ferrari’s retractable hardtop — which deploys or retracts in 13.5 seconds at speeds up to 60 km/h — preserves the Roma Coupe’s rear proportions sufficiently that the Spider does not look like a convertible that wishes it were a coupe. It looks like a car designed to be driven open, which is what it is.
The 3.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 — producing 612 horsepower in this application — sounds different with the roof retracted in a way that Ferraris have always sounded different open: the exhaust note that the hardtop partially contains arrives unfiltered when the roof is down, at a volume and character that is the primary justification for the additional investment over the Coupe. The V8’s specific sound — a combination of induction noise from the turbos and the flat-crank-influenced firing order that separates Ferrari’s V8 from other manufacturers’ — is the experience that the Roma is designed around, and experiencing it without a roof between the driver and the sound is the point.
The Grand Touring Character
The Roma is Ferrari’s grand tourer rather than its sports car — a distinction that Ferrari maintains carefully within a lineup that includes the 296 and F8 for buyers who prioritize circuit performance over long-distance capability. The Roma’s 2+2 seating, its suspension calibrated for comfort on long drives, and its relatively restrained (by Ferrari standards) driving character place it alongside the Portofino M rather than alongside the more aggressive mid-engine models.
This positioning is appropriate. The Roma Spider at motorway speeds with the roof retracted and the wind deflector deployed — which reduces turbulence enough that conversation is possible at legal speeds — is a genuinely comfortable long-distance companion. The eight-speed dual-clutch transmission in its comfort modes is smooth enough that the transition from track tool to touring car is convincing.
The Roma’s chassis is rear-wheel drive and does not pretend otherwise. In Sport mode with the manettino turned toward higher engagement levels, the rear end’s willingness to rotate is available and controllable but requires the specific attention that rear-wheel-drive Ferraris have always required. The electronics are present and well-calibrated — the Roma is not a car that requires exceptional skill to drive quickly — but they do not mask the car’s fundamental character in the way that the most driver-assistance-heavy sports cars do.
The Visual Case
Flavio Manzoni’s Centro Stile Ferrari designed the Roma around the concept of la dolce vita — the Italian 1950s and 1960s aesthetic of effortless elegance — and the result is a car that succeeds at being beautiful without being showy. The surfaces are clean, the proportions are resolved, and the retractable hardtop’s integration is seamless enough in the closed position that the Spider’s additional mechanical complexity is invisible. In the open position, the relationship between the car and its occupants — the specific experience of being in a beautiful car with the sky above and a Ferrari V8 producing its specific music immediately behind — is the definitive argument for why convertible GT cars continue to exist at any price.
The Roma Spider asks €220,000 in European markets before options, which on a Ferrari means before the real specification decisions begin. It is not an entry-level Ferrari by any measure. It is the correct Ferrari for the buyer whose primary use is grand touring, who wants the roof down when conditions permit, and who wants a car that earns its beauty rather than simply asserting it.