Perspective. A necessary requirement for a motoring journalist. But when you are handed the key to the 2016 Ferrari 488 Spider, that’s the first thing that flies out of the window — the perspective, not the key.
Once your mind grudgingly gets past the small matter of a long-nurtured childhood dream coming true, you slowly start to absorb in the experience.
The 488 Spider that we got was decked in the Blu Corsa livery. Not the quintessential Ferrari red but a stunner all the way from the Prancing Horse at the front to the one at the back. You begin by admiring those exquisite headlamps, stop and take a breath at the air intakes on the side and then exhale with a wow at the muscular twin exhausts sitting atop the rear blown diffuser.
Step inside and it’s the steering wheel that commands all the attention amidst the vast expanse of carbon fibre. And then comes the moment of truth. You thumb the starter and the 3.9-litre V8 roars into life and you simply can’t wipe the smile off your face. This twin-turbo beast of an engine produces a whopping 661hp@8,000rpm and 760N-m@6750rpm. It’s mated to a seven-speed dual clutch automatic transmission – but the fun is when you do it manually.
The car has five driving modes but during this drive it was always in Race. Because when you upshift you get thrown back into your seat – something that makes you feel like a child with a new toy. You have to play with it again and again. Below 2,000rpm, the car cruises with barely a whimper. But feather the throttle and the car growls into three digits on the speedo, with such alarming ease that you are forced to keep your eyes peeled on the road for speed cameras.
After taking a break to soak in the awesomeness, it was time to show off. The 488 Spider is the droptop version of the 488GTB. Lowering the hood takes just 14 seconds, which means you can pull it off at a signal – in style. You can even do it while driving but the speed has to be below 40kmph.
And this is where the fun reaches exponential levels. The growls that you heard earlier are now full-blooded roars. It’s like the bass section of the orchestra stood up and started belting away notes that overpowers the aural senses. No symphony ever sounded more beautiful.
Despite the extra weight of the roof mechanism and the added chassis reinforcements, the bright minds at Maranello have managed to achieve similar 0-100 times for both the coupe and the droptop variants, which is an incredible three seconds. Use of aluminium for the roof and a special spaceframe chassis has helped Ferrari achieve this.
Despite the shiny Dubai sun, the 488 Spider was able to cool the car quite efficiently. Even at triple digit speeds, conversations can be carried on with ease. There’s a small window at the rear of the cabin that can be lowered or raised to further cut out any wind noise. If driving a Ferrari wasn’t enough of an attraction magnet, drop the roof and you are even more of a celeb.
The best part of the day was when we were back at the hotel and parking the Ferrari. A little kid runs up and says, “Can you make sound? It’s for a school project?” Despite knowing that it was a cute lie, we revved the turbocharged V8 one last time. Alright, a couple of times. With smiles all around, from the ecstatic kid to us, we completed what was - a day in paradise.