The Ferrari F430 Spider is the only mid-rear engine convertible to feature a fully automatic electric top while still leaving the engine exposed through a pane of glass.
How many potential buyers will say “But honey, you can put the top up by pressing this button, and look, you can still see the engine.” My guess is none.
Instead, what appeals to the well-heeled who plop down hundreds of thousands of dollars for something that ultimately achieves the same as a $14,000 sub-compact - that old A to B thing - is that a Ferrari is so much more than two dozen Toyota Echos could ever hope to be. Even if you disassembled all 24 of them and remade them into some outrageous 96-cylinder rice rocket.
It’s a little like asking, why pay a hundred bucks for a Baccarat water glass when you can score a free one with a bucket from the Colonel. A combination of “because I can” and “because I like the best” is part of the typical response.
After driving in and drooling on a Giallo Modena (that’d be ‘yellow’) 430 Spider one recent sunny West Coast day, if I won the lotto and bought one of these sublime sports cars, I’d add this bit of newly acquired millionaire advice to the debate: “Get in. Cancel all your appointments for the day. We’re going for a drive.”
As you’d expect of a super model, the Ferrari F430 made its world debut in Paris. The highly anticipated replacement to the 360, called ‘Evo’ within the inner sanctum of Ferrari, the F430 was the belle of the 2004 Paris Auto Show, and by the summer of the next year, Ferrari dealers throughout Canada and the United States were selling the select few they could get their hands on. No wonder.
With subtle yet so strong styling by Pininfarina, a 483 horsepower 4.3-litre 90-degree V8, big carbon ceramic brakes by Brembo and a chassis that is, for all intents and purposes, built for the race track, the F430 Spider is the strongest contender for super car of the century, young as it is.
Before braying from Bugatti Veyron backers begins, and poisoned penned pleas from Porsche Carrera GT fans flood my in-box, I would ask all those in disagreement with this claim to go down to their local Ferrari dealer, press their nose up against the showroom glass and take a long and lingering look at the F430’s lines.
The 2008 Ferrari F430 is available in three configurations - Coupe, Spider and the Scuderia, a lighter and more powerful version for those who really like to take things to the limit.
Back to the press notes: “Significant improvements have been wrought in the (F430’s) chassis department, with a 10 per cent increase in torsional rigidity and a five per cent improvement in beam strength over the 360 Spider.”
Rare that Ferrari would admit that even an out-of-production model had shortcomings, but that kind of uncompromising attention to detail is what has long set the Italian carmaker apart from the competition.
To that end, F430 Spider press notes also go out of their way to distance the new car’s engine from the 360’s, stating “this is an all-new unit that does not share any components with the 360 Modena’s engine.”
While I’m sure the 360’s engine was no slouch, the F430’s flat crank power unit is the thing gearhead’s dreams are made of. And when mated to the track-inspired electronic differential, the combination is incredible.
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