FERRARI 458 SPIDER

A Slightly Less Spectacular 458 Is Still Really Damn Spectacular
Ferrari says that spider buyers have a “sporty but not aggressive driving style” compared with a coupe customer. The spider is also more likely to see daily use than the coupe and is more likely to have its passenger seat filled with a passenger more often. Also, the spider is claimed to be 110 pounds heavier than the coupe, and its structure is not quite as stiff, despite reinforced sills and the structural buttresses. All of this is supposed to indicate that the spider is less intense and less sporty than the coupe. Maybe so. But such is the heat of the fire in the belly of the basic 458 arrangement that it’s not so easy to notice the spider is perhaps a degree or two cooler than the coupe.

The spider’s steering ratio is absurdly quick, and its turn-in behavior is immediate and certain. Its seven-speed, dual-clutch automatic transmission snaps off shifts so efficiently and quickly that the whole idea of a conventional manual transmission seems quaint, sort of like using a wood fire to heat your house instead of a high-efficiency gas furnace. It takes more attention and skill to maintain something approaching a consistent temperature with wood, but it’s not the way of the future, no matter how much of a disappointment that may be. The suspension is every bit as unfettered by undulations and bumps as it is in the coupe, while returning the litheness and neutrality we’ve come to expect.