Ferrari 849 Testarossa Spider review – 1035bhp drop-top takes on the Lamborghini Revuelto
The 849 Testarossa is the pinnacle of Ferrari's series production cars, and a big step on from the SF90. Is it even better without a roof?
We’ve drawn quite a crowd. The beachgoers were open-mouthed when photographer Dean Smith and I rolled up in the 849 Testarossa Spider, and now, having inched between bollards to drive onto the pier, a large group has funnelled in behind us, smartphones in hand. It’s the perfect spot for a static shot, waves crashing against jagged volcanic cliffs in the backdrop, the silver 849 really popping against the charcoal stone floor. But as Dean guides me carefully into position, I notice some unwanted guests in the crowd. ‘Left hand down, back a bit, a bit more…’ and then there’s a tap on his shoulder from the authorities. I don’t speak Spanish but ‘What the hell are you doing?’ is probably a good approximation of what they said. We’re directed off the pier and I sheepishly reverse back through our audience, silently under electric power.
Apparently the local mayor spotted the car and the crowd of people within minutes of our arrival and alerted the police. It’s left us red-faced and €200 lighter, but we got the shot, and confirmation that the 849 has all the superstar presence and allure a flagship Ferrari needs. You wouldn’t call it pretty, but it’s unmistakably a big-league supercar – bold, edgy and a real crowd pleaser, even more so in Spider form. Now to find out whether removing the roof also intensifies the driving experience of Ferrari’s 1035bhp Revuelto rival, without unwanted compromises.
The origins of the 849 lie in the SF90, a hugely advanced hybrid supercar that broke new ground for Ferrari in terms of power and performance, but initially didn’t quite hit the spot in how it drove. It had huge potential but didn’t engage you in the process of using it, and the marriage of V8 and electric power wasn’t as cohesive as it could be. Things were better in later examples we drove, particularly with the hardcore Assetto Fiorano package fitted, but there was always a sense of untapped brilliance in Ferrari’s senior supercar/junior hypercar.
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A lot of that potential has been realised in the 849. As a coupe it’s already proven to be a more natural, engaging and exploitable car than the SF90, and the Spider is designed to deliver the same thrills with the benefit of a folding hard-top. It’s a neat system that doesn’t break up the 849’s brutal lines, and leaves a targa-style opening above your head when stowed away (which takes 14 seconds and can be executed at road speeds of up to 28mph). The 849’s aluminium chassis needs strengthening measures to maintain its rigidity as a Spider; this, plus the folding roof mechanism, means it weighs 90kg more than the coupe. The price goes up too, from £407,617 to £442,468.
Drop into the cabin and it feels more intimate than a 296 or 12 Cilindri, with spars extending down from the dashboard and door panel to cocoon you in the driver’s seat, the H-pattern automatic gear selector mounted high up and a hand-span from the wheel. It’s a special environment, if more conventional than the wild architecture of a Revuelto. You sit quite high in the standard seats and they offer surprisingly little lateral support (carbon buckets are available as an option), even if you delve into the infotainment screen to adjust the bolsters. This is still one of the weak points of modern Ferraris. Basic tasks take much longer than they should, with so many major controls being buried in screens. Thankfully there’s still a satisfying anodised red start button on the wheel and a physical manettino switch on the wheel, although changing the 849’s powertrain modes – eDrive, Hybrid, Performance and Qualify – is done on a touch panel.
Press that engine start button and there’s a sound effect like a lightsaber unsheathing. This means the car is ready to drive, but to wake the engine you need to switch out of electric mode. Do so from cold and the 4-litre twin-turbo V8 erupts with a blare that tingles through the car, but once into gear and moving – provided you’re not in one of the more extreme drive modes – the 849 is really chilled. Less buzzy and quieter than a Revuelto, certainly. In its light, quick steering, intuitive brake feel and smooth transmission it’s as easy as a 296. Achieving that in a car with four-figure horsepower and so much complexity underpinning it isn’t easy.
The Spider’s dampers have been retuned to account for its extra mass, and with bumpy road mode engaged the ride is very well judged: firm in town but fluid and controlled as the speed rises. Coupled with unintrusive levels of buffeting, it gives the 849 a GT-like quality, which you don’t expect from the extreme looks and on-paper performance. The refinement is helped by the Spider’s ‘wind stop’ system, which uses air ducts behind the seats to catch turbulent air and redirect it low down in the cabin. As a whole the 849 works the air harder than the SF90, providing 15 per cent more cooling for the powertrain and brakes, and 415kg of downforce at 155mph – up from 390kg. Not that we’ll be feeling the full effect of that on these roads in Tenerife, which scramble through the rugged landscape and reach above the clouds at ear-popping elevation.
The first time you squeeze the throttle halfway, you wonder if there’ll ever be a chance to release the full might of the hybrid V8. In Performance mode, which gives you consistently high power from the hybrid system (the full peak of 1035bhp is available for shorter periods in Qualify), you’re released up the road with incredible force. Initial response is superb and the power builds exponentially through the revs. Importantly, it never feels like the electric motors and petrol engine are acting as separate entities – even though there’s no connection between drive to the rear, delivered by the V8 and an electric motor, and the front pair of e-motors. There’s just a sense of huge strength and flexibility, delivered in a singular, upward-sweeping power curve. When it’s time to shift, the gearbox is sensational – possibly the fastest DCT I’ve experienced – popping home ratios with an instantaneous, almost mechanical thunk.
So few are the opportunities to fully extend the engine that you short-shift and ride the higher gears most of the time (there’s enough torque to use third for hairpins as well as fast sweepers). You can flow from corner to corner with calm inputs on the wheel, not working the car hard but revelling in its precision. At these lower levels of commitment the 849 is poised and satisfying, but compared to a Revuelto there’s something missing. Namely, the sound and majesty of a V12 to keep you engaged when you’re not at full chat. The 849’s V8 is a brilliant engine in its own right, but even with the roof down it lacks the depth and character to distinguish itself from more junior supercars. Not least among those is Ferrari’s own 296, which is – awkwardly – a sweeter-sounding car.
Still, the sheer quantity of performance and the way the power builds exponentially towards the red line means that, when fully unleashed, the 849 is immensely exciting. That, plus the fact that once you’ve overcome the initial intimidation factor, the deftness and capability of the chassis is truly impressive. All the electronic systems, including the e‑4WD with torque vectoring, Side Slip Control 9.0 and SF90 XX-derived ABS Evo, communicate with each other seamlessly, to the point where you can really get on top of the 849, hustling it as you would a 296.
There isn’t the absolute clarity of response of a Revuelto, but the 849 steers precisely, and as you put more load into the chassis you get stronger messages from the front end. Without knowing, you’d swear the Spider weighed around 1400kg (it actually comes in at 1660kg before fluids), given how keenly it turns in and how controlled the body is, with only big mid-corner bumps giving a hint at the mass behind you. The torque vectoring is key in disguising the 849’s inertia, subtly helping the nose in and keeping it tight to the apex under power.
Despite having lost its roof, there’s almost no fuzziness in the Spider’s responses. On really poor surfaces you notice some vibration through the structure but it’s very mild. Open-top McLarens still have an advantage in this respect with their carbon chassis, but the gap is much smaller than it once was.
The 849’s drive modes allow you to gradually build up to the limits, which is helpful with this much power beneath you. In Race mode, torque is limited in the lower gears to keep you out of trouble, but in CT Off you’ve more freedom. Traction is still impenetrable for the most part, the 849 slingshotting out of corners with huge force and little drama, but crank the lock on, deploy full power and there’s a fantastic sense of the car clawing forwards with a hint of yaw, as in all the best four-wheel-drive cars. Feeling it hook up like this with the engine fully lit takes your breath away.
In ESC Off mode you’re on your own as far as the stability systems go, but that’s not as intimidating as you might expect. Drive smoothly and the Spider is fully on your side, the torque vectoring and four-wheel drive working to keep the car neutral as it rotates around its centre, requiring minute corrections of the wheel. Then when you’re more aggressive with your inputs, it seems to react in turn and show its wild side, feeling more rear-biased. The initial breakaway is quite quick, but from there the 849 is playful and controllable, with a wide window of slip to work with before the front motors pull everything straight.
Trying to balance a Revuelto on the limit can feel like walking a tightrope, but the 849 is much friendlier, its four-wheel-drive system predicting your intentions more accurately. And although rear-drive is purer in concept, four-wheel drive here is a help rather than a hindrance. It allows you to get more out of the Testarossa and lean on it harder without jeopardy; yet once you’ve gained confidence, there’s all the playfulness you could want, too. The harder you commit, the more it rewards, and having the roof off makes everything feel more vivid and exciting, without diluting the dynamics.
The bandwidth of the 849 Spider is truly impressive. There are very few, if any, supercars that are so subdued and undemanding in normal use, yet able to deliver feral, hypercar levels of performance in such an approachable and engaging way. Removing the roof only makes it more versatile – as refined as a coupe when you want it, with open-air thrills a button press away. In objective terms it’s a hard supercar to fault, a match for the Revuelto dynamically and a brilliant technical achievement in light of the SF90’s troubles.
The 849’s biggest problem remains that, while it absolutely performs like a top-flight supercar, it doesn’t feel like something truly bespoke, and a lot of that is down to the engine. In many ways it feels like the 296’s big bad brother, where the Revuelto stands alone as something special, and delivers an experience you can’t get anywhere else in the Lamborghini range, or in the vast majority of supercars. For the 849, the Spider is definitely the one to have and delivers a welcome hit of drama, but a V12 is what’s really needed to give it the identity it deserves.
