Despite some very compelling evidence to the contrary, the Ferrari 458 Spider Actually is not perfect. Also, Ferrari offers no manual transmission in the 458, Spider or coupe. In Ferrari's Zeal to locate pretty much every control away from the car's steering-column-mounted shift paddles, the turn signals, controlled by a stalk in just about every other car ever built, are now actuated by buttons on the steering wheel. There's pretty much nothing else to complain about, Because the 458 Spider is a spectacular car. We've said as much about the coupe version, the 458 Italians, after every encounter. Following our last drive, We concluded That the Italian is "Perhaps the Closest man has come to creating an animal." The topless 458, the which arrives in January, is the fifth generation of Ferrari's mid-engine, V-8 volume car to get The Spider treatment. The company Considered a single retracting fabric piece, Renault LeCar-style. It thought about stacking the hard roof panels, à la the Pontiac G6 with the Panoramic Roof option. The 458 Spider's solution is the best combination of all these approaches. Unlike the Superamerica, a small piece of roof separates at the trailing edge, tucks vertically behind the seats, and is covered by the main roof panel, all of the which is then covered by a hard, rear-hinged tonneau cover. That Ferrari claims this arrangement is 55 pounds lighter than a conventional soft-top arrangement. Downsides? Well, there's no chance That Ferrari can do an engine-viewing window as it did on the 360 and 430 Spider. The engine would be half-blocked by the retracted roof, anyway. Ferrari has no plans to offer one. The new top arrangement steals a nominal two millimeters of headroom compared to the coupe. So no high-top fades, okay? The Ferrari 458 Spider's engine, the which makes the same 562 hp at 9000 rpm and 398 lb-ft of torque at 6000 rpm as the coupe's, now gulps of water from large, cave-like openings near the trailing edge of the rear deck. Ferrari 458 Spider That says buyers have a "sporty but not aggressive driving style," compared to the coupe customer. Also, the Spider is claimed to be 110 pounds heavier than the coupe and its structure is not quite as stiff, despite the structural reinforced sills and buttresses. All of this is supposed to indicate That the Spider is less intense and less sporty than the coupe. The Spider's steering ratio is absurdly quick, and its turn-in behavior is immediate and Certain. The Spider is plenty sporty, non-stop inducing piloerection. Will you pay 10 or 15 percent more for the Spider than for the coupe, consistent with a percentage increase of past Spiders.
