Ferrari 458 Spider - Along Came A Berlinetta

A berlinetta is basically a coupe. A car with a hard top. A spider—in this context—is a soft-top. So, as sure as night follows ice cream, Ferrari has made an open-top berlinetta and called it the 458 Spider. In fairness, this beauty has a retractable hard-top, which is something of an engineering feat considering the 4.5-liter V8 engine is mounted just behind the seats where the roof is also housed. It’s a world’s-first, claims Ferrari. Apart from this spectacular display of aluminum origami, which can deploy in 14 seconds, motivation is much the same as the fixed-roof 458 Italia: 570 hp and 398 lb-ft of torque. Top speed is 198 mph while roof-down banter can still be carried out at speeds faster than 120 mph. And Ferrari is vowing that there will be no dreaded scuttle shake. Pricing is still a matter of conjecture, but if a 458 Italia goes for $225,325, then the Spider won’t offer much change from a quarter of a million.