As the top lowers, the F355's body lines metamorphose into an even more graceful and sinewy shape, if that's possible. A leather boot easily affixes with snap-down fasteners and stores in the tiny front trunk when not in use. Surprisingly, wind buffeting at speeds up to about 80 mph is less harrowing than in many luxury convertibles outfitted with windblocker screen panels, although the Ferrari is devoid of such add-ons. Once the top is back up it snaps shut with a weathertight seal that keeps extraneous wind noise at bay.
While the upsides of this cabriolet's design are obvious (and numerous), the only real negative aspects are the large rear blind spots created by the small, plastic rear window. This is largely a function of top-up styling dictates, as considerable effort was expended to have the shape of the raised softtop mimic the Berlinetta's aluminum body lines-including its semi-flying rear buttresses.
Enough about shape and structure, let's go tear the asphalt off a few hundred miles of rural roads. All the delectable mechanical components that make the F355 Berlinetta such a heart-pounder are fully intact here, from the technoparty of its longitudinally mounted 3.5-liter DOHC five-valve-per-cylinder, all-aluminum V-8, to the uniquely Ferrari feel of its transverse six-speed gearbox and gated shift bezel with polished aluminum shift knob. With 375 horsepower (at 8250 rpm) and 268 pound-feet of torque (at 6000 rpm) awaiting the slightest urging of your size-10, you'll want to pump super-unleaded dinosaurs into its Bosch Motronic port fuel-injection system for hours on end.
The EPA claims 10/15 city/highway fuel economy figures for the thirsty F355, but we couldn't restrain ourselves long enough to elicit anything even close to that. A morning of testing at Sears Point International Raceway followed by an afternoon of hightailing it to various Northern California wine-country photo locations left us laughing in a giddy hysteria, weak from the repeated adrenaline surges, and proud of the best use of fossil fuel since our '96 Porsche 911 Turbo flog.
Because we were testing at a different location than our regular facility, we weren't able to clock skidpad and slalom performance, however we doubt the Spider is anything off the 0.93g lateral acceleration, 70.8-mph slalom speed benchmark set by its fixed-roof sibling. On a dragstrip with less-than-optimal starting-line traction, the Spider smoked its 265/40ZR18 Pirelli P-Zeros wrapped around 18x10.0-inch magnesium five-spoke wheels for 75 feet on its way to a best 0-60-mph time of 4.9 seconds and a quarter-mile run of 13.4 seconds at 106.8 mph. Compared with our F355 Berlinetta test, that's a performance 0.2 second slower from 0-60 mph and 0.6 second/3.4 mph less dynamic in the quarter. Braking tests experienced a similar level of decline due to the surface, lengthening the 60-0-mph stopping distance from the Berlinetta's 118 feet to 126 feet for the Spider. Ferrari quotes the Spider's acceleration and braking specs as identical to the Berlinetta's, including its top speed of 183 mph.
Priced slightly higher than the Berlinetta, a $130,000 F355 Spider is an open-air, ultra-high-performance sports-car value. That the F355 can produce its blistering performances and traditional Italian driving feel while also maintaining such a high level of intercity civility and ease of operation is a tribute difficult to overstate.
There are only about 300 F355 Spiders coming to the States in '96. It's worth whatever you have to do to get one. Really.
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