The Ferrari Roma is a beautiful grand tourer with strong performance

Speaker 1: In the black and white days of the past, you get the feeling that cars particularly expensive, Italian cars were designed primarily with aesthetics in mind. Glamour was the goal. Sure. Slippery was seductive that the demands of drag didn't define the design beauty was beaten into the bodies and till elegance emerged, they were timeless. Nowadays numbers seem to be necessary. Aesthetics must defer to the detailed demands of aerodynamics [00:00:30] and cars can look overly complicated and fussy as a result. This however, seems to buck that trend. This is the rather beautiful Ferrari Roma. Speaker 1: It was designed by FLA Manon. And there's a fantastic video of him online sketching, this [00:01:00] very simple, very pure shape, where he talks about monoliths. He also talks about a crowd of other things, the L E D taillights around here, which he refers to as like technical jewels, but perhaps more importantly are also not round in something of a departure for Ferrari. Also up at the front, he talks about the grill or rather the absence of a grill because it's more like just Pierce body work really overall. I think it's very successful. I think it works more in subdued Hughes like this one, which is blue [00:01:30] Roma. The biggest criticism I've heard is that it perhaps looks a little bit like an Aston Martin, but surely that makes about as much sense as criticizing someone for looking a little bit like Margo Robbie anyway, given that it different to other Ferrari, does it drive marketly differently? Well, no, Speaker 1: It's intrinsically Ferrari. It can't get away from that just because this might be a slightly different looking Ferrari, uh, [00:02:00] more refined GT sort of quieter Ferrari, perhaps not as shy, not as sporty looking, not as per tuned with aerodynamic a over the top as all the Ferrari, but as soon as you feel that quick steering and that slightly firm secondary ride, the sharp responses, you couldn't be in anything else. And you are expecting are more muted, Ferrari experience. Uh, not at all. The RO is [00:02:30] still very definitely sporting house sporting. Well, despite being a junior Ferrari, although there's nothing junior about 170,000 pounds. So perhaps we'll say a more every day Ferrari, it has still got 611 break horsepower and 561 pounds foot of talk, combine those figures with a curb weight of 1,570 kilos. And it will do not to 62 miles an hour in 3.4 seconds. Speaker 1: While the top speed is described as more than 199 [00:03:00] miles an hour, which is slightly curious, but chuffing fast, however you slice it, we'll come back to the performance side of it in a minute. But every day, this car, it feels very nice. It feels very small, which is nice. It's actually somewhere between an as Martin advantage and an as Martin DB 11 in terms of size. So it's just over 4.6 meters in length and just under two meters in width, but it does feel nicely compact. And I think looks at too, the ride is pretty good. Actually there's primary. [00:03:30] Ride's really good. The secondary ride, perhaps just a little bit firm, it's only, that's where you get the initial impressions along with a quick steering that this isn't just a GT car. It has sporting pretensions as well. So this is on Michelin pilot sport for S ties. Speaker 1: And I have heard that actually on the Perelli option, the ride is actually slightly better. So it'd be interesting to try it on that. Certainly there are times when the bumpy road button really does come into its own. Strangely [00:04:00] the Magna ride, Juul mode dams are actually an option on the Roma, but I'd suggest it's 3000 pounds well spent. The interior of the RO continues the direction debuted in the SF 90, albeit with a more balanced, less driver focused feel. There are two screens as standard. All three, if you spec the passenger display and you can configure the main curved 16 inch high Def dash in several different and rather appealing ways in daily use. I think this all actually works pretty well. I've, I've got fairly used to it after living with it for a couple of days. [00:04:30] And I think as an only, you really would just seamlessly sort of acclimatize with all the different buttons and what they do and, and where you're meant to flap and where it to push and press and all that. Speaker 1: The haptic buttons. I don't mind either. They remind me of the, the little track pads that you get in a Mercedes E-Class. Uh, the only thing is that you can just occasionally sort of, they're so sensitive. You can end up pushing them slightly by accident, which that bit I don't like other practical details. Well, there are a pair of rare seats back [00:05:00] there. However, it's a good job. They got ice fixed because I really don't think you'd wanna put any adults in them. I really like the big dash in here. I think just it standard set up with the familiar big rev counter and Speedo in the middle is the best layout, but it's quite nice with a big map when it doesn't think it's in Italy, this car has thought it's in Italy. Every time I've started up again, which is, you know, sometimes we all wish we were in Italy. Speaker 1: Don't we, I find the central screen that primarily deals with the HVAC and [00:05:30] entertainment, less appealing as I felt, it looked a little perch and distracted from what is otherwise a very sleek interior steering wheel in this though. I love now you might be wondering how, how the RO compares to the on paper rather similar Ferrari Portofino. Is this just a Caman to that cars boxer? Well, according to Ferrari, no, for a start this way is about 70 to 80 kilos, less than Portofino. Um, and that [00:06:00] weight suspicion is close to 50 50 cuz of that car folding hard top, and it's also slightly lower to the ground. The tracks are also wider and despite aerodynamics not dominating the design, the Roman generates 95 kilos, more downfall at 155 miles an hour. The, so what does that all add up to? Well, to find out, we need to turn the Manino at least up to sport, possibly up to race and pop it into manual. Speaker 1: [00:06:30] The gearbox in this, as you would expect is absolutely blinding. Ferrari have done some of the best transmissions of recent years, and this is no exception. The eight speed jewel clutch gearbox is also derived from the one found in the SF 90. And it is said to be more compact and six kilos lighter than its seven speed predecessor found in the F Tribu on a wet day like [00:07:00] this, it will easily break traction at 3.9 lit to turbocharge V8 spinning up the rear wheels very easily. Indeed, thankfully as in the F eight that's super quick steering means you've got the tools to catch any slides. It has taken me a little while to get used to it. And it still, it does seem to sort of almost just sit on top of it Springs a little bit. It, it, it's hard to read the front end only in the wet where you've got obviously sort of higher roll stiffness. Speaker 1: [00:07:30] It's not a car that instinctively makes you keen to push on sort of straight away. You have to learn its balance. I think it's not as intuitive as an F eight. It just feels a little more, skitish a little harder to read. I did spend some time with it on dry roads as well. And it definitely responds more reassuringly when you've got warm tar a and tires that allow you to really push the car, work through the extra [00:08:00] role and load up the suspension, which then unlocks the same sort of feedback and confidence you get instantly in the FA with the extra traction of dry roads. You also gain access to all the performance and it really is stunning make work when you open it up. I think this actually sounds better than an FA Speaker 1: That is a properly angry engine. I really like the idea of Rover [00:08:30] a smaller front engine rear drive Ferrari just appeals to me. I love its bigger brother, the eight, 12 super fast. I do wonder if this needs to go more one way or the other, perhaps a handling pack would just bring it all together. Perhaps drop the ride height a little further or go the other way and become a true GT. Just calm it all down a little bit. Calm that sharp steering, take some of the intrinsic Ferrari nature out of it, but actually make it a more rounded car. [00:09:00] Sort of a more, more of a challenger to a DB 11, perhaps What I certainly hope they don't change is the way it looks because whether slinking through a city or spearing through the sunlight in the country, I think the.