ROMA vs SF90
Two new Ferraris, both V8s, two very different personalities... this is Roma vs SF90. What’s your flavour?
Both new V8 Ferraris, but two very different cars. We compare the Dr Jekyll Roma with the Mr Hyde SF90
ENZO FERRARI WAS A BORN SALESMAN,
knew how to spin a yarn, and loved playing up to the showbiz and monied elite that were knocking down the Maranello door by the end of the Fifties. True, he wasn’t always wholly complimentary about them, and the road car enterprise was a lucrative means to an end. That end being motor racing.
Take your pick from a list of extraordinary competition Ferraris during that decade: the 750 Monza, 290 MM, and 250 TR alone would be enough to dine out on forever after, though there were countless more where they came from. But the truth is that Ferrari’s GT cars are the foundations upon which the House of Enzo was built, a series of stunning front-engined V12s, almost exclusively bodied by Pinin Farina (the name was changed and contracted by presidential decree in 1961), and enjoyed by the likes of Roberto Rossellini (legendary film director), Herbert von Karajan (legendary conductor), and Porfirio Rubirosa (legendary lothario).
TG is in prime gran turismo territory today. We’re in Italy’s northern-most region of Piedmont, using just a rumour of throttle as we pass through the viticultural hotspot of Barolo. The unconventional blue corsa paint of Ferrari’s svelte new Roma contrasts with the vivid, verdant green of the hillside terraces. Do we need to go chasing the red line to get the measure of the Roma? Not right now. This is a car to get lost and lose yourself in.
Head north-east and we’d soon be in Turin, cradle of the Italian car industry, and ancestral home to the Agnelli dynasty whose empire still encompasses FCA and Ferrari. The French border is a few hours away in the other direction, and with it the saturnine twinkle of Monte Carlo. The Roma, whose name and marketing spiel invokes the spirit of la dolce vita rather than taste-free Russian oligarchical excess, is the sort of car that turns a drive like this into an abstract high-speed blur. Never mind the presence under that undulating bonnet of a 612bhp twin turbo V8, you should be able to hear the squeak of hand-made Italian loafer on aluminium pedal.
Ferrari hasn’t made a car like this for many years. Historians will note that the front-engined bloodline elided into the 308 GTB/S in 1975, despite Enzo Ferrari’s well-known disavowal of the configuration. The Roma embodies understated luxury rather than shrieking its potential from terracotta-clad rooftops, and posits elegance ahead – just – of razor-sharp handling smarts.
Apparently there are those who find the Ferrari badge a little gauche, so this one’s for them. It tones things down a bit. Maranello expects 70 per cent of Roma customers to be new to the brand, and the siren’s call is done via a body whose design espouses the modish idea of reductionism. Aston Martin, Bentley, Mercedes-AMG, and Porsche all patrol this territory with some of the most desirable cars currently on sale, so Ferrari’s entry is by no means a foregone conclusion.
Design director Flavio Manzoni is a modernist, and refuses to kow-tow to or be overwhelmed by the company’s peerless back catalogue. The Roma’s front wings crest emotively, and the sheet metal resolves in a sharky front end. Its face is dictated by the slimline LED headlights, and the new part-mesh grille has split the jury (if you want an old Ferrari look, buy an old Ferrari). Manzoni likes the war-time Savoia-Marchetti aeroplane, and the Roma’s body sides accordingly have an aeronautical, fuselage feel. Gone are the signature round rear lights, replaced by minimal rectangular items. There’s more aero than the Portofino: witness the vortex
“APPARENTLY THERE ARE THOSE WHO FIND THE FERRARI BADGE A BIT GAUCHE, SO THIS ONE’S FOR THEM”
generators upfront and deployable rear spoiler, which has a Low Drag, Medium Downforce and High Downforce setting but mainly stays out of the way. In the flesh, this is a very pretty car, particularly from the rear threequarters. Tellingly, it’s also one that suits sober hues rather than the candy-coloured end of the spectrum.
Equally and perhaps even more significant is what Ferrari has done inside in terms of the HMI. The main instrument display is an impressively configurable 16in curved HD screen which you navigate using a touchpad on the right hand spar of the steering wheel. You can max out on the navigation, or keep the rev counter central. The touchpad on the left spar operates the adaptive cruise control (in a Ferrari?), a sci-fi whooshing sound accompanying each thumbing of the pad. As before, the indicators, wipers and manettino are mounted on the wheel, which now groans under the weight of all this responsibility. The Roma is also bedecked with cameras, prone to bouts of hysteria on our car, and ADAS. Former boss Luca di Montezemolo reckoned satnav was the devil’s work, so one wonders what he’d make of all this.
Then there’s the hidden engine start/stop button, the touchpad to adjust the door mirrors, and the submerged doorhandles. Has Ferrari become allergic to physical touchpoints? Similarly absent are rotary knobs for the audio and climate control; operating these means a world of prodding on the (8.4in) central display which looks like it should detach but obviously doesn’t. Ferrari says this is all in service to the ‘eyes on the road, hands on the wheel’ mantra, and its biometric tests empirically prove there’s a reduced distraction. Unempirically, I beg to differ. The cabin itself has a nice ebb and flow to it, and is more inclusive for the passenger. The drive controls in the centre console mimic the old open gate of manual Ferraris, but it’s not just a design conceit: three-point turns beside an Italian vineyard are much easier to perform. Full-grain Frau leather or Alcantara is available in the interior. You push a button rather than pull a lever to exit it. Of course you do.
Fortunately the physical interaction where it really matters is exemplary. The road leading down to the autostrada is a furious mixture of surfaces, but like all contemporary Ferraris, the Roma’s ride is ridiculously good, certainly on the optional magnetorheological adaptive dampers. Despite running springs that are 10 per cent softer at the rear, it’s better resolved than the Portofino with which it shares its aluminium chassis, and also rolls less. Ferrari says the Roma is 70 per cent new, though quite how that’s determined is unclear; amongst other differences the roof is lower, the front and rear track are wider, and it’s 100kg lighter. Chief test driver Raffaele de Simone singles out the chassis engineers for particular props, which is significant
“THE ROMA IS BEDECKED WITH CAMERAS, PRONE TO BOUTS OF HYSTERIA ON OUR CAR”
because while the Roma is a less frenzied Ferrari, the hard bits underneath point the way forward.
Not that any car powered by a 3.9-litre twin turbo V8 making 612bhp is ever going to be anything less than lively. The Roma receives new cams, a revised catalytic converter and gas particulate filter. A reworked exhaust uses an oval-shaped flap rather than a traditional silencer, and there are more aggressive valve lift profiles on intake and exhaust. Thermal efficiency is improved, but it also sounds more soulful.
There’s a familiarity to all of this, of course, but the Roma still manages to be a different sort of Ferrari experience compared to its mid-engined compadres and the Portofino. Quite simply, it’s more rounded and accessible. All vestiges of laggardly old-school turbo behaviour have been eradicated, the hardware magic matched by Variable Boost Management software which adjusts torque delivery to suit whichever gear you’re in for maximum driveability. Throttle response is instant, and if it lacks the extraordinary sensory peaks of Lamborghini’s nat-asp V10, well it’s not meant to go there. The Roma consciously reins the drama in a bit, as befits its mileswallowing GT remit.
A combination of slippery surfaces and Biblical rain means this is the first time I’ve ever resorted to the Wet mode on a Ferrari’s manettino (now with five levels). It works extremely well, though that flickering traction light is a reminder of how much work the software’s doing. Comfort, Sport, Race and ESC-Off complete the chassis mode quintet, backed up by something called the Ferrari Dynamic Enhancer – which adjusts brake pressure on whichever wheel needs it and works only in Race mode
– alongside the regular stability control and V6.0 of side slip control. It will get heroically sideways if you fancy it, the e-diff, algorithms and 285/35 rear rubber reaching a remarkable rapprochement on cornering angle. There’s a new gearbox, too, derived from the eight-speed dual-shift one in the SF90 Stradale. It’s improved in every measure from the previous incarnation: lighter, faster shifting (15 per cent on upshifts, 21 per cent on downshifts), more efficient, and better integrated with the engine software. There are longer ratios in seventh and eighth to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
Ferrari has gone bewilderingly digital, but beneath it all is a deeply satisfying car to drive, both quickly (0–62mph in 3.4secs, 0–124mph in 9.3 secs) and not-soquickly. The steering is wonderfully linear and less edgy than other Ferraris, the Roma remaining unflappable all the way up to and even beyond the limit. The carbonceramic brakes – 390mm diameter up front – are superbly calibrated. Perhaps more relevant to the people who’ll actually end up buying the thing is that its steady-state motorway manners are also exemplary. It’ll sit at 80mph in eighth gear, pulling silly low revs and emitting a distinctive but distant burble. Just settle into those fantastic seats and reel in the horizon.
Rather than Monte Carlo we wind up in the little town of Monferrato, cobbled streets glistening from the recent downpour. Italy in August generally sees the locals head to the coast and, with few tourists about, the place has the sort of calm you usually find should you be awake at 5am. That’s something you might consider if you were lucky enough to own a Roma. La Dolce Vita may have been in short supply in 2020, but Ferrari always finds a way.