{"id":1823848,"date":"2026-03-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1823848"},"modified":"2026-03-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T21:00:00","slug":"is-the-amalfi-the-best-road-going-ferrari-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1823848","title":{"rendered":"Is the Amalfi the best road-going Ferrari of 2026?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Roma was no one\u2019s favourite Ferrari. Oh, it was knuckle gnawingly beautiful, if you could accept the weird holepunched colour coded grille. Exceedingly fast. Unique in the Prancing Horse stable: the first ever front engined V8 coupe from Maranello.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And the Ferrari you were most likely to actually own, partly because it was (at \u00a3170k) the least expensive, and partly because it was a necessary stepping stone. Buy a Roma and you lit the fire beneath your backside to climb the ladder. Buy the next Ferrari, and another. Get yourself onto page one of Ferrari\u2019s little black book.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But it was also flawed. The Roma\u2019s twin turbo V8 was more monotonal than Andy Murray with a hangover. Combine its binary torque splurt with trademark flighty steering and the car was downright sketchy on a greasy road. And you\u2019d be in the hedge quicker than you could say \u2018why has the voice control interrupted again\u2019 if you took your eye off what you could see of the road over its ludicrous bonnet power dome to attempt a prod of its disastrously laggy touchscreen. Or the capacitive touch sensitive steering wheel.<\/p>\n

Photograph – Olgun Kordal<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And Ferrari agrees with all of this. It doesn\u2019t say so, of course, but ask yourself this: if the Roma had been right first time, why would it have just been replaced with a car that takes exactly the same chassis, engine, gearbox and general philosophy, but leaves no stone unturned in making comprehensive changes everywhere you look and touch? It\u2019s not even billed as a \u2018Modificata\u2019, which used to be Ferrari speak for a facelift. It\u2019s arrivederci<\/em> Roma, buongiorno<\/em> Amalfi.<\/p>\n

And it looks like a platypus, or a Prelude, or a Prius according to the internet, which isn\u2019t happy at all about Ferrari\u2019s commitment to rid its cars of anthropomorphised faces. Hence all those black mask \u2018visors\u2019 on the F80, 12Cilindri, 849 Testarossa, and the Amalfi\u2019s Purosangue-like lack of \u2018eyes\u2019. The piggy headlights are hidden either side of its beaky nose and are actually shaped to ram air into the engine bay, but the smoother, manatee effect isn\u2019t as pretty as the Roma.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The proportions are still classically correct: long bonnet (without the embarrassing bulge) and pert tail, but around the new active rear wing which generates 110kg of downforce for a four per cent increase in drag, it\u2019s got more panel lines than a stained glass window. So, apart from the stunningly intricate milled from solid new wheels, about as successful on the styling front as Lewis\u2019 first season with the Scuderia.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inside, the Amalfi glints with wins like Ferrari\u2019s endurance team. First, the steering wheel: no longer a barren hellscape of touch sensitive buttons. Physical, mechanical controls make the Amalfi one of the easiest new cars in the world today in which to disable the annoying ADAS nannies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The digi-dash is suddenly much less baffling. And starting the more powerful engine \u2013 by pressing an anodosed crimson button \u2013 now offers more sense of occasion than unlocking your phone.<\/p>\n

Ferrari also recognised the Roma\u2019s contrived twin cockpit layout was oppressive and ate into useful space. So it\u2019s opened out the centre console, now split by a low slung, gorgeously tactile slab of aluminium. Where the Roma relied on a Temu iPad with thick bezels and response times even Ferrari\u2019s F1 team radio would consider laggy, the Amalfi borrows the 10.25 inch touchscreen from more expensive Ferraris.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes, we\u2019d prefer physical buttons here too and yes, it\u2019s mounted too low, so prodding about the fiddly interface takes your eyes off the road for longer than ideal. But it\u2019s now at the races \u2013 better than Aston\u2019s Vantage infotainment, on par with the AMG GT and on its way to being competitive with a Porsche 911 Turbo\u2019s usability.<\/p>\n

Material quality has had an upgrade. Noise too: mainly due to regulations demanding less fruity exhausts, but Ferrari rose to the challenge with equal length exhaust tracts and tuned outlets that give the Amalfi a less resonant drone than the Roma\u2019s and some 458 Italia-esque timbre at the 7,500rpm top end. It feels like the engine could and should rev higher still. It wants to.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ferrari is already spinning the turbos 7,000rpm faster than the Roma\u2019s \u2013 up to 171,000rpm \u2013 to kick output from 612 to 631bhp. But this is what\u2019s known in the industry as The Cayman Conundrum. If it was any faster, it would start embarrassing the V12 and mid-engined stuff. The pricier stuff. Amalfi Competizione anyone?<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t need to be any faster, mind. Zero to 62mph? Three point three seconds. It\u2019ll pass 125mph in nine seconds dead on its way to 200mph. All without any hybrid boost. No wonder the engineers call the Amalfi their \u2018back to basics\u2019 car. No rear steer, no super trick aero, no AWD or motorised anti-roll dampers. It\u2019s almost Ferrari\u2019s Mustang: V8, rear drive, yeaa-haa.<\/p>\n

Sure, it\u2019s still a spaceship. Wet and Comfort modes are now quieter and the electronics intervene sooner, so it doesn\u2019t scare off new converts. Clever, given it\u2019s got more power than a 458 Speciale or 599 GTB offered not so long ago.<\/p>\n

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\"Ferrari<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But Sport and Race have gone the other way: sharper, angrier, and smarter Slide Slip Control allows you more sideways Shawshank before the algorithmic Redemption. And thanks to brake-by-wire there is no physical, fluid connection between your foot and the ceramic discs. It\u2019s all ones and zeroes, so the synthesised \u2018feel\u2019 stays consistent however hot the brakes are.<\/p>\n

But you don\u2019t notice the computers trimming your indiscretions. You just appreciate Ferrari\u2019s \u00a3202,459 base car is now easier to operate, better to drive fast, better to drive slowly, nicer to listen to and more expensive to touch. Pity it\u2019s not prettier. But you can\u2019t have everything.<\/p>\n

That cavalcade of improvements in the \u2018plus\u2019 column is criminally unusual for a new car in 2026. Most stuff is plateauing, or getting more annoying. Heavier, techier, more complicated. Ferrari has had a less is more moment with the Amalfi, and perhaps accidentally replaced the Roma with our new favourite road bound Ferrari after all.<\/p>\n

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\"ferrari\u2019s<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Price:<\/strong> \u00a3202,459
Powertrain: <\/strong>3.9-litre TT V8, 631bhp, 561lb ft
Transmission: <\/strong>8spd DCT auto, RWD
Performance: <\/strong>0\u201362mph in 3.3secs, 199mph
Weight: <\/strong>1,470kg dry<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Roma was no one\u2019s favourite Ferrari. Oh, it was knuckle gnawingly beautiful, if you could accept the weird holepunched colour coded grille. Exceedingly fast. Unique in the Prancing Horse stable: the first ever front engined V8 coupe from Maranello.\u00a0 And the Ferrari you were most likely to actually own, partly because it was (at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-1823848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1823848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1823848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1823848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1823848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}