Ferrari Roma: taking us back to the Sixties

The “newest stallion in Maranello’s stables” is “the most beautiful Ferrari built in decades”, says Jared Zaugg on Maxim. The Roma represents “a return to the elegance of the 1960s grand tourers”, whose original purpose was to “embody elegance, luxury, power and performance in the most balanced way possible”. There is nothing “brutal” about the Roma’s design: it’s smooth, but evocative, indicating “reserved aggression ready to be unleashed if necessary” while remaining “incredibly harmonious to the overall sophistication”. 

On the road, the Roma’s 4.0-litre, twin-turbo V8 delivers 611 bhp and jolts you from rest to 62mph in just 3.4 seconds. But unlike with previous Ferraris, “you only get 560 torques. That’s still a lot, but it’s not so much that you immediately hit a tree,” says Jeremy Clarkson in The Sunday Times. When you put your foot down “there’s a combination of sound and torque-driven fury, it’s like you’ve dived head first into a vat of dopamine after drinking three pints of serotonin”. For years Ferrari has made cars that have been “way too big, way too powerful and really only suitable for the rich and famous in Saudi Arabia”. Driving one in Britain “is like trying to ride a cow through your local antiques shop”. Not the Roma. “It’s elegant and subtle and pretty and fast and surprisingly practical.”

The seats are “all-day comfortable” and the interior is “an easy and pleasant place in which to while away the miles”, says Ben Miller in Car. The ride is “surprisingly sweet for such a poised, responsive car” too. It’s easy to push the car to its limits, “safe in the knowledge” that the it “won’t be skittled off-line or caught out by mid-corner bumps”. And in race mode, “the Roma covers ground at a breathtaking rate… Gearshifts are complete before you know you’ve asked for them”. 

The Roma is not as fast or ferocious “as a “proper supercar”, says Sam Sheehan on Piston Heads. But it still delivers “many of the same sensations… it remains a mesmeric super-GT”.