Roma test drive

I got the opportunity to drive the new Roma yesterday at Ferrari of New England. Impressive car. It looks great in person. The one I drove was grigio titanio, which is a great color, and it had a bright silver grille, which was a nice contrast. Well optioned car ... $292k sticker.

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I liked the car in person better than I have looking at photos, the shape is more voluptuous than it appears in the photos, it's not as slab-sided, the haunches are muscular, and, to my surprise, I liked the nose of the car quite a bit. The grille being bright definitely helped, at least on this particular color, I think what I do not care for is the grill being body colored. The rear of the car is perhaps the one area that is most polarizing ... the little US spec bumpers on either side of the plate do not help.

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The cabin initially felt a little tight -- I am 6'0 and about 190 pounds -- but once I had the seat all the way back and as low as it could be set, I was fine -- this is about where I have it in my Cali T. I think the center console rising sharply toward the top of the dash make it feel snugger than it actually is. The rear seats, as in the Cali T, are not much use if your passengers are taller than two and a half feet ... if anything, the Roma is tighter than the Cali due to the roofline.

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Lots of different electronics and things to get used to ... the virtual gauge display is fine, I did not find a lot of usefulness in the other views it offers ... the full nav map is more distracting than useful to me, the large horizontal tach just felt odd. But the virtual center tach was fine, and it did not "feel" any different than the analog tach in my Cali T.

A lot of people have mentioned it's difficult to deal with the steering wheel controls being touch sensitive, and I had some of the same issues ... the mirrors were finicky to adjust, a couple of times I somehow managed to activate the voice prompts (still not sure how I did that). I got the hang of it fairly quickly, though, but I wouldn't say that it was an improvement over the old controls. Same with the trick door openers inside and out. The sounds of the controls felt very dated, a lot of loud clicks and beeps and boops, hopefully that is adjustable. Somehow the speed warning was set at 30 mph so that got old in a hurry, I did figure out how to shut it up quickly, however. The lane keep warning got on my nerves, I have a habit of moving the car toward the left in the lane when passing a truck or if someone is wavering a bit in the right lane, so I kept triggering it. That I would shut off but I left it on for the next driver.

As far as driving the car, I was impressed. The sound of the exhaust is excellent, even in a closed cabin car, it sounds better with the windows up than my Cali T with the handling Speciale exhaust does with the top down. So that was a welcome discovery. The car is very fast, clearly faster than my Cali T -- and at 611 hp you would expect that. The 8 speed gear box is terrific, the car revs up very quickly (barely time to be conscious of the steering wheel LEDs lighting up), and you are breaking all kinds of laws before you're even aware of it. In Race mode the shift are lightning fast with a satisfying kick as you shift the car. Steering felt precise, the car was tight and absolutely rattle-free in the cabin. Traffic being what it is in the Boston area, I did not get much opportunity to drive the car hard, aside from a couple of stoplight takes offs and on ramp blasts. But I could tell it will be an engaging drive on the back roads.

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The car had Magneride and the difference was more apparent than it is in my Cali T in the bumpy road mode, which is welcome on some of Massachusetts surfaces.

Rear visibility was a bit challenged inside the car, the shapely rear haunches tended to block the side views a bit, and the view out the rear mirror was very small, but serviceable. I really loved the view behind the wheel, the hood sloping forward but the fenders being raised, reminded me of driving a 911. This car had front and rear cameras, and they gave a nice view, even the overhead virtual view. Parking should be easy.

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For me, the biggest question about buying one is whether or not I can live without the top down experience in my Cali T. It was a beautiful day (for November), temperatures in the 60s, lots of sunshine, great day for a drive. If they make this as either a Targa or a soft top convertible, I would be very tempted to order one. No way can they do a folding hard top with the rear end of this car, there's no place to put it. But it would be a great Targa or soft top, or even a removable top.

Overall, I was impressed. It felt good to get back into my Cali T with the top down and drive back home, but the Roma is faster, tighter and very much a Ferrari to me. Definitely more in the GT category and certainly would make a very nice daily driver. I think they are going to sell a lot of them.

Interestingly, the sales manager mentioned that he is being allowed to order some cars to his own specs to have available as inventory, which is a departure from the norm. I would love to have the experience of speccing my own car, and that is, of course, possible to do. But I wouldn't doubt that folks with deep pockets will be smitten enough by the car to break out their checkbooks and drive one home.


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