Alfa Romeo 8C Spider (2009) CAR review

If you were disappointed at having missed out on one of Alfa’s 500 8C Competizione coupés, here’s more bad news: you’ve missed out on the Alfa Romeo 8C Spider too. Another 500 will be made, with 35 coming to the UK, but they’ve all been reserved.

Then again, you might be relieved at having missed out when you see the bill those lucky 35 are being presented with: at £174,000, the Spider is closer in price to the V12-powered Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano than the Ferrari California with which it shares its open-topped, front-mounted V8 configuration.

The 8C coupe cost ‘just’ £112,000: exchange rate fluctuations account for much of the hike, but can the Alfa Romeo 8C Spider really justify such a colossal price?

So what do you get for your average semi-detached house?

The Spider is 90kg heavier than the coupe due to the stiffening required by its Maserati Quattroporte-derived steel chassis; there’s a huge cross-brace between the front suspension turrets, beefier sills and extra beams in the floor. The folding hood is fabric to save weight and keep the centre of gravity low; it’s powered but needs to be freed and latched manually.

There are new Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes – 380mm at the front, 360mm behind – which save 14kg of rotating and unsprung mass over the coupe’s steel discs. The engine is unchanged, and still magnificent; a Ferrari-made, Maserati-derived 450bhp 4.7-litre V8 driving the rear wheels through a six-speed paddle-shift (but single-clutch) transaxle.

The springs have been stiffened and the dampers softened to avoid sending tremors into the less rigid chassis. All the panels remain carbonfibre; the paintwork is flawless but the bonnet and bootlid have been left gloriously naked on the underside. The bootspace beneath would struggle to take a briefcase.

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