Key considerations
- Available for £130,000
- 3.9-litre flat-plane V8 twin-turbo, rear-wheel drive
- All of the performance and most of the Ferrariness you’d want
- Over-fussy and occasionally annoying user interface
- Not problem-free, usually in the electronics
- Now £70k cheaper than new, and prices are still dropping
Launched in November 2019 for sales beginning in 2020, the mid/front-engined V8 Roma was described by Ferrari as ‘la nuova dolce vita’ and as a contemporary representation of the care-free, pleasurable way of life that characterised Rome in the mid-20th century. In design terms, it was intended to remind owners of the glory days of front-engined Ferrari sports tourers from the '60s, including such legendary Continental expresses as the 250 Lusso and the Daytona.
Ferrari called it a ‘2+’ coupe, leaving you to work out what was missing after the ‘+’ bit. Some observers, reasonably enough, categorised it as a Portofino with a fixed roof but Ferrari denied that, pointing out that 70 per cent of the Roma’s components were new. Unburdened by the weight associated with a folding hardtop it was 100kg lighter than the Portofino, 36mm wider, 70mm longer and 17mm lower. The Roma did share the Porto’s flat-plane V8, though, and its sporting credentials were underlined by the presence of the rightly famed Side Slip Angle Control, here in 6.0 form. In addition, it was the first Ferrari grand tourer to have the max-sportlich five-position manettino switch.
The range performance bar had reached a new high at Ferrari at the time of the Roma’s launch, so of course it was very important for that message to carry across undiminished to the new coupe. The numbers for the F154 3.9 litre twin-turbo V8 – 620hp and 561lb ft from 3,000rpm – in a car weighing less than 1,500kg took care of that. Ferrari claimed that the Roma had the best power-to-weight ratio in the segment.
The Spider version announced in March 2023 to replace the Portofino M was more than 80kg heavier than the coupe, thanks to a new rear bulkhead and sills as well as mounting points for the top mech. However, the performance headroom and the traction limitations of rear-wheel drive with this amount of power meant that the reduction in the power-to-weight ratio to 393hp per tonne (from 415hp per tonne) didn’t make any difference to the headline performance stats of 3.4 seconds for the 0-62mph and 9.3sec for the 0-124mph. The top speed was also unchanged, at 199mph.
There was a hefty financial hike for the Spider, with prices starting at £210,000, but two minutes with the options list and a blunt pencil would get that up to the £290k point that was joyously hit by the UK importers with their press car. In May 2022 Ferrari announced a one-off Roma featuring some exotic-sounding Japanese-inspired materials and detailing. That was to highlight the ‘Tailor Made’ programme which, for those with imagination and money, could turn more or less any customisation ideas into reality. Other specials have popped up from time to time.
We’re not sure how many Romas were built in total but Ferrari reported sales of 44 in 2020, 1,057 in 2021 and 1,017 in 2022. We believe that just over 200 Romas were registered in the UK. Ferrari stopped taking orders in the second half of 2023, telling dealers to cancel the majority of any outstanding ones. At least some of those with their names on surviving orders were told to expect delivery in the first quarter of 2024.
Used values are interesting. Around 60 of the 200 or so UK-registered Romas were up for sale at the time of writing this guide in November 2024. They had started off at just over £171,000 new, but if you wanted a Roma in the early days and you weren’t on the favoured customer list you had to do battle with like-minded folk on the resale market where premiums of £30k were being paid, so even ‘basic’ cars were effectively comfortably more than £200k.
Those days are gone. Used prices in late 2024 start from around £130,000. None of the used cars you’ll see in the UK will have covered more than 25,000 miles, and most will have done fewer than 10,000. One 2021 9,000-mile car was on PH Classifieds for just £127k, presumably because it had managed to rack up five owners. If you don’t have this sort of cash, don’t worry, you can get a brand-new Roma direct from Ferrari UK’s website for just £13,495. Yes, that’s right, £13,495 including VAT. There is a catch, mind. It’s only one-eighth the size of the real thing, it’s made of plastic, and it won’t go anywhere unless you push it.
SPECIFICATION | FERRARI ROMA (2020-on)
Engine: 3,855cc twin-turbocharged petrol V8 32v
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 620@5,750-7,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 561@3,000-5,750rpm
0-62mph (secs): 3.4
Top speed (mph): 199
Weight (kg): 1,472
MPG (official combined): 21
CO2 (g/km): 255
Wheels (in): 8 x 20 (f), 10 x 20 (r)
Tyres: 245/35 (f), 285/35 (r)
On sale: 2020 - now
Price new (2020): from £171,000
Price now: from £130,000
Note for reference: car weight and power data are hard to pin down with absolute certainty. For consistency, we use the same source for all our guides. We hope the data we use is right more often than it’s wrong. Our advice is to treat it as relative rather than definitive.
ENGINE & GEARBOX
For the Roma, the F154 90-degree flat-plane V8 engine had new cam profiles, a speed sensor for the turbocharger that enabled its rev ceiling to be raised by 5,000rpm, and gasoline particulate filters which doubled up as sound managers in the absence of silencers. It all cost a few horsepower relative to the Portofino, but Variable Boost Management adjusted the torque delivery to boost pickup with rising revs and to allow more torque to be released as each new higher gear was selected. The redline was quite low at 7,500rpm, but the removal of those silencers and the reshaping of the bypass valves reduced back pressure and created a better noise. Opinions were still divided on the sound. That’s normal for flat-plane V8s. Some like ‘em, others don’t because of the occasional droneyness that pops its head up.
Transmission was the eight-speed F1 DCT first seen on the SF90 Stradale. More compact and 6kg lighter than the old seven-speed unit, the Roma’s gearbox had longer ratios than the SF90 but shorter gears in the lower section of the ‘box than the Portofino. It also had a proper reverse gear rather than the SF90’s electric motor, plus of course the usual package of new software and a new ECU to speed up and smooth out the changes.
The best compliment you could pay the twin-turbo engine – apart maybe from its physical beauty, wedged way back in the engine bay and unspoiled by covers – was that it felt naturally aspirated. The difference on the road between the Roma and the Portofino was quite noticeable. Left in automatic, the ‘box did like to be in the highest possible gear, and one tester was surprised to find the car rolling backwards (and picking up speed) while idling in first gear, but manual mode gave you unfettered access to a 500rpm-wide golden zone between 7,000rpm and the redline. Anecdotally, the gearchanges on the Spider were punchier than those of the coupe, presumably as a result of more software/ECU changes.
The combined fuel consumption figure of 21mpg gave you a potential range of 370 miles from the 80-litre tank in normal use. Ferrari’s seven-year maintenance programme covered all regular maintenance at intervals of either 20,000km (12,500 miles) or annually with no mileage restrictions. All UK cars are supplied with a four-year warranty as standard, which is extendable to 15 years.
You might want to look into that if you’re thinking of going down the used Roma road as they’ve not been problem-free. Many of the issues have been electrical, most often caused by batteries not being in prime condition, but that wasn’t always guaranteed to be the answer. Some owners were having electrical troubles even though they were looking at healthy green lights on their battery chargers. One reported his car as ‘dying’ after a two-day PPF job during which no trickle charger had been plugged in.
One US owner drove his sub-2,000-mile car 15 miles into town with no bother, got back into it two hours later and found it would only click on the restart. He was told it was a failed battery, that he would have to buy a new one as it wasn’t covered by the warranty, and that if he replaced the standard battery with one of the lithium units recommended by other fed-up owners that would void the warranty. Go figure etc.
CHASSIS
The old-fashioned measure of front-to-rear weight distribution was given as 50/50 for the Roma, compared to 46/54 for the Portofino. By the time the Roma came out Ferrari’s famed Side Slip Angle Control system had reached version 6.0, joining forces with other equally effective systems like F1-Trac and E-Diff3 and the aforementioned five-position manettino – Wet, Comfort, Sport, Race and for the brave or those with easy access to a racetrack or airfield, ESC-Off.
In Race mode, Ferrari’s Dynamic Enhancer added an extra layer of lateral control by adjusting brake pressure on individual wheels. A full suite of driver aids – autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning with traffic sign recognition, surround view camera and blind spot detection with rear cross traffic alert – was included. For an extra £5,200 Ferrari would fit its full ADAS (advanced driver assistance) system. This put the individually available camera, front and back radar tech and sensors together in a package that would detect and respond to obstacles all around the car, as well as enabling some degrees of autonomous driving.
The steering could seem slightly light on first encounter but once you’d got past that sensation it became blindingly obvious just how supremely responsive the Ferrari was to wheel inputs. Thanks to its fine combination of body stiffness and beautifully damped suspension it was just as capable of dancing along a byway or racetrack as it was of transporting you across a motorway network. Magneride dual-mode was a £2,900 option on the coupe, for the Spider, £3,695. There was some road noise, hardly surprising with eight-inch and 10-inch wide, 20-inch diameter wheels wearing 35-profile tyres, but despite those big contact patches there was playfulness aplenty if you wanted it. You didn’t even need to be in Race to get the back end stepping out (controllably) in a straight line on a damp road. The Spider was every bit as energising to drive as the coupe.
There was no front lift option for the Roma but we’re not aware of anyone experiencing any ground clearance problems with this car. The 390mm front and 360mm rear carbon ceramic brake discs were standard and another object lesson from Ferrari on how to make CC brakes that simply worked. Some cars had trouble releasing their electronic handbrakes, however. Aluminium calipers were £1,300 extra. Having your wheels painted in matt Grigio Corsa added another £1,400 to your invoice.
BODYWORK
The Roma was one of those cars that looked better in the flesh than it did in pictures. Although it was initially shown in businesslike shades of grey and silver, the bright primary colours of the cars that were made available for a press drive in the French Alps seemed more fitting for the performance. Darker colours seemed to suit it well, although outside of obvious choices like Rosso Corsa there was plenty of love for Celeste Metallizato, a subtle grey-blue in the special ‘historical’ range that cost an additional £7,100. White body paint gave the (also white, in that case) grille an unfortunate Halfords-y look for some. The relative lack of interest in white cars is reflected in lower used prices.
Most were happy to admit that, colour or no colour, the Roma was a fantastically good-looking car, although not all were pleased about the absence of round lenses at the back or by the horizontal slittiness of the lights both front and rear. Aided by vortex generators in the front underbody, the three-position mobile rear spoiler that was so beautifully integrated into the rear of the car in the down position helped the Roma to generate 95kg more downforce at 250km/h (155mph) than the Portofino when it was up at maximum height, while only adding four per cent more drag. The spoiler positions were automatically determined by the position of the manettino switch, not by you fiddling about with a switch in the cabin at 8mph in the Ikea car park.
The A-pillars were quite thick, cutting down vision. The Spider’s soft-top deployed in 13 seconds at speeds of up to 60km/h (37mph). Some drivers felt that the top rail was uncomfortably close to their head when the top was down. Obviously it was no nearer to their head when it was up, but that sensation of closeness to the top tail can increase in convertibles when it’s exposed like that. Fitting glossy carbon front and rear splitters added nearly £11k to the Spider’s price.
Rear door pillar identification plates were replaced on Romas built between January and August 2021 when it was found that they were displaying incorrect weights. No, we’ve never heard of that one either. Active Matrix LED headlights were a £2,900 option. At least one early adopter had trouble with his headlights turning themselves on and then refusing to be turned off. There have also been issues with doors randomly locking or refusing to be locked. Some put this down to keyfob oversensitivity and advised others to use a protective pouch. Others just sighed and bought another new battery.
INTERIOR
The Roma cabin was a comfortable mix of full-grain Frau leather, Alcantara, chromed aluminium and carbon fibre. Probably not quite as de luxe, materials-wise, as something you might get from Bentley, but it was certainly nothing you’d feel embarrassed about.
The big change for Ferrari in recent times has been the switch from a large analogue tachometer straight in front of your visage to something digital, in this case projected onto a curved 16-inch HD screen. The steering wheel, which for just under £2,900 could be upgraded to carbon fibre with change-up LEDs in the upper rim, combined physical and ‘black panel’ touchpad buttons to deliver what Ferrari called an ‘eyes on the road, hands on the wheel’ philosophy. The push-to-talk voice recognition, phone call and cruise control buttons were under your left thumb, with the instrument panel touchpad swipe/tap control and back key under your right one.
Unfortunately, the action of the buttons and the speed of the screen’s response could feel out of kilter with the lightning-fast nature of more or less everything else in the car. The haptic controls on the wheel were designed to disappear once the screen went black, only becoming visible when the screen lit up. The driver can choose to deactivate these after 15, 30, or 45 seconds of inactivity to avoid the consequences of unintentional contact. It was fairly easy to miss the indicator button and hit the voice button instead. Obviously you could have another stab at it, but you’d be doing that to the accompanying and almost always distracting sound of a velvety-voiced maiden telling you quite insistently that she hadn’t understood what you’d just said.
Ease of engine starting is of course a good thing, but it was almost too easy to do it by accident in the Roma simply by brushing the button, or rather non-button, on the lower steering wheel boss, a somewhat non-descript alternative to the drama of a physically stabbable engine start button.
The voice button in one car failed to function for two weeks, doing nothing in that time other than flashing slowly, but then it came back online of its own accord. Before that the system had been struggling to decipher words, offering irrelevant radio station-related responses to navigation commands from passengers. You could spend a fair amount of time shouting in a Roma in the vain hope that the various bongs, bleeps and unrequested comments would cease.
Most of the, let’s say, incidental functions like heating moved to the central infotainment display, a unit that could look slightly tacked-on in the Roma’s otherwise decently resolved cabin design. Its screen was canted at an angle that could show up your greasy thumbprints more clearly than the visual data you were hoping for. Some of these displays have become unresponsive or have completely failed, but when the sat nav had had the right updates and was working it gave you three options for any route: Fast, Short and Fun, a nice idea.
Besides the central display, you could pay just under £3,400 for a supplementary one ahead of the passenger if you wanted to immerse them more deeply in the driving experience and impress them with your forays into the upper echelons of the rev range.
Apple CarPlay was available for the small consideration of £2,400 or so. When you cued it up, the familiar panel of ten icons in two rows occupied the entirety of the driver panel instead of the tacho that you had just been looking at. Still, it could have been worse: Android Auto wasn’t available at all. The chromed metal plate housing the F1 controls nicely referenced the classic Ferrari gearlever gate but could be another source of distracting reflections on sunny days. Some cars had loose door trims.
The seats – fully electric on UK cars – were as supportive as they looked and could be upholstered in ‘aged’ leathers such as Heritage Mahogany, but the lack of robustness in the box cover between the seats was disappointing and oddment storage opportunities weren’t prolific. The main luggage space in the ‘+’ area behind the seats was decently large however at 272 litres, bigger than a Porsche 911’s front boot. That increased to 345 litres if the first buyer had paid £960 for the foldable rear seat backrests, which in time-honoured fashion were only big enough for small children. They were no worse than what you’d find in the 911 though, and you did get Isofix fastenings there.
Loading the Ferrari was easy, too, as there was no lip to heave your Hermes luggage over. There were tie down hooks to play with as well, but you had to be careful in wet weather because raising the bootlid resulted in a minor cascade of water all over most of what was in there. Ferrari would probably tell you that you shouldn’t be driving in the rain.
PH VERDICT
Well-judged suspension made the Roma a perfectly sensible daily proposition even on the UK’s busted roads. For serious long-distance journeys buyers might choose something more obviously grand tour-y and luxurious like a Bentley Continental GT, but the Ferrari’s sharper sporting edge could easily become a major point in its favour if you fancied a change from motorway monotony to twistie thrills.
The digital screen looked great most of the time but the sluggish and buggy user interface wasn’t Ferrari’s finest hour. It was a shame that Ferrari got itself into a bit of a muddle in regards to delivering simple functionality. There have been a disappointingly large number of actual or potential issues in the electrical department generally and the Ferrari forums suggest that by no means all of the dealers have covered themselves in glory on the customer relations side.
On the positive side the ‘Ferrariness’ was there in abundance, whether you were peering down the curvaceous bonnet or staring at the big tacho while your bonce was being pressed into the headrest. That indefinable trait trumped almost all shortcomings – the ‘almost’ referring to the fact that a comparably high-powered 911 like the Turbo S was about 25 per cent cheaper. There again, a 911 wasn’t a Ferrari. Somebody once said that a Porsche was like the woman you married, whereas a Ferrari was like the model you had fun with over the weekend. Before you write in to complain, that was most definitely nobody here at PH, and nor was it recently.
The most affordable Roma on PH classifieds at the time of writing (Nov ’24) was the aforementioned five-owner 2021 car in Grigio Silverstone at £127,000. We think that might have sold already, though. The next cheapest car which had pics to look at rather than a promise of pics to come was this 8,500-mile car in Bianca Avus (white) at just short of £135k. The ‘red Ferrari tax’ is on display in this car, which was the same year as the white one and about £1,000 more expensive despite having more than 10,000 extra miles on it.
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