It does not scream for consideration in its most delicate shade, however it’ll certainly get a lot.
Tim Stevens/Roadshow
How do you enhance on perfection? For me, the Ferrari 488 GTB was a concord of outrageous on-track efficiency and remarkably good on-road manners. It’s my favourite trendy super-sports automotive.

LikeEven extra energyAstonishingly fast handlingImpeccable street manners

Don’t LikeRevised styling not for everyoneCarPlay prices how a lot?

And so I had some misgivings when taking supply of the F8 Tributo. Yeah, it has extra energy and recent appears and a collection of different tweaks that clearly set up it because the 488 successor it is meant to be. But trendy succession does not essentially imply enchancment. Take the 812 Superfast, for instance. It’s superior to the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta that got here earlier than in just about each method — and but I’m undecided that I desire the brand new one. Faster, higher, sure, but additionally edgier and perhaps even too sharp.

I could not assist however wonder if the F8 Tributo would endure the identical destiny as I watched it roll off the truck and into the actual world. I used to be, at the least, instantly assured I’d don’t have any considerations on the aesthetics entrance. While I typically preferred the look of the automotive once I first noticed it in Geneva final yr, it isn’t till one thing steps out into the solar you can actually get an excellent take a look at it. Here, the F8 appears good — even within the demure black this one’s been dipped in.

I’d most likely go along with one thing a bit extra vibrant, myself, however the mixture of darkish paint and people matte-silver, 20-inch, twisted five-spoke wheels makes this factor look imply and low. While the flat-billed nostril up entrance is maybe a bit a lot for my tastes, taking the 488 Pista’s revised schnoz a bit too far, I discover the Tributo’s most interesting angle to really be the rear. The large diffuser and high-mounted twin exhaust aren’t a lot completely different than the 488, however the total profile is much extra sculpted. The rear of the automotive flows inward to current the 4, spherical taillights, topped by a delicate duck-bill spoiler.

All very acquainted in right here, however that is hardly a foul factor.
Tim Stevens/Roadshow
The huge speaking level is the rear window. A large slab of Lexan serves because the engine cowl, a typical characteristic on Ferrari’s racier variants over time, however right here it is sliced 3 times to create a glance that perhaps nods again to the heroic haunches of the F40. In the method, these slices utterly destroy any notion of reward visibility, however that is a small sacrifice within the identify of magnificence.

Larger air intakes on the facet feed the identical 3.9-liter, turbocharged V8 from the 488 Pista. Here, like there, it makes a whopping 710 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque. That’s roughly 50 extra horses than the previous 488 GTB, sufficient to drop the official 0-to-62-mph dash by a tenth to only 2.9 seconds.On the within, modifications are rather more delicate however culminate in a noticeable impact. Ferrari has principally pushed every part fractionally down and away, reducing the console only a hair and shrinking the button-laden steering wheel. The total impact is a automotive that is subtly extra open and ethereal feeling than earlier than with out being radically completely different — although the change to Ferrari’s chunky, spherical HVAC vents is a particular enchancment.The celebration begins with the identical, cherry-red “engine start” button located on the lower-left of the steering wheel. That 3.9-liter V8 spins into life with a fast bark and away you go. First impressions of the F8 Tributo on the street come by means of the ultra-light, telepathic steering, very similar to that on the 488 and 458 earlier than. This is a automotive that’s so totally prepared to show in always, sharp sufficient to be approaching nervous, but all the time settled and poised. Crucially, it is by no means harsh.The carbon-ceramic brakes labored exceptionally effectively, even on this exceptionally chilly day.
Tim Stevens/Roadshow
My time with the F8 Tributo was spent within the early a part of a spring that simply did not need to come, on roads nonetheless thawing and displaying the results of an extended, harsh winter. In different phrases, they have been tough and unclean, but the F8 was all the time assured, all the time nice. It was a placing distinction from the Aston Martin Vantage I’d examined simply the week earlier than, which was additionally participating and sharp (and black, coincidentally), however typically felt nervous and unrefined by comparability.Despite the ultra-stiff Daytona seats (a $4,050 possibility), I’d have gladly spent hours touring the unusually quiet nation roads within the F8 Tributo with out criticism. However, I most likely would not have strayed too far, as there’s successfully zero storage within the factor. You and somebody particular might stuff a weekend’s price of soft-sided baggage behind the seats, however for something longer you will need to ship your chauffeur on forward. I didn’t get to pattern this taste of Ferrari on the monitor, I’m sorry to say, however I’ve little question that it is misplaced not one of the efficiency of its predecessor. On the road, its additional 50 hp is all however undetectable, however the additional induction noise behind your head gives you loads of incentive to profit from it, simply the identical.This is, in any case, a automotive that is most comfy when being pushed. I really struggled to maintain it at 35 mph by means of among the smaller cities close to my dwelling, the cruise management unwilling to be bothered with such trifling speeds. The carbon-ceramic brakes have been likewise a bit tough to modulate at pedestrian velocities, however boy howdy did they make up for it when pushed aggressively. Sometimes analog is finest.
Tim Stevens/Roadshow
And what concerning the different creature comforts? Well, trendy options like adaptive cruise and blind-spot monitoring are absent, however that basically should not be a shock. The elective ($6,243) premium sound system fills the petite cabin fairly properly with sound, although not as properly because the 3.9-liter sound system within the again. For a mere $4,219 you possibly can have Apple CarPlay enabled, although nonetheless no Android Auto.The elective ($4,556) passenger show is expanded with extra performance, enabling your passenger to see extra particulars about the place you are going and simply how briskly you are going to get there. It’s a bit pointless, however given the Tributo (like its predecessors) makes do and not using a conventional infotainment center-stack of any type, this may at the least give your passenger one thing to do within the unlikely state of affairs they get bored alongside the way in which.As you possibly can inform by these possibility costs, this isn’t a automotive to be bought calmly. The beginning value of a 2020 Ferrari F8 Tributo is $270,530. The automotive you see examined right here carried almost $90,000 in beauty and efficiency choices, plus a $1,300 gas-guzzler tax and $3,750 supply, for a closing price of $360,796. No small ask by any means, however a really outstanding automotive at any value.