► New Ferrari Amalfi grand tourer revealed
► Evolutionary over the Roma it replaces
► More potent V8, interior tweaks and more
Considering Ferrari has aimed to be a more unpredictable car company over the last few years, its new Amalfi is – on the face of it – an entirely predictable proposition. Replacement for the Roma, spiritual successor to Maranello’s gorgeous GTs of the 1950s and ’60s, this V8, rear-wheel drive ‘2+ coupe’ gently updates its six-year-old predecessor’s exterior and interior design, freshens up the infotainment and gives the mechanicals a shot of espresso. All of which you’ll find on page one of the facelift formbook.
Yet dig a little deeper and there’s significantly more at play here than a gentle nip and tuck – from the Amalfi’s design through to its engine architecture.
The exterior design, for starters, because – according to Ferrari design boss Flavio Manzoni – the body is much more thoroughly reworked than first impressions suggest. Yes, the Amalfi continues to be built around an aluminium architecture, the wheelbase is unchanged and – indeed – the glasshouse is identical, but every panel is described as new.
The most obvious change is the front grille – the eggcrate-style perforations are gone, replaced by a cleaner ‘sharknose’ and aggressive lower bib. ‘We were keen to avoid the anthropomorphic look,’ said design boss Flavio Manzoni at the press launch. Elsewhere, you might note the sleeker, more technical look to the head- and taillights, the crisper outline or a reprofiled bonnet bulge, and how those fulsome haunches flow into redesigned door panels.
Manzoni talked about pursuing a ‘minimalist, technical and pure’ approach, and of creating ‘sleek, monolithic speedforms’ with ‘master lines that define the structure’. Shown here in the launch colour of Verde Costiera and on 20-inch alloys (the only size offered), there’s no question the Amalfi is a looker.
Again the Amalfi favours gentle evolution here, with a wraparound cockpit that partitions the driver and passenger compartments. So the fundamentals are the same but there’s a newfound sense of space – the centre console now lies horizontally and is made from a piece of anodized aluminium machined from a single block, where the previous design raked up at an angle, consuming much visual real estate. There’s also a new infotainment system with three screens – the lowered centre console allowing for a 10.25-inch-wide horizontal central capacitive touchscreen to replace the previous portrait orientation.
The front seats are quite firm, the rears tiny, and the driving position good – the relatively small-diameter steering wheel and thin rim feels a particularly good fit. The Amalfi also marks a return to physical multi-function controls and engine start button on the steering wheel – a tacit admission that the capacitive functions on current Ferrari wheels are distractingly unintuitive.
The Amalfi treads a fine line when it comes to performance – on the one hand it’s tasked with easing new customers into the Ferrari fold, including those who do not wish to be scared witless by a Prancing Horse on the lockstops; on the other it must dial up ‘adrenaline’ compared to the Roma. The spider diagram shown by on the press launch claimed gains in handling, acceleration and braking performance.
Most interesting, perhaps, is the Amalfi’s F154 engine. Like Roma, it’s s a 3.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 pushed so far back in the nose it’s almost in the cabin, features a complete absence of hybrid tech and now produces a here-nor-there 20bhp extra, for 631bhp all in.
But Ferrari has sweated the details, including camshafts that are some 1.3kg lighter, new faster spinning turbos (to 171,000rpm), and a new Bosch management system that allows for finer control of the pair of them. It’s also shaved about a kilo off the engine block – which sounds like an awful lot of toil for an improvement that pro drivers would struggle to detect, let alone nervy amateurs stroking it along the Amalfi coast.
Either way, the takeaway is what appears to be a very gently massaged V8 should feel more responsive and sound quite different to the Roma’s already impressive unit.
All that 631bhp still goes to the rear wheels alone via an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, which could sound less than benign for the uninitiated. When I suggested to Gianmaria Fulgenzi – Ferrari’s chief product development officer – that many drivers may still find such a generous amount of shove a little intimidating, and that optional all-wheel drive might be an idea, he demurred, noting it would change the 50/50 weight distribution and add complexity.
Instead, Ferrari has added its brake-by-wire ABS Evo system, 6D chassis sensor and updated Side-Slip Control 6.1 to keep things under control – systems that we’ve found highly effective at keeping the much more powerful 296 GTB in check.
Versus Roma, driving modes are said to be less aggressive in Wet and Comfort settings with improved ride quality, then more energetic thereafter.
Just that European cars are planned to go on sale in Q1 of 2026, priced from €240,000 in Italy – including Ferrari’s impressive seven-year maintenance programme with no mileage restrictions, which suggests a price increase of a little below 10%. UK prices won’t be confirmed until later this year.
There’s no word yet on the Amalfi Spider’s arrival, and logic would suggest it’ll be a while yet, given the Roma drop-top landed a couple of years later than the coupe. Then again, Ferrari is the unpredictable car company, and they’ll no doubt keep us guessing until the Spider’s silks slip off.
Former staffer Ben is now freelance and remains one of the go-to writers for whenever the editor needs a supercar thrashed or a judicious comparison test written. An expert on all things four-wheeled, Ben's particular skillsets include feature writing, impartial news reporting and driving around corners sideways.
By Ben Barry
Contributing editor, sideways merchant