In our November 2011 issue, we anointed the Ferrari 458 Italia the year's Best Driver's Car after running it back-to-back against 10 of the greatest sports car on the planet. After hot laps at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, road drives between Monterey and Los Angeles; and loads of instrumented testing and seat time; we concluded that there is no better combination of ride, handling, and outright performance in the world than the Ferrari 458 Italia. At least until now.

Welcome to the Ferrari 458 Spider, the world's first hardtop convertible mid-engine supercar, and arguably the finest road-going conveyance money can buy. Say what? Well, just look at it.

Every Ferrari oozes sex (well, except perhaps the California), but the Spider? She jumps on your lap, grabs you by your ears, and practically demands that you barchetta her curvy bits. And that's with her top up.

Push a little button on the tunnel between the seats, and an elegant 14-second striptease begins with the retraction of the two side windows. The rear deck clamshells skyward while the aluminum roof separates into a large forward section and smaller rear sliver. These pieces flip 180 degrees and stack on top of each other (headliner up) in a cavity behind the cabin shared with the engine bay. As the windows rise and deck closes, two black caps pop out to connect the triangular buttresses to the B-pillar, completing the look.

And what a look it is. Roof up, the Spider looks longer and leaner than the Italia, with a cab-forward yet fastback silhouette. Dropping the top opens up the profile and puts greater emphasis on the dramatic back-sloping buttresses. And they aren't just stylistic devices -- the buttresses protect occupants' skulls should the Spider flip on its back.

2012 Ferrari 458 Spider - First Drive - YouTube

This folding roof is an engineer's dream; a stunningly elegant solution to a fiendishly difficult problem Ferrari engineers have been working on since 2004. The time and attention to detail are apparent everywhere; for instance, Ferrari claims the hardtop system weighs 55 pounds less than similar softtop mechanisms. To accommodate the folded roof, the intake and exhaust system had to be repositioned and retuned. Air intakes moved from just behind the coupe's side glass to the back end of the car, while exhaust baffles and resonators were added and tweaked.

Not only is it achingly beautiful, top up or down, it is practical, too: Behind the seats is a surprisingly voluminous cargo bench that can accommodate one full-size golf bag on or two overnight bags.

The only stylistic loss is the ability to see the fantastic mid-mounted V-8. Ferrari admits a clear deck lid could have been used, but the sight of an upside-down hardtop folded over the familiar red valve would have been ugly. And Ferrari just doesn't do ugly.

Such beauty does come at price. Despite reinforcing the side sills and bulkhead between the cabin and engine, Ferrari admits the Spider gives up 30 percent in chassis rigidity to the Italia, while gaining approximately 100 pounds and a touch of aerodynamic drag. This means the Spider is about a half-second behind the Italia around Ferrari's Fiorano test track and clearly not the better-performing 458. But here's the thing: It is nearly impossible to discern such deficits on the street -- especially while receiving such toe-curling aural pleasure.

Ferrari sent us motoring around the tight country roads of Italy's famous Emilia-Romagna region, and the sensations were eerily familiar, even if the roads were not. This is the 458 I remembered from our Best Driver's Car laps in Monterey and runs through the canyons of central California -- that fingertip control of the steering wheel, the instant response from pedal and paddle, and the flash of those fantastic shift lights. Could I feel the extra 100 pounds? No, not even close. The Spider rips through time and space with just as much passion and alacrity as its brother. How about the 30 percent reduction in torsional stiffness? I thought I would notice it, but even over broken tarmac, numerous speed bumps, and a couple of American-sized potholes, there was never any distinct chassis flex or quiver -- and nary a squeak nor rattle to be heard.

What can be heard, without the prophylaxis provided by a solid roof, can only be described as eargasmic. Raw, lusty, and willing to rev, the Spider's 557-horsepower V-8, essentially unchanged from the Italia, wails into the open at the slightest suggestion of throttle. Flat-foot upshifts from the dual-clutch seven-speed transmission are a delight, particularly in Race mode, but it's the piercing crispness of the impossibly quick downshifts that send follicles -- among other things -- standing on end.

More impressive is that this audio-erotic stimulation comes without guilt. Ferrari equipped the Spider with Wind Stop, a retracting rear window ("Like in a 4 Runner," one journalist snarkily observed) between the buttresses. With the top up, this window can be fully opened to allow the heavenly reverberations to enter the cabin unobstructed. Top down, the window retracts by two-thirds to a position Ferrari determined, via wind-tunnel testing, that minimizes buffeting to driver and passenger. (Put it all the way up, and turbulence actually increases.) And indeed, even when rocketing at triple-digit speeds, there is surprisingly little top-down turbulence.
But does all this really make the Spider more appealing than the planet's Best Driver's Car?

Yes, it does, and Ferrari basically admits as much. Its research indicates that the Italia guy -- and they are almost exclusively men -- is primarily interested in top-tier performance and bleeding-edge technology. He loves driving fast, primarily on the weekends when he goes for short, aggressive solo blasts through canyons and B-roads. He may or may not track his car, but he's certainly not interested in any sort of performance compromises.

The Spider owner is a different beast; he too loves the performance and racing credentials, and the swagger that comes with the prancing horse badge. He is more likely to drive his 458 daily, and his trips are longer and more often there's someone in the passenger seat. Spider customers are also willing to pay more (roughly $60,000 more) for their steeds, and traditionally buy more of them than the coupe guys. What does that mean?

The Spider was purpose-built for the guy more interested in experiencing all of the pleasures, aural and otherwise, the world's best driver's car has to offer.