The 2027 Ferrari Amalfi: A Very Uncommon Car for Common Use
Ferrari Amalfi coupe is photographed driving along a straight country road lined with trees and open fields, reinforcing its positioning as a road-focused Ferrari rather than a track-only car." width="970" height="647" data-caption='Ferrari’s Amalfi prioritizes purpose, comfort and usability without dulling performance. <span class="media-credit">Courtesy Ferrari</span>'>
You don’t have to flip through the Oxford English Dictionary to associate “everyday” with cousins such as “common,” “predictable” or “average.” But when Ferrari designers and engineers use the term, they’re referring to purpose and function. As a result, the Amalfi is unique in Ferrari’s line—a comfortable, refined grand touring car that is perfectly happy serving in any role, whether on an urban commute or a cross-country weekend sojourn. It will simply execute all of the above with unmistakable style, precision and, when requested, aggression.
According to Mattia Binotto, Ferrari’s chief technical officer, the Amalfi is a natural descendant of the Ferrari Roma. The front-mid-engined Roma debuted in 2019 and signaled a new design direction and market share for Ferrari. The automotive denizens of Modena, Italy, wanted to build a more accessible Ferrari to compete with the Porsche 911, a vehicle well-suited to everyday road use away from track conditions.
“Now, Amalfi brings along a different aesthetic to Ferrari,” Binotto tells Observer. “The Roma was really the beginning of a new segment for us. It was a deeper dive into Gran Turismo, or a return to it as [Ferrari] had a lot of those cars in our DNA in the 1950s and 1960s. Amalfi wants to build on the same concept that the Roma introduced and dramatically evolve it on the inside and outside.”
As with the Roma, the Amalfi differs from its traditional mid-engined relatives with a front-mid-mounted, 3.9-liter, twin-turbocharged V8. It’s one of the smaller engines coming out of the Ferrari factory, nestled between the 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V6 and the supreme V12s of the automaker’s most elite track cars.
But there’s no need to mourn the lack of four more cylinders, as any twin-turbo V8 tuned to Ferrari’s specs will easily outperform nine out of ten cars on the road. The Amalfi harnesses 640 horsepower and produces 561 ft-lb of torque at 5,750 rpm. Stir all of that together, and the machine will do a very uncommon 0-62 mph in 3.3 seconds, adjusted from European metric measurements, with an official top speed of 199 mph.
In keeping with a V8 powerplant that’s increasingly rare in the ever-dulling, bloodless world of modern automobiles, the Amalfi is rear-wheel-drive and in full compliance with Ferrari’s racing pedigree. Putting the power at the back gives the car a mighty, throwback feel that allows for a little additional play in the driving experience.
As with every Ferrari built in the last 50 years, said driving experience is lively, yet grounded; aggressive, yet technical. In their quest to build a less intimidating car, its creators didn’t sacrifice the performance enthusiasts ruthlessly demand. Acceleration is effortless and immediate. Electric power steering bites off corners, always putting the front end precisely where you want it. Carbon-ceramic components work with the brake-by-wire, ABS-Evo system to bring it all to a stop without debate.
During a drive in the foothills of southern Portugal, the Amalfi’s brakes got an unwelcome test when the car took an alpine-esque turn at speed and encountered a workman’s beat-up Ford Transit van running a stop sign. The supercar came to an immediate and very gratifying halt, while the laboring signore gratefully fingered his Rosary beads as he wove away down the road.
The key difference for Ferrari’s latest offering is its interior comfort. The cabin offers “two-plus” seating. In other words, there is technically a backseat, and you might just be able to fit a very skinny child or a ventriloquist’s dummy back there. However, to keep the car smaller and lighter, and to make the front seats as accommodating as possible, the rear stalls are there mainly for insurance purposes and to make the car an official coupe in place of a roadster.
While Ferrari’s track day cars sacrifice ergonomics for the uncompromising safety of a racing environment, the Amalfi packs the cockpit with leather and puts the driver’s grateful backside into eight-way, fully adjustable, heated front seats with massage and full lumbar support. The end result is that the Ferrari driver, passenger and optional back seat puppet can sit in pleasant amenities for hours.
The exterior is deliberately understated when compared to its Italian cousins. Sporting smooth, rising and falling lines crafted in the aerodynamics chamber, the Amalfi rounds out with wide, raised haunches to honor its rear-wheel power. Of course, it comes in any color manageable, providing the sort of bespoke statement that properly funded owners demand.
Compared to other automobiles, it might pass on the world’s roads with effortless disregard, but there is nothing average or common about the $275,000 Ferrari Amalfi. If you compare it to the more aggressive, purely performance-focused builds in the company’s line, the offering is something new—a more restrained, cultured and welcoming supercar for well-heeled buyers who refuse to settle for anything less than excellence in their “everyday” drive.