Stat attack: Ferrari 488 Spider vs Lamborghini Huracan Spyder

The Frankfurt motor show was a fantastic event for those who like raucous convertible supercars. Both Ferrari and Lamborghini showed off their latest wares, two cars that, given their place in their respective ranges, go toe-to-toe.

The 488 Spider and Huracan Spyder appear natural rivals, but how does the comparison pan out? We’ve dusted off the giant TG calculator to do the hard work for you…

It’s an arbitrary place to start, perhaps, but a name says a lot. Lamborghini has worked spent years studying the bull-fighting community, yielding some of the most heroic and dramatic names imaginable.

And 'Huracan', as well as being the Spanish for 'hurricane' and the Mayan god of storms, is the name of a bull from 1879.

While Ferrari may actually have spelled Spider correctly, it can only flounder in this department, ‘488’ carrying with it not a jot of romance. It doesn’t even fit in with the rest of Ferrari’s range, which seemingly uses a completely random naming structure.

First point to the Lambo…

The initial numbers play straight into Lambo’s hands – the Huracan’s 5.2 litres and ten cylinders immediately casting a shadow over the 488’s 3.9 litres and eight cylinders.

Don’t forget, though, that the Ferrari has two turbochargers. Let’s put the controversy surrounding that decision to one side and be scientific, or rather mathematic, about this.

Doing so forges a landslide victory for the 488, its 661bhp and 561lb ft of torque kicking the Huracan’s 602bhp and 412lb ft firmly into touch. One all.

The Ferrari’s wads of extra torque might have you anticipating nothing but a walkover for the 488 Spider in this category too. And without wishing to ruin the punchline, it is.

Using their dry weights – Lambo hasn’t provided a kerbweight – the power-to-weight ratios are 472bhp/ton and 396bhp/ton, in the Ferrari’s favour.

The performance gap is predictable then – the Lambo’s 3.4sec 0-62mph time is soundly beaten by its rival’s 3.0sec, while the 488 hits 124mph a full 1.5 seconds quicker, at 8.7s seconds. That’s a storming time for one of the smaller, less serious cars in Ferrari’s range. All things being relative, of course.

Their top speeds are closer, the Ferrari’s lightly ambiguous ‘203mph-plus’ beating the Lambo’s 201mph. Quite how many owners will hit either is a topic to pick apart elsewhere.

Indeed, it’s all very well having some numbers to bamboozle your mates in the Premier League changing room with, but you want a car’s performance to feel exciting too.

And while we are yet to drive either car, we have driven their roofed siblings and can report the naturally aspirated wail of the V10 Lamborghini comfortably outmuscles the forced induction Ferrari.

The 488 “doesn’t get all screaming and sparkly at the top end,” we found in our first drive, “just louder and angrier.” It's a fine-sounding thing by turbo standards - and the convertible should be even better on the ears - but we don't doubt the Huracan's 10 cylinders will be, um, tinglier.

Both cars have a retractable little window at the rear, so you can pipe their contrasting soundtracks into their respective interiors.

The similarities end there, though: the Lamborghini goes for a folding fabric roof, which retracts in 18 seconds, and is available in three colours: black, brown and red.

The Ferrari, meanwhile, goes for a retracting hard top as per the 458 Spider. Not always something we condone – we refer you to the potato-like Peugeot 307CC and lacklustre Lexus SC430 – but here it’s lighter than a fabric roof (according to Ferrari at least) while its mechanism, as well as being quite majestic, is quicker than the Lambo’s, folding in 14 seconds.

Vitally, that’s four fewer seconds of being exposed to the contents of jealous bystanders’ mouths…

This is quite an important area for these cars. Supercars, more than ever, appeal to the wider, wealthy public as opposed to merely petrolheads. And without casting too many aspersions, we imagine that’s even more so the case with their convertible versions.

So a car you can get in and drive show-offishly quickly without resulting YouTube infamy is essential; gone are the days of Countachs and Testarossas being lauded for their difficult gearboxes and blink-and-they’ll-kill-you dynamics. People like safe stuff.

While the Ferrari’s suite of technology includes the latest generation of Side Slip Control – an easy drift mode, if you will – the Lamborghini has four-wheel drive, and its sharper throttle response and more linear power delivery should ensure you don’t canon yourself at a corner with much more haste than you expected. If they're half as good as their coupe cousins - and there's no reason to suspect they won't be - both these cars will serious flatter their driver, but the Lambo's perhaps the most foolproof.

For all its old-school natural aspiration, the Huracan is no throwback. In addition to its four-wheel-drive system there’s a seven-speed twin-clutch gearbox, carbon-ceramic brakes and optional dynamic steering while its carbon and aluminium structure is 40 per cent stiffer than the old Gallardo Spyder’s.

But in this fist-fight that’s simply not enough, and you really don’t want dynamic steering anyway. Listing everything the Ferrari has on board – both electronically and to aid its aerodynamic profile – would use up quite a lot of the remaining Internet.

So instead we’ll tell you a ‘blown spoiler’, ‘variable flap geometry’ and ‘vortex generators’ yield the slipperiest Ferrari drop-top ever, while there’s Side Slip Control, magnetorheological dampers and torque control technology to ensure all 561lb ft isn’t delivered in one TDI-like slug. The point goes to Maranello.

So, with a nicely narrow margin, the 488 Spider takes the Top Trumps victory over the Huracan Spyder, the score 4-3 in the Ferrari’s favour.

The keen-eyed among you will note the Ferrari wins on everything vaguely technical – indeed, a pure stat comparison would see the 488 victorious on every count.

But supercars are about more than science, and the Huracan’s glorious noise, elaborate name and accessible dynamics ought to appeal to supercar buyers as much – and arguably more – than an entirely notional 0-124mph time.

The real test, of course, is when we get the chance to actually drive these cars on actual roads. We’re quite excited for that...

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