The Ferrari F8 Tributo Is Great to Drive, But Disappointing to Hear (2024)

In modern supercars, speed is a solved problem. Any modern exotic will deliver zero to 60 in less than three seconds, a top speed past 200 mph, and grip for days. The trick, for the builders of those supercars, is to make the experience exciting. Often, that means big noise. And the problem with the Ferrari F8 Tributo is the problem with most turbocharged mid-engine speed machines: It doesn’t sound all that thrilling.

The Tributo is the replacement for the 488GTB. The new car shares almost all of its chassis components with its predecessor, though the Tributo benefits from new calibration on the magnetorheological dampers to improve ride quality. The 488 and the Tributo look nearly identical in profile—the new car is most easily recognized by its quad taillights, a nod to past Ferraris that we absolutely adore.

Lurking behind the passenger compartment, under an F40-style louvered Lexan rear window, is the Tributo’s calling card: the twin-turbo V-8 we first met in the manic 488 Pista, once again cranking out 710 hp and 568 lb-ft of torque. The engine has been further refined for Tributo duty with improved airflow, strengthened internals, and around 44 lbs less weight. This is the most powerful eight-cylinder engine the company has ever produced, hence the new model name: "Tributo," as in, a tribute to that highly tuned V-8.

There’s a lot to like here. The new car’s shape is lightly evolved, the Tributo getting more swoops and scoops than the outgoing GTB. Last year’s 488 Pista gave every inch of its bodywork to aerodynamics, right down to the front trunk lid, which featured a generous air passage that led straight to the pavement. The Tributo has a more modest nose channel, similar in function but more serpentine. You can't look straight through it to the tops of your Reeboks, but you will be able to fit a backpack in the cargo hold, something you can barely do in the Pista.

The interior, too, is familiar but fiddled-with. The first thing a passenger will notice is the wide-screen display embedded in the dashboard, configurable to show engine output, speed, g-force loads, and other feats of performance. It’s a toy that Ferrari has offered in its V-12 range-toppers for awhile, but the Tributo is plenty fast enough to justify the screen’s presence.

Especially with Ferrari test driver Fabrizio Toschi at the wheel. Before we could spend a day in the driver's seat roaming the country roads around Maranello, Ferrari invited journalists to sample the F8 Tributo at the factory’s Fiorano test track. The place is a contradiction. The glass-smooth pavement, easy sight lines and abundant runoff space make it almost comfortable. But this was my first time on Fiorano’s hallowed ground, and it’s definitely not a place where I’d want to embarrass myself. I took a handful of laps at a fast but careful pace, and left it to Toschi to wring the F8’s neck.

In my hands, the car offered walloping acceleration, delicate corner balance, a nicely weighted steering wheel. For the factory driver, it was a tail-happy beast, putting down long, grandiose powerslides as Toschi micro-adjusted the steering with one hand and gestured with the other, describing the Tributo’s capabilities.

Just one problem: The sound. Like the outgoing twin-turbo 488GTB, but unlike the naturally aspirated 458 that preceded it, the Tributo’s voice is a low baritone. At its 8000-rpm redline, the new Ferrari sounds like it’s only spinning at half that speed—a trait that led me to bounce the engine against the rev limiter more times than I’d like to admit.

Ferrari is obviously working under a lot of challenges here. Regulations demand better fuel economy, and like many automakers, Ferrari has decided to pursue that with smaller, turbocharged engines, moderately muffled by their own forced-induction systems. Europe now requires particulate filters on gasoline engines, which can further restrain sound, and stringent noise laws make valved mufflers necessary to enforce politeness at city driving speeds. The result? A devastatingly fast, razor-sharp Ferrari that, most of the time, sounds more like a four-cylinder from the co*ckpit.

The 488 Pista suffered a similar problem. When we brought that car to our 2019 Performance Car of the Year competition, our staff was flummoxed by the sound it made accelerating from a stop: A few short seconds of normal off-idle burble, abruptly choked off as the mufflers slapped shut, then uncorked bravado as the tachometer needle escaped the range of enmufflement. The Tributo works its active mufflers more fluidly, with gradual transitions between quiet and loud settings, but the car still lacks the aural punch we’ve come to associate with the prancing horse badge.

The engine is a free-revving delight, tuned to behave like a naturally aspirated powerplant. There’s almost never any lag, and Maranello made the gasping rush of turbo-pressurized air sound remarkably like the intake honk of a deep-breathing N/A mill. It has none of the sneezing, whistling antics you’d normally get with dual hairdryers. But you’d be hard pressed to say it sings.

And that matters in a mid-engine supercar. Because the Tributo’s numbers are extraordinary—0-60 in 2.8 seconds, quarter-mile in 10.2, and a top speed of 211 mph—and the car has all the fingertip-direct nimbleness you could want in a $275,000 carbon-fiber machine. But while the capability will quicken your pulse, the soundtrack takes you out of the moment. Especially when you leave the transmission to shift for itself. In anything but the most spirited driving, the car upshifts fervently, leading you to trundle around in 7th gear at 30 mph, the engine mooing mournfully behind you.

We know that modern cars have to change. We know it’s not easy to build a mid-engine machine to meet every demand. We just wish there was a little more verve in the F8 Tributo—a great car that merely sounds like a decent one.