Ferrari Roma Buying Guide: Common Problems and What to Check Before You Buy

The Roma is Ferrari’s front-engined V8 grand tourer, and the one people who own several Ferraris tend to describe as the best of them at the job it does. Clean design, genuine long-distance ability, and a twin-turbocharged V8 that returns around 21 mpg combined, giving roughly 370 miles from its 80-litre tank in normal use.

For a buyer, the Roma is an unusual case. It is modern enough that the mechanical picture is good, but it has not been trouble-free, and the problems that do appear are electrical rather than mechanical. It also has an options list where several things buyers assume are standard were not. This guide covers both.

At a glance: which Roma is which

If you are considering the Spider for touring, note that the boot shrinks substantially further with the roof down, to the point where owners report using the rear seats for luggage. That is a practical consideration rather than a fault, but it is the kind of thing you discover after buying rather than before.

Common problems and what to check

Battery and electrical behaviour, the known Roma issue

This is the one to understand. Roma ownership reports are dominated by electrical problems, most often traced to batteries not being in prime condition, but not always resolved that way. Owners have reported electrical faults while their battery chargers were showing healthy indicators, and cars going flat after only short periods of inactivity. One owner reported their car dying after a two-day paint protection film fitting during which no trickle charger was connected.

What this means practically. Ask specifically how the car has been stored and whether it has been on a conditioner. A Roma that lives on a driveway without trickle charging and starts reliably is telling you something useful. A car with a history of no-start events and unexplained electrical faults is telling you something else, and neither fact will appear in a car advert.

Check every electrical function during a viewing rather than sampling a few. Screens, controls, driver assistance functions, roof operation on a Spider.

Interior and screens

The Roma’s cabin is heavily screen-based, and the interface divides opinion sharply among owners. Check the screens and interior controls for wear, since these are high-use touch surfaces on a car that gets driven properly rather than stored.

The rest

Tyres, brakes and general condition follow the pattern of any high-value performance GT. Wide, low-profile tyres on large wheels mean tyre condition is a real cost item rather than an afterthought.

Warranty and maintenance, which on a Roma is unusually valuable

UK Roma buyers get a four-year warranty as standard, extendable to fifteen years. Ferrari’s seven-year maintenance programme covers regular maintenance at intervals of 20,000 km, around 12,500 miles, or annually, with no mileage restriction.

Two consequences for a used buyer. First, on a car with known electrical quirks, remaining warranty is worth real money and is not a rounding error in the price. Second, because the warranty is extendable, two otherwise identical cars can be in very different positions, and that position is attached to the individual car rather than to the model. Establish it by VIN.

Specification: what was not standard

This is where Roma money is won and lost, and where car adverts are least reliable.

Magneride dual-mode suspension was a cost option, not standard equipment. It was priced at £2,900 on the coupé and £3,695 on the Spider. A great many buying decisions are made on the assumption that a Ferrari GT has adaptive dampers as standard, and on the Roma that assumption is wrong. A car advert claiming adaptive suspension on a car that was not specified with it is a claim worth checking, and the difference is worth real money on resale.

Carbon items, wing shields and exterior details were individually specified. Owners describe cars deliberately ordered without carbon, without shields and without scoops, as an aesthetic choice. That means their presence or absence is a genuine specification difference between cars rather than a trim level, and it moves value in both directions depending on the buyer.

Driver assistance packages were optional. On a car bought for long-distance use, the presence of the driver assistance systems package is a meaningful practical difference between two cars at the same price.

Ferrari also operates a customisation programme allowing later owners to retrofit items the original buyer did not specify. An option present on a car today was not necessarily present when it left the factory, and on a car where originality of specification carries value, that distinction is worth establishing.

Beyond the mechanicals: history and provenance red flags

• Service history, and specifically whether the maintenance programme has been used as intended.
• Mileage that does not add up against the MOT record.
• Outstanding finance. A car cannot be sold cleanly with money owed against it.
• Accident or write-off markers. A recorded repair is not automatically a deal-breaker, but you need to know and price accordingly.
• Specification that does not match the car advert, particularly around suspension, carbon items and driver assistance.

None of these require you to be in the same room as the car. All of them are checkable in advance.

What a car advert and a test drive will not tell you

It helps to think of a Roma purchase as three layers of truth:

1. What the seller says. Useful, but unverified.
2. What the records say. MOT and mileage consistency, finance, stolen and write-off markers. This is data verification, and it can be done before you travel.
3. What only a physical inspection reveals. Electrical behaviour over time, tyre and brake condition, the things that need the car in front of you.

Most buyers do layer 1, go straight to a test drive, and only reach layer 3 on the car they have already half committed to. On a Roma, layer 2 is doing more work than usual, because the difference between two cars at the same price is often specification rather than condition.

To be clear about the limits: data verification confirms a car is what it claims to be on paper. It does not replace a physical, mechanical pre-purchase inspection. The two do different jobs, and a careful buyer does both, in that order.

How Chequered Past helps

Chequered Past is the layer-2 step. You give us the registration; we check the official records on that car: the factory spec, MOT and mileage consistency, outstanding finance, stolen and write-off markers, keepers and the value, and we’re explicit about anything we couldn’t confirm.

What it does: tells you, before you travel, whether a car is what it says it is. What it does not do: replace a physical inspection of mechanical condition. We will always tell you where that line is.

Run a history check on a Roma you’re considering →

Frequently asked questions

Is the Ferrari Roma reliable? Mechanically it has a good reputation, but it has not been problem-free. The reported issues are predominantly electrical, often but not always related to battery condition, including cars failing to start after short periods standing.

Does the Roma have adaptive suspension? Only if it was specified with it. Magneride dual-mode was a cost option rather than standard equipment, priced at £2,900 on the coupé and £3,695 on the Spider. This is worth confirming rather than assuming.

Coupé or Spider? The Spider shares the powertrain and loses a substantial amount of boot space with the roof stowed. If you intend to tour with luggage, that is a genuine consideration.

Do I need the car’s registration? Yes. The free check and the £10 vehicle history check both run on the registration.

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Chequered Past is an independent analysis service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Ferrari S.p.A., Ferrari North Europe, or any vehicle manufacturer. Data is drawn from licensed DVLA and DVSA records via our data provider.