FERRARI CALIFORNIA T

Suntanned California has always been a place where people come to experiment with their identity. Thus, the name is perfect for Ferrari’s lowest-priced model, which has been an experiment since it first hit the streets in 2009. It was the first roadgoing Ferrari to put a V-8 in front of its driver and the first with a power-retractable hardtop, and its price and daily practicality took Ferrari on a low pass through the market. It probably should have been a Maserati, as it would have done far more to elevate that brand than it does for Ferrari, but the ball didn’t bounce that way.

Secretive Ferrari won’t say how the ­California sells, but judging by the pletho­ra of low-mileage examples parked on eBay with heavily depreciated prices, the market is perhaps lukewarm. The revamped ­California T—just 14 seconds turns this well-insulated hardtop coupe into a convertible—fixes what may have gone wrong with the old model, including a challenged power-to-weight ratio and styling that evoked a pouting teenager more than the snarling stallions of Maranello.

The T stands for turbo, of course, and in this regard the California, with its twin compressors hanging from a smaller 3.9-liter V-8...