Ferrari finally pulled the wraps off its long, long-awaited Purosangue, the marque’s first foray into four-door, four-seat, four-wheel-drive vehicles. It’s also tall and long, but Ferrari was careful not to use the term “SUV” or “crossover” anywhere in the marketing materials. Fine, we’ll play along.
And there are some sharp differences between the Ferrari Purosangue and a traditional SUV. For starters, the Purosangue gets Ferrari’s crown jewel naturally aspirated V12, which in this guise puts out 715 horsepower. The engine sits in a mid-front layout, and sends twist to a rear-mounted transmission, which then sends power forward to a “power transfer unit” in front of the engine. That gives it a near-perfect 49/51 weight distribution.
And, unlike the phalanxes of other luxury SUVs, the Purosangue has four individual sport seats and consoles front and rear. You ain’t getting a babyseat in there. And exactly nothing about the Purosangue would be of any use off-road, so it’s truly not an SUV. It’s just a big four-seater.
Maranello’s familiar 6.5-liter, 65-degree V12 wears heads derived from the 812 Competizione, but Ferrari says the intake and exhaust timing have been reworked and the engine’s internals updated. The Purosangue has a longer stroke than the 812, and the oil passages were reworked to optimize oil supply to the bottom end.
The result of all that tweaking is a naturally aspirated V12 that Ferrari says will deliver 80% of its torque at low revs, meaning it should be a riot even if you’re not wringing its neck. That kind of low-end grunt is usually reserved for turbocharged stuff.
That engine feeds an eight-speed oil-bath dual-clutch gearbox, as opposed to the torque converter automatics much of the competition uses. You may be looking at a not-SUV, but it’s still a Ferrari.
Bloomberg reports Ferrari wants about $390,000 for the Purosangue, which puts it in the upper atmosphere even when compared to other ultra-luxury SUVs – er, ultra-luxury four-door four-seaters.
