The Ferrari Purosangue is far more than an SUV; it's a four-seat performance tour de force.
The Ferrari Purosangue is the Prancing Horse’s first ever four-door four-seater. Picture: Supplied
Call it what you want. It’s a heady mix of supercar meets family car, and one that only the Italians out of Maranello can bring to the world.
It’s not often that one gets to drive a R12-million car, never mind spending a morning running it on one of the best roads in the Western Cape: the Du Toit’s Kloof Pass via the old R101 road.
But this is exactly what The Citizen Motoring did.
We were invited by Scuderia South Africa, the official importers of Ferrari in the country, to come spend some time with their Purosangue.
Vociferous V12 soundtrack
In world being taken over by downsized turbocharged powertrains with hybrid electrical assistance, it is such a welcome treat to be exposed to the Purosangue.
Why? Because at the heart of this Ferrari is a 6.5-litre, front mounted, naturally aspirated V12 that howls all the way to 8 250rpm.
This engine produces 533kW of power at 7 750rpm and 716Nm at 6 250rpm.
At sea level, where every bit of this power is on tap, not only is the throttle response instant, but the shove feels never-ending
Supercar fast
The Ferrari Purosangue is properly fast – supercar fast.
For those that deal in hard facts as well the aural experience, the claimed performance numbers are:
- 0-100km/h in 3.3-seconds
- 0-200km/h in 10.6-seconds
- 310km/h top speed
Talking of fast, the eight-speed dual clutch transmission is also lightning quick. Pull on the paddles in sport mode, and the Purosangue feels more supercar than SUV.
In saying this though, Ferrari have not completely forgotten what the Purosangue should be used for.
Twist the dial, select comfort mode, the world calms down, and the car returns to being family friendly once again.
Trick AWD system
The somewhat addictive Jekyll-and-Hyde-type personality of the Purosangue shines through again when you want to tackle your favourite mountain pass – just as we did.
Coming in at just over two tonnes, the Purosangue is by no means a lightweight supercar. But the amount of grip and agility on offer is next-level, courtesy of Ferrari’s very clever 4RM-S all-wheel-drive system.
This system sends power to all four wheels, but only up to fourth gear and speeds of 200km/h. Thereafter, the front axle is disengaged, and the Purosangue becomes rear-wheel drive only.
This has been engineered to provide the SUV-like traction you would expect when driving around town or blasting away from traffic lights.
You then have the rear-wheel-drive-biased, supercar-like agility that you desire and expect from a car wearing a Ferrari badge.
Latest in dynamics
To be able to do this, the Purosangue features independent four-wheel steering, ABS ‘evo’ with a six-way Chassis Dynamic Sensor (6w-CDS), and Ferrari’s active suspension technology, enabled by Multimatic’s True Active Spool Valve (TASV) system.
A lightweight chassis and rigid structure, combined with some of the latest iterations of vehicle dynamic control systems, as mentioned above, take care of pretty much everything else for you out on the road.
Racy interior
Being a large SUV (sorry, Ferrari, I had to say this), the very cool rear-hinged doors provide easy access to a genuinely spacious and bespoke cabin.
Inside, the Purosangue’s interior is where comfort and premium materials meet hard-core, motorsport-inspired ergonomics.
With a dual-cockpit layout, a 10.25-inch passenger display, and a digital interface for each rear-seat passenger, everybody gets to interact with the car in a way that suits them.
When money is no object
You can get yourself a Lamborghini Urus Performante or Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT for around half of the base sticker price of the Purosangue or around 20 Toyota Corollas.
But that is not the point, is it?
The Ferrari Purosangue is aimed at ultra-high net worth individuals who value exclusivity over a price point.
