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Designed to remove the final barrier for those unable to find a Ferrari to suits their needs, the four-seat Purosangue takes on the likes of the Lamborghini Urus and Aston Martin DBX. Unlike its rivals though, it has a naturally-aspirated V12 under the bonnet, and comes with a definite supercar flavour to set it apart from the pack. Jethro Bovingdon dives into the details and explores its controversial design.
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0:00
Welcome to Maranello, a place founded on the legend of Ferrari
0:08
On all that F1 success, the incredible stories in endurance racing, and on the unbroken line of impractical, outrageous supercars
0:17
And, of course, on the myth of Enzo Ferrari himself. He always said his favorite car was the next Ferrari to come along
0:25
Well, I wonder if Enzo would feel that way today, because the next Ferrari is an SUV. Of course Ferrari would never call it an SUV but the new
0:35
Puro Sangue is a high-riding four-wheel drive vehicle with four doors and four seats. It's just
0:40
shy of five meters in length and well what's that saying about looking like a duck and quacking like
0:46
a duck? It's an SUV people, let's just get used to it. So deep breath and here we go. We are just a
0:57
I live in a world where there is no Ferrari SUV. When I walk through this door, everything changes
1:05
No, I'm joking. Of course I'm gonna go and see it. Okay, here we go
1:21
It's a big old unit. Wow. It's pretty wacky actually, isn't it
1:29
Well, it beats Urus already. What should you say when you see a new Ferrari
1:38
Probably something more insightful than, it's a big old unit. But I guess that's the thing about this market
1:44
It's profitable, it's growing, it's a necessity for so many companies. But Ferrari doesn't need to make the Puro Sangue
1:51
And even with the Ferrari myth behind it, the Puro Sangue, Okay, it's a cool looking thing, but it won't set many hearts fluttering in the style of, say, a 296 GTB in Rosso Corsa
2:06
Having said that, they have gone for it. Up front, there's the scintillating 6.5 litre V12, here with 715 horsepower and 528 foot-pounds
2:16
It borrows the unusual four-wheel drive system from the GTC4 Lusso, and with no shared platform with more prosaic models
2:23
it has the potential to be in a different league dynamically to any SUV that's gone before
2:29
So let's delve a little deeper. Oh, the price. Well, it's a new world for SUVs
2:35
395,000 euros in Italy. Let's call it circa 350,000 pounds. Ferrari say it won't exceed 20% of overall production volumes
2:45
So it's an intriguing car, isn't it? Not sure I knew what to expect
2:52
Need to go through this and digest a little bit more before I can explain it
2:55
But it's a Ferrari and it's an SUV. Weird. Weird concept or not the reality is potent and pretty fascinating That V12 means a top speed of over 310 kph or 193 miles an hour
3:15
The Puro Sangue covers 0-62 in 3.3 seconds and 0-124 in 10.6
3:22
That's nearly a full second quicker than the new Urus Performante. And although the price is a huge step up, the tech, especially on the chassis side, is very trick indeed
3:34
So there's a V12 for traditionalists, but the chassis of Puro Sangue is really radical
3:40
As well as four-wheel independent steering, there's a new system called Ferrari Active Suspension Technology
3:47
It uses Multimatic's True Active Spool Valve system. Okay, so essentially at each corner there's a damper with an electric motor and an actuator
3:57
and that can accelerate or slow the piston within the damper. it's so powerful that it negates the need for anti-roll bars
4:07
This car does not have anti-roll bars and Ferraris claim that it cuts body roll and pitch by up to 30%
4:15
So it's a really incredible system. When you have this level of control
4:20
you can play with roll stiffness at different corners of the car in different phases of a corner
4:25
For example, freeing up the rear dampers on exit to increase traction. but this body control is really crucial because Puro Sangue is heavy. This is 2,173 kilos dry
4:38
and that's when it's fitted with all the lightweight options. Basically we have a 2.5
4:44
ton Ferrari. Luckily to stop it they've also adopted the ABS Evo system from the 296 GTB so
4:54
it should stop. It should corner flat. It should have that agility that we expect from a Ferrari
5:00
But yeah, it's heavy. Just a little correction here. On the day of this shoot, I was given a
5:06
draft press pack that I couldn't take away from the studio. It stated the weight at 2,173 kilos
5:12
dry with the lightweight options. However, just a couple of days ago, we got the approved info
5:17
and the new claim is 2,033 kilos. Let's just wait and see. So whilst the Pura Sangue can't escape
5:25
the sheer mass inherent in this type of car, it can at least play with where that mass is positioned
5:30
and how its huge silky power is deployed. I think as important as the power that this V12 produces
5:38
is where it's placed. Look how far back it is in the chassis. This is the front axle line
5:43
and the engine is right behind it. So we've got a weight distribution, 49 front, 51 rear
5:50
At the back, there's also a transaxle, eight-speed dual clutch, same gearbox as in 296 or SF90
5:56
lovely short ratios, on average 26% shorter than in a GTC4 Lusso, and that improves responsiveness
6:02
and acceleration. Of course, this car also has four-wheel drive, but there's no mechanical
6:07
connection between the front axle and the rear. It's just like a GTC4 Lusso. There's a separate
6:13
drive shaft that comes off the front of the engine into a two gearbox to power the front wheel So it a totally different solution to any other SUV This is just a different animal altogether But it also means
6:25
this car doesn't have four-wheel drive capability from fifth gear onwards. So there's plenty of shared technology with other Ferraris. The V12 and eight-speed dual-clutch box
6:36
the four-wheel drive system, but the aluminium chassis is all new and boasts torsional rigidity
6:41
up 30% from the GTC4 Lusso. It's lighter despite being much bigger too. The body is made from a mix
6:48
of aluminium and carbon fibre, including the roof, with high strength steel for the intrusion bars and
6:54
B-pillars. In terms of aero, the most obvious features are the aero bridge on the front wings
6:58
calling to mind the F12 Berlinetta and the floating wheel arch trims. The former is to reduce drag
7:05
whilst the wheel arch vents are part of a solution to seal off the front wheels to prevent transverse
7:09
turbulence. What you can't see are aerodynamic devices on the lower wishbones, vents above and
7:15
below the DRLs that channel air to the aero bridge and to cool the brakes respectively
7:20
and a host of other measures to cool the engine, front gearbox and rear e-diff. There's no rear
7:26
wiper, but air is channeled to clean it from the lower surface of the rear spoiler. Okay, so that's
7:31
the sexy stuff. I guess we should check out the practicality of this Ferrari too. What strange
7:37
times we live in. Well this is new, I love the doors, gives you really good access to this rear
7:45
cabin, plenty of room, I'm somewhere between like 5'11 and 6'6 and plenty of headroom. Normally a
7:54
standard this car comes with carbon fibre roof, this has got the optional glass roof, I mean it's
8:01
Ferrari let's stick to the carbon fiber one but individually adjustable rear seats I'm the world's
8:08
worst passenger but this is a pretty nice place to be. So despite the low roofline the Pura Sangue
8:14
feels pretty spacious it's not a Range Rover that's for sure but it's probably pitched about
8:19
right only the small load area lets things down for those annual skiing holidays or a really big
8:25
shop at Waitrose it's barely half that of a Range Rover and only marginally bigger than a Porsche
8:30
Macan. Okay so this is my favourite seat in any Ferrari. Now one of the things about V12 GT Ferraris
8:38
that's hard to convey but absolutely critical to their character is they have this sense of
8:47
majesty above and beyond the V8s which are the little race cars the screamers there's something
8:53
pink majestic and magical about the big front engine v12 gts and if they can endow this with
9:01
a similar sense of character it's a real achievement so what i do like it does feel
9:08
luxury it feels sort of old school grandeur which is really really nice and they've got so much
9:14
right okay so the steering wheel will come on to the haptic sense stuff which i'm not a huge fan
9:21
It doesn't seem as bad as the SF90. But just holding the steering it got this lovely delicate thin rim to it These lovely big paddles as usual on a Ferrari And it just feels special And then it got this really plunging windscreen
9:37
So you feel, you don't feel low, but you don't feel like you're in an SUV
9:42
The driving position is much more Ferrari GT-like than that. And I just like this sense of restraint
9:51
this is not a car that's gone over the top it's got this slightly gimmicky
9:55
open gated gearbox controller which they adopted recently the haptic stuff um i will reserve judgment on until we're on the move because that's only
10:06
the time you can really tell how good it is but there's a few little trinkets to it like this
10:12
floating um controller for heating etc that goes back into its recess it's got the dual dash
10:19
situation that ferrari have adopted recently as well but overall there's a nice sense of calm and
10:27
class which is something we don't talk about enough in the v12s but is the very foundation
10:34
of their character okay of course this is a ferrari so it's about dynamics as well um as well
10:39
as this lovely steering wheel to hold it's got the manettino on it we've got different uh modes here
10:45
so we have ice wet comfort sport and then esc off so there's no race mode again seems fair enough
10:53
and i think there's a bit of a confidence about it that i like the lamborghini urus for example
11:00
which is a slightly different class but it's it's so desperate to tell you how fast it is and how
11:05
aggressive it is and this just has that restraint that long-legged feel certainly in here um yeah i
11:12
I like that confidence that they've got with it. It's got no race mode, but it's got ESC off
11:16
which is really the one that counts. One thing that is very clear to me having spent time
11:26
with a Ferrari Puro Sangue, apart from the fact I can't really say the name very well
11:30
is that Ferrari has done what Ferrari always does, and that is throw technology and passion
11:36
at whatever project they're working on. I am absolutely delighted it has a V12 engine
11:41
I'm intrigued by the tech, and I can't wait to experience this new damper system
11:45
Sounds incredible and strange and potentially something that will really give the car the agility we've come to expect from Ferrari
11:54
I still have reservations. The car is heavy. Can a Ferrari be a Ferrari when it weighs well over two tons
12:01
And I've never been fully convinced by this unusual four-wheel drive system
12:06
But I came here wearing black in mourning for a company that I love
12:10
they've given in and built an SUV or a four-wheel drive. I'm not really sure what you call it
12:15
It sits somewhere in a new space. But I leave hopeful. After all, any car with that magnificent V12
12:23
has a very good chance of being irresistible
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