2023 Ferrari Purosangue review: High horse

AS SOMEONE whose heart beats a little faster for Ferrari, I had no idea what to make of the Purosangue. Since I was a child, I’ve only ever known cars from Maranello to be red, fast, sonorous, slinky and low-slung, end of story. Only that first bit is optional, and only for some models.

But here comes the brand’s first sport utility vehicle (SUV), a high-riding four-door with four seats and four-wheel drive in a bulky package that’s roughly the same length and width as a BMW X5. Everyone at Ferrari bristles when you refer to it as an SUV, but calling the Purosangue a sports car would be like calling Katy Perry a musician.

The car’s name is Italian for “pureblood”, which suggests a bit of self-consciousness on its creators’ part, but at least all the classic Ferrari ingredients are there, starting with a whopping great V12 engine mounted somewhere between the front axle and your feet. An eight-speed transmission sits at the back, balancing the Purosangue’s weight so that 51 per cent of it is over the rear axle.

Leaving space for a gearbox is one reason the car comes with two individual chairs at the back (Ferrari did consider making the Purosangue a five-seater, but threw the idea out early on). The real reason for its layout is that riding in the car is meant to feel like being in a Ferrari, which means having a supportive sporty seat for every soul on board.

Tug a little tab and the rear door swings open automatically, with its rear-hinged configuration giving the car plenty of wow factor, not to mention making it easy to clamber aboard. It closes with a button, which leaves you looking dignified when shutting the door on the paparazzi.

As for the boot, it’s rated at 473 litres though it doesn’t look particularly large. You can drop the rear seats for trips to Ikea, which is a very SUV thing, isn’t it, Ferrari?

Up front, you get a twin-cockpit layout, based on a digital driver display and an optional touchscreen for the front passenger. I would spend the extra money on the touchscreen, frankly, because that way, you can get your other half to help with the infotainment settings, which are still bewildering when you try to operate them with the steering wheel’s touchpad.

Maybe I never found that a problem in the past because in a regular Ferrari, all the entertainment you could ever want comes from a steering wheel and two pedals. 

As it turns out, the Purosangue is little different. You can have a grand time in one without ever logging in to your Spotify account.

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Ferraris are wide cars, but the Purosangue’s height seems to emphasise its bulk, so I spent the first half hour in the car tiptoeing through the narrow icy lanes up in Italy’s ski country. After building up a bit of confidence though, I began to let fly, and all the Ferrari magic started to happen.

The experience is anchored by mind-blowing acceleration. As you’d expect from something with 725 horsepower, the buildup of speed starts out strong but rapidly crescendos into a fearsome rush once the mighty engine’s 12 cylinders start to fly. The cabin fills with a spine-tingling howl, and soon your knuckles are white from your death grip on the steering wheel.

The V12 is a thing of wonder, but if you ask me, the real wizardry in the Purosangue comes from its suspension. It has a unique new active shock absorber system that uses a fast-acting motor to extend or retract the damper shafts, meaning the Ferrari can effectively move its wheels up and down individually, the way you and I can move our legs up and down over terrain. With its rear-axle steering system, it can swivel its rear wheels individually, too.

It all lets the Ferrari fly through slippery mountain passes with astonishing fluidity and composure. At first, I found myself chucking the car into one hairpin after another, trying to mentally picture what the suspension and steering were up to, and what each active driver aid was doing. But after a while, I decided I would never figure it out, and simply gave in to the Purosangue’s incredible ability to feel, well, like a Ferrari.

The proper soundtrack is there, and so is the habit that modern Ferraris have of making fast driving feel so friendly, yet engaging. It doesn’t dart in and out of bends like one of the brand’s two-seaters, and you’re always aware of the car’s bulk trailing behind you, but the Purosangue serves up the same sense of excitement and awe that one gets from a day spent getting Maranello’s finest to frolic fast.

Where it departs from the Ferrari norm is in how comfy it is. Not that the sports car models are taxing to sit in, but they tend to knacker the ears a bit. At a sensible pace, the Purosangue is actually quiet, and when it isn’t busy keeping you glued to the road, the suspension does a marvellous job of keeping the jostles to a minimum. 

There’s a posh sound system from Burmester (the German audio company that supplies Mercedes-Benz and Porsche), the most powerful ever fitted to a Ferrari, and playing with the new pop-up climate-control knob’s mini touchscreen reveals that the Purosangue’s front seats are ventilated and come with a massage function. You read that right, massage chairs in a Ferrari.

Come to think of it, while the Purosangue is ostensibly meant to be a family Ferrari, it would be devastatingly effective on the B-roads that make Malaysian driving trips so much fun. It’s not only fearsomely fast and utterly confidence-inspiring, its ride height and supple suspension make it ideal for the third-world tarmac you’re bound to encounter up north. A few hot laps of Sepang would be another matter, but on a bumpy open road, it’s easy to see the Purosangue handily outpacing the other Ferraris.

Is it still worth asking if it’s worthy of the prancing horse badge on its nose, then? I’ll say this much: At least Ferrari had the self-awareness to limit Purosangue production to 20 per cent of its sales, to keep from effectively becoming an SUV company.

And if nothing else, the Purosangue is already a smash hit, so much so that ordering one now might entail waiting two years, even at S$2 million a pop (without Certificate Of Entitlement).

But ponder this: Whenever demand for a new model gets this high, Ferrari tends to give its most loyal clients the first bite of the cherry. The long waiting list means that no matter what the purists say, the people who don’t have a problem thinking of the Purosangue as a Ferrari, are the biggest Ferrari fans.

Ferrari Purosangue

Engine 6,496 cc V12

Power 725 hp at 7,750 rpm

Torque 716 Nm at 6,250 rpm

Gearbox Twin-clutch eight-speed automatic

0-100km/h 3.3 seconds

Top Speed More than 310 km/h

Fuel Efficiency 17.3 L/100 km

Agent Ital Auto

Price S$2,009,606 without COE

Available Now