Ferrari’s Purosangue: The Marque’s First Ever SUV
Four doors, four seats, and massive V12 power. What’s not to love?
Written by Howard Walker
September 15, 2022
Of course, with a customary, oh-so-Italian shrug of the shoulders, the folks at Ferrari are dismissing the notion that the Purosangue could ever be an SUV. It’s a sports car, pure and simple, they say.
Yet this is the first Ferrari in Maranello’s 75-year history to offer this much utility, this many doors. And it comes with four-wheel drive (of sorts), seating for four in relative comfort, and a tailgate with space in the back for “stuff.”
But first, a word about that name. You actually pronounce it – rather inelegantly – as Poor-oh-sang-way. We mistakenly thought it might have something to do with “pure” and “sangue,” as in pure blood. No, it seems Poor-oh-sang-way is Italian for “thoroughbred.”
See it in the metal though, and it is 100 per cent thoroughbred. Second only perhaps to Aston Martin’s DBX, this could be the sexiest-looking SUV out there, with its mile-long clamshell hood, sensuous side curves, muscular haunches over its rear wheels, and a gorgeous, swooping roofline.
It’s also big. Nose to tail, it stretches over 16 feet – with most of it seemingly made up of that front-hinged clamshell hood – and well over five feet wide. Yet it doesn’t necessarily look overly large, courtesy of 22-inch rims at the front, and 23s at the rear – the biggest ever fitted to a Ferrari.
Interestingly, Ferrari seems to have taken a leaf out of the Rolls-Royce style book by equipping the Purosangue with rear-hinged “suicide” back doors. Pull on a teeny, fin-like latch on the shoulder line and the rear doors power open with a near 90-degree swing.
In the back there’s a pair of well-bolstered bucket seats. And no, there’s not a three-across, bench-seat option, or heaven-forbid, an available third row. Here is the successor to Ferrari’s outgoing GT4C Lusso four-seat “shooting brake,” but with back seats that people can actually sit in without having their knees up by their ears.
When it came to powering their newest Prancing Horse, Ferrari definitely went old school. Casually ignoring the current hybrid or all-electric trend, they gave the Purosangue a massive, naturally-aspirated 6.5-liter V12 mated to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic. Boasting the highest output of any Ferrari GT ever, it packs an impressive 715 horsepower and 528 lb-ft of torque.
Ferrari engineers rightly focused on giving the V12 lots of flexibility and low-end power delivery to suit that family-friendly SUV character; the engine produces 80 per cent of its torque at just 2,100rpm.
That said, the Purosangue should deliver astonishing performance. Maranello claims standstill to 62mph acceleration in 3.3 seconds, 0-to-124mph acceleration in just 10.6 seconds, and a top speed of 193mph. Those are proper supercar numbers.
Like the GTC4 Lusso, the Purosangue can send some drive to the front wheels, though it’s essentially a rear-wheel driver. At any gear above fourth, or at speeds over 125mph, the front-drive unit disengages.
While Ferrari does talk about some off-road capability, don’t plan any trips to the Rubicon Trail. There’s no off-road setting on the five-position steering wheel “manettino,” and no height adjustment to the suspension. And forget about towing your ATV – a tow hitch isn’t even offered.
If all this is prompting you to pull-out your AMEX Centurion Black card, the price tag of this new Purosangue is expected to start at over $400,000. That’s almost twice the price of an Aston DBX, Lamborghini Urus and Bentley Bentayga Speed.
But don’t expect your local Ferrari dealer to have Purosangues lined-up on the lot when production kicks-off mid-2023; Maranello has already stated that it’ll cap sales at 20 per cent of total output.
Like any Ferrari, it will always be super-rare, super-exclusive. Even if it is an SUV.
