Never Say Never

With a 715-hp V-12, Ferrari's first SUV is here to help get the kids to school on time.

- EZRA DYER

2024 FERRARI PUROSANGUE

At some point, a memo must have gone out. It decreed that all super-SUVs would hew to the same template: twin-turbo V-8, a torque-converter automatic transmission, and all-wheel drive, all stuffed into a rakish but conventional four-door body. That's the formula Mercedes-AMG, BMW, Porsche, Audi, Maserati, Aston Martin, and Lamborghini practice. Ferrari, though, didn't get the memo. Its first SUV, the Purosangue, uses a 715-hp naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V-12 and a rear-mounted dual-clutch transaxle. A separate two-speed transmission delivers drive to the front axle. The rear doors are rear-hinged and power-operated, offering primo access to a pair of heated, ventilated, massaging back seats. And there's Multimatic active dampers, four-wheel steering, and bodywork that has more aero tricks than a Formula 1 car. Ferrari was cognizant that its first SUV had to be something special. The result is a family transport that'll make a fine companion to whatever other exotics populate a given garage, valet line, or secret underground lair.

Never having built a four-door, Ferrari appears to think that the rear-door hinges go in back. The right-seat display provides incriminating info to passengers.

The dry-sump, direct-injected V-12 delivers 80 percent of its 528 pound-feet of torque at 2100 rpm but is still good for an 8000-rpm redline. The front transmission is derived from the one that debuted in the 2012 FF and is driven off the nose of the engine, with two clutches that enable front-axle torque vectoring (and allow the two-speed front transmission to match wheel speed with the first four forward gears of the rear transaxle). Ferrari claims a zero-to62-mph time of 3.3 seconds, which seems plausible, if not conservative.