Specs and Review

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electronic differential. The effect is aided and simplified by the new electronics setup, whereby all of the dynamic vehicle controls such as E-Diff (its first use with a V12), F1-Trac, and PTU have been integrated into a single CPU.

As Ferrari’s Nicola Boari explains, “The key element was the application – the components in the solution are not innovative as they are just gearboxes and an
electronic differential, and we know how to make them as they are already in our cars. However, this technology allowed us to think of something that, from a dimension point of view, is much smaller and lighter than a standard four-wheel-drive solution. A conventional system with two differentials and one propshaft from back to front would have weighed around 100kg. Instead our solution weighs 45kg and also allows us not to change the balance of the car so it can oversteer if required.

“We didn’t want the four-wheel-drive setup to change the sporty feeling of the car, the way a Ferrari is driven. We didn’t want understeer in the dry and we don’t want the pilot to work more than they should in a Ferrari, or even worse, not enjoy the sensation of oversteer,” Boari
adds. “We didn’t want the dynamic of the car to change from what a Ferrari owner would expect.”

Oversteer should be easy to provoke due to another first for Ferrari: a gasoline direct-injected V12, also the first GDI V12 to be coupled with the seven-speed, F1 dual-clutch gearbox. This 6262cc unit offers a massive 651bhp at 8,000rpm and 683Nm of torque at 6,000rpm, with 500Nm available at just 1,000rpm. The result is that the 0-60 thrash takes 3.7 seconds, with a top speed

of 208mph (335km/h). This is a Ferrari full of surprises though, and with its prodigious power comes reasonable efficiency, with claimed fuel economy of 15.4 l/100km,
and CO2 emissions at 360g/km – quite a bit lower than the FF’s 612 Scaglietti predecessor at 470g/km, thanks in part to the stop/start technology incorporated into the car’s HELE (High Emotions-Low Emissions) system.

The car took several years to go from concept to design, due to it being a new concept for the company, but the mechanical engineering and development took a mere two years. This is because some of the solutions had already been launched in the California and 458,
and just needed fine-tuning for the FF.

It seemed surprising for a launch-ready Ferrari not to have been caught testing in these two years, but the team was very careful to keep its plans secret. “We were amazed as well,” says Boari. “We were very careful going out, so we reserved exclusive use of test circuits, or used old 612 Scaglietti bodies for mules.”

These circuits included Fiorano in Italy and Balocco in France. Away from the tracks, the mules and disguised prototypes were subjected to dirt roads in Patagonia during the summer, and in autumn and winter the test team moved on to Sweden and Finland. “We extensively developed this solution under those tough conditions because we expect this car will be used more than a standard Ferrari – it’s an everyday Ferrari,” states Boari.

But even everyday Ferraris don’t have everyday customers. Predicting that FFs would be taken to the likes of St. Moritz and Aspen, a lot of testing was done
on snow and ice. “For example, we did standing starts on a steep icy hill to see how the car behaved. For us this is very important, as the car must not slip when it starts.
Being non-mechanical the 4RM doesn’t need a fractional adjustment which would give a sense of moving around – being electronically controlled, the torque is seamlessly applied to the front if there is slip at the back,” explains Boari. “We fine-tuned that, and tested the car like no
customer ever will. We also tested on circuits in the snow and ice to see how the FF behaves during high-speed cornering. We knew the components would work so it was more to see how they behaved with the rest of the car.”

Another element that was rigorously tested was ride comfort, an area in which the FF scores yet another Ferrari first: a new-generation suspension with a doublewishbone
front and multilink rear, featuring newly developed SCM magnetorheological dampers.
These are five-times faster than the previousgeneration dampers and allow the car to instantaneously correct the damping system to the ground, so we don’t have to sacrifice comfort for sportiness,” explains Boari. “The key sensation you get is that you feel safe at high speed. With the 458, customers tell us they didn’t think they could go so fast without feeling scared. And this is the same, as the suspension allows the car to be extremely stable so you don’t feel the roll that is typical of a large-bodied car, and at the same time you feel the car is reacting very quickly thanks to the carbon-ceramic brakes and the next-generation steering that requires little steering angle and has a very fast reaction time. So driving the car doesn’t need much effort, which allows you to push it more, but still feel secure.”

With such a focus on comfort, could the FF have been conceived as a four- or five-door model? “Never,” says Boari. “That would be heavy and a four-door car will never find a place at Ferrari, like we would never make an SUV or a diesel. For functional reasons they are wrong, as four doors would be too heavy, and for design reasons they are wrong, as we want to be sporty. But mainly it is a functional reason.”