The Ferrari Purosangue is astonishingly fast. It can rip from 0-60 in as little as 3.3 seconds and caps out at around 193 mph. Theoretically, it could take you 150 miles in about 45 minutes. So why does every long distance journey I take in one last about three times longer than it would in a Honda Civic?
I was recently lucky enough to snag a Purosangue for a weekend loan. As part of the deal I agreed to take the vehicle back to Ferrari North America’s office in New Jersey once that loan was finished. This involves a roughly two and a half hour drive down I-87, something I do pretty much every week. Except this time it took me all day.
The Purosangue is a vehicle built for winding mountain roads
The problem is that particular stretch of I-87 runs parallel with the Catskill mountains, and there are numerous points where you can leave the road that pretty much goes directly to New Jersey and mess around on winding mountain roads instead. This is what I found myself doing pretty much every time I saw an exit.
While the Purosangue is technically an SUV, in reality it’s far from a “utility vehicle.” Yes, it has four seats, with generous leg room in the back. Yes it has a good amount of cargo space in a spot where you’d generally find a big V-12 and little else. Instead, that V-12 is up front in the Purosangue and paired with the kind of speed and handling you’d expect from a supercar.
Unfortunately, you won’t experience a Ferrari at its best in town or on the interstate. It will sit very comfortably at around 1,000 RPM in eighth gear when you’re traveling at highway speed. It doesn’t feel fast, and you don’t get to enjoy the chorus of the naturally aspirated beauty under the hood.
But if you take it to the mountains, and drive it somewhere a little challenging, the constant braking and acceleration will make that thing sing for you. You’ll also get to appreciate just how well the Purosangue handles. It feels pinned to the road, almost like it’s on rails.
Can you mess up and put it in a ditch? Probably, but not at the sort of speeds you should be doing on public roads. Even if you’re being a little liberal with the posted speed limits. You would have to do something phenomenally stupid to lose control of Ferrari’s SUV. If you treat it with a little respect, you’ll be absolutely fine.
The Purosangue looks the part too
While it’s not extremely low slung like the new Testarossa, the Ferrari Purosangue still looks shockingly sporty. Its profile is very sleek, hiding the surprisingly decent cargo volume well. The lack of rear door handles hides the fact that this is a four-door vehicle. And the front looks every bit a Ferrari.
Sitting behind the wheel, you get this sense too. You aren’t super high up like you would be in something like a QX80. The large fenders also give it that supercar look. If you keep your eyes forward, and feel the road, you’re not in an SUV. You may as well be in an SF90, they have the same dash layout anyway.
I will never own one of these
So while my trip down to New Jersey took far longer than I’d initially anticipated, I did have a very good time. In fact, it was one of my better days overall. Handing the keys over at the end was a little emotionally crushing though.
The Ferrari Purosangue starts at around $430,000, but when you add in a few optional extras, fees, and tax, you’re likely looking at around half a million dollars. Beyond that, it isn’t the most economical thing on the planet, netting between 12 and 15 MPG. And it definitely drinks premium too, especially if you want to get the most out of that V12.
Journalism has never been the most affluent career, so all of that is a bit out of my price range. All I can do is sample things this wonderful for a brief time, and tell you how phenomenal they are. Mind, even if you can afford it you might have a difficult time getting one.
While the Purosangue isn’t limited like some other Ferraris, it is pretty much sold out in the US with the backorder list also looking pretty long. Which puts it in the “you’ll need to be good friends with your Ferrari dealer” territory in many places.
But if you do somehow get one, you’ll have something unique, practical, and still very much a Ferrari.
