Ferrari SF90 Stradale (phev) Reviews

The McLaren MP4-12C will be presented to Australia today in Sydney – check back here later to see all the photos and video – and the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 team and racing program is unveiled in the UK.The GT3 will be the first McLaren car built for FIA GT series racing since the F1 GTR’s last days in1997.Based on the carbon chassis-based MP4-12C, the GT3 has been adapted for the track with F1 technology, with 20 cars homologated for GT3 racing next year.Privateer buyers of the car will also be given access to the McLaren simulator programs.McLaren Group CEO Martin Whitmarsh says turning the MP4-12C into a race car was a logical move.“McLaren has racing in its blood and it was a natural step to take our MP4-12C road car and turn it into the most reliable, efficient and easy to drive GT3 car,” Whitmarsh says.“Every car on the grid will have its performance balanced by race rules, meaning our objective must be to select a technical specification that ensures any driver is able to access the 12C GT3’s performance limit with ease.“We have worked with CRS Racing to ensure the 12C’s design and development program is as close as possible to one McLaren Racing would employ in developing a Formula 1 car.“The 12C GT3 will be supplied with the 12C’s carbon MonoCell and the same steering wheel design employed by Lewis Hamilton in his MP4-24 Formula 1 car.“Plus, we are working closely with Formula 1 suppliers past and present: Akebono, Mobil 1, McLaren Electronic Systems, Ricardo and Michelin for example. This blend of road car and Formula 1 technology and experience will be a great advantage to anyone racing a 12C GT3 in 2012.”

It made a profit of about $420 million in 2010 on the sale of 6573 cars with a 15.8 per cent return on sales - a figure so high that it's in the same league as the luxury goods sector, Ferrari says. But a large amount of earnings are coming from other divisions. Its merchandising operation, for example, includes 40 retail Ferrari Shops around the world but only two are owned by the company. Clothing, giftware and other licensed products with the Ferrari logo are worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.  Its Abu Dhabi theme park, Ferrari World, has been a major earner for the company because of trademark agreements, franchised outlets and merchandise. For Ferrari, the theme park is gold - it didn't put one cent of its money into the concept yet draws a significant return. The car maker now sees its next step as launching the FF and the 458 Spyder.

PUTTING a 4WD system into a grand tourer isn’t new - Jensen did it 50 years ago with its FF.  Porsche and Bentley use it in their saloons and it all became a bit academic until Ferrari unveiled its interpretation, the FF.It was unexpected but, in hindsight, makes sense as the bespoke car maker broadens its market and listens to its customers.  The Ferrari FF, the replacement to the 612 Scaglietti, ups the ante in more ways than just a 4WD system.The car, here early next year with an estimated price of $625,000, has a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission mounted in the rear; a direct-injection V12 with 486kW/683Nm and a 0-100km/h time of 3.7 seconds; comes standard with carbon-ceramic disc brakes; sats four adults and their luggage; and has a multitude of drivetrain and suspension adjustments to hone the car to each driver’s whim.VALUEIt will cost about $625,000 when it gets here in February. If you can afford it, you’d probably say it has good value.  But that’s only half he story - the option list is huge and even now, Australian importers Ateco Automotive haven’t nailed down the final specifications. You’ll have to save the pennies and wait.DESIGNIt looks a lot better in the flesh and I bet you’ve also heard that about the Porsche Panamera.  But in this case it’s true. The rear end initially looks awkward - almost like a stunted panel van - but is the reason the car is so versatile with its accommodation.The cabin is beautiful in design with the best textiles and plastics - as you’d expect for the price - and even though the steering wheel controls are complex, they are styled to convince you they’re very workable.TECHNOLOGYThe FF gets a very overhauled version of the outgoing 612‘s 6-litre V12, now up to 6.3 litres and with direct petrol injection.  The big news is the extended crankshaft to which is bolted the front power transfer unit (PTU) that sends torque to the front wheels.The PTU works completely independent of the rear wheels and work on demand. The simplicity is the two gears to cope with the different speeds of the front and rear wheels.True, two gears can’t do what seven gears are doing to the rear wheels. There’s a simple answer - viscous clutches. These take up any speed differences between the front and rear wheels.The PTU is controlled by electronics that also looks after the engine and the gearbox and the rear E-Diff. So they’re all talking the same language and that allows the computer to use ABS and ESC and other sensors to allocate torque precisely to the wheel(s) with the most traction.The seven-speed - a first for Ferrari and the first model also with an overdrive gear - box is a dual-clutch unit that’s mounted with the diff at the rear of the car.There are three modes for the transmission and engine - automatic, sport and race. Each changes the response of the drivetrain and, in race, keeps the exhaust free for that glorious sound.  Road conditions can also be dialed up, for wet, ice and snow and even to turn the ESC off.The front suspension retains Ferrari’s normal double-wishbone system but the rear is an all-new multi-link arrangement that is claimed to improve ride comfort.On top of all this, the steering wheel now caries all the switches previously handled by column stalks. Gear changes are via long carbon-fibre paddles.SAFETYThe FF has four airbags because Ferrari says that’s sufficient and has done all the crash tests - including an 80km/h rollover - and come away with the maximum star rating.On top of that, there’s a brilliant traction system that introduces all-wheel drive and the ability to cope with snow and ice, and carbon-ceramic Brembo brakes with discs the size of a family pizza plate. Without fade and with virtually an unlimited disc life, the brakes will pull the FF down from 100km/h in an incredible 35m - or exactly 2.7 seconds.DRIVINGDied and gone to heaven. The FF is almost what the perfect car should be - versatile, comfortable, quiet, breathtakingly quick and capable of arousing its driver with a sound track of soaring cresendos, resonate basses and sharp, urgent barks.  It’s tactile, aural and visual experience is its magic.The massive, time-worn faces of the Dolomites on Italy’s northern border are etched with tightly-wound and narrow ribbons of road that rise and fall, twist and turn. Perhaps too tight for the 5m long car but the complexity of the route didn’t daunt the FF.Not only was it nimble enough to wind its way up to 2200m above sea level, but so comfortable that occupants were never compromised - and that was a huge surprise in a car from Ferrari.Flick the lever from “auto’’ - which is actually a very smooth and city-friendly gear mode - to “sport’‘ and the car changes, hunkers down, gets a bit noisier and feels more poised for battle.  Go to “race” and the baffles in the exhaust system are relieved so making the car bark and spit and passers-by gasp.Yes, as expected, it’s fast. Unexpected is how easy it is to drive. The engine is immensely torquey - 500Nm from 1000rpm - so it softens the feeling of urgency. It’s only the G-force on your face and the powerful swing of the tacho needle on its yellow facia that tells the real story.The engine delivers its maximum 486kW at 8000rpm and the engine has a cut out at 8200rpm, so it’s an engine that will run hard and effortlessly from idle right through to the red line and never slow its delivery.Impressive - and yes I know that goes hand-in-hand with the price tag - is the ultra-fast gear shifts, the comfort of the suspension and seats, and the tremendous power of that engine.  Against this is the initial confusion caused by the steering wheel’s switchgear - especially at speed or when fanging through the mountains - and he sheer width of the car.The rear seats will seat two adults in comfort and Ferrari claims they can both be 1.8m tall - but it also depends on the height of the front occupants.I could rant about the improved fuel economy over the previous model, but I feel that may be time wasted.VERDICTBrilliant! This car returns Ferrari to the podium of automotive technology and shows that, money aside, you can have an eminently capable high-speed grand tourer that is city-friendly.FERRARI FF ****Price: est. $625,000Warranty: 3 years, 100,000km, roadside assistResale: n/aService Interval: 10,000km or 12 monthsEconomy: 15.4 l/100km; 360g/km CO2SAFETYEquipment: four airbags, ESC, ABS, EBD, EBA, TC.Crash rating: 5 starTECHNICALEngine: 486kW/683Nm 6.3-litre V12 petrolTransmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch auto 0-100km/h: 3.7secBody: 2-door, 4 seatsDimensions: 4907 (L); 1953mm (W); 1379mm (H); 2990mm (WB)Weight: 1790kgTyre size: 245/35ZR20; 295/35ZR20Spare tyre: Aerosol kit

The surprise isn't the acceleration - though 3.7 seconds to 100km/h is pretty good - rather the fact that 485kW/683Nm has been instructed to put all these numbers through the wheels and the result is barely any wheelspin.  This is where the Ferrari FF - the company's first all-wheel drive - excels. Born from customer demand for a car that can transverse slippery snow and sand tracks, it has been a difficult development that started in 2004.  The FF uses an all-wheel drive system that is breathtaking in its simplicity - a direct drive from the front of the crankshaft to a small box with three cogs, one multi-disc clutch box and two shafts to either front wheel. The rear wheels are driven conventionally, in this case through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission - another first for Ferrari - that's mounted with the electronically-controlled diff at the rear. There is no mechanical connection between the drive to the front wheels and the drive to the rear wheels.  There are numerous benefits of this system, Firstly, it's very light (Ferrari claims 40kg that is half that of a traditional all-wheel drive system) and small (the power transfer unit is only 170mm long). The clutches are monitored and controlled by computers to allocate torque where needed. For example, in situations where grip is lost, it is reallocated to the other wheel. This is constantly monitored so maximum grip is available to either of the front wheels when needed. The same use of electronics applies to the rear diff. Because there is a speed difference between front wheels and rear wheels, Ferrari has incorporated two gears in the PTU that alter the ratios from the engine to the wheels.  To pick up any smaller differences, the clutch pack is allowed to slip. Ferrari says the two-cog gearbox in the PTU is good for up to 200km/h at which point the system will disengage drive to the front wheels.  It is possible that in extreme situations that 20 per cent of maximum torque will temporarily go to the front wheels - such as when the rear wheels are on ice - to provide maximum traction. Ferrari says the system is not transferable to other engines and that it has had no requests from other car makers for a license.

A full-on racing update of the Italian supercar has just been completed in Italy and is ready to go. It's a development for the GT3 class of sports car racing, where the Italian contender will come up against a wide range of rivals including the Audi R8 and Mercedes-Benz SLS Gullwing. The biggest changes to the racing Italia are the wicked extensions to the bodywork, from wide flared rear arches to a giant wing on the tail. The nose is also dropped and extended for maximum cornering trip and top speed on the track. Ferrari already has a GT2 racing version of the Italia and it scored its first big success last weekend with class victory in the Le Castellet 1000-kilometre race at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France.  

Showing off the capabilities of its first ever four-wheel drive car, Ferrari takes the FF through the snow and the desert, to finish at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi.

Then we head north in a Holden Cruze and Mitsubishi ASX, looking to see how far this pair can go on a single take of fuel.  Ed Ordynski is in the ASX and I have the Cruze, holding  the trip computer just over 6 litres/100km as Ordynski - expert driver - is below 5 litres/100km.The first stop is just outside Port Pirie after 250 kilometres and the figures are 5.3 and 4.2, as we battle wind and rain.  A lunch stop in Waikerie - about 530km into the journey - and then a turn south to follow the Murray both cars maintain sub-6 readings - the ASX in the region of 4.5 and the Cruze 5.5 litres per 100km as we pass the 700km mark near Murray Bridge.The weather worsens as we follow the river south through 730km at Wellington."The ASX was more adversely affected by that, it was 0.3 litres/100km worse off - we did what you need to do into a headwind and that was reduce the speed a little," Ordynski says.Running down through the southern foothills to complete our 1000km journey we return the tanks to full. There are still 15 litres in the Mitsubishi's 60-litre tank, but my Cruze is almost on fumes.  But after thirteen hours of "real-world" driving we have hit our 1000-kilometre target."I would drive like that with people on board and not be embarrassed," Ordynski says.  "You win on fuel use and emissions as well, with 2kg of CO2 for every litre of fuel, you win on maintenance and longevity of the vehicle by driving it kindly as well, it's hard to see a downside."Ed Ordynski’s Fuel TipsLevel 1. Overall factors1. Plan when you need to use your car to avoid unnecessary journeys.2. Plan your journey to avoid peak hour and congested roads.3. Measure your fuel consumption and take pride in reducing it.4. Choose an energy efficient vehicle.Level 2. Anyone can try1. Concentrate on driving smoothly and anticipate traffic flow to conserve momentum.2. Keep tyre pressures at maximum recommended.3. Avoid any excess weight in the vehicle and remove accessories which affect the aerodynamics (e.g. roof racks).4. Choose a manual transmission and learn to drive it properly for optimum fuel efficiency.Level 3. Hard-core methods1. Avoid use of airconditioning and keep windows closed.2. Do not use cruise control but do focus on keeping a constant speed and conserving momentum.3. Drive at low speed - most cars are at their most efficient at around 75km/h in top gear.4. Drive off as soon as the engine is started, especially from a cold start.GREEN STARSMake-model weight price combined fuel con1. Mitsubishi -MiEV 980kg $leased 02. Toyota Prius 1370kg $39,990 3.93. Smart Fortwo 750kg $19,9904.44. Honda Insight 1205kg $29,9904.65. Suzuki Alto 880kg $11,790 4.8GREEN DUDS1. Ferrari 599 1690kg $677,250 21.32. Ferrari 612 1849kg $698,000 20.73. Nissan Patrol 4.8 2440kg $75,690 17.24. Maserati GT S Coupe 1880kg $345,900 16.65. Mercedes ML 500 2148kg $132,400 16.5

Called the F150 to celebrate this year's 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, the new Ferrari Formula 1 car was launched by drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in Italy yesterday. To comply with the new 2011 F1 regulations, the double diffuser and the blown rear wing are gone, as is the use of apertures in the front part of the floor.  Instead, an hydraulically controlled adjustable rear wing has been added, and Pirelli tyres have replaced the old Bridgestones. The first F1 race of 2011 is in Bahrain on March 13.  Lotus-Renault teams (Renault F1) are set to unveil their car on January 31, 2011, followed by Red Bull, Mercedes GP, Toro Rosso and Williams on February 1, 2011, McLaren on Feb. 4th and Virgin on Feb. 7th.      

The FF (Ferrari Four) all-wheel driver is a gran turismo four-seater with a "shooting brake" rear end which is basically a big hatchback.  Initial thoughts when viewed side-on is that it looks like the 1970s Jenson Interceptor or even the Porsche 928. While there's no harm in borrowing styles from yesteryear - especially ones that are so iconic - and developing them, for a modern world, the FF also imitates some of its contemporaries.  Most interestingly, its side profile bears a stunning resemblance to the BMW M Coupe, albeit the earlier bulbous models. Who would have thought the Italians would look to Germany for styling cues?  Of course, the biggest problem with a shooting brake design is trying to make that big rear end look sleek - like J Lo, rather than Oprah.

Famed for its two-seater, rear-wheel-drive supercars, the Italian manufacturer has revealed its first four-wheel drive, the four-seater Ferrari FF.  The latest addition to the Maranello prancing horse fleet is also a hatchback or "shooting brake", but unlike any normal hatchback. Its 6262cc direct-injection V12 engine delivers 485kW of power that slings the red missile from standstill to 100km/h in just 3.7 seconds and a maximum speed of 335km/h. But the main point of difference in the "Ferrari Four" is the addition of four-wheel drive for the first time which places it in even closer competition with all-wheel-drive Lamborghinis.  Ferrari's patented 4RM four-wheel drive system is claimed to weigh half as much as other systems to provide a balanced weight distribution of 53 per cent over the rear axle. While no details of how the drive system works have been released, it is believed Ferrari favours a part-time system.  This could be a system that is activated by driver selection, when slip is detected in the rear wheels or engaged at lower speeds then kicks into rear-wheel-drive for better fuel economy and performance. It is integrated with the car's electronic dynamic control systems and has the latest version of Ferrari's magnetic suspension damping system and Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes. Carsguide has published spy photos from Carparazzi of the car heavily disguised but looking frumpy in the rear end.  However, with the covers removed it appears Italian design house Pininfarina has produced a sleek supercar that looks like an aerodynamic version of the 1970s Jensen Interceptor. It has generous space for four passengers and even 450 litres of luggage. With the rear seats down, luggage space increases to 800 litres.The new four-seater gran turismo style puts it in direct competition with the emergence over the past few years of other four-steer GTs such as the Porsche Panamera and Aston Rapide. The FF will make its official debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March and will arrive in Australia early next year.  Australian importer Ateco says it will replace the 612 Scaglietti in its four-car line-up. The current Scaglietti sells here for $698,000, but the FF's drive system is expected to boost that price.  It would join Ferrari's current Australian line-up of California Convertible ($459,650), 458 Italia ($526,950) and 599 Fiorano ($677,250). The Italian manufacturer is currently enjoying record sales in the US and China and in Australia, Ferrari sold 126 cars last year, up 21.2 per cent which is double the market trend. Ateco spokesman Edward Rowe says the FF will appeal to "people who want a Ferrari that is able to used across a broad range of uses.  What's been happening over the past 10-15 years is Ferrari owners' average mileage they drive has been increasing significantly every year and Ferrari owners want to be able to use their cars in a much wider range of uses," he says. "The idea of this car is it's fully capable of going to a high-speed performance day and then take you and your family and skis in the car down to the snow for a ski weekend.  This illustrates the enormous breadth and ability of this car." Rowe says the FF is "still a true supercar" in performance and handling.  "It remains a true mid-engined Ferrari but at the same time it's like no other Ferrari that's gone before it." Rowe says they already have "double figures" of customers "putting their hand up" for the FF. Ferrari FF Price: TBAEngine: 65-degree 6262cc direct-injection V12Power: 485kW @ 8000 rpmTorque: 683Nm @ 6000 rpmDimensions (mm): 4907 (l), 1953 (w), 1379  (h) Dry weight: 1790kg Weight distribution: 47% front, 53% rear Top speed: 335 km/h0-100km/h: 3.7 secEconomy: 15.4L/100kmCO2: 360g/kmFerrari FF