First drive of Ferrari’s $728k SUV that is already sold out

Ferrari’s answer to the SUV is the Purosangue, which was well and truly sold out before Ferrari had even put a vehicle on the road.

Ferrari Purosangue SUV. Photo: Supplied

Forget those naughty four-letter words us genteel folk in Australia try to avoid. The most offensive term in all of Italy (well, in Maranello, at least) has only three. But when those letters are used in succession, they will unleash an ill wind strong enough to knock the foam right off all those pre-11am cappuccinos.

Those letters, of course, are SUV. And, like an automotive Voldemort, the ubiquitous vehicle style must not be named by anybody with a prancing horse on their business card. Should you dare utter them, those same people will recoil in horror. Babies will cry, dogs will bark, wine glasses will fall to the floor and shatter.

But all that does lead to a fairly obvious question – if not an SUV, then just what the hell is this high-riding, four-door, four-seat, all-wheel-drive (complete with a “Snow” driving mode) Ferrari we’re looking at?

Meet the Purosangue (it translates as “thoroughbred”), which represents a rolling series of firsts for the brand. It’s the first Ferrari SUV (even if they flatly refuse to call it one). It’s the first prancing horse with four doors and four seats. And most importantly, it’s also the only production SUV on the planet that’s powered by a screaming naturally aspirated V12 petrol engine.

Ferrari Purosangue SUV. Photo: Supplied

And, should you want one (and you really should), you’ll be lucky to see it on your driveway before 2025. So popular has the Purosangue proven, in fact, that it was well and truly sold out before Ferrari had even put a vehicle on the road. New orders were paused in November last year, and the brand now says the average wait time across all markets is in excess of 18 months.

If you’re wondering why Ferrari would suddenly turn its hand to an SUV-shaped supercar, you have your answer. Lamborghini can’t build the Urus fast enough to keep up with demand, and that looks like it was badly modelled on the business end of a snowplow.

The Purosangue, on the other hand, looks like it was designed by adults, for adults. Somehow both elegant and aggressive, and with its slippery aerodynamics built right into the metal work, it is genuinely stunning in real life.

The interior of the Ferrari Purosangue SUV. Photo: Supplied

Elegant and aggressive – terms that could apply to the drive experience, too. Because while that 6.5-litre V12 produces a monstrous 533kW and 716Nm, it also has the ability to neatly hide its murderous intent behind a convincing facade of charming civility. In fact, in the right setting, it’s calm, quiet and comfortable, much like any other premium SUV.

Honestly, the insulation and inch-thick glass does such a good job of removing not just road noise but also the roar from that engine and any whispers from the exhaust that you can very easily forget you’re driving anything super at all. Even the suspension (each driving mode has two suspension settings, medium and soft, allowing for some serious fine tuning of the ride comfort) floats across most road surfaces.

It’s something that the brand has not had to bother with much in the past, but the Purosangue is one Ferrari that will be driven more often, further, and with more people on board than any other prancing horse to have gone before it, and so its comfort is every bit as important as its craziness.

Ferrari Purosangue SUV. Photo: Supplied

And on this, the brand has struck a seemingly perfect balance between those two poles, and created a vehicle that would feel as at home on the school run as it does on a twisting alpine pass.

There is another side to the Purosangue’s coin, of course, and the best way to discover it is to engage the brilliantly mechanical-feeling launch control system.

Rather than just have the vehicle’s brain figure out how to best extract maximum power, in the Purosangue you can actually feel the vehicle prepping for battle, dropping lower onto its wheels with a gentle thud.

Flatten your right foot, and 100km/h will arrive in 3.3 seconds, with 200km/h flashing by in just 10.6 seconds. They’re impressive numbers in any performance car, but even more so in a two-tonne, family-focused vehicle like this one.

The back seat of the Ferrari Purosangue SUV. Photo: Supplied

The best way to experience the theatre of that performance is by taking over the gearing yourself via the steering wheel paddles, listening to the machine-gun popping of the rev limiter before grabbing the next cog.

This isn’t just a straight line weapon, either. That high-tech suspension keeps the Purosangue steady and stable through corners, those big wheels gripping the road below before your right foot once again calls the nuclear power plant ahead of you into action, thunder now filling the cabin as you power toward the next braking point.

In a way, then, it’s odd that Ferrari should so feverishly avoid the term SUV. Because the Purosangue is one of the best examples ever built.