Friday, January 21, 2011

Ferrari's Revolutionary Breadvan: The Four-Seater, All-Wheel Drive FF


Ferrari's replacement for the 612 Scaglietti has finally come out of the closet ushering a radical new concept for the famed company from Maranello. The FF, which is an acronym for Ferrari Four, is probably the company's most versatile series production model ever featuring seating and luggage space for four, an all-wheel drive system and a shooting brake body style. It will be revealed at the forthcoming Geneva Motor Show with sales to follow later in the year.

Designed by Pininfarina, the FF is a large sports car measuring 4,907 mm in length, 1,953 in width and 1,379 mm in height. The elongated roofline, the styling of the rear quarter and the car's proportions bring to mind a variety of older models, one of which is the BMW Z3 Coupe.

The Prancing Horse company has not published any photos of the interior yet, but notes that the FF "can comfortably accommodate four people and their luggage". Talking about boot capacity, there's 450 liters of space with all four passengers about, or 800 liter with the rear seats folded.

Ferrari added that it has developed a vast array of personalization options and accessories for the FF, including include six model-specific exterior colors and interior trims.

There's a lot going on under the sheetmetal as the FF introduces company’s first ever [production] four-wheel drive system. Called 4RM, it is said to weigh 50 per cent less than a conventional four-wheel drive system, thus helping to maintain an almost perfect weight distribution [47:53].

The Italian company has released few other details about the system, but it claims "it delivers record levels of performance on all terrains and in all conditions via continuous and intelligent predictive torque distribution to all four wheels."

The FF is powered by a brand new 6.3-liter V12 engine with direct injection and Ferrari's HELE tech that includes a stop/start system. Sitting up front, the 12-cylinder motor delivers 660-horses at 8,000 rpm and is hooked up to dual-clutch F1 gearbox. Ferrari said the FF completes the 0-100km/h [62mph] sprint in 3.7 seconds and 335 km/h (208 mph), while returning a combined fuel economy of 15.4 lt/100km, equal to 15.3 mpg US, with CO2 emissions of 360 g/km.

The GT tips the scales at a hefty 1,790 kg or 3,946 pounds, but thanks to the powerful V12, it boasts a weight-to-power ratio of 2.7 kg/hp.

Other highlights include the latest magnetorheological damping system (SCM3), as well as the most recent development in carbon-ceramic brakes from Brembo.

More details will be released at the Geneva Motor Show in March, but until then, check out the photos and video below, and tell us what you think about Ferrari's latest model in the comments section.




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