By Gallery: Ferrari GTC4Lusso in Michigan
The question with the Ferrari GTC4Lusso (formerly the Ferrari FF) is, “Does it make sense?” It has four seats with an acceptable amount of cargo space (about 16 cubic feet), it’s all-wheel drive, Pirelli makes winter tires for it, it has child seat latches. But, does it make sense for the person who might actually buy the thing. Someone who I’m assuming lives in a state with four seasons, maybe a little terrain and has a family.
I drove this car in two sessions, for a total of about eight days, through unapologetic and downright brutal Michigan winter weather. It’s ironic that in the last few days of my time with the car the southeastern portion of the Mitten was literally colder than Antarctica. Even if the Ferrari was cold-weather tested, it's a challenge to prepare for temps in the teens to below zero. And this car did not like them.
The first thing you have to ask yourself when driving any Ferrari that’s not a 488 GTB is, “Does it feel like a real Ferrari?” That level is the pinnacle of Ferrari-ness, to me. But since the first California convertible was upgraded to the California T (now Portofino), there hasn’t been a vehicle in the portfolio that “doesn’t feel like a Ferrari.”
The 6.3-liter front-mid-mounted V12 makes 680 hp and 514 lb-ft, and you can hear all of them on startup. It’s comical how much it sounds like you’d imagine a Ferrari to sound in your head, or how you remember it sounding in an '80s movie. It comes with a healthy rev before settling down to a smooth hum, as long as it’s not minus-14 degrees out. At those temps, it takes a more-than-comfortable amount of turning over before grumpily starting and warming up.
Gallery: Ferrari GTC4Lusso interior
The big mill feels sharp, quick to rev and smaller than its monstrous displacement. The seven-speed dual-clutch transmission has perfect kickdown logic, meaning that in comfort mode or better it’ll drop down a handful of gears instantly and yank you forward at any legal speed. But don’t let the 4RM all-wheel-drive system fool you -- it defaults 100 percent of the power to the back, enough to swing the rear end out before the fronts get moving. Normal upchanges are also lightning quick, and the big paddles, though attached to the column, are easy and satisfying to grab. It goes without saying, near triple-digit speeds feel like a leisurely stroll.
Everything is quicker than expected. Steering is fast, direct and of medium effort. The rear wheels also steer, so the GTC4’s reflexes feel almost supernatural for a four-seat 4,233-pounder. However, at slow speeds, it doesn’t feel small. The front end is long and a little hard to place, and I’ll admit I was a little nervous backing it up, partly because of the $371,621 as-tested price tag. It starts at just over $300K.
All Ferraris are now loaded with tech. On the good side, that means you get a modern infotainment system with a big, colorful touchscreen and Apple CarPlay. You also get Ferrari’s E-Diff differential, F1-Trac traction control, SCM adaptive suspension and the aforementioned 4RM all-wheel-drive setup, all of which are connected. And that’s where we get to my complaints.
On my first stint with the car, I parked it for photos -- it was a balmy 26 degrees at this point. When I started it back up, I got every warning light in the book. “Rear-steer not working,” “E-Diff not active,” “F1-Trac disabled,” “Manettino not, manateeing.” It forced the car into wet mode, which is just above snow, and refused to switch back.
Gallery: Ferrari GTC4Lusso
According to Ferrari, the faults were caused by a sensor in the power takeoff unit/front transmission -- the thing that sends power to the front wheels -- and as a precautionary measure the info was sent to Italy for review. That’s fine -- this car’s more complicated than a Swiss watch -- but a few weeks later, in flat-out frigid temperatures, I was greeted by a new set of warnings. It included all of them from before but also AVH (auto vehicle hold) system failure, which seemed to force the car into limp mode, where it wouldn’t go over 5 mph. At this point the weather was deep in the negatives and from the sound of the V12 on startup, I should have guessed something was wrong. I stopped the car, let it sit, started it back up and lost the AVH error, and the car was back to wet mode. At least I could still drive quickly. After bringing Road Test Editor Jr. to his first dentist appointment, I started it for the third time of the day and all fault codes had cleared.
So, it doesn’t love frigid temps, but hey, who does? Amirite? The debate we’ve been having is whether the person who would own this GTC4Lusso is super-rich, with dozens of other cars to his or her name, or just rich. In the latter case, that person might actually want or need to drive this car all year long. Does it make sense for them? I do know that I’ve started hundreds of cars in below-freezing temps, and I can count on one hand the number that glitched out as much as this one.
And one more complaint before I finish with a showering of praise: the child seats.
The point of this four-place Ferrari is that you can bring the family along on your mountain jaunt or over-the-road long haul. It has the LATCH system, which means snap, snap with the child seats, right? Not exactly. I’ve put these seats into hundreds of cars now, and for the life of me I couldn’t get either the forward-facing or rear-facing child seat hooked up without taking the seats out.
The latches are between the lower back and seat bottoms, but there’s just no space to slide the little attachment piece in there. I tried, both times with the car, probably for a total of 45 minutes. When I reached around the lower back portion of the cushion, it sort of moved, so I figured I would just yank them out. Well they came out, which gave me great access to the latches, but I couldn’t get the cushions back in. I tried both times, with no luck, even though Ferrari said it was possible. I shall believe that when I see it.
However, with the seat cushions out, I did tote around both kids for a few hours with plenty of space for all of us. The real problem was getting Road Test Editor Jr. Jr. in his rear-facing seat without climbing in with him. Without four doors, it’s impossible.
But when this GTC4Lusso is good, it’s really good. Scary-fast acceleration, which I like. Deadeye handling and good feel and weight through the steering wheel, no matter the driving mode. Shifts crack off from the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission in milliseconds, and even with the all-wheel drive, it still gets tail happy, even at near expressway speeds. But it always pulls back in line.
When figuratively firing on all cylinders, the GTC4Lusso is a blast in the snow. I turned the traction control off in about 5 inches of the white stuff and snowmobiled my way home at normal traffic speeds when snow mode got too boring. This particular car was shod with Pirelli winter tires, making the rooster tails -- sometimes two, sometimes four -- even more impressive.
And the cameras and parking sensors and visibility make it a truly livable supercar, no matter the weather. The modern touchscreen never hiccuped, and my iPhone connected instantly. It’s a shame the mechanical portion of the tech took such a dive.
There’s not much to compare this car to. If you like the shooting brake shape, it’s gorgeous. It does everything a real Ferrari can do and more. If you want this kind of power in something exotic and all-weather, you’re going to have to step into an SUV like the Bentley Bentayga or Lamborghini Urus. But as competent as those cars are, neither of them has the driving dynamics of a low-slung, two-door hatchback, though Ferrari would probably hate us calling it that.
We’ve now armed you with the info, rich snow-state people. The rest is up to you.
Vehicle Model Information
ON SALE: Now
BASE PRICE: $298,000
AS TESTED PRICE: $371,621
POWERTRAIN: 6.3-liter V12, seven-speed dual-clutch, AWD
OUTPUT: 680 hp @ 8,000 rpm; 514 lb-ft @ 5,750 rpm
CURB WEIGHT: 4,232 lb
FUEL ECONOMY: 12/17/13 mpg
PROS: Space for four, in a Ferrari
CONS: It only works when it works
