Ferrari Purosangue 2024 Review

A lot. The 2024 Ferrari Purosangue officially retails for $728,000 plus on-road costs in Australia – and that’s if you can get your hands on one.

At the time of writing, the Ferrari was subject to a lengthy three-year wait list in Australia, such is the level of local appetite.

Cross-town rivals have unsurprisingly experienced similar levels of attention – much of it from a new audience of buyers.

They include the Aston Martin DBX707 (from $428,400), the new Lamborghini Urus SE (from $457,834) and the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT (from $364,700).

The 2024 Ferrari Purosangue offers a pretty decent amount of standard equipment in Australia, as it would arguably want to for the outlay.

Regular items include staggered 22-inch front and 23-inch rear wheels shod in Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S rubber (255/35 front; 315/30 rear), LED headlights and daytime running lights, dual-zone climate control, soft-close rear-hinged second-row doors and an electric tailgate.

Also standard is a lightweight carbon-fibre roof (you can option an electrochromic glass roof) that offers greater rigidity than steel.

That said, optional extras are de rigueur at this end of the market, and the Purosangue plays right up to it.

There is seemingly no shortage of carbon-fibre add-ons, paint schemes, wheels or fancy Italian leather trim to choose from – so much so Ferrari expects some examples to exceed $1 million on-road.

The Purosangue does win back key points on the ownership front, specifically with the inclusion of seven years’ complimentary servicing (an initiative taken up for all Ferrari models some years ago).

A three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty applies, which is well below the expected five-year norm employed by mainstream manufacturers.

We don’t think Ferrari is ever likely to donate up to four examples of the 2024 Ferrari Purosangue for Euro NCAP or affiliate safety organisations such as ANCAP to crash into barriers. So it goes unrated.

But prospective buyers can rest assured with one of the sharpest electronic driver aid systems on the market, driven as always by Ferrari’s trademark manettino dial on the steering wheel.

Elsewhere, there are 10 airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, rear cross traffic alert, speed sign recognition, driver attention monitoring and a 360-degree camera with parking sensors at either end.

In the unfortunate event of an accident, there is also confidence in the knowledge the Purosangue is safeguarded by a crash structure and passenger cell that uses a blend of high-strength steel and aluminium.

The 2024 Ferrari Purosangue adopts the Italian supercar marque’s latest infotainment and technology features like those seen in the Ferrari 296 GTB and 296 GTS.

However, in this SUV application, the driver-centric layout brings a whole new set of issues.

The Purosangue ditches the traditional centre touch-screen for a solitary display in the instrument cluster.

Without touch-screen capability, the instrument display is driven purely by fiddly haptic buttons on the steering wheel.

While that sounds relatively straight-forward, the sensitivity and lack of alertness of that haptic touchpad means you’re often aimlessly prodding the steering wheel hoping for a response.

And when that eventually happens, you can spend countless seconds trying to do something as simple as changing song play lists. When you’re behind the wheel of a circa-million-dollar Ferrari, countless seconds of distraction are a major issue.

Elsewhere, the climate control panel is mounted in the dashboard centre fascia and employs a minimalist control layout that could also do with some finetuning.

There are often two-stage processes for simple functions including adjusting fan speed and temperature.

The unequivocal highlight of the 2024 Ferrari Purosangue is its 6.5-litre naturally-aspirated V12, which not only provides a tangible point of difference from the luxury SUV marketplace, but also unlocks a unique on-road experience.

Derived from a unit of the same size and capacity in the Ferrari 812 Competizione, the atmo V12 outputs 533kW at 7250rpm and 716Nm at 6250rpm in the Purosangue.

It also feels and sounds decidedly different to a regular V12 in a deliberate attempt to make the Purosangue quieter and more civilised than Ferrari’s low-riding performance fleet. For example, 80 per cent of that peak torque figure materialises from 2100rpm.

The V12 gains a new intake manifold, reprofiled camshafts, a high-pressure (350-bar) direct-injection system, equal-length headers and remapped ignition timing – the sum of which purportedly provides greater response at low revs and quieter running.

The latter is also aided by additional sound-deadening and thicker window glass.

But a slouch it is not: 0-100km/h takes 3.3sec claimed, 0-200km/h 10.6sec and top speed is more than 310km/h. The latter ensures the Purosangue wins the pub test for hypothetical drag races.

Drive is shuffled to all four wheels via a rear-mounted transaxle eight-speed transmission.

All that firepower is nothing without a clever accompanying electronics suite to harness it. As such, the Purosangue gets SSC 8.0 Side Slip Control, 4RM-S Evo all-wheel drive and four-wheel steering, plus a Multimatic-developed active suspension management system for precise control of each wheel’s vertical movement.

Multimatic’s True Active Spool Valve (TASV) tech uses 48-volt electric motor actuators and spool-valve hydraulic dampers with coil springs at all four corners to precisely control each wheel’s movement and isolate it from body movement.

This tech purportedly minimises roll and pitch during heavy cornering and braking. And it works, as we discover further on.

To be fair, if you’re in the market for the 2024 Ferrari Purosangue, you needn’t ask.

Our short test of the Purosangue reveals a circa-500km range from its 100-litre fuel tank in efficient settings, but you can expect to use much more 98RON unleaded than the claimed 17.3L/100km consumption in headier proceedings.

Perhaps the biggest compliment you could heap on the 2024 Ferrari Purosangue is that it drives like a Ferrari. Albeit a higher-riding, more considered Ferrari.

The body is taut and controlled, the steering is accurate and the engine is the unabashed celebration of the entire dynamic dance.

Furthermore, the driving experience is underlined by quick-thinking electronics and sheer precision from the controls – virtues which deserve as much praise in modern-day Ferraris as the engines that rocket them into orbit.

But delve deeper and the Purosangue reveals a much more thoughtful side, too.

The V12 is undeniably subdued where suitable and the steering avoids the knife-edge immediacy off centre that tends to define other front-engine Ferraris. Even the days of narrow footwells have been well and truly consigned to history with the Purosangue’s thoughtful cabin layout.

In regular commuter-style driving, the V12 gently segues through its ratios and provides a breadth of torque from low in the rev count. This is truly effortless forward passage from idle, underlined by a symphony of 12 thumping cylinders.

The bustle of those cylinders can be felt ever so slightly with an abruptness upon stepping on and off the accelerator while coasting. Otherwise, you’d barely know you are in something so big and mighty.

The Purosangue feels well connected to the surface underneath, but it really has no right to ride the way it does on those monstrous wheels: it dispatches pitter-patter bumps with aplomb, recovers remarkably fast from extended sections of broken bitumen and avoids all but the harshest of bumps from thudding their way through the chassis.

Low-speed amenity is also complemented by the rear-wheel steering system, which offsets the steering rack’s two-turn lock-to-lock configuration for faster driving.

Cabin acoustics are another surprising strongpoint. The four-seat layout feels quiet, cosseted and serene, with the exception of a minor rattle in the instrument cluster cover on our test car.

Turn up the wick and the Purosangue answers the call emphatically. The voodoo suspension works its magic to deliver sublime body control and outright grace into and out of fast corners.

Whether it be a slightly off-camber, dew-covered country corner riddled with mid-corner undulations or a full-flat opening radius bend on billiard table-smooth road, the Purosangue revels – and in all scenarios manages to feel even lighter than its circa-2100kg mass suggests.

Rear-drive bias and the 49:51 weight distribution also plays its part in the engagement factor, too.

Climbing the upper reaches of the Purosangue’s tachometer is an enlightening and engaging experience. It provides a neat, fitting crescendo to the entire driving experience, together with memorable vocals.

The speed is immediate, no doubt, but it is the depth and character of the engine that defines it.

Even so, if anything, we expected a little more theatre from the V12. This is an SUV, yes, but it’s a Ferrari, too.

If customers are anything like your correspondent, they will probably expect a little more sound. Especially given the operatic vocals of cars like the 812 Superfast.

All told, not really. Even with 185mm worth of ground clearance and all-wheel drive, the 2024 Ferrari Purosangue has no dedicated off-road modes.

And let’s be honest: it’s much too pretty to be covered in mud.

The 2024 Ferrari Purosangue brings elevated cabin amenity and detail to the Ferrari fold, factors which help it play up to the whole SUV brief.

The first and second rows are treated to considered dimensions, soft contact points and storage options. The rear-hinged second-row doors are an important conduit in this process, making the B-pillar less of an obstacle and helping Ferrari achieve the Purosangue’s raked profile.

Getting into and out of the second row is a little tighter than the Purosangue’s 4.97-metre length might have you believe, but once settled into the pews there’s acres of room in all directions.

The installation of the transaxle gearbox means there was never any space for a middle seat, but that space is still well served by a big storage compartment and separate controls.

About the only compromise to make in the second row – and it’s a pretty small one – is the shrunken glasshouse and the raked roofline, both virtues of the Purosangue’s sharp profile.

Otherwise, everything here is correct and present for a well-heeled family car: ISOFIX attachment points and top-tether strap points, separate air vents and charging ports.

Where the whole ‘SUV’ argument really loses weight is the boot. At 473 litres, the Purosangue’s small derriere is good for a solitary full-size suitcase or a couple of duffle bags, nothing more.

The size virtually rules out full-size designer prams and weekends away for a family of four.

Furthermore, you could fit a set of golf clubs at a pinch if you stow the optional electronically-adjustable second-row seats, but that would put your golf bag precariously close to reams of carefully crafted Italian leather.

If you have the means and you’re patient enough to tolerate a three-year wait list, the answer is yes.

The 2024 Ferrari Purosangue resets performance benchmarks for an SUV, and does so without diluting the Maranello car-maker’s rich pedigree and history.

We approached this test as cynical as anyone, especially since this is a vehicle Ferrari wasn’t supposed to build.

It’s expensive, and it’s far from perfect on the family and practicality front, but in every other respect the Purosangue is the SUV you didn’t know you needed.

A Super Utility Vehicle if ever there was one.

2024 Ferrari Purosangue at a glance:
Price: $728,000 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now (subject to three-year wait list)
Engine: 6.5-litre V12 petrol
Output: 533kW/716Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 17.3L/100km (WLTP)
CO2: 393g/km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Not tested