Ferrari FF test drive since 2011 compartment

Cocktail for half a green-green lemon

Of course, this is very strange. It is strange that in my entire practice of a car journalist, and this is more than thirty years, I have never been sitting at the wheel of Ferrari. Everything was: magnificent sports Porsche, crazy Lamborghini, muscles Koenigseg and exotic Pagani, and even now blazing in Bose (not without the help of Russians) purely English tvr yes, everything was, but Ferrari was not a single! I understand that, as a rule, the world is unfair. But the rule that there were exceptions. And in early December, FF day came. For the first time in Russia, on the track in Tushin, it was possible to taste this cocktail from power, dynamics, speed, comfort, style and prestige.

I'll start with a brief certificate from Wikipedia
Ferrari FF (FF means Ferrari Four, that is, four places and four wheels of the leading) car of the Grand Tourism class. The official presentation took place on March 1, 2011 at the Geneva Motor Show. In this model there are two fundamentally new for cars produced in Maranello features is the first Ferrari all -wheel drive, and its first supercar in such a body. Its developers from the atelier Carrozzeria Pininfarina S.P.A. We chose for a three -door all -wheel drive supercar a rare modification of a station wagon called Shooting Break at present (literal translation of a hunting halt). Such a body ensures the convenience of transforming the cabin with a stylish appearance. Ferrari FF should replace Ferrari 612 Scaglietti.

The maximum FF speed is 335 km/h, the dynamics of acceleration from a place up to 100 km/h - 3.7 seconds. Ferrari positions FF as the fastest all -wheel drive car in the world. The name of the model, FF, Ferrari makes it clear that this car is more practical than its predecessor 612 Scaglietti: the all -wheel drive system allows ff confidently in difficult weather conditions, and four places are already enough to consider FF a utilitarian car.

The Ferrari FF has the largest engine that has ever produced by atmospheric (hopeless) V12 with a working volume of 6.3 liters. This unit produces a capacity of 660 hp. (485.4 kW) at 8000 rpm and torque 683 Nm at 6000 rpm.

FF is equipped with a 7-speed robotic DCT gearbox with double clutch, similar to the fact that they stand on Ferrari California and Ferrari 458 Italia.

The new all -wheel drive system, developed and patented by Ferrari, is called 4RM. It is 50% easier than the usual similar system, and best transfers torque to each of the four wheels.

Agree that the information is impressive. In order to evaluate the level of adrenaline in my blood before the test I will inform two more facts. Firstly, the price of FF in Russia starts from 380,000 euros and, secondly, I signed a mini-contract before the test, by which I compensate for the entire damage caused during the test from my own pocket! I immediately remembered the scratch on the protection of the TVR pallet, which cost the Top Gear editorial office five years ago, where I then worked, at $ 800.

For some reason, it is believed that Ferrari all-wheel drive is a monoton. I don’t know where it came from, but I categorically disagree with this. On the contrary, the sub -drive, whether it is a supercar or any other car seems to me much more organic than a monotive. So that FF was originally in my taste. Here are my feelings.

Once in a chair, you immediately tactfully evaluate the level of comfort. This is not even a comfort for a time you understand that from this moment you have become part of the car. You are implanted in it. You are he, and he is you. Hands themselves lie down on the steering wheel.

And then you understand that FF is a very close relative F1. To call the steering wheel multifunctional means to say nothing. Keys on the hub inclusion of turn signals; on the left of the forced buttons change in the characteristics of the shock absorbers and the start of the engine; over the rim of the wheels, steering liners of gear; On the right, Monettino, which controls the driving modes, rain, comfort, sport and everything is turned off; There are also keys to control wipers and light.

This is, of course, pleasant, but you need to get used to such a concentration. Okay, describing the car in detail, going into details. It is easier to evaluate people who tested FF for not 10 minutes, but at least a whole day. I can determine for the time allocated to me only the adequacy of FF myself. That is, if this miracle is conceived as a symbiosis of a sports car, a supercar and a pontoon, then you can only have time to understand how much this guys from Maranello succeeded. In this case, it does not care at all than the car was stuffed. It is important for me to understand what he can.

It is believed that the all -wheel drive and the established concept of the sports car are incompatible with each other. Weird. When 660 horses break out, only four wheels can at least somehow realize their power.

Separately about the start. The peculiarity of unmistered engines is that they are amazingly sensitive. When you press the gas pedal, you will create a complete feeling that the engine explodes by speed. His reaction is faster than the velocity of the nerve impulse, which goes from the tips of the fingers of the right leg to the brain. In other words, this happens faster than thought!

So, at the start, the feeling that you were tied to an anti -aircraft rocket, which is chasing a phantom F15. This sensation intensifies even more if you use a special acceleration system of launch control. The Launch button is located on the central console on the left. You turn it on, at the same time click on the brake and gas pedal, the electronics recognizes that you have gone the roof and you want to compete in the speed of speed with the rocket and, when you release the brake, you have all the guts, liver, spleen, in short the whole lyrean sticks To the spine, and then slides into the pelvis area. In four seconds, the car jumps up a 100-kilometer speed line and, without reducing the pace, continues to catch up with the invisible F15, and for about 10 seconds the front-wheel drive is turned off, because after 200 km/h it always turns off. But this is only the fourth gear, and FF has seven of them! There are no problems with acceleration. But this, rather, is an indicator of dope, not sports.

I'm flying to the track. Manetonno in the Sport position, an AUTO mode in Auto mode (I don’t use switching petals, since the robot does it better than me 8 milliseconds for switching), all attention to register the trajectory, the accuracy of braking and overclocking. Everything is just perfect! There is nothing more to say. I know for sure that I am going on the back drive, but in a protracted left, getting on a slippery area, by the nature of the demolition I understand that all four wheels are already rowing. Moreover, the moment of connection was absolutely invisible. Amazing!

We will assume that the sports examination exam was handed over perfectly. Without unnecessary words, you can put a checkmark in the column of Supercar. Why? Yes, because if I start only listing all the technical solutions laid down in FF, you will die from longing. And, if you add the number of electronic brains that control all systems to this, then you doubt that all this can go without glitches. But, nevertheless, all this goes. And travels cool.

I don’t see problems like a show-off either. This topic can be closed only by one price and nothing else is needed. And with the design of Italians, everything is always very simple. No one doubts this for a long time. And the last. I was frankly surprised by one inconsistency with the image of a sports car. Typically, planting formulas of such cars have the form: 2+0, 2+dog, 2+2 children, or even cooler than 2+2, but without legs. Here, the rear places are quite full -size, designed for adults, up to 1 meter 85 centimeters and normal legs!

Yes, I almost forgot. FF has a very important car for Russia, the car can be raised by 40 mm! At maximum speed and controllability, this does not affect in any way, since at 40 km/h the clearance is automatically reduced by the same 40 mm.

Now, as promised, I put on fragments of impressions of Paul Horrel and Sergey Kesemsky. They were recently published in Top Gear and Author's magazines, respectively.

Paul Horrel
A lot of things said that the new FF cannot be real Ferrari, because it is all -wheel drive. Allegedly, all -wheel drive violates the purity of front -end supercars, weights his nose and increases insufficient rotation, and dulls delight, uninvited into the intimate connection between you and the front tires. I must say that since the new FF has appeared, the old rules have lost strength. What is missing this car with all -wheel drive? What exactly are you losing? Tell me, if you know, I don't.

But how much you get! Let's get back to that mountain road. It is wet, in the ground and gravel. Consider that this is a suburban highway after the rain in places raw, in some places puddles, heaps of wet leaves, and in some places dirt. Can you imagine the scale of the problem? But Ferrari will cover. When the rear tires cannot digest the energy of the motor, it throws forward. Not only post -fact, but sometimes in advance. FF receives information about the clutch with the road during the phases of braking and entering the turn and models the expected clutch. It can distribute energy through the two front wheels independently: that is, the external will help pull the nose into the turn, and pull the internal out of the drift, if necessary. The same system controls the rear axle, but the differential of Ferrari also helps there.

But this does not mean that you are a passenger here. Yes, you can switch manettino to Snow or Wet, and then the car is absolutely stable. You can press the gas too early in a snowy turn, and the car will curb its own power and distribute it in the best way. So that you carefully go exactly where you steer. Just unthinkable! (There is a set of winter tires, and I specially tested them on a compacted snow. And when moving to the Comfort or Sport mode, the shock absorbers' program reacts sharper, switching faster, track control is slightly freer. And more work takes on food, so that the car is getting more alive. And yet it remains completely on your side ...

The zima is that when the food loses its clutch, then the excessive moment passes to the front, and only if the front end does not cope, only then does the car die the ardor of the motor. At the same time, his help is so elegant and unobtrusive that sometimes you do not even notice it, and you write down all the success to your account. On the dry road, while the rear tires are able to digest all power, nothing enters the front of the front. And you drive the true Ferrari.

The new 6.3-liter V12 is equipped with a direct injection system for the first time for V12 Ferrari. The red zone begins at 8200 dizzying height for the motor with a large working volume and direct injection. Direct injection not only greatly cleanses the exhaust at low speeds, but also allows the compression degree of 12.3: 1, and this is the only way to squeeze from it as many as 660 hp. The only one ... besides the turbine. But when you feel the even progressive growth of the power of this motor and its crystal-clean response, you absolutely understand that it is atmospheric! Extremely refined sound at medium speeds and a loud bumping at the top is another sign.

By the way, the regiment of the moment is also sincerely wide. Peak (682 Nm) accounts for 6,000 revolutions, but even at 1750 rpm already there are more than 540 nm. And there are always a choice of several programs, depending on how you want to pull up: elegant, rapidly, dramatic or unrealistic. He makes a hundred with 3.7 s. And, by the way, official indicators say that it is 25% more economical than any previous Ferrari V12. Cool!

In corners, he has a dexterity thanks to the motor and box shifted to the base on the rear axle. It is 7-speed, with a two-disc clutch and it seems, with the speed of thought. Ahead is a small handout and a multi -disc clutch for each of the two front -wheel drives. Gradually, including these clutches, electronics can smoothly and independently send the moment for each front wheel. The knot is compact, there are no extra cardans, because there is more space in the cabin and in the rear seats.

Yes, the rear seats are not as spacious as Panamera Turbo, but to match the other chief competitor of Bentley Continental GT. In any case, a medium -sized person like me will freely sit there, even if my imaginary twin sits behind the wheel. And yes, FF looks much more elegant than Porsche. We got into it: a large bag, a set of skis and a box with photographs, which did not fit into the trunk of a large sedan. All at once! His rear seat is separate, so we still had a place for the third person.

The long roof honestly speaks of the purpose of this machine, and, despite the design of the windows and the tilt of the trunk door, it looks compact from any angle. The nose is aristocratic, low and long. The relief is well thought out, the aerobes smartly emphasizes the design. The ventilation holes in the front wings regulate the flow of air on the sides of the machine. The holes in the rear do the same, removing air from areas with high pressure around the wheels, reducing the lifting force and conducting it so as to control the flow in the wake of the machine, that is, reducing the frontal resistance.

Be that as it may, but the body is very beautiful, wherever you look. Not as dramatic as in some two -month -olds, but perhaps this is for the better. Who is the hunt to constantly walk in a fluttering red cloak, sparkling with underwear? And on FF people will travel often and for a long time. Because the suspension is a pleasure. It is magnificent not only on dry asphalt: it is fascinating and gives confidence in any slush. It behaves well on slippery.

There is a decent navigation, just right for every day, there are high-quality high-fi and all the important options that people want to get, transplanting, say, from Bentley. The salon is wonderful, it is full of unusual design solutions and such forms and materials that only Italians can do. But the quality, if you look closely, is, unfortunately, far away to the same Germans. The joints between different materials are of different widths, and the line is not everywhere even. But is it important? Well no. But I would like the buttons on the steering wheel not so cotton. Those on any Porsche or Bentley, or even on the Audi A1, in which I sat after FF, work with an exact micro -brush.

All the levers were thrown away, and the control of headlights, wipers, turns, and also the starter button, manettino and the shock absorber settings button were transferred to the steering wheel. The steering wheel turned out just like that of Fernando Alonso, but you have to get used to it. And in general, for this sharp steering wheel, a habit is also required. Not when you drive, but when you go at the speed of the stream. You reach for switch the radio and run into the marking line.

FF starts drivers in the same way as a purebred anti -bearing Ferrari, but is able to do this more often and in more diverse circumstances. This alone has already increased its level, even if you consider the additional space or practicality of the hatchback. Now, Internet Boltuns will be able to complain only that Ferrari and other supercars allegedly are supposed to be slightly crazy, and FF design is closer to the sober, and its practicality itself allegedly makes it boring. Sorry, I will refrain from discussions with experts in the philosophy of supercar. I need to enter one more hill here.

Sergey Knowemsky
Maranello designers did not want to sacrifice the weight of this, even for the sake of spaciousness inside. Distribution of FF mass between axes 47:53 in favor of the rear wheels, almost like the average of the Ferrari 458 Italia medium -sized coupe (42:58). But the salon turned out to be clamped between the long V12 engine, completely shifted behind the front axle, and carried by a gearbox carried to the rear wheels. Is the victim justified?

The first time at the wheel of Ferrari is stress. Another universe with its laws of ergonomics and ideas about common sense. Turners, light control buttons on the steering wheel, control panel of the gearbox three buttons on the central tunnel. At first, you take the door handles for the keys of the windows, but they are suddenly found in the place of the handbrake. Foreign colleagues, gazaning, have already broken off the places, and I pretend that I was still busy with the adjustment of the chair. Why is the engine silent after turning the ignition key? Ah, yes, here is a separate starter button on the steering wheel. Where is the speedometer? What menu do you need to enter so that its virtual scale appears on one of the two monitors of the dashboard? The Auto button I translate the transmission into automatic mode, carefully release the brake ... Ferrari FF continues to stand still. More gas? The whole area has already turned into the motor of the motor, but the car will not move. Eureka! To move, you need to pull the right steering petal on yourself: only then the neutral will be replaced by the first gear. Thank God, leafing out from parking under the views of people from Ferrari, I did not hit the Claron buttons (they are also on the rim of the steering wheel) later I sinned more than once. All on the nerves. The car for eight centimeters wider than the S-class Mercedes barely fits in its lane! The steering wheel from the stop to the stop makes a little more than two revolutions: it seems that you can hardly pump a steering wheel and already on the county. But the eye is configured, hands forgot about interceptions, fingers memorized the location of the petals and buttons and ... I no longer want to live differently!

Twelve cylinders, 6.2 liters, direct injection, dry crankcase, where two oil pumps provide circulation. And, of course, no boost. The capacities of 660 horses and 683 Newton meters are always enough and everywhere, but it does not fall on you with a turbolas, but is smoothly stretched throughout the speed range. And just the phenomenal accuracy of the response.

And sound. From the intake manifold to the motor shield under the hood of Ferrari, special auditory pipes with membranes are stretched, designed to broadcast a clean voice of the motor into the salon. The drama arises even on idle, when in six pairs of cylinders, for each turnover of the crankshaft, three times more flashes than that of the usual four. It reaches furious at medium speeds and is broken by a hysterical scream on the approaches to the cut -off at 8000 rpm.

Voice. Power. Sharp. Speed. This is a scenario by which Ferrari plays each of its acceleration. Rather, Performance performance.

However, not everything is smooth with speed. An old Maserati 3200 GT glued on a winding auto track from behind. I add slightly: 130, 140, 150 does not lag behind, 170 sits. Is the threshold of tolerance of video control cameras twice as a restriction itself? 180. Now the aerodynamic equipment of the ducts should already work with might and main, reducing turbulence at the stern, a diffuser that creates a clamping force. But instead of flintering on the road, the car seemed to rise on smooth wriggles of the highway, the sharp steering wheel ceases to grab information content, and the straight line is already required to steering. I didn’t want to check what will happen next, and even more so at the maximum 335 km/h: I blinked the turn signal and accepted it to the right.

Ferrari has been operating on the Ferrari all -wheel drive since 2004. The result is PTU mechanism (Power Transfer Unit) weighing 35 kg and a length of 170 mm. In fact, a separate two -stage main gear for the front wheels mounted at the front end of the engine. Its first step in transmitted attitude is close to the second transfer of the Porelctic robot F1-DC, the second to the fourth. The role of the differential is played by two packets of wet clutches, playing the degree of slipping of which, you can vary the size of the torque transmitted to each of the front wheels. When Ferrari moves in the first or second main gears, the first step is included in PTU, and the second is turned on when the robot is transition to the third or fourth. And then the clutches open, and the FF remains exclusively by the rear -wheel drive car. At the end of the fourth gear, you move at a speed of about 200 km/h, engineers say. We do not think that all -wheel drive will help you in this situation.

The PTU patent belongs to Ferrari, but the Italian company Carraro produces the unit, and the German company Hoerbiger supplies frictions.

On the roads, where I had to go more precisely or at all within the framework of the rules, I did not have any complaints about Ferrari. Technologically FF is even more compromise than the family pro -American Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, more User Friendly, as the ocean says. There is no more choice between the robot and mechanics only the pre-sequentic box of the F1-DCT, the double-leaf rear suspension is replaced by a multi-link (Italians on the graphs explain that the accuracy and speed of the rackets of the chassis did not fall, and the smoothness of the course has incomparably increased). Shock absorbers improved electronic controlled with magnetoreological fluid. And all this, of course, controls the electronics by turning the manettino flag, you can choose a sports or comfortable general mode or go into sophisticated settings, designed for coverage with different clutch coefficients. And this is not a whim: electronics does not crush the character of FF, but rather, on the contrary, it is its connecting basis. Ferrari, for example, is deprived of crafty flirting with the level of reactive effort on the steering wheel in any of the modes in Italian is airy and transparent. The suspension always remains assembled and energy -intensive. The difference between sports and comfort is reduced, in fact, to the size of the rolls. The work of the F1-DCT transmission ideal without stretching: it is the most lightning and delicate of all the robots I know, and depending on the algorithm, only moments of gear switch and the duration of their retention are changing.

Probably, all modern Ferrari are worthy of the same words: crazy Getrag, a multi -winged and manettino robot, and Ferrari 458 Italia and Ferrari California are equipped. And the soul of Ferrari FF is still Quattro Route Motrici, or 4RM, perhaps the most original serial system of all -wheel drive. Not even the bare skeleton of this transmission from the Geneva salon crashed with a separate two -stage main transmission on the sock of the crankshaft, but the words of engineers: Ferrari is needed not only to confidently accelerate on any coating for a buzz!. And shots from the video: here, in the Tyrolean Alps, Ferrari FF writes an arc in a protracted snowy turn! Railings on a special winter highway high in the mountains are also in our schedule, notFerrari, for example, is deprived of crafty flirting with the level of reactive effort on the steering wheel in any of the modes, it is in Italian airy and transparent. The suspension always remains assembled and energy -intensive. The difference between sports and comfort is reduced, in fact, to the size of the rolls. The work of the F1-DCT transmission ideal without stretching: it is the most lightning and delicate of all the robots I know, and depending on the algorithm, only moments of gear switch and the duration of their retention are changing.

The 4RM transmission is arranged so that the front wheel drives are turned on the electronics only in case of risk of rear slipping. And to make the warmed twenty -inch tires on a rowing car rushing along the edge of a car at a price of 400 thousand euros for this only six and a half hundred horses is not enough ... I decided to imprison. I add gas in a bend and lateral vision I try to catch a pictogram in a combination of devices. Here, the feed fluttered slightly and then the contours of the front wheels on the display lit up in blue. So, the torque went to the front and the car and the car gently stabilized before my steering wheel intervention. It was the Comfort mode. And if you go to Sport and increase the speed? The reactions have become clearer, the front wheels dive onto an arc without a hint of demolition, and the sliding of the rear steel became sharper and deeper. But 4RM still performs the function of the insurer, correcting the driver’s mistakes without the intervention of the mechanisms of the stabilization system. Maybe deceive the electronics to include one of the slippery modes in which, as the engineers said, the system for the sake of the very high allows a long slipping? The ICE mode is definitely not for this: the suspension relaxes, the brakes begin to strangle any sliding in the bud. But the position of Wet seems to be what you need! Faster, even faster. The speed on straight ligaments under 200, on braking in front of wide open studs, ceramic brakes almost block the wheels, barely noticeable, and the drift phases are longer, with mandatory correcting the steering wheel. But all the same, I don’t get even slots. And if without a stabilization system at all?

I crossed the manettino flag to the extreme position: ESC OFF. My friend on the passenger chair made another attempt to grab the ceiling pen of the non -existent Ferrari. When the FF food was a meter from the cliff, he could not stand it:

- Seryoga, do you have children?

I dropped the gas, returned the electronics into a comfortable mode and calmly rolled to the hotel.
 

A source: Magazine 5 wheel [December 2011]