March 07, 2013, 21:20 / Auto

Ferrari FF: Formula 1 Lessons

What is the most attractive thing about Ferrari: speed, driving pleasure, originality of engineering solutions, design, the brand itself? Ferrari FF offers many correct answers Alexander Gubsky Kirill Kharatyan A. Gubsky / Vedomosti

The premiere of the Ferrari FF, which took place in the spring of 2011 at the Geneva Motor Show, became a sensation: the first production all-wheel drive Ferrari car, and even a truly 4-seater, with a full trunk of 450 liters!

People who are able to understand the design of the car, the FF (short for Ferrari Four) was amazed by the original solution of all-wheel drive: to provide drive to the front wheels, Italian engineers designed a block of additional gears that transmits torque from the engine directly to the front axle - without any there were no cardan shafts. As they say, everything ingenious is simple. Otherwise, the FF has a classic Ferrari architecture, the same one can be found, for example, in the F12 Berlinetta or California models: mid-engine layout (engine in the front, but shifted back behind the front axle), gearbox in the rear.

Roberto Fideli, who led the Ferrari FF development team, told one of us at the Geneva premiere that the initiative to create an all-wheel drive Ferrari came precisely from engineers, not marketers: “From our point of view, all-wheel drive is not very important in order to improve the performance of the car, but if you want to push the limits of the car, for example on wet or snowy roads, [all-wheel drive can] help... The solutions we used in FF allow you to drive fast, but safely and enjoy it.” And the President of Ferrari SpA, Luca di Montezemolo, who represented the FF in Geneva, called it a new era in the history of Ferrari, pointing out that for the first time the company built a car for the whole family that can be used every day.

Having spent almost a week behind the wheel of the FF in February Moscow (and we specifically waited for winter to test an all-wheel drive car in such conditions), we are ready to testify: the Ferrari FF can really be an everyday car (although it is unlikely to be), you can drive it fast - with pleasure and comfort, even in snowy and slushy Moscow.

We will not comment on the design of the Ferrari FF, created in the Pininfarina studio. And if this three-door hatchback doesn’t make an impression on anyone, we’ll answer by paraphrasing Faina Ranevskaya: the cars made by Pininfarina over half a century have fallen in love with so many millions of people that now these cars can choose for themselves who they want to impress and who they want to impress. - No.

We won’t bore you with drag figures and other aerodynamic achievements of the Ferrari FF either. Let us cite just one fact that struck us. The rear view camera of the Ferrari FF (the FF has three cameras in total) is installed... directly on the bumper and is not covered by anything. Imagine our surprise when, having covered fifteen hundred kilometers in slushy Moscow, we engaged reverse gear and saw on the screen... an almost clear picture. The aerodynamics of the FF are so precise, the air flows flowing around the car are redirected so correctly that there are almost no turbulences directly behind the rear of the car - and no dirt gets on the camera!

Any Ferrari, even a four-seater, is a driver's car, and in the FF the main driver's feature is the steering wheel. Snobby automotive journalists love to criticize the Mercedes-Benz company for the fact that it traditionally installs on its cars a single steering column switch, responsible for all service options, from turn signals to washers (naturally, those who have not made money on Mercedes are zealous in attacks — the switch is actually very convenient).

Ferrari went even further: the FF has no steering wheel paddles at all! All car control functions (except gas and brake) are located on the steering wheel: LED tachometer, gear switches, horn buttons, turn indicators, washer, engine start, shock absorber settings, car settings switch (FF has five modes - from racing to snow ) and - the most necessary in our conditions - the high beam switch button! Of course, this is not yet a Formula 1 car steering wheel, with dozens of buttons and switches, but the Ferrari racing DNA is clearly visible. And all “non-automotive” functions - such as adjusting the volume of the audio system or selecting tracks - are mercilessly demoted to the center console. While driving a Ferrari, nothing should distract from the main thing - driving: “airplanes first”! Undoubtedly, the “formula” steering wheel of the Ferrari FF is an excellent marketing solution. And it is very functional - you get used to the buttons in just a couple of hours, but when you change into a regular car, you wonder: why are these levers needed?

/A.Gubsky/Vedomosti, The Ferrari FF steering wheel has 11 switches, keys, buttons plus an LED tachometer

The entire week that the Ferrari FF was in our test, the temperature in Moscow fluctuated around 0 degrees - there was disgusting slush on the roads in the city, and there was snow on the roads outside. The vast majority of our test was carried out in snowy settings - and it turned out that the Ferrari FF suspension in this mode is not at all tooth-breaking and allows you to pass standard speed bumps without even braking (naturally, when driving at the permitted speed). True, the FF wheels, shod with low-profile Pirelli Sottozero tires, are clearly not intended for Russian pits.

The only time and place where the quality of the road surface begins to be felt is when the car is fully loaded and driving at a decent speed. Four people plus the Third Transport Ring of Moscow - and you’re welcome: almost every seam (however, these seams are of known quality) affects the soft part of the rear passengers; in front it is less noticeable (and noticeable).

But this is more of an experiment than a real need, as it seems to us. Due to the ridiculous weather for testing a sports car (as well as the condition of the FF, which was in our test during the run-in period: the car had only completed its first 100 km), we did not take any decisive driving actions - do not consider accelerating to half of the declared maximum speed as such 335 km/h? Or - shouldn’t you be sad because you couldn’t find the conditions to let FF take off? At the request of one of the brave testers, we slightly, as Moscow drivers say, “embroidered” - that is, rushed from row to row - along the Moscow road mess of Kutuzovsky Prospekt, and it was completely in vain to take such a risk: despite the automation, the honest sports car began to drive backwards; The squeal in the cabin, drowning out the wonderful sound of the Ferrari exhaust, was an additional reward for us. However, everything worked out.

Note that the usual snowdrifts and snowdrifts on Moscow winter roadsides, crushed by the cars of their predecessors and frozen overnight, did not become a serious obstacle to the studless wheels of the FF; It was enough to give it a hard gas.

Is it possible to make a seditious statement and say that in Moscow traffic jams the sound of the 12-cylinder Ferrari FF engine soon begins to put pressure on your ears? But this is true: the voice of Ferrari does not sound at a traffic light waiting for a green signal, it is cramped on city streets (just as it is impossible to enjoy the singing of an opera bass in a one-room apartment), it requires a stage. The element of a Ferrari - even a four-seater, even an all-wheel drive - is highway, space, speed: then its engine stops choking at low speeds and, switching to high speeds, begins to sing a wonderful song.

/A.Gubsky/Vedomosti, The main place - even in a four-seater Ferrari FF - is the driver’s

The Ferrari FF is positioned as a four-seater. An adult passenger is unlikely to fit behind the driver, but the other three seats are definitely adults. Moreover, the front passenger seat is configured in such a way that it is more convenient to sit on it without stretching out your legs, but moving closer to the dashboard, in the driver’s position (there is an aluminum pad on the floor to support the passenger’s legs), and thus a full and comfortable place is formed in the back. But what is completely uncomfortable is listening to music. One of us even expressed doubts about the need for such a car, whose resonators emit such a beautiful, varied growl that caresses the ears of every car enthusiast. Heavy metal, especially if you turn it up loud (Iron Maiden, Powerslave album), can harmoniously coexist with the music of exhaust gases; Well, there’s no need to talk about hearing the nuances: the bass seems to be excellent, the rest doesn’t matter. Subtleties like jazz performed by brass instruments or the thunderous composer Wagner are not perceived.

Ferrari's on-board computer does not report fuel consumption - only the maximum speed achieved during the trip (ours was 167 km/h) and average speed (ours was 29 km/h). But the average consumption can be calculated: we emptied the 90-liter tank after covering a little more than 200 km.

/Vedomosti