2012 Ferrari FF

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OMG! The winningest team in Formula 1 and the company that best translates that racing technology to its road cars has gone off the reservation and built an all-wheel-drive wagon with a suspension that goes up and down like a Range Rover's. Not even Nostradamus saw this coming. The Mayans were right -- the world is ending in 2012!



Ferrari offers 16 standard colors, 10 colors inspired by the 1960's, 12 non-standard colors, and 3 three-layer colors. Pair them with polished, matte, or black rims, six caliper colors, and myriad combinations of interior monotone or multi-tone leathers and stitching. An online configurator makes them all available for internet dreamers.Such was the hysterical reaction of many following the Geneva unveiling of Ferrari's latest V-12 grand tourer, the FF.



That's because the company decided to go for a revolutionary redesign of the 612 Scaglietti with the aim of luring more rich golfers and skiers. Basically the design brief was this: Make the car fit four full-sized 95th-percentile adults, plus a couple of tournament golf bags or four people's roller bags for a weekend getaway within the 612's footprint, while ensuring that it could A) reach the slopes safely in winter, and B) perform like any other Ferrari on dry pavement.



Those packaging requirements pretty much forced Pininfarina into the controversial square-back design (call it a "shooting-brake" if you're fancy), but at least this shape contributed to the 20-percent improvement in overall aerodynamic efficiency. By raising the roof just 1.4 inches, the car can snugly carry four 6-footers while providing Porsche Panamera-topping luggage space in back.



The performance targets sent the engineering department to their drawing boards. The first goal requires all-wheel-drive (plus proper winter tires and that optional hydraulic lift that boosts ground clearance by 1.6 inches up to 20 mph), while the second demands a rear weight and drive-torque bias. Those divergent requirements basically ruled out every known AWD system since the Jensen FF's, including Nissan's tangle of driveshafts and transaxle solution. (It adds too much weight and wrecks the underbody packaging.)

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