LaFerrari review, test drive

Ferrari claims the driving position is half way between that of a normal sports car and a Formula 1 car, with the driver’s backside sitting at broadly the same height as their toes. Sit on the floor against a wall with your arms and legs out-stretched but slightly bent, holding on to an imaginary steering wheel, then shift your bottom forwards so that your back is at an angle of 32 degrees to the wall and you’ll get a rough idea of how “single-seater” the driving position feels. And the rest of the cabin is very much in the same vein.

 

There are three different instrument styles than can be dialled up within the TFT digital dash display, all with the rev counter dominating to varying degrees. Anyone who’s ever been fortunate enough to sit in a 458 will recognise certain elements immediately, but there’s a sense of purity inside the Ferrari that elevates it above any of Maranello’s other cars. It feels quite a lot like you’re sitting inside a very well appointed Le Mans car, actually, with swathes of Alcantara and buttons for the sat-nav where normally you might expect to find switches marked 'rain' or 'pit lane speed limiter'.

 

However fast and furious and noisy and exciting to drive you might imagine the LaFerrari to be, double it, add 20 and you might, just maybe, get somewhere close.

 

I find myself vibrating with excitement as I prod the starter button, squeeze the huge right hand gear paddle to select gear ratio number one and rumble out on to the track for my first few tentative laps, with the manettino switch set to Race mode. Other than this now familiar dial on the steering wheel, there are no other buttons to play with, nada; Ferrari deciding instead to let the car do the talking, which is a refreshingly pure ethos to adopt.

 

The ride instantly feels spookily smooth and calm, the steering surprisingly light but bursting with a delicious, old school kind of feel. The brake pedal also feels light underfoot but is again rippling with feel. And the throttle response, the first time I go anywhere near the loud pedal is just outrageous; the car explodes down the back straight even on half throttle in fourth gear.

 

And that’s what you get when you integrate electric power with a thumping great V12. At low revs the electricity provides the torque, and provides it instantly, and from there on up – at about 3000rpm – the V12 takes over. Yet the transformation is so smooth you are never actually aware that it takes place. Instead, it feels like the car is powered by a 10-litre V12 that somehow has massive low rev response at the same time.

 

And to begin with, at least, it’s the immediacy of its response to the throttle that pretty much defines what LaFerrari feels like on the move. The torque appears to arrive from the moment you think about opening the accelerator, not when you physically press the pedal, and to begin with, that takes quite some getting used to.