Ferrari FF, a Four Wheeler, Attracts Crowds at California Dealership

There was a gigantic stir around the Ferrari dealer. The new Ferrari FF was being delivered to the showroom. Yes, it stopped traffic. It stopped me in my tracks as I walked off my Thanksgiving turkey. Here's why.

The FF is Ferrari's first four-wheel drive vehicle. Yes, you can drive it in snow. You can drive it up steep, slippery mountain roads. You can speed across the terrain if you so desire. You can outfit your FF with roof racks for show and arrive in style at the chalet even if you don't ski.

The four wheeling capability is what has everybody excited. Well, me in particular. I'll speak for myself. It's not that the 4WD enchantment exists for driving in extreme conditions, it's about driving the car on regular roads when they deliver surprises. Yeah, it's nice to have the capability to get home in an unexpected blizzard, but the secure drivability plus the fun of 651 horses puts pleasure back into an otherwise white-knuckle trip.

Ferrari innovation combined three traction systems-4RM, PTU, and F1 Trac-into one. I don't pretend to understand what each one does, but the slip, speed, torque, and differences among those on each of the four wheels are calculated constantly. Proper power to each wheel is delivered directly from the crankshaft. The car stays in intimate contact with the road, despite a layer of slick stuff in between.

The 4WD system holds interest for me as I had two other four-wheeling performance cars in my past: BMW 320iX and Porsche Carrera 4. Why the attraction to performance 4-wheelers? Well, I wanted to get home from work fast in the snow. And safely too. But you had to know how to drive a performance four-wheeler. They had plenty of understeer.

What's understeer? Well, it's going straight when you want to get around a curve. On dry pavement, it's called a four-wheel drift. On snow, it's plowing into the snow drift. On dirt roads, it's going into the weeds. On high Rocky Mountain roads, it's being another statistic. Not something you want to do or be. You can learn to control the understeering tendency, but one needs to learn how, and hopefully not from experience.

The Ferrari FF has none of that annoying understeer. It goes where you point it: no more, no less. No rear-end swinging out to a spin. No going straight when turning. Lovely! I want one!

I gawked as they drove the FF through the double glass doors of the posh dealership. A dry sunny Southern California day did not dampen my lust for the car that gets you where you're going in any kind of inclemency.

I have a feeling that this particular vehicle won't go through any dreadful conditions at all. Nevertheless, everybody gathered around knew it could.