Dynamically, the SF90's replacement delivers a lot to appreciate. But I'm not convinced by its looks or its name. The Ferrari 849 Testarossa and its more whimsical Spider variant are cars that, despite their many talents on the road, leave me scratching my head.
Look. I understand. The SF90 needed an update. Sure. It's easy to see causation in a very obvious response: making the SF90 look different, changing its name to something more grandiose yet also familiar. And adding just enough extra power to push the output into four figures to justify the additional expense.
That's my best guess as to how we arrived at the 849 Testarossa. But that doesn't excuse the problems I have with it. Let's start with the name. Because 849 defies Ferrari's standard three-digit convention, which is normally displacement followed by cylinder count. So the 328 was a 3.2-liter V-8, the 512TR was (just a hair under) a 5.0-liter V-12. Even the 296 follows the rules, being a 2.9-liter V-6.
View Price on AmazonThe new engine doesn't suffer from the issues that come with big turbos—loss of low-end torque—thanks to a clever blow-by system in the cylinder head that spools the turbos early with extra air the engine won't need. Even without the three motors, this car would still be very, very fast. But it has the electrical assistance anyway, with a 13 kWh battery pack. The total output is 819 horsepower and 621 lb-ft of torque.
The cabin is familiar Ferrari with comfortable seats, decent legroom, and a full digital gauge cluster in front of the driver that, thankfully, is controlled by real buttons on the steering wheel. One day, maybe Ferrari can earn enough profit to turn the remainder of the buttons across the dash, such as for the mirror controls, nose lift, and climate, back to physical switchgear as well.
Source: roadandtrack.com
