Ferrari GTC4Lusso: Luxury, All-Wheel Drive, Fast And Sexy

I think that Enzo Ferrari was brought to this planet solely to create amazing cars. Just his name alone qualified him to follow that path (or autobahn). A rose by any other name, and all that, but still – would the name Smith Testarossa or Jones LaJones or Lee GTO work to quicken the pulse and highten the senses? I think not but, luckily, we didn’t have to make that choice. Ferrari it is.

And one of the newest delights from the atelier of Maranello is the Ferrari GTC4Lusso (as is their wont, the Ferrari folks dispensed with spaces in the naming of some of their cars – maybe they want you to pronounce it as quickly as it goes). The name does not require too much decryption to figure out – it is a Grand Touring Coupe, four-wheel drive and it’s sumptuously luxurious (“lusso” is Italian for “luxury”).

The stats give you a good inking of what’s coming toward you at warp speed:

• 6.3 liter naturally-aspirated (no turbo) V-12 producing 680 horsepower
• About 515 pounds of torque
• Compression ratio of 13.5:1 (that’s unusually potent for a street car)
• 0-60 in about three seconds
• Top speed a click under 210 miles per hour

The GTC4Lusso is the successor to the Ferrari FF, a car which looked similar but has less-fluid lines and, to my eye, was much less attractive. On the other hand, I actually love the GTC4Lusso from all angles, as some of these photos will attest.

The car awakes with the familiar bark of a feral V12 then burbles at the ready. Select whichever driving mode you like on the Manettino (Italian for “little switch”) on the steering wheel – a la Formula 1 – and off you go, using the paddle shifters or, if you deserve a break today, in fully-automatic mode. Either way, you will experience a terrific sound and a wonderful ride wherever you’re heading.

GTC4Lussos start at about $298,000 but “mine” had a couple of bells and a number of whistles, most notably (expensively) a panaoramic glass roof (add $20,249), special Ferrari paint (a gorgeous metallic grey, another $12,486) and a nose lifter (plus $6,749), giving it a total sticker of about $377,000.

Unfortunately, I did not get to experience the GTC4Lusso on a road trip (the Ferrari handlers told me that LA-NY was out of the question) but I assume that it would have been a marvelous trip. (Did you know that, for many years, the NY-LA driving record is held by Dan Gurney, driving a Ferrari Daytona, in under 36 hours?) But every drive I had, and everyone who bummed a ride or just stopped to talk about the car, absolutely loved it. But then, perchè no.