2011 Ferrari FF

Road & Track

This new four-seater is “not an ordinary exotic.” A “car that looks better in person than in photographs,” it’s the first Ferrari with all-wheel drive, meaning it can get you from the slopes to your chalet the next time you’re skiing the Dolomites. “Mechan­ically, it’s everything you would expect from Ferrari”: The 6.3-liter, 651-hp V12 engine distributes power through a unique drive system, and all controls are mounted in the steering wheel, racing-style.

Motor Trend

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

There was a “hysterical reaction” from auto enthusiasts when Ferrari unveiled the FF’s square-back body style, but there are enough innovations packed beneath the skin to make us believe that the manufacturer “has wrought an engineering miracle.” One quibble: Some of those innovations reduce the need for seat-of-the-pants driving skills, making the FF “a bit too ‘Ferrari for Dummies’ in some ways—automated and idiot-proofed.”

Autoblog

Whatever the purists say, this standout vehicle is “a genius move” from a company that was “having an increasingly challenging time selling V12-engined dream cars.” Critics can argue endlessly over the looks of this three-door coupe, but it marks “one of those beautiful moments” when “a company has answered a question that nobody was asking.”