Portofino is a quiet fishing village near Genoa in Italy, 250 km southwest of Maranello, where Ferraris are made. The village is speckled with high-end boutiques and the harbor, with super-yachts. It’s a holiday waiting for me on the Italian Riviera: sometime in the future. Back to now: Located 6000 km further on the Jumeirah shores of Dubai is the Bulgari Yacht Club; and that morning, besides the yachts on the marina, there was a Portofino waiting for me right here. Now, this Portofino is the latest Ferrari and heir to the California T.
THE SPECS: 3.9L twin turbo engine V8 – 90° turbo / Bore and stroke 86.5 mm x 82 mm / 600 cv (592 hp) at 7500 rpm / 760 Nm between 3000 and 5250 rpm / Compression ratio 9.45:1 / F1 dual-clutch transmission, 7-speed / Carbon ceramic brakes Electronic Controls: ESP, ESC, with F1-Trac, E-Diff 3, SCM-E with twin solenoid
THE DIMENSIONS: L x W x H: 4586 x 1938 x 1318 mm / Wheelbase 2670 mm / Kerb weight 1664 kg / Weight distribution 46-54% front/rear / Boot 292 L / Fuel tank 80 L / Tyres: front 245/35 ZR20; 8J x 20” / Rear 285/35 ZR20; 10J x 20”
THE PERFORMANCE: Top speed >320 km/h / 0-100 km/h 3.5 sec / 0-200 km/h 10.8 sec / Braking distance 100-0 km/h 34 m / Combined Fuel consumption claim: 10.7 l/100 km / Emissions 245g CO2/km
California T was a cruiser; a grand tourer. By definition and descent, the Portofino should be, too. The new Portofino sounded the part – calm, stylish, soothing, luxurious, romantic – inspiring the smells and sounds of an Italian Riviera. It looked the part too, in red, grey and white. Styling cues belonging to the new Ferrari design language – I could see bits of the 812 on the flat bridge between the California-red-button rear lamps!
Off we go, for some heady mountain air
The road to Hatta was interlaid with long stretches of uninterrupted driving and roundabouts that seemed better off on testing grounds – small enough to challenge turning circles and steering response, and at certain speeds, a study on the effects of torque slip.
The dashboard looked classy and a strip of the old block. The new easy to use 10.25-inch screen had large graphic styling and two control knobs flanking it, with the three drive-operative buttons placed on the longitudinal podium. At the passenger end of the dash strip, a capacitive display relayed information related to speed, rpm and the current gear, just as in the GT4Lusso. The navigation graphics were excellent – soothing to watch and simple to follow. There was only one problem – these were European cars and the regional navigation maps weren’t loaded. Anyway, we could always turn to our mobiles and Google.
The super-sharp Google isn’t infallible – occasionally it misreads a destination input and takes you on a longer road. And rarely are you thankful for it. This was one of those occasions. Well, the downside is that our car missed the photo opp at the picturesque Hatta dam but I’m not complaining – I got to drive on the winding mountain roads all I wanted! The car beautifully fits into the rough rocky mountains with elegant Californian grace – when it’s still and when on the move.
The Portofino has some new in-cabin improvements which are significant in the Middle Eastern context. There is a 20% increase in air capacity that improves the air-conditioners’ efficiency and a reduction of 8dB in noise levels. Similarly, aerodynamic noise in the cabin too has been reduced when the top is down, as the new wind deflector cuts air flow over the body by 30%.
The drive and the drivetrain
Ferrari Portofino works up 40 CV (or 39.43 hp) more from Maranello’s award-winning 3.9L V8 engine to achieve 592 hp. Still, the Portofino gets 10 CV less than what the very same engine feeds the GTC4LussoT with. Everything else, including the electronics systems are the same but for the fuel efficiency and emissions, which happen to be slightly improved in the new Portofino. The braking also takes a metre longer in the Portofino than the much heavier GTC4LussoT. The 7-speed dual clutch transmission in the Ferrari Portofino is clever and quick – and the paddle shifts make you forget it’s born as a cruiser. True, we do miss the down force we are used to in the Italia or the 488 GTB – just as we miss the ‘race button’ on the mode selector on the steering.
On the way uphill, I noticed the car was doing 2000 and a few hundreds more on the tacho, and the DCT was comfortably in top gear while on the way down, even in the fourth gear, I was easily revving up to 5000! The reason could be traced back to the Variable Boost Management, a control software developed by Ferrari that adjusts torque delivery to suit the gear selected. As the car climbs from 3rd to 7th gear, the torque delivered also increases all the way up to 760 Nm. This has allowed Ferrari to adopt longer gear ratios in the higher gears, which helps keep fuel consumption and emissions down on the one hand, while adopting different torque curves through the rev range in the lower gears. There is never a gasp in the whole pick-up course.
Maranello has given Portofino a super power – and that’s the power to wear the cape only when it wants to. Otherwise it’s gliding, noiselessly for a drop top, revelling in important details like dropping its top in 14 seconds. Oh, by the way, it’s actually quite cool and conveniently done without slowing down below 50 kmph!
Back on the end stretch of Meliha road, the fuel reminder lit up, but we were on a slow cruise anyway, unlike the rush we were in on our way up. The figure that kept showing up and the graphic suggestion of what was left was hard to match, but the Portofino had the last smile – which actually meant we were smiling too, as we drove up for a brief refill at the end of Emirates road. Not bad at all for a 600 cv super car that just completed a round trip between Jumeirah and Hatta – close to 300 km – with another 50 odd km among the Hajjar mountain folds. All at the hands of a couple of merciless journos, often riding at Ferrari-like speeds.
Ferrari Portofino has a top speed of 320 kmph, very achievable as we almost found out, and gets to 0-200 in 10.8 seconds. Reading from the Press Release, it “is the most powerful convertible to combine the advantages of a retractable hard top, a roomy boot and generous cockpit space complete with two rear seats suitable for short trips.”
I could have hardly said it any better.
