Power to Cupra brand
Seat’s Cupra model line is becoming a brand in its own right. The announcement was made in conjunction with the unveiling of a new model, the Cupra Ateca.
Previously, Cupra (a contraction of ‘‘cup racer’’) has been a badge on the fastest and most sportsfocused models in the Spanish maker’s range. The Leon Cupra hatchback is part of Seat’s lineup in New Zealand.
But future performance models will have Cupra as their brand. The Ateca is the first of the new generation, featuring a 2.0-litre turbo engine with 221kW.
The engine comes with a special exhaust note and is matched to a newly developed version of Seat’s seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox.
The Cupra Ateca comes with the 4Drive traction system, including six driving modes: Normal, Sport, Individual, Snow, Off-Road and Cupra.
In Cupra mode, the engine note changes and the adaptive suspension is adjusted to give a sportier edge to the car.
The vehicle can reach a top speed of 245kmh and go from 0-100kmh in only 5.4 seconds.
At the front, the upper grille has a honeycomb effect on the inside with the new Cupra logo in the centre.
The roof rails, wing mirrors, window frames, side mouldings, wheels, front grille and front and rear diffusers are in gloss black.
The Cupra division will also encompass all of Seat’s motorsport activities.
Ferrari has called the replacement for its California convertible the Portofino, after a posh village along the Italian Riviera. As with the old car, it’s a gateway model to the exotic brand - if not exactly cheap at $375k.
To launch the Portofino, the company invited journalists to Italy to drive it. To Bari, nearly 1000km away from Portofino, at the opposite end of the country. Which seemed an odd thing to do.
Then again, it’s winter in Italy. Portofino is pretty much closed for business. It’s very cold in the north. And the roads aren’t brilliant.
Bari was deemed better. A convertible GT needs to be seen. Driving around with the roof off is pretty much why it exists. And Ferrari’s mission to make its entrylevel car much more of a driver’s machine cannot be assessed without some great tarmac to try it on.
Not that the Italian maker has thrown out the baby-convertible with the bathwater. Portofino is all-new, but the most crucial thing was to retain the qualities that made the California a winner in the first place: comfort, refinement and ease-of-use.
California accounts for one-third of Ferrari sales. Nearly threequarters of buyers have come from other brands, they drive the car 150 per cent more than other owners and 85 per cent use the car for leisure driving like weekend trips and holidays.
The styling speaks for itself: Ferrari wanted Portofino to look like a a proper coupe with the roof up, so it took some inspiration from the classic Daytona (inside too, with a very horizontal dashboard design).
The roof mechanism is all-new and will retract in 14 seconds at speeds of up to 40kmh. It’s larger than the old car’s, but that means bootspace in coupe configuration is also up 52 litres.
Don’t expect cabin quality to rival a German car, but there’s undeniable appeal to a Ferrari’s hand-built look and feel.
The new infotainment system is actually pretty slick and as an option you can have a digital instrument display on the passenger’s side. This, says Ferrari, is because a GT car is all about sharing the experience: remember that when your spouse is screaming at you at about speed.
It’s roomier, because the new magnesium-skeleton front seats are slimmer. Rear-seat occupants get 50mm more legroom, although realistically they’re still only for children or (more likely) shopping.
As a cruiser? Brilliant. As with the California, Portfino has a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission that can operate in Auto mode. Surprisingly, it chases top gear relentlessly in normal driving, presumably in the interests of fuel economy. That’s okay, the super-torquey engine can take it.
The Portofino is the second Ferrari after the 812 Superfast to have electric power steering (EPS). One of the advantages is that it can be tuned to prevent small irregularities in the road from making it through to the wheel, improving refinement at sensible speeds.
The Portofino also has magnaride suspension (SCM-E) that gives a huge range of ride-comfort responses to different surfaces. Plus a special button on the steering wheel for Bumpy Road Mode, which puts the dampers into a softer configuration while leaving steering and powertrain alone. Clever.
The new exhaust system features electronic bypass valves that tailor the sound to the driving situation. The Portofino has a sharp, racingcar-like note at any speed, but it’s far from intrusive in gentle driving.
So yes, Portofino is a great cruiser: better looking, more luxurious and more refined than the California.
But is it a better, well, Ferrari? It’s certainly a faster Ferrari, rocketing to 100kmh in 3.5 seconds. That’s very serious performance. At full noise the exhaust noise is very, very full indeed.
It’s said the engine is the heart and soul of any real Ferrari and that’s certainly true of this one. The California moved to a turboV8 in 2014, but for the Portofino it’s been heavily revised, including new pistons, conrods and intake technology.
It might be a turbo, but Ferrari is determined that it not feel like one. It uses variable boost management to ensure power increases at a linear rate - in fact, it’s impossible to get peak torque until fourth gear. Not for Ferrari a flat torque curve: it reckons power should build evenly and then blow you away.
The V8 revs eagerly all the way to 7500rpm (another remarkable achievement for a turbo engine) and you really wouldn’t know it’s a turbo: no lag, no peaks and troughs. It’s an exquisite piece of engineering, while at the same time serving up crazy-fast acceleration when required.
There’s one thing about Bari that Ferrari executives admit they overlooked in their quest for good weather and winding tarmac. Many roads are in shocking condition, with broken surfaces and some really big potholes. The local materials used for the seal also results in a strangely slippery surface. Doesn’t seem to slow the locals in their battered Fiat Pandas; but there’s a tad more at stake in somebody else’s fast Ferrari.
Can’t say we didn’t have our moments, but the Portofino’s combination of chassis balance and brilliant electronics (it has Ferrari’s latest E-Diff3) made it a fairly non-threatening super-highperformance machine in these tricky conditions.
The EPS is light but tuned to load up nicely when required. The steering ratio is nearly 10 per cent quicker than the California’s and it did feel a touch nervous in some 100kmh driving, with a strong selfcentring action. Be interesting to see how that translates to Kiwi roads.
The lack of body roll in fast
corners is impressive, although it was a little unsettling at times on such slidey road surfaces. Again, on familiar roads a with more mechanical grip it has the potential to tackle corners at a stunning pace.
It’s a difficult balance to achieve: comfort and practicality with genuine Ferrari ability and excitement. You can’t please everybody and there will be aspects of the Portofino’s dynamic package where the balance has gone too far one way or the other for personal taste, depending on who’s driving.
But your $375k is buying you a car that certainly feels Ferrarispecial and can still get you down the supermarket for the week’s shopping.