New car: “a solid improvement”
Ferrari has been making sports cars for seven decades, so it’s bound to be “quite good” at that, said Matt Saunders in Autocar. But when it comes to a drop-top grand tourer like the Portofino, the marque’s pedigree is “less convincing”. The car’s predecessor, the California, was supposed to combine the excitement of a Ferrari with the “versatility, refinement and convenience” of an everyday car – but it didn’t quite manage it. The good news, though, is that the Portofino is far “better proportioned” and more visually appealing than the California. And with a twinturbo V8 engine, it’s faster too: it sprints from 0 to 62mph in 3.5 seconds, and from 0 to 124mph in a mere 10.8 seconds.
“The engine, oh the engine,” said Andrew English in The Daily Telegraph. It might not be quite as responsive as a supercharged engine, but it’s “darn close”. It’s like a time machine: “think about where you want to be and you are there”. When you start it up it’s “mercifully quiet”, but after that, it “rasps like a trombone”, loud and strident. The car feels taut on the road, “with barely a twist or shake from the body”, but the steering lacks finesse – and the powerful carbon-ceramic brakes can be inconsistent at low speeds.
Inside, the Portofino is an upgrade on the California, said Ben Barry in Car magazine. At 292 litres, the boot is much bigger, and there’s more legroom in the rear. The new 10.2in touchscreen infotainment system is welcome and, while some of the car’s controls are flimsy, its design still feels “special”. This car is a “solid improvement” over its predecessor: at once more enjoyable and more practical, it strikes “a pretty sweet balance”.