Ferrari’s Portofino is racy, but rough around edges
Despite bumps, air bags still save lives
Being a Ferrari is like being a superstar entertainer or an elite athlete. If you do everything perfectly, no one really notices. But have one bad day and you’re a bum, and the rumors start that your career is in trouble.
The 2019 Ferrari Portofino is that kind of superstar. Sleek, stylish, elegant and extremely fast, the newest sports car from the Italian stallion company is almost everything a Ferrari should be. How much emphasis will potential buyers place on the “almost” part?
The Portofino is the replacement vehicle for the California T. A twodoor four-seater with a retracting convertible hardtop, it is powered by a front-mounted 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 engine that puts out 591 horsepower (up from a reported 552 on the T) and 561 pound-feet of torque, on a vehicle that weighs almost 200 pounds less than its predecessor.
It’s quick, jumping from zero to 60 mph in less than 3.5 seconds, and only stops accelerating at a manufacturermandated 200 mph. The engine fires up with a pleasant purr that rises to an impressive roar. Downshifting after a forward rush produces that fine Ferrari gurgle.
Power can be applied to the wheels via a variety of driving modes, using either the automatic 7-speed dualclutch transmission (no stick-shift version is offered) or employing the paddle shifters to select gears manually.
The driving feels racier than on the California T, in part because the Portofino is embedded with electronic upgrades borrowed from the company’s F-1 racing cars. At the very limits of performance, the Portofino will behave more like a track car and less like a grand touring vehicle.
Appropriately, the steering is tight and the suspension is stiff. Feedback from the road is intense. That makes a canyon drive delicious, but also allows for pleasant freeway driving and around-town erranding.
The race-style steering wheel, as on other Ferraris, supports all the buttons and switches required for driving. Gear selection, turn indicators, drive modes, windshield wipers and communication and entertainment choices can all be made without letting go of the wheel.
The shift points, in automatic mode, seemed designed more to maximize fuel economy than driving excitement. One block from a full stop often found me already in fifth or sixth gear, with the engine lugging badly. I had more success switching to sport mode — which also sharpens the suspension and steering — and using the paddle shifters to change gears, keeping the Portofino inside its power band and making the most of the torque and horsepower.
The leather-clad seats are wider than typical sports car thrones and they are firm enough to keep you planted in tight turns, but comfortable enough for long-distance excursions. Though it seems at first glance to be a hardtop coupe, the Portofino is fitted with a retracting lid that, with the press of a button, raises the ceiling and then hides it in the trunk. Wind management, with the top down, is pretty good. Tooling along the coast on a blustery afternoon to an appointment in Laguna Beach, I didn’t need a cap to keep my curls from unfurling.
Taking the top down also increases visibility, which is limited with the top up. The A pillars and the placement of the rearview mirrors block the vista. The tiny rear window doesn’t help much, which means it’s a bit harder than usual to keep an eye out for cross traffic, pedestrians, bicyclists and other impediments.
Of course, dropping the top also diminishes the appeal of the JBL sound system and the efficacy of the Bluetooth phone connection. A bit noisy when the top is up, the Portofino makes a real racket when the top is down.
It’s not just wind and tire noise. The fan on the HVAC system wheezes like an iron lung, and the windshield wipers sound like a foot soldier in squeaky sneakers.
The razor-sharp steering and suspension cut both ways, too.
Sensitive enough to qualify for hot laps at Willow Springs, these give a lot of unwelcome feedback around town. In the hills of Silver Lake, where the roads are notoriously bad, I felt every wrinkle in the road.
On another vehicle, these would be minor quibbles, and hardly worth mentioning. But this is a superstar car, and the best is expected of it.
Frontal air bags have been standard equipment in all cars since model year 1998 and in all SUVs, pickups and vans since model year 1999. Recent recalls have raised questions among some drivers about the safety and effectiveness of air bags.
But research shows they save many lives.
Air bags reduce the chance of an upper body or head injury during a crash. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, in frontal crashes, frontal air bags reduce driver fatalities by 29% and fatalities of front-seat passengers ages 13 and older by 32%.
The NHTSA estimates that the combination of an air bag and a seat belt reduces the risk of death in frontal crashes by 61 percent.
Sometimes, the force required to quickly inflate air bags can injure people if they are seated too close to the air bag. The first generations of frontal air bags injured a lot of people, experts say, because they deployed with greater force than those in later model cars. A typical air bag deploys at 200 mph.
NHTSA estimates that more than 290 deaths were the result of frontal air bag inflation in low-speed crashes from 1990-2008. Most of those deaths were in vehicles made before 1998, and more than 80% of people killed were not wearing a seat belt.