Best of What's New 2011

Auto Tech

Ferrari FF

Ultimate all-wheel drive

Auto Tech 3 of 11

Ferrari FF Ferrari

All-wheel drive is helpful on slick surfaces, but it can sap a car’s performance. The 4RM system on the new 208mph, 650-horsepower Ferrari FF is the first to employ two separate, electronically controlled front- and rear-wheel-drive units, which eliminates the heavy secondary driveshaft, thereby reducing weight and allowing the FF to drive like a true sports car. Normally the rear wheels do the driving, but when the car’s predictive algorithms sense that the rear wheels are about to slide, it sends a fraction of the 6.3-liter V12 engine’s power to the front, keeping this rarity (only 800 were made this year) out of the body shop. $295,000

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Tested

Brunico, Italy - A snowy K-Mart parking lot would have worked fine. But this being Ferrari, and the star its tradition-shredding FF – a $300,000 all-wheel-drive station wagon -- a little high-altitude showboating seemed in order. So with a boost from the Italian army’s Chinook helicopters, Ferrari flew a pair of FF’s to the windswept peak of Plan de Corones, a popular ski resort in its wondrous Dolomites, and told us to have at it. Ridiculous? Why, yes. But no more so than a 208-mph, 651-horsepower Italian pony that can carry four tall adults and cargo while galloping safely over snow, ice, dirt or puddles on the Pomona freeway. Read more

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ford2go

12/08/11 at 3:21 am

This is probably a pretty slick systen, but PS is omitting an important detail -- the front wheels can get 20% of the total power max. That's why it's so light. I'm sure that the design is clever enough, but there's no real magic here.

I found this on the Ferrari website -- THEY don't mind letting the secret out.