Transcription
So here it is, the replacement for the M3 Touring. My new dirty daily driver, the Ferrari GTC4 Lusso V12. And that's, that's the key here. That's the really interesting bit.
If you watched the video previously, it was the final drive, the sort of goodbye drive to the M3 Touring. Had that car for two years, was a phenomenal thing. And the sort of natural progression at the time of buying that car was, well, maybe in a few years' time when they launched the M5 Touring, that might be a natural progression to get into that car. Um, go and check out that video for reasons why that ultimately didn't end up being the case. Topline just didn't like it, so it also became quite an expensive car. And I thought, there must be alternatives in that price bracket. What other cars are out there which are exciting but practical? And I immediately came to this. And why the V12 Lusso is a particularly exciting platform for a sort of practical daily driver support car proposition is what's under here. So I'm going to introduce you to this V12 and why I think the pre-owned values of these are just [Applause] ludicrous. Oh God, that's good. That's everything, isn't it? I mean, to have that driving experience with four seats and a big boot. What a machine.
So this is a 6.3-liter naturally aspirated V12, around about 680 brake horsepower, mated to a twin-clutch gearbox. Now, why this combination is fascinating is back when this was spec'd five or six years ago, this was around about a £300,000 car brand new, right? Which back then, and even right now, is really punchy numbers. But what you're effectively getting with this engine and that platform is a four-seater 812 Superfast, 'cause that's effectively what this block is. One of my sort of favorite experiences in the twin-clutch automotive world is the marriage, the relationship that Ferrari managed to achieve between the NA V12 and that twin-clutch box is sublime. Yes, what we're sat in, and why I think this is the unsung hero of recent contemporary Ferraris. This is effectively a four-seater, all-wheel drive, 812 Superfast. If you were to put that brief on paper, it's like the ultimate, it's the ultimate daily. In the world of twin-clutches and the relationships, the marriages between engine and gearbox, Ferrari are one of the best. In fact, when it comes to connecting it to a V12, they are the best. It is synaptically connected to the transmission. I mean, just get this wonderful, wonderful thing. Are you kidding?
But this is where the more traditional torque converter autos that are in the M3 Touring, for example, they get a little bit weak in under high-speed, heavy braking down through the box like that. It just doesn't move anything like as sharp as this thing or a twin-clutch box generally. Now, albeit this has been developed to be quite literally a more practical Grand Touring platform. So this has driver modes which the 812 Superfast doesn't have, like snow mode. But the actual gearing itself, while it shifts gear equally as fast, what's interesting about it is the ratios themselves. The gearing of the car has been designed to be much more of a cross-continental missile, Grand Tourer. And so it's not quite as frenetic as you find in the 812 Superfast, despite having relatively the same engine. Why that's cool, combined with four-wheel drive, which is it sort of opts and allocates torque and front-wheel drive accordingly depending on the driver mode you're in and the conditions that it is detecting. So actually, when you're on a run and you're up to speed, the majority of the time this is driving not dissimilar to an 812 Superfast in that the majority of the power is allocated to the rear wheels. But as soon as it detects wet traction loss or any sort of surface or driving environment which dictates that extra pull, it therefore allocates torque to the front wheels, trying to optimize traction.
So right there, when we had a little bit of a step out on the exit of the roundabout, I was in sport mode, which is my fault. It's -3 degrees this morning and suboptimal for traction. However, there are all sorts of driver modes on this. We should probably put it into snow mode now. Technically, it's not snowing. However, the wondrous calibration that is the black magic ECU of this car does some profound control over the allocation of power that goes to the wheels of this car. You see, as soon as it detects any slip when it's in snow mode, it just doesn't allow traction to break loose. You can plant your foot flat on the floor, greasy conditions, wet leaves on the road, snow, and it just manages that, that traction. And it just manages to find the optimal power, an allocation of slip and torque to see you through whatever sort of adverse conditions you're in. Now, it sounds a bit extreme, but sometimes you're going to find yourself in adverse conditions in a car like this. It is, after all, a daily driver, despite the fact that it has the iconic Ferrari badge on it. But most of the time, wet is suitable. And then you have comfort mode, like so. This is what you kind of drive it in on the daily. Suspension is supple and soft. Throttle response is still synaptically connected to that naturally aspirated V12. And then when the roads are not like this, as we've just seen, sport mode's brilliant.
Now, interestingly, we've recently had some snow. Imagine having access to 680 horsepower, but only when the system detects that you have enough grip available. It's almost impossible for this thing to let go of of traction or lose grip in adverse conditions. It just detects any slip and feeds and bleeds it in. It doesn't cut power. It's a very trick system where you're always pulling forwards, but it's totally allocated based on how much traction is available. And when you're in it, and you're driving, and you're going up a slope in the snow, you're like, is this a Ferrari? It's the weirdest thing.
Now, I've always aspired to a Lusso. I thought they are wonderful things from day one. It's not until you start requiring more practicality, you might have a family, or you run a crazy business like us where your industry is road trips with fast cars, that you start looking at your alternative options. Boot practicality doesn't quite have the same degree of space that the M3 did. Truthfully, we only used the maximum capacity of the rear of that car once. And that was when we went on a road trip with lots of people with other supercars, and they used our car to put their bags in. So it's a rare occasion where we've had to use the support car to support anyone else outside of people who are actually inside it. But, um, we don't actually carry too much gear in that car. It's been to the Nürburgring, supported on track days, road trips, etc. I'm pretty confident this will be fine. Plus, if we really want extra space, these fall down.
Now, one of the big deciding factors over going for the Lusso instead of what might be considered the natural progression from the M3 Touring to the M5 Touring is actually the price. Now, let's just set some context and perspective. These are, I think, representing exceptional value today, only because the depreciation has been mildly depressing for anyone who was involved at retail back in the day. Today, I am actually proud to say that we managed to buy this for £130,000. Now, that's still a substantial chunk of change, but if you think about what I've said, it's a four-wheel drive, four-seater, 812 Superfast with a much more superior infotainment screen, by the way, Apple CarPlay, big touchscreen here. Compare that to an M5 Touring, which is around about the same price as this right now before depreciation. And I know the feedback is that despite the weight of the new M5 Touring, that you can't really feel it. I think subconsciously, two and a half tons for something with an M badge on it, they don't sort of go together. For some context, with all this four-wheel drive tech, whacking great naturally aspirated V12, four seats, and even a glass pan roof, this still, still weighs 500 kg less than an M5 Touring at around about 1,900 kg. So you might not be able to feel it, but psychologically, I do.
So when the M5 was launched, and we were considering that car, and I'm thinking, I don't like the way it looks, I don't like the way it sounds, it's two and a half tons. I just started looking elsewhere. And then I saw its price. By the time you've got options, I mean, they'll be around about £130 for a, you know, fairly decent spec one. But if you actually want the bits that you really want on a, on a flagship product like an M5, then it's going to be pushing £150 grand. I'm just thinking, all that says to me is depreciation. And it doesn't matter how fast that car is, how fast you want to go on the public road in a car that's designed to ultimately be a practical daily driver. If I was chewing miles on the auto every day to and from work, fantastic. But that's not my particular application. I spend a lot of my time on UK motorways, 70 mph, and then the driving enjoyment comes on roads like this, British B roads, and I soon to throw around something like this where I can live in high RPM, screaming an NA V12, rather than that big, heavy, heavily turbocharged, not great sounding M5 Touring.
So it's got that practical, you know, platform. It's more of a two-plus-two. You can get adults in the back, it's fine. I mean, I have been using this to take my little dude to school on occasion. But he's small, little booster seat in the back. But actually, for an adult in the back, it's pretty cool. And one of the nice features inside is the pan roof. This was a, a pretty substantial optional extra. But what it has the effect of doing is cascading a load of natural light inside the interior of the car, which makes the interior feel even more spacious than it actually is. Helpful because I ended up finding a car which was Nero black leather on a sort of gray Alcantara, so it's a naturally darker interior. But when you get this thing outside, this whole inlay here, this whole section of roof is just transparent glass. So natural light cascading in.
So what's interesting about this car is despite the fact that there's a, a lot of shared architecture from the 812 Superfast, the infotainment is vastly superior. You've got that large central touchscreen, and it just runs brilliantly. And as soon as you plug in your iPhone, it feels up to date straight away. One of the things that's actually made this car appeal even more to me is the launch of the recent Ferrari Purosangue. Now, Redline, as it happens, right now, who has helped facilitate the transaction, uh, between this and the M3 Touring, currently have a couple of Purosangue in stock, and they are the best part of £430,000 Sterling. Sir, I just cannot help look at that car and look at this car and think the value is disproportionate. It's insane. I actually think this is a more elegant-looking car. I think Ferrari have done a, a good job with launching their first SUV, but over £400 grand, I don't look at it and think it's achingly beautiful. How have they created something with that center of gravity looking so good? I'm looking at it going, that's a lot of money with a huge amount of room for a lot of depreciation.
Now, what's going to be exciting going forward? We're not going to modify this as heavily as we did the M3. This car doesn't need that much augmentation. I think for a practical platform, it looks super cool as it is. But maybe we'll keep these as winter wheels and keep these on these Michelin tires which are on it. It's currently running PS4s, which despite the name, 4S doesn't stand for Four Seasons. It's, it's just the generation of tire. But it is genuinely brilliant in all four seasons. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, even in snow, these things have been great. But I'm thinking maybe for a spring summer, we could have a larger wheel, and therefore it might ultimately end up having a, a slightly lower profile tire. The thing with these tires, these wheels are 20 inch because there's quite a lot of arch profile. It also allows there to be a larger tire wall on the tire, which in itself acts and contributes to suspension on the car. As soon as you go for larger wheels, you then end up having a smaller profile tire, and your ride might not quite be as, uh, crisp as it is now. That being said, this here is connected to that naturally aspirated V12, which, as I've touched on several times now, is a derivative of the 812 Superfast engine. And if you've ever heard one of those with exhaust on, we know what this could sound like. Now, it is more of a daily driver. We are going to be using it to support shoots and filming and etc. And I also do use it as well in sort of normal life. So I don't want it to be straight-piped by any means, but there's definitely room to augment this thing to make it sound a bit better than it does now. And it might just be that we end up just pulling the valves on it.
It's also quite compliant too. So one of the, the, uh, defining driving attributes of modern-day Ferraris is something actually that Michael Schumacher had a hand in way back during the Scuderia development days, which is being able to independently control the suspension and damping from the, the drivetrain settings. Meaning you can have it all the way up in sport mode, and then the suspension tightens up and stiffens up. But you can then decouple that, that and put it into literally what Ferrari call Bumpy Road mode with one press of the button here. Wow, this thing's amazing. And then when you're on roads like this, you can still have the throttle response and transmission response from sport, but with the suppleness of comfort.
So going back to when this car was originally spec'd, these are the plaques that Ferrari install on the car once the, uh, spec has been locked in. In Ferrari world, when you order a new Ferrari, the week that that car goes to build, or the week in advance, sorry, of that car going to build, Ferrari internally refer to that as Red 10. I don't know why. Once your car that you have configured reaches Red 10, then you have this set in stone of all of the optional extras that were chosen at that time. Now, a few key things on here. Apple CarPlay, really important. Suspension lift, the ground clearance on this car, pretty good, um, so you don't always need it, but really helpful at times. We've got some pretty savage transitions into underground car parks over here in the UK. Don't know why. It's an aesthetic treatment that has some functionality, but the carbon fiber driver zone, um, on the steering wheel and and inside the car. You'll see all of these carbon accents. But what you do get is the carbon wheel, which has the, uh, LED shift indicators in it. Not essential for a car like this, but just from a theatrical driving point of view, it's super cool. And, um, when this thing revs out and you're in sport mode, it's just extra theatre, isn't it?
So these things, Scuderia shields on the wing, um, contrary to popular belief, this is, um, a, a slightly more substantial optional extra than you might think, because they're not badges which are just stuck onto an existing wing. The entire wing here is a different panel because the badge actually re-accesses. Right, so if you were to option this without these on, this panel would be flush. So with the badges comes a different wing, uh, which is often why if you see the, the optional Atelier Tailor Made where you can option a larger hand-painted shield, that's why that is different, because then it's a flatter surface. So believe it or not, some, some cars don't come with that on it. So a passenger display, that's not something I particularly needed. But as I mentioned, this car was, was the best part of £300 grand. Passenger display allows your passenger to be DJ and allows you to see the speed you're traveling. When you change the Manettino, you get to see what different driver modes it's in.
Despite the fact that it's sort of filling the gap of the, the wagon estate car that the M3 Touring was, Ferrari positioned this as a high-performance all-season Grand Tourer. So what this really is, and it's in its profile, is a shooting brake, which is really cool. So it's kind of like a, it's like a posh hatchback, isn't it? It's that, it's like a V12 long wheelbase super hatch, which, which fancy brands started calling shooting brakes. It's just an overall really cool platform. I just love the fact it's got a twin-clutch box and have naturally aspirated V12 with a decent boot. That's cool. Put this back into wet. So something in me that gets so much joy out of the value that this thing now is. What a buy.
And in comparison to how these two cars drive, the M3 Touring and this, they're actually worlds apart. The steering feel on this is more preferable to my taste and feeling, anyway. The steering on the M3 Touring, while direct, is a little bit hollow and overly assisted, and it gives this sort of synthetic disconnection between you and the front axles. On a long run motorway driving, totally fine, but it's just, it's like hyper-responsive, but in an unnatural way. This feels a lot more progressive. It doesn't have the same amount of electronic assistance, and so the way it feels just loads up a bit more naturally, which is great. Gearbox, night and day. BMW did a fantastic job, frankly, bending physics with how fast they've made a conventional automatic box feel. But ultimately, physics does take, take over, and there's no substitute for a twin-clutch. The way they actuate is just seamless, but they're really defined when you're in sport mode from relatively high speeds under heavy braking, working your way down through that box, it's just bang, bang, bang, whereas autos, they just don't do that.
And then, of course, there's, there's how do they make you feel? Well, I thought the M3 Touring, by the time we got the Adro kit on it, it looked great, but it never had an exotic sound, and it didn't have the luxurious tactility and details of said established brand. I mean, Ferrari, with their sort of craftsmanship and the way that they make you feel from an interior point of view, at least from this generation anyway. I actually think the latest generation stuff's quite plasticky. Purosangue, as an example, there's just lots of plastic screens and buttons and switches that don't feel perhaps as premium and tactile as one might expect, not for £400 grand. This, this has enough balance of digital and analog. When you get into it, you feel like you're stepping into a Ferrari. And I suppose ultimately, that's the important thing.
It's rare to find a Lusso that isn't black, Grigio Silverstone, or blue. That's, that seems to be the primary suite of colors. Whether we'll wrap this one day or do something to it, I'm not sure right now. While I'm just using it, and there's something about it being grim and winter over here, this, this just sort of fits right now. So maybe when we get round to spring summer and we end up doing exhaust tweak, maybe some new wheels, maybe that's the time when we can consider potentially a color augmentation. This is also likely to join us at the Nürburgring as a support car for the Sub S Series. And so that is behind the scenes, that's growing legs, and there are these sort of series colors beginning to evolve out of us coming up with various different concepts and cool things which are to be shared soon. And maybe we'll flash in a few of those accents on here rather than just getting it all wrapped. But let's see. Anyway, so yeah, super Topline. When I was saying it's my dirty daily driver, I'm not joking. I mean, for this walk and talk, it's not being washed. I've rolled it in off the road. We've, uh, recently been filming with it. Um, we're actually off to the Nürburgring, which you'll be able to see on the Uncut channel quite soon. Yeah, Topline, comments below. What would you like to see from the adventures with this car? And also, if you have any ideas of other things that we might want to do to it. All is.