Purists and traditionalists insist that companies like Ferrari continue to build only anachronistic two-seat coupes and roadsters, while motorists increasingly demand the practicality of four-door cars and the flexibility of hatchback crossover SUVs.

Ferrari’s answer was to build the Purosangue, the best sports SUV in the world. But there’s an asterisk, which I’ll explain later.

Numbers don’t lie, and the Purosangue’s dynamic driving experience backs up those numbers with genuine thrills. Consider that the Purosangue’s naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine produces 715bhp, beating the impressive 707bhp Aston Martin DBX707. That’s enough to accelerate to 60mph in under 3.3 seconds, and that’s in a car that can comfortably carry four passengers with plenty of luggage in the cargo area.

Such capabilities are at odds with Ferrari’s traditional qualities, so the company went on the offensive with the car’s name. “Purosangue” (say “poor-oh sang way” and remember to roll the “r”) literally means “pure blood” and idiomatically “thoroughbred,” like the racehorse breed.

The aim is to confirm that this SUV deserves its place in Ferrari’s family tree as a descendant of cars such as the 250 GTO, the F40 and the La Ferrari. The driving experience confirms the Purosangue’s claim to the family heritage.

The car looks absolutely sensational and is as fast as a bad rumor. It meets the true requirements of a sports car. Uselessness may be a trait strongly associated with traditional sports cars, but it is not, in reality, an ironclad requirement.

The technical data under the hood

Consider the amazing technology that makes this combination of performance and utility possible. Start with a look at the engine, which is derived from Ferrari’s long-standing V12. The low-hanging fruit has long been harvested, so Ferrari’s engineers still have to make tiny improvements by working hard on the details.

“To optimize engine torque without compromising maximum power, we completely redesigned the shape of the intake manifold and intake manifold, revising volumes, diameters and lengths that were subjected to numerous calculation loops,” explains Marzio Maresi, Powertrain Project Manager at Purosangue. “The 3D calculations of the 6-in-1 manifold helped us find a geometry that optimizes the flow of gases into the catalyst.”

The powertrain team also reduced internal friction by optimizing piston rings, bearing clearance and oil pump efficiency, Maresi said. Finally, Ferrari programmed the engine management system to run at the edge of acceptable limits with very precise control, following the example of the company’s Formula 1 cars, whose engines only have to last a few races rather than the entire life of a production car.

Purosangue also has an unusual solution for the all-wheel drive system. The V12 engine sits up front, but as far back under the hood as possible. This is possible because the 8-speed dual-clutch transmission is mounted on the rear axle rather than bolted to the back of the engine. This transmission is programmed to hold off on upshifting until the engine is revved into its power band, which makes sense in Sport mode. But when driving in Comfort mode, it seems tedious to have the engine revving unnecessarily when the car could already be upshifting.

At the same time, there is a two-speed gearbox attached directly to the front of the engine, which sends power to the front wheels. The result is a 49/51 percent weight distribution between the front and rear axles, which is necessary to avoid the understeer that occurs when overloaded front tires do not provide the necessary grip to turn the car. The price for this is legroom, as the front seat footwells are crowded by the space the engine takes up in the center tunnel.

The engineering team took advantage of the V12’s unrivalled smoothness with a low exhaust note when the car is gently driven in Comfort mode. Switch to Sport mode and stomp on the accelerator and the Purosangue delivers the typical V12 howl that motivates people to treat themselves to cars with such engines rather than sensible twin-turbocharged V8s like the one in the DBX707.

Ferrari uses the highly advanced Multimatic True Active Spool Valve active suspension, so the Purosangue offers both the smooth ride you expect from a luxury four-door and the handling you expect from a Ferrari. The TASV suspension, with a 48-volt electrical system, proactively adjusts to provide the exact response required by the circumstances.

Take to the streets

During a drive that began in Brooklyn, ended in Montreal, and took in country roads and winding mountain roads in Vermont, the Purosangue’s ride was consistently comfortable over the bumpy surfaces and responsive through the corners.

The magical Multimatic suspension is aided in its task by the Purosangue’s lightweight but rigid aluminum chassis, which boasts 30 percent greater torsional rigidity and 25 percent improved flexural rigidity compared to the GTC4 Lusso, the station wagon-like four-seat predecessor to Ferrari’s Purosangue.

“The chassis is made entirely of high-strength aluminum alloys,” explains Marco Musumeci, Purosangue’s body structure project manager. “It is a space frame structure made of extruded profiles that delimit the main load lines of the structure and connected by castings that form the nerve centers of the structure. We can achieve very thin wall thicknesses, both in extruded sheet metal elements and in castings. We do not use just one alloy. There are several, each with its own technical specifications.”

A cockpit and an invisible chauffeur

The interior of the Purosangue is covered with soft Alcantara fabric, which is made from 68 percent recycled polyester. Alcantara looks and feels like suede without damaging a single part of the Alcantara.

The Purosangque’s real showstopper is its rear seat. The sleek, sloping roofline suggests there’s little headroom in the back seat, and the car’s taut lines suggest rear-seat passengers will have a difficult time getting in and out. In fact, the Purosangque’s innovative rear-hinged rear doors open wide, providing excellent access to an unexpectedly spacious rear seat with ample headroom.

It really is like magic to fit so much space into what seems like a small space. Rear-hinged rear doors have been around for ages, but they are usually found on huge saloons like the Rolls-Royce Phantom, where there is no apparent advantage in terms of accessibility due to the size of the car.

Like the Phantom, the Purosangue’s doors are electric, as they are difficult to reach when seated. This reinforces the impression that the doors give, as if you have an invisible chauffeur at your side, opening the door to your fast sports SUV.

The cockpit is designed so that the instrument cluster is in front of the driver, leaving the center of the dashboard blissfully free of an ugly infotainment display. However, Ferrari has opted to simply relocate these functions to a display in front of the passenger seat, with no way to operate the radio from the driver’s seat.

The company wants you to imagine Goose, Maverick’s Top Gun F-14 Tomcat Radar Intercept Officer, controlling the complex electronic equipment for you from the passenger seat while you focus on the serious task of flying.

But in reality, neither you nor I have someone whose career requires them to accompany us to the grocery store on every mundane shopping trip, so you’ll probably just end up playing music from your phone that you casually tossed in the passenger seat to run quick errands instead of trying to cope with it.

While annoying, it’s unnecessary. More significant is the Purosangue’s high-tech brake-by-wire system. This means there is no hydraulic connection between the brake pedal and the calipers on each wheel. Instead, the brakes are applied electronically by a pedal unit that is essentially a Logitech driving simulator. Unfortunately, it gives the driver a similarly artificial feeling when braking.

“I build my cars to drive, not to stop.” That was sports car colleague Ettore Bugatti, not Enzo Ferrari. So perhaps Ferrari will use the potential to reprogram the braking system for a more natural driving feel through a software update.

In fact, the first touch of the brake seems to have no effect, causing the surprised driver to press the pedal harder. Then the Purosangue’s computer intervenes and provides aggressive braking force, even though all that was wanted was a normal, gentle stop.

When driving at high speed, when braking quickly and hard and diving into corners, the system works satisfactorily. That’s probably what Ferrari’s development team was focusing on. But we don’t always drive corners, so they have to find a solution to enable smooth braking.

Final impressions

The base price of my beautiful Blu Corsa Purosangue was $423,686 and the final price as tested was $572,079. The Pursosangue is a better vehicle than the Aston Martin DBX707, as it should be for twice the price.

But it’s only better in some ways. There’s no reason why a half-million-dollar car should subject its owners to so many self-inflicted errors in things they use every time they drive, like brake pedal response and the infotainment system. Ferrari isn’t exactly known for being responsive to customer requests, but I think these are things they’ll address with software updates and model updates for future models.