Ferrari SF90 Stradale 2020 Review – Australia

The new 2020 Ferrari SF90 Stradale looks and feels like one of those futuristic pipedreams you see presented at a motor show (remember those?) – except in this instance it is no mere marketing hullabaloo.

Ferrari’s first series-production plug-in hybrid is officially here in Australia sporting no less than four motors – three of them electric, the other a twin-turbocharged V8 – and brandishing the highly-acclaimed tag of the Prancing Horse’s fastest-ever model.

Indeed, the SF90 Stradale tangibly nudges the tightly-fought supercar brigade into new territory, offering (and trumping) technology only seen elsewhere in series-production capacity in Honda’s NSX.

Ferrari’s first electrified model is ridiculously talented on paper, and we have now put it to the test on the track in Australia.

The 2020 Ferrari SF90 Stradale is on sale from $846,888 plus on-road costs – that’s either a veritable bargain or exorbitant depending on which side of the fence you sit.

Compared with the already-brilliant Ferrari F8 Tributo in which the plug-in hybrid loosely forms its base, the SF90 Stradale asks a $362,000 premium – yet it undercuts the extremely limited (though not road-legal) Ferrari La Ferrari by about $2 million.

What’s more, the SF90 is classed as a ‘series’ car, so you’re not required to have owned a Ferrari before to be ‘eligible’ for ownership. Although volumes will not be high, they won’t be limited to a set number.

In any case, the lofty purchase price gets you into a legitimate hypercar by the numbers. Forget the Bugatti Veyron-matching 2.5-second sprint to 100km/h; the most mind-boggling number is a zero-to-200km/h time of just 6.7 seconds. Consider that the mid-engined V8 Ferrari it well and truly supersedes, the 488 GTB, takes 8.3 seconds to get to 200km/h, the La Ferrari 7.0 seconds and even the awesome McLaren P1 6.9 seconds.

For all its underbody wizardry, the SF90 Stradale also represents a quantum leap in cabin presentation and technology for Ferrari.

There’s a curved, colour 16.5-inch instrument cluster screen, complete with multiple view options and touch-style controls on the steering wheel, and it’s easy to follow the battery’s range as it’s being charged and drained via a simple horizontal bar graph.

There’s another first for Ferrari in the head-up display, and it also has a ‘Ciao, Ferrari’ voice recognition system.

There’s the usual Manettino on the steering wheel, tweaking performance through Wet, Sport, Track and Qualifying modes, but they now need to oversee the power electronics as well.

There’s a second, touch-operated Manettino on the steering wheel to control the powertrain, ranging from EV mode, to Hybrid, Race and Qualifying.

Naturally, there are options galore, ranging from Apple CarPlay to the hue and cut of your leather chairs. There’s also a high performance Assetto Fiorano option, after Ferrari’s own test track. Priced at $111,306, the track pack carves 30kg from the SF90 Stradale’s mass and adds a higher-downforce rear wing, track-optimised suspension (including titanium coil springs), Lexan window glass and a swag of carbon-fibre parts.

The SF90 Stradale is backed by a seven-year factory warranty and its purchase price includes seven years’ complimentary servicing.

The Ferrari SF90 Stradale’s hybrid powertrain features a fully-electric front axle with twin motors and a third motor located between the engine and gearbox that ‘assists’ the rear axle.

Each front wheel has its own 99kW electric motor, complemented by a 574kW/800Nm mid-mounted biturbo V8 petrol engine that connects to a new eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox via another electric motor offering 162kW/266Nm.

It all adds up to 1000 horsepower (about 750kW) but the total torque output is harder to nail down. The electric power and torque outputs are limited by how much energy the battery can discharge at any given moment, so that peaks at 162kW.

A new 7.9kWh lithium-ion battery is filled with pouch cells and weighs only 72kg, operating at up to 370 volts and delivering up to 25km of pure-electric range.

All three e-motors share their power electronics and inverters, too, and the entire hybrid system adds 270kg.

An electric torque vectoring system dubbed RAC-E promises flattering on-the-limit performance on road and track for all levels of driver.

At the heart of the car is a combined aluminium and carbon-fibre space frame. The latter material is used as a structural bulkhead between the mid-mounted engine/gearbox and the passenger cell. It’s the first time a series-production Ferrari has used such an arrangement.

The chassis itself is a development of the F8 Tributo, with a carbon-fibre bulkhead, a 2650mm wheelbase and a rise in tyre size to Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 255/35 ZR20 at the front and 315/30 ZR20 at the back.

The result leaves Ferrari boasting that the SF90 has 20 per cent better bending stiffness and 40 per cent more torsional rigidity than the Tributo, with no weight cost.

Our time at the wheel of the 2020 Ferrari SF90 Stradale comprises six laps of an empty Sydney Motorsport Park, or Eastern Creek as it was formerly known.

The expression session is enough to validate the SF90’s superlative performance claims, get up in the mirrors of a well-driven F8 Tributo lead car, and leave you scratching your head about how you possibly improve the performance envelope from here.

More than anything, the experience also dilutes preconceived fears the next crop of supercars will be lead-weight science experiments – at least in a plug-in hybrid capacity.

The SF90 saunters into pit lane from its warm-up laps with a futuristic whirr, sitting in silence as I settle into the driver’s seat and make use of electronically-controlled seating and steering wheel adjustment to get comfortable.

The cockpit is a decidedly contemporary space with a large 16.5-inch centre screen initially easy to navigate and its internals offering up a solitary cup holder, two USB ports and a 12-volt outlet, plus space for odds and ends.

The SF90 recalls the mechanical manual gate of the Ferrari 575 with the arrangement of its gearbox switchgear. Somewhat ironically, however, the reverse gear is purely electric; that sums up what this car is about.

Utilising its e-drive function also allows your correspondent to exit the pits under pure-electric power, effectively creating a front-drive Ferrari that can and does reach up to 130km/h, and is seemingly good for its 25km EV range.

Other than a quiet early-morning getaway, its application is limited, so we switch the driving mode to ‘Hybrid’ and get down to business.

At first, it’s difficult to recall the F8’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo being so effortlessly torquey, but then you’re reminded there is electrical go-forward at play here as well – such is the subtle application of battery power in the SF90’s acceleration.

All three electric motors and the force-fed combustion engine are called into duty at some point in Hybrid mode, with some of them dropping out for faster work, or chiming in for slower work.

Race and Qualifying modes are more distinguished in their demeanour, the V8 running the entire time for both speed and to constantly charge the battery (it can also do this with braking regeneration, and via a plug-in cable).

Irrespective of mode, though, the SF90 Stradale is blindingly quick. Like any modern supercar, the dash to 100km/h is noteworthy, but in this application, it’s the maniacal forward momentum beyond that point that beggars belief.

There is seemingly no limit to the Stradale’s acceleration – except, perhaps, its judicious stability control suite, which is left in its second-softest setting so as to keep any sideways action strictly at bay.

Straight-line power is plied down admirably via the Michelin rubber, and the entire experience is underlined by a raucous V8 soundtrack. It’s no 458 Speciale, to be sure, but it’s a nice turbocharged interpretation.

The 4.0-litre’s natural cadence feels lower in the rev range than the F8 Tributo (Ferrari claims the engine is 80 per cent new) – and for that reason you don’t tend to hit the rev limiter as early or as often, and you can simply leave the eight-speed dual-clutch automatic to its own devices. Very clever.

But enough about the engine. Let’s get to the SF90 Stradale’s other remarkable feature: cornering.

The party trick here is the torque-vectoring front e-motors. These allow the SF90 Stradale to turn in with an immediacy and accuracy that helps extract higher cornering speeds, at which point it sits flat and unbelievably composed.

Combined with an electric power steering system that telegraphs the SF90’s movements with precision and favourable weighting, and fly-by-wire brakes that are powerful and well-modulated in their action, the SF90 simply enamours as much as it flatters you.

All of these elements conspire to deliver a supercar that cultivates confidence and, equally, doesn’t really feel its weight disadvantage.

There are several points in which we fill the mirrors of the well-driven F8 Tributo lead car; the expediency in which the SF90 turns-in, rotates and explodes out of corners is such that you gain a clear, distinct advantage.

After three hard laps, the SF90 has lost 5km of range. In the hands of kinder pilots, the SF90 Stradale in fact gained electric range over a handful of laps. Incredible.

The new Ferrari SF90 Stradale reads like a non-committal presentation prop because, until now, that is seemingly what it has been.

Not only does the SF90 thrust Ferrari into a new space dynamically and technologically, it legitimately restores the famed Italian marque to the top of the supercar heap.

There’s not another road-going, series-production supercar that does what the SF90 Stradale can do.

That’s the reality.

How much does the 2020 Ferrari SF90 Stradale cost?
Price: $846,888 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo petrol-electric hybrid
Output: 574kW/800Nm (engine), 162kW (electric motor)
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel use: N/A
CO2: N/A
Safety rating: Not tested

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