First Drive: 2018 Ferrari GTC4Lusso T
Eight cylinders instead of 12 make this four-seater even more practical – for a Ferrari. SLOATSBURG, NY – Less is more. How many times have we heard that gem, Robert Browning's call for a melding of body and soul has become something of a mantra, the roadmap to an enhancing of the quality of life by, well, a simplification of life.
And, most certainly, it applies to the complication that is the modern condition. Overtime — unless you have a Christmas credit card to pay off — is almost always better off reduced than augmented. Certainly, the number of us who need to drink less that outnumbers that should drink more. Ditto for food, debt and the drama that is every workplace's office politics. Even, I would dare say, our cars need less, as in less complication, less consumption and certainly less girth.
But do they need fewer pistons? Or, more germane to this particular road test, can a Ferrari, the ultimate road-going expression of excess, be enhanced with less engine? And, to make that question even more perplexing, can a Ferrari normally powered by that marque's storied V12, the engine that launched about a billion automotive fantasies, actually be enhanced by a reduction of four cylinders?
In becoming the Lusso, that polarization has moderated. For one thing, time softens the impact of any radical change — just ask Chris Bangle and BMW. But, more importantly, the GTC's newly sloping rear roofline is simply more comely than the original, traditional Ferrari front curves and squarish rear no longer the discordant mating of, well, wiener dog and Bimmer.
Which means that the new GTC4Lusso T may indeed be Virgolin's distillation of practicality and passion. No, the turbo'ed V8 is not as sonorous as the V12. Nor are we Canadians likely to find the new rear-driver as practical as the AWD GTC4Lusso. But, as a car that you really can drive every day, the T is the "easy" Ferrari. The fact that its expected $306,800 MSRP undercuts the V12-powered GTC4Lusso's by a significant margin just makes the package that much more appealing.