Ferrari’s entry-level, eight-cylinder cabriolet may not be the most hardcore of Prancing Horses, but the arrival of the new Portofino should leave no doubt that it’s a true Ferrari.
After being released last month, Ferrari has now revealed full details of the heavily revised model upon its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show. And some of the smallest details speak the loudest of its improvements.
Even with only two doors, a four-seat hardtop convertible is inherently one of the heaviest vehicles on the road, often weighing as much as some SUVs. That’s why drop-top four-seaters (or 2+2s) often stick with soft tops.
But Ferrari managed to trim an impressive 176 pounds off the Portofino’s mass compared to the previous California T, bringing curb weight down to 3,668 pounds. That’s a good 370 lbs lighter than a BMW 430i Convertible… and with twice the engine, no less.
All the while, Ferrari increased output from the award-winning 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 to 600 metric horsepower and 560 lb-ft of torque. With less weight to motivate, it’ll rocket to 62 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds, to 124 in 10.8, and top out at over 199, taking just 111 feet to come back to a standstill from 62 (thanks to those giant carbon-ceramic brake discs).
Those figures put the Portofino, statistically speaking, out in front of Ferrari’s most notable turbo V8 supercar: the legendary F40.
Not impressed yet? The engineers in Maranelo also managed to increase the chassis’ stiffness by 35 percent, and though the more powerful engine requires more cooling, the drag coefficient actually dropped by six percent.
Yet the design – extending into a more fastback profile – looks better (to our eyes) than the California ever did. See for yourself in the expanded array of live photos from the Frankfurt Motor Show below.
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