THE FERRARI PORTOFINO M IS AN EXCITING ALL-ROUNDER By Darren Cassey, PA Motoring Reporter
Ferrari has updated the Portofino GT, promising sharper handling and improved comfort. Darren Cassey gets behind the wheel. WHAT IS IT?
and adapted the styling to improve cooling
It’s funny how Italian words make everything
through the air intakes. But with this being a GT,
sound better to us Brits, especially when it comes
comfort has also been improved.
to cars. A classic example is the exotic-sounding Maserati Quattroporte, which translates as ‘four
There’s also a redesigned exhaust system that
doors’. Today we’re testing the Ferrari Portofino M,
allowed for the removal of the silencer and
with that final initial standing for ‘Modificata’, or
reduced the size and weight of the system, while
simply ‘Modified’ in English.
the rear diffuser is totally new and separate from the bumper.
The Portofino is a 2+2 hard top convertible from Ferrari’s GT family, first introduced in 2017. The M
WHAT’S UNDER THE BONNET?
treatment now means there’s an extensive raft of
A 3.9-litre turbocharged V8 engine, which is a
upgrades and improvements. Think of it like a mid-
direct descendant of the unit that won Engine of
life refresh – a really extensive one.
the Year four times in a row between 2016 and 2019. It makes 602bhp (an increase of about
WHAT’S NEW?
20bhp) and 720Nm of torque, and is mated to a
Firstly, and perhaps unsurprisingly for a Ferrari,
totally new eight-speed automatic transmission.
there’s increased performance from the engine. The engineers then also worked on driving
To achieve this jump in power, Ferrari engineers
dynamics to make the most of the extra power,
worked on the engine’s internals, improving the
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