Ferrari Purosangue HS Drive: UnparalleledFerrariWhen you're configuring your Ferrari Purosangue (by which time you surely know it is pronounced pur-o-SAHN-gweh), you can spend tens of thousands of dollars on carbon-fiber knickknacks, but the only way you're sticking carbon-fiber Ferrari scudetti on your fenders is to check the box for the Handling Speciale. And other than those prancing-horse shields, the only exclusive hardware you get with the Handling Speciale is dark-gray wheels with diamond-cut accents.Ferrari[Record Scratches to a Stop]That's right: The Purosangue HS achieves its speciale handling with no new parts in the suspension. It even rides on the same Pirelli P Zero summer tires (sized 255/35R-22 in front and 315/30R-23 at the rear) as your blue-collar neighbor's base Purosangue. Thanks to the Purosangue's TrueActive Spool Valve (TASV) adaptive dampers—sourced from race shop and occasional Ford GT builders Multimatic—Ferrari is able to sharpen the Handling Speciale's responses with just a little bit of new software. By spinning a 48-volt electric motor to drive a ball screw in line with each damper, the TASV suspension varies damping force and adjusts ride height at each corner individually 20 times every second. Rewriting the code governing how the TASV dampers behave reduces the Purosangue's body movement by a claimed 10 percent.Ferrari says the Handling Speciale is not intended to be extreme, and this Purosangue does remain plenty livable. But even the standard model is rather extreme. Company reps love to point out that beneath its four-door bodywork, the Purosangue's basic packaging—front-mid-mounted V-12 fully aft of the front axle, rear-mounted eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle—is identical to that of the 12Cilindri's. They boast about its official front-to-rear weight distribution of 49/51 percent and refuse to call the Purosangue an SUV, instead preferring to call it a "high-riding sports car." Compared to the uber-powerful SUVs from Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and Porsche, you know what's extreme? A high-riding sports car with a nearly balanced weight distribution and a 715-hp 6.5-liter V-12 that revs to 8250 rpm.FerrariCloser to the EdgeWe drove the Purosangue HS at Alfa Romeo's Balocco Proving Ground midway between Turin and Milan in northwest Italy. Built in 1962, the facility preserves some of the buildings from the centuries-old farm that previously employed its vast acreage, their weathered red brick a stark contrast to the gaggle of shiny Rosso Portofino Ferraris parked outside. Among Balocco's nearly 50 miles of development roads is a diabolical tangle that knots 36 turns into just 3.3 miles laid over sufficient elevation change that we caught air each lap—twice. We can't remember the last time we jumped a vehicle worth more than $400,000, but we think it must have been around never.So commanding is the TASV suspension that only a distant clunk announced the Purosangue's touchdown. There was a light scrape at the bottom of the dip preceding the climb to launch, but it was minor. A couple miles and a couple dozen quick transitions later, we entered a long sweeper where we sustained 100-plus mph, twitching at the limit of adhesion, for what felt like a solid eight seconds but might have only been 7.7. Thrilling stuff. Pay no attention to the Armco hugging both sides of the track.FerrariDo note that the Armco is there, however. The HS is highly reactive, with more than half of its two-plus-ton mass always poised to overwhelm the more than two feet of combined rear-tire contact patch and induce rotation. A steady right foot and quick hands are recommended for sustained high-speed g-loading with a low margin for error. But even with all that computational magic keeping the body level and wheel motions controlled, the Purosangue's steering wheel feels alive and communicative, immersing the driver in the experience. Ferrari also allows more engine noise into the HS's cabin, and the dual-clutch swaps gears with more authority.FerrariA Standout StandoutEven in its basic form, everything about the Purosangue is unique: the V-12 layout; the shape; the hood that opens forward; the back doors that open rearward under their own power, so there's no need to reach to close them; the back seats that are almost identical to the fronts and include standard heating, ventilation, and massage functions.But that stuff is all standard, and standard is antithetical to the whole Ferrari ethos. What your Purosangue really needs to stand out is carbon-fiber scudetti. That they are packaged with suspension tuning that will knock your hat deeper into the creek while remaining everyday livable makes the HS totally worth the cost . . . whatever that may be. Ferrari still won't tell us how much the Handling Speciale costs over a garden-variety Purosangue. It's rumored to be around $50,000, but you were going to spend many times that on options anyway.Ferrari➡️ Skip the lot. Let Car and Driver help you find your next car.Shop New Cars Shop Used CarsGift Guide: Best Ride-On Electric Cars for KidsFuture Cars Worth Waiting For: 2025–2029