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The new thoroughbred: Taking the Ferrari Purosangue on a road test like no other
By Ming Liu | 4 July 2025 | Cars & Yachts, Motoring, Travel
We take the Ferrari Purosangue on a road test like no other – and discover why the marque’s first four-door four-seater car is racing ahead
Five hundred kilometres of open road in rural southwestern France and a 725cv, naturally-aspirated V12 that’s the most exciting four-door, four-seater car right now? Had to be the new Ferrari Purosangue. Christened ‘thoroughbred’ in Italian, the Purosangue is the first ever four-door Ferrari – and Tempus’s fabulous, ultra-wicked ride for a recent jaunt from Biarritz to Bordeaux.
The adventure began at the Regina Experimental, a breathtaking five-star hotel perched on the dramatic cliffs of the Basque coast. With views of the sea and the legendary Golf de Biarritz, the property is a feast of juxtapositions: raw materials like straw and Japanese rope mesh with chic clapboarding and marine stripes, all framed in the Belle Époque’s signature graphic lines and curves.
Prepping for our departure, it’s here – the iconic lighthouse pitched in the distance and sea-salt air filling our lungs – that we took a moment to take in the Purosangue’s features. 
A promise of Ferrari’s top performance and driving thrills, yet now fitted with high-ground clearance and ultimate comfort, it is understatement to say that the Purosangue presented a huge challenge for the Maranello marque. A totally new concept and range – plus the added pressure of making a splash in an ever-crowded market – the car’s production was an all-hands-on-deck kind of affair.
“There were so many challenges, so many pieces that needed to fit together like a sort of big jigsaw puzzle,” recalled Pietro Virgolin, the Purosangue’s product marketing manager, when the car first launched. Consider its architecture, which took a whole year alone to perfect.
“Architecture defines the design, as it determines the proportions and therefore also the formal equilibrium of the object,” says Flavio Manzoni, Ferrari’s chief design officer. “This task was extremely difficult, but also extremely challenging and stimulating.”
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As Ferrari’s first four-door, one naturally makes a beeline for the interior. Space and drama were clearly the brief, and brilliantly executed through rear-hinged doors that theatrically open with the push of a subtle lever. Folding coolly out to reveal an ultra-stylish, roomy interior, the idea was to create a kind of lounge, “sporty yet chic, a welcoming and refined living room,” said Flavio.
This is a car where space is never an afterthought: each of the four, full-size heated seats can be independently adjusted and reclined, with extra space for luggage, skis, what have you, thanks to rear seats that rake forwards. They’re also the first seats to be finished with a brand new Alcantara material, crafted from 68% recycled polyester and produced in Europe. Meanwhile, the car’s dash is notably equipped with a dual cockpit digital display, which is also replicated in the rear – and putting the Purosangue experience into the hands of all in the car.
With 205km of road ahead of us, we set off into the heartland of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, swapping the Atlantic coast for glimpses of the rugged, majestic Pyrenees, their peaks just seeing their first dustings of snow. The Purosangue purred its way through small, charming communes – Bidache, Came, Escos – where lush verdant lowlands and endless carpets of green meet gentle rolling hills, tiny farms dotted in the distance.
Manoeuvring endless roundabouts and clipping through rustic, medieval villages, the Purosangue hugged the road beautifully, the Ferrari’s distinctive 12-cylinder harmonics and eye-catching looks turning heads along the way. Chestnut tree lined roads, flanked by dense grassland and farmlands of maize and sunflower gave way to orchards and later vineyards, hinting at our first destination: the gem that is Le Monastère de Saint-Mont.
Alight in a gold, late-autumn sun when we pulled up, the monastery in the department of Gers is a true labour of love for husband-and-wife team Jean-Paul and Béatrice Tossens.
The current custodians of this monastery first built in 1045, the Tossens have beautifully restored the property into a hotel, spa and gastronomic destination. Dinner was served at La Table, with Jean-Paul’s excellent tasting menu highlighting local flavours accented by the likes of local venison tartare, Porcini mushrooms and Piedmont hazelnut juice.
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Local wine pairings came courtesy of Jurançon Yura and the monastery’s own cuvée, all presided over by the charming and knowledgeable Tossens’ son, Tom. The property also has a Japanese restaurant, which alongside the spa and restorative, pastoral views have already enticed me to return.
The next morning we set out on the 302km journey north towards Bordeaux. This featured the trip’s best views by far, the Purosangue gliding past wide, open wheat and corn fields in Manciet, via vineyards in Maulichères and along the tree-lined roads of Nogaro, in the heart of Armagnac country, which was preparing for the autumn harvest. Lunch was a pitstop at the majestic Château Hôtel Grand Barrail in Saint-Émilion, overlooking the five-star property’s impressive grounds.
An hour before arriving in Bordeaux, the heavens suddenly opened, which was a welcome moment to switch into the Purosangue’s Wet mode (there is also Sport, Comfort and Ice). No doubt this was another moment for Ferrari’s new active suspension system to shine, a cutting-edge technology that delivers top sporting features like roll and pitch control and improved traction.
Our arrival meant sadly parting ways with our Purosangue, but which was sweetened by an exclusive visit to Château les Carmes Haut-Brion, an incredible 440-year-old wine estate just a cork’s throw from the city and which apparently has its own postcode. Featuring a Philippe Starck-designed winery and James Bond baddie lair-like vat room, complete with lift to the top floor tasting room, the property exudes all the style, innate elegance, flair and verve as the Purosangue, beautifully summing up a Gallic drive of dreams.