NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN

The car that was never meant to be has as its beating heart an atmo V12, but what about a Ferrari soul? Matt Prior tests Maranello's first SUV in its natural habitat to find out

- Matt Prior

The last time I came to Italy to drive a Ferrari, the weather was fine, with temperatures into double figures, if a little overcast and dewy.

There's a reason why I mention this (I'm not auditioning to be the next Wincey Willis). Had it been Britain and on Autocar's own tab, we'd have headed merrily directly down the pit lane - but sorry, said Ferrari's people, it's too cold for the tyres to work properly around the company's Fiorano test track, so we'd have to wait and sip coffee until the day warmed through. So I talked to an engineer instead, and while I can't guarantee he avoided using the phrase 'SUV', he told me the company had only committed to making a tall car when it was sure that it could be a true Ferrari (ditto the electric car that's still two years away).

That high car, though - the 4x4, SUV or crossover, as you prefer (they don't use the terms but pretend not to be offended if you do) - is here now. And there's no question of waiting until the roads have warmed up to test it or I'd be here until April. (It's mid-January as I drive, although not as you read.) In fact, today we'll go in search of the worst conditions that roads between Italian ski resorts can throw at us.

Before driving the Purosangue I'm gently asked whether I've driven an Aston Martin DBX, a Lamborghini Urus or a Rolls-Royce Cullinan. But I'm assured - as each of those companies would also try to persuade me - that the model operates in a sphere of its own, with no direct rivals.

They're curious sorts of arguments, these. There may be a certain mechanical accuracy to the fact that each offering is unique, in the same way that a fish-and-chip supper isn't strictly a direct rival to a curry. But the short of it is that when Friday evening comes around and you can't be bothered to cook, it will be one or the other.