For the last couple of years or so, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale and, by extension, its SF90 Spider sibling have taken the supercar world by storm, sparking lust in affluent enthusiasts and dropping jaws at the whisper of its specs. For what feels like the first time, Ferrari has launched a hypercar as merely a casual, mainstream entrant in their run-of-the-mill lineup. No ultra-limited production numbers or hosting a séance for the ghost of Enzo to get on a reservation list. You can waltz into a showroom floor with enough money and potentially take one home.

It's a normal-ish model in the lineup for Ferrari, yet you can't help but that it ought to be something more special. It is special. To anyone south of being a regular Bugatti owner, it's special, with eye-catching looks to match and performance that would humble the most jaded of veteran auto journalists. So for those curious, what's this thing really all about, and why do we claim it to be the best new Ferrari money can buy today?

Related: A Detailed Look At A Plug-In Hybrid We'd Love To Drive: The Ferrari SF90 Stradale

The Ferrari SF90 Stradale Has Hypercar Looks

Ferrari SF90 Stradale 2020
Ferrari 

When the SF90 was first spotted in spy shots and forums, many thought it to be the second coming of the LaFerrari, a new Ferrari hypercar for a new decade. Instead, to everyone's surprise, it was a mainstream model and merely a range-topper that just so happened to sport outlandish styling seemingly pulled from Hot Wheels and Grand Theft Auto. So it's not as sharp and Le Mans endurance prototype-like as the Enzo or LaFerrari, but its attire definitely speaks louder than the F8 Tributo and 296 GTB beneath it.

The gas engine rests beneath a small glass cover behind the tightest sliver of a rear windshield that subtly calls back to Ferraris of old. The rounded quad taillights have the same effect, sharing in the design language of the F8 and 296 and being the first batch of mid-engined Ferraris to return to quad taillights since the F430.

The face is low and wide, akin to old-school wedge supercars, and the entire body is devoid of crazy aero pieces like what would be seen on a Lamborghini or Koenigsegg. Instead, Ferrari prefers to rely on the generous use of vents and intakes to manipulate the air going in and around the car for maximum downforce without using aero that could harm the car's smooth styling. Spider models are arguably even softer and more elegant, doing away with a rear windshield with the top down so as not to interrupt the lines of the buttresses.

Perhaps there's too much venting, and Ferrari's efforts to have a clean design ironically result in a busy-looking car. Maybe the car is too wide and low in some areas, resulting in somewhat awkward proportioning. Love it or hate it, it's definitely interesting.

The SF90 Stradale Goes Like A Hypercar

Ferrari-SF90-Stradale
via yahoofinance

A flagship is nothing without the performance to match. Ferrari makes sure that the SF90 earns its place in the family.

Both variants of the SF90 make use of a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 outputting 769 horsepower. The gasser is then bolstered by a 7.9-kWh hybrid system moving three electric motors, including two for the front wheels, thus enabling all-wheel-drive and true torque vectoring. Total system output is a leviathan 986 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. Power routes through Ferrari's familiar F1 dual-clutch. Interestingly, the SF90's plug-in hybrid powertrain enables it to travel an estimated 16 miles on pure EV driving, allowing it to slip past tax laws or urban gas engine restrictions in European countries.

For reference, the similarly-configured Porsche 918 Spyder of the last decade pushed 875 horsepower but a far loftier 944 pound-feet, and it revved a thousand revolutions higher than the SF90's 8,000 RPM redline. In the realm of the Prancing Horse, the 296 GTB is close, outputting 818 total horsepower, with the gas-only F8 Tributo a step behind at 710 horsepower.

Such sheer grunt coupled with all-wheel-drive traction allows for zero-to-60 in the low two-second range and the quarter-mile in the high nines. That's performance indicative of million-dollar hypercars. Add the hardcore, track-focused Assetto Fiorano package, and the SF90 can lap Ferrari's Fiorano test circuit almost a second quicker than the far more expensive and exclusive LaFerrari, and a second faster than the 812 Competizione.

Related: What You Need To Know About The 1109 Hp Novitec Ferrari SF90 Stradale

The Ferrari SF90 Stradale Is (Sort Of) A Bargain

Ferrari SF90 Spider - Front
Via Ferrari

Put down the pitchforks, we said "relative." With a base price of roughly half a million dollars, the SF90 makes a Porsche 911 Carrera look like a Corolla during a Toyotathon sale. Options can carry it deep into the $700,000 to $800,000 range. And you know what? For that level of speed and capability, that's not bad. Again, relatively speaking.

The 918 Spyder based at $845,000, while the Weissach Package would have it flirt with a cool million. The LaFerrari was priced more egregiously at $1.4 million. The Bentley among hypercars, the Bugatti Chiron, starts at an even loftier $1.5 million, and special editions can start as high as $3.8 million.

So for Ferrari to offer record-setting levels of performance as part of their normal lineup for the same coin as an Aventador or Rolls-Royce is a bold power move. And it is that comparative value with fiercely competitive performance that makes the SF90 Stradale one of the absolute best Ferraris you sweep off the showroom floor today.

Source: Ferrari