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Well, it's "The" Ferrari. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo called it "... the maximum expression of what defines our company," which is obviously a pretty bold statement. It's also the latest in a long line of ultra-exclusive instant collectibles that started with the 288 GTO and ran through the F40, F50 and Enzo. It's also Ferrari's first hybrid road car.

Ferrari will only build 499 of them and they've all been sold to Ferrari's very favorite clients. It's not going to be a volume leader, but as a technological test bed, brand-burnisher and expression of Ferrari's considerable technical prowess, it's invaluable.

It's wide, but it drives small.

It's powered by a 788-hp, 6.3-liter V12 that will be familiar to fans of the company's F12berlinetta, only in this application it's tuned to make power way up high in the rev-range -- redline is at 9,250 rpm. Ferrari was able to tune the engine that way because there's an electric motor providing instant low-end torque and bringing total power up to 950 hp and 663 lb-ft of torque.

The car actually has two electric motors. One sends 163 hp to the driven wheels and sometimes generates electricity, while the other powers the car's ancillary electric system and sometimes generates electricity. Ferrari designed and manufactured its own battery. It weighs just 132 pounds and is integrated into the chassis.

Porsche's 918 and McLaren's P1 are both plug-in hybrids and both have limited all-electric range. Ferrari's battery is smaller than those in the McLaren and the Porsche, and Ferrari has included very limited all-electric capability at the request of some customers.

We're told it's technically possible to plug in the LaFerrari, but that's not really how it's intended to be used, and there's no visible plug-in port on the outside of the car.

The interior is about as sparse as it gets, with leather, carbon fiber, aluminum and Alcantara covering almost everything you can touch or see. There's a decent navigation system integrated into the gauge cluster, and the A/C works. From the driver's seat, the view is not unlike that of a 458.

When Ferrari explained that the seats were not actually seats, but custom upholstered impressions in the car's carbon-fiber tub, we were skeptical. An engineer showed us a diagram with a couple of guys kind of leaning back in the LaFerrari's cockpit and a bunch of dotted lines intersecting their hips and heads. Still skeptical. We learned that the seats and pedal assembly telescope to meet the driver. Still skeptical. After some significant seat time, we're happy to report that it worked for us (large), a well-known U.K. journalist (medium) and a couple of Ferrari factory drivers (small).

The seating arrangement also provides incredible feedback (since your back and ass are almost touching the chassis) and it allows for a low roof that leaves the driver room to wear a helmet.

The car is also specifically designed to be easy to get into and out of, which will surely be appreciated by drivers who are old-ish and/or portly-ish.Once you're in, there's a surprising amount of room. If there was nothing but a milk crate and some rusty bailing wire where the seats should be, people would still line up to drive this car. But fortunately, LaFerraris will be delivered in road-trip ready spec -- provided the road trip doesn't require a lot of luggage.

The LaFerrari looks incredibly dramatic on the road.

What's it like to drive?

It's otherworldly. It's explosive. It's unlike anything else.

On Fiorano, you're trying to look as far ahead as possible. Even if you've driven some fast cars on strange racetracks before, the pace at which the car catches up to where you're looking takes a good deal of getting used to.

But other than that, it's nowhere near as difficult to drive as the spec sheet would suggest. It's well-balanced, with weight-distribution at at 41/59. The steering is communicative and easy to manage. The chassis is stiff, though the ride is surprisingly compliant. The fact that the seat is part of the chassis provides the driver with a good deal of useful information about where the car's weight is and where it would like to be. When you run into some loose gravel, you can hear and feel it being thrown against the underside of the chassis. The wealth of tangible information that the car presented us with went a long way toward building our trust and confidence in it.

Well-insured, brave drivers will have no problem easing the car into and out of a great, showy drift. Though, it should be noted that one of our fellow journalists said that midpower-slide corrective throttle inputs should be undertaken with caution, as the results can be hard to predict at first. Since we were standing on a winding, narrow mountain road watching a cyclist round a downhill hairpin while avoiding a box truck, we decided to take his word for it and switched the Manettino dial from the off position to the "Have fun, I'll be right here to save your bacon when you screw up" setting.

On the track, the power and the sound it makes on its way to the rear wheels is invigorating; but what's amazing, what is shocking, is the grip. Ferrari has the reactive-differential game and the traction-control game on lock. You don't notice any of the systems until you overcook a corner, but end up getting through it pretty quickly in spite of yourself.

Ferrari also equipped the car with an impressive, automated active aerodynamic system that works in concert with the rest of the car to manage downforce and drag to your benefit.

The factory shoes ripped around the track at mind-bending speeds without breaking a sweat. A couple of the braver journalists did some drifting. We turned lap after lap, prodding the car, trying to understand how a car so complex could be so genuinely fun to drive. It's remarkable there, too: Pretty much any driver could get into a 950-hp Ferrari, hit the track and not only survive, but experience speed-related sensations that were, in the past, available to just a handful of the world's best drivers.

LaFerrari is surprisingly easy to handle, even on broken, narrow roads.

Do I want it: Yeah. I do. There's so much more to be said about this car, and we'll be diving into the details in a series of posts and articles in the coming week. But as you've probably gathered, the LaFerrari is a uniquely special machine.

Base Price: Around $1.4 million (sold out)

Drivetrain: 6.3-liter, 950-hp, 663-lb-ft V12; electric motor, RWD, seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual