Ferrari's latest grand tourer is everything you could want from a 'gentleman's express' and a fitting coda to the naturally aspirated V12. Adam Hay-Nicholls put it through its paces.
The bell has rung: It’s last orders in the Horse & Vroom pub. Supercar devotees – and none are more devoted than the Ferrari appasionata – are swarming the bar at a quarter to 11. I’ll have a quadruple Disaronno, please, and the new Ferrari 12 Cilindri.
The V12 is the beating heart of the Ferrari brand. Founder Enzo said it himself: ‘The 12 cylinder will always be the original Ferrari. So everything else is a derivation.’ Turbocharging is corruption. Losing a couple of blocks of cylinders is surrender. Hybrids: Well, although Ferrari has used them to great avail in boosting the power of the 296, SF90, LaFerrari and forthcoming F80 hypercar, they are a compromise that is exposed on the scales. An all-electric Ferrari? That, on paper, sounds like Massimo Bottura cooking with a microwave. Sadly, it’s in the stars.
This sleek, cartoonishly-bonneted, Space Age-inspired super-tourer is likely to be the final normally-aspirated V12-powered production Ferrari we’ll ever see.
The author with his yellow 12-cylinder chariot. Credit: Lorenzo Marcinno
It seems very unjust to blame the plight of the polar bear on the mere 15,000 V12-engined cars that will be built globally by just a small collection of manufacturers (Mercedes, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin, as well as Ferrari) in the next 12 months, but here we are. The car you see before you is a pure expression of high-technology and heritage from the most evocative of brands.
There is romance, there is drama where art meets explosive performance, and there is anxiety that we’ve reached the summit and everything is downhill from here. But this is a joyous funeral, so don’t wear black. Bare your brightest colours (in this instance, Monte Carlo yellow), because this is a celebration of a sensational engine and a carefree way of life. This is grand touring at its most rakish and confident. This is a characterful car that expresses muscle and refinement and 77 years of storytelling.
The name is functional: You can probably guess what 12 Cilindri means, but it sounds ravishing in Italian. Phonetically, it’s pronounced Do-DEE-Chee Chill-LIN-Dree. Give it enough gusto, and everyone will assume you really are the Tuscan count you pretend to be. Despite the digital instrumentation and the tricky track pads on the steering wheel, it’s a car with old-fashioned values that feels just analogue enough to bring back memories of other front-engined two-seat V12 Ferraris, like the 1960’s 275 GTB and the 1970’s 365 GTB/4 Daytona.
This new car takes over the reins from the 812 Superfast, which in turn was an evolution of the F12 Berlinetta, but the 12 Cilindri is a philosophical shift. The 812 was more ‘super’ than ‘tourer’, whereas the 2024 machine is designed to crush a continent without creasing your shirt. This is like a more powerful Roma, an elegant brute in a suit. It’s the kind of car a fictional agent from Italy’s AISE secret intelligence service might drive: Jacomo Bond.
The rear of the car is ‘the more gauche area’ of the design.
The horizontal blade nose and front headlamps of the 12 Cilindri owe much to the Daytona, imbuing the car with Miami Vice verve and a manly scent of aftershave, like a sleazy Montreux nightclub. Yet, despite being the colour of fondue, this isn’t a throwback. Every inch of this car is routed about 15 minutes into the future. It also has the first clamshell bonnet since 1992’s 456, exposing the tops of the tyres like a racing car. This one is front-hinged and creates a remarkable silhouette. It is the only car in the world that’ll look even better when it’s broken down.
The nose and side views are bold but suave. The rear employs active aerodynamics, whereby black panels pop up to balance the car at aggressive speeds. Stylistically, this is the more gauche area of the design and lacks the charm of the front three-quarters. The light bar and oblong tail-pipes look unfamiliar to what you’d expect from a Ferrari derriere. Inside, we have a very streamlined twin-cockpit design that’s a continuation of what designer Flavio Manzoni made for the Roma and Purosangue, and gives just about enough of a sense of occasion to warrant the £336,500 price (and the Spider version will be another £30k on top). It’s paid in full, though, as soon as you press the engine start button and click the Manettino dial to Race mode.
This is a long, wide supercar, but it shrinks around you when entering a corner. Its huge bespoke tyres do a remarkable job of applying all that bellicose power to the tarmac; something, in combination with the active aero, I sampled to the max at Goodyear’s tyre testing facility in Luxembourg. Here I was able to make it squirm through tight corners and then mash the throttle, reaching 190mph before a concrete wall got in the way. What it devours with leonine appetite is long sweeping bends. If you have an empty and winding dual carriageway ahead, and a get-out-of-jail-free card in your wallet, you’ll be in nirvana, intoxicated by the reverberations of its rollicking and operatic powerplant.
The cockpit, in which you will eat up the miles in elegant comfort.
Let’s just concentrate on that engine: 819bhp and a 9,500rpm redline, born from a 6.5-litre V12 with titanium con rods and valves that are opened and closed using craftsmanship that’s come direct from Ferrari’s F1 car. Eighty percent of its gargantuan torque is ready and waiting at just 2,500rpm. Each of the eight dual-clutch gears efflux deliciously through the rev range, changing keys like the bridge on Bohemian Rhapsody.
Zero to 62mph takes 2.9 seconds. Top speed is 211. The gearbox is 30 percent faster than the 812’s and in the bends you’ll feel the chassis is stiffer than what’s come before, but while it’s mind-warpingly quick, it’s also unintimidating. It’s not frenetic, it’s under control. It’s mature. It’s smooth. It’s Al Pacino in his later roles, but boy can both still howl, Scent of a Woman-style (you may recall Al pretended to drive a 1989 Ferrari Mondial T while blind, in the movie). An angrier GTO or XX version may appear in due course, catering for nutters, but what we have here is everything that is perfect, striking and uncompromised in a gentleman’s express.
Adam Hay-Nicholls is a journalist and author who specialises in motoring and travel
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