Yahoo Autos Ferrari 12Cilindri Is Retro and Futuristic at the Same Time
I rarely feel more like a dad than when I drive a Ferrari.
I’m not saying driving one makes me feel like a father, which I am. Many Ferrari owners have sired offspring. I mean it makes me feel like a dad: an arrive-at-the-airport-five-hours-early, Wilco-listening dude, whose wardrobe is driven exclusively by practical concerns.
And no Ferrari has made me feel more like a dad than the 12Cilindri I just drove in, of all places, the European grand duchy of Luxembourg. Officially the exterior paint is Giallo Montecarlo, and the seats are Verde Venaria. But if you referred to them as Harvest Gold and Avocado I wouldn't argue. The vibe is pure Seventies, and it's no coincidence. Because this is Ferrari and not Montgomery Ward, the combo comes off as chic. The driver, less so. I would need a full wardrobe makeover to live up to this car—some massive wraparound sunglasses, perhaps a scarf. Definitely not the J.Crew polo I actually wore.
Because the 12Cilindri is more overtly retro-inspired than any Ferrari outside of the company's limited-run Icona line. Specifically, and obviously, this newest front-engine V-12 pays homage to, or is cribbed from, the last great-looking Ferrari of this type, the 365 GTB/4 "Daytona" from 1968–73. Note the beveled nose tip with a dark panel between the headlights, the absurdly long, nearly flat hood with two air vents, and the shape of the side glass. Pity that Ferrari just used the Daytona name on a different car.
The V-12 GT car has been the spiritual center of Ferrari since the brand launched in 1947. Over the last couple of decades, Ferraris of this configuration have taken on an increasingly bellicose visage—the 812 Superfast's headlights turned into squinting, aggressive eyes. But the 12Cilindri is a return to elegance. From certain angles it does indeed give off a cool, machine tidiness, but from others it looks a little awkward, the passenger compartment pushed absurdly far rearward and the nose sometimes ungainly. The 12Cilindri's body-color rear pillars thrust forward to meet at the center of the roof, Ferrari saying this suggests the flying buttresses of many of its mid-engined models. Odd, since neither the 12Cilindri nor the 365 GTB/4 Daytona that lurks in the background are mid-engined. To my eye, it looks more like the funky forward-jutting roll bar of the late-Sixties/early-Seventies Marcello Gandini-penned Autobianchi Runabout concept. It's the correct era at least.
But before I move on, I must address the name which means—wait for it—12 cylinders. Naming your 12-cylinder model 12 Cylinder is like naming your cocker spaniel Cocker Spaniel. It's fine when a native Italian speaker pronounces the name; it slides out in one winding, burbling brook of sound—"dodici cilindri." When native English speakers try it, well, it sounds like maybe they should just say "12 Cylinder."
By standing still, Ferrari has found itself in an almost unique position. There aren't many V-12s left on the market, and that the 12Cilindri's has neither turbos nor a hybrid system makes it rarer than hen's teeth—only the Purosangue and Gordon Murray Automotive T.33 can claim the same distinction. And what an engine this is, basically the same unit that powered the outgoing 812 Competizione: 6.5 liters of rev-happy, exhaust-ripping V-12 magic. This dry-sump beast zings to 9500 rpm so quickly that, unlike some other high-revving naturally aspirated engines, one can actually expect to experience the redline more than occasionally.
The 65-degree V-12 delivers the same 819 peak horsepower as in the 812 Competizione at 9250 rpm, accompanied by 500 lb-ft of torque at 7250 rpm. The engine has also gained what Ferrari calls Aspirated Torque Shaping (ATS). This electronic programming trick aims to give the feeling of smoothly rising torque delivery in third and fourth gears as the engine works harder. For Ferrari, the peak torque figure is not as important as how it feels. Fair enough, it feels incredible. The ATS is utterly transparent in operation.
This gem of an engine—really the point of the whole exercise—is connected to an eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle. That's up one gear from the unit used in previous Ferrari front-engined V-12 models, seemingly to provide a long overdriven top gear for emissions and fuel economy. Left in Auto, the gearbox will rush to get into top gear even at modest speed on country two-lanes, quelling the engine. This makes for a quiet grand-touring experience, but it saps response. A moderate stab of the gas pedal sees the transaxle drop quickly to fifth gear, providing all the revs and therefore power required, but with a slight delay.
The better option is to keep the transmission in manual mode and use the big steering-wheel-mounted paddles and your judgment to choose gears. Doing this, I was generally two or three ratios lower in the stack than when leaving the car in charge. It keeps the engine straining at the leash, buzzing with anticipation and ready to sprint—just as it should be.
Transmission shifts are fantastic, impossibly quick but smooth in road-oriented modes. In the Race setting, the shifts give the car a firm smack in the rear to rush it along and on its way. I came to the 12Cilindri after a couple of weeks driving extremely quick but otherwise anodyne electric cars, so getting into the Ferrari was a welcome homecoming. Here was all the auditory and vibratory feedback I was missing. EVs might not need the torque-multiplying magic of gearsets, but they are less engaging for not having them.
This is not to say the 12Cilindri, or any other modern Ferrari, is somehow pure or analog. Ferrari brings as much or more of a barrage of acronyms representing any number of electronic chassis control systems. Slide Slip Angle Control (version 8.0, if you wondered) integrates steering, traction, ABS, and suspension systems. It seems like a terrible idea, on the face of it. How could such behind-the-scenes intervention and modification not result in an artificial-feeling vehicle? And yet Ferrari has been developing these systems for more than a decade and has managed to make them feel entirely natural. It makes the driver feel like a hero, instead of feeling as if the car is driving itself.
While the steering lacks a touch of feedback in a way familiar to most modern cars, it is medium-light in effort and perfectly linear in response. Befitting a high-performance GT, the two-seat 12Cilindri turns in with authority but never feels remotely darty. Sitting back by the rear axle with the gargantuan nose stretching out ahead, I expected the car to feel a little unwieldy. But thanks in part to the 12Cilindri's well-integrated rear-wheel-steering system, it felt surprisingly nimble. Surprising because the aluminum-intensive 12Cilindri is relatively large and heavy.
At 106.3 inches, the 12Cilindri's wheelbase is a couple inches longer than the mid-engine SF90. And at a claimed dry weight (with no fluids or humans aboard) of 3439 pounds, it's about 150 pounds heftier than the 812 Competizione it replaces. But that's all pretty academic. The 12Cilindri moves deftly.
Owing to Luxembourg's perfectly maintained roads, I can't pass judgment on the car's ride quality. On racetrack-smooth roads, Race mode doesn't feel much different than Comfort mode.
Usability has been dramatically improved. In recent years Ferrari has tried to combine haptic touch controls with awkwardly sized screens, a strategy that has created bewilderment and frustration in cars including the Roma, 296 GTB/GTS, and Purosangue. But the 12Cilindri pioneers a new direction, with the solution to the company's twisted, nonintuitive control strategy being, as unlikely as it might seem, the addition of another screen. Rather than trying to put everything into the instrument panel, the 12Cilindri adds a screen to the center stack for functions including climate control, seat heaters, and the massage program. Yes, this is a Ferrari with massaging seats.
The screen in front of the driver still gets cluttered with data and pictograms, but it is a far more manageable arrangement than Ferrari's other recent attempts. Accommodating the overwhelming number of features carmakers claim buyers demand is a conundrum for Ferrari as much as it is for manufacturers lower down the pile. Also, the number of safety and efficiency systems that must be activated on start-up. The 12Cilindri's lane-keeping system is, at best, disruptive. And the start/stop system should be turned off for everything except drives that include long idle times. But these are challenges and annoyances that all carmakers must accommodate.
The interior, with its dual-cowl dash, is handsome and comfortable. The standard seats, as fitted to my test car, are comfortable and require no ridiculous acrobatics to get into. They include electronically adjustable thigh support and side bolsters. Similarly, a driver can get into and out of the 12Cilindri without bruising or embarrassing themselves. The shallow hatch-covered cargo area is large enough for a couple of weekend bags, which seems a reasonable amount for a car of this type.
Is there a market for a GT car that doesn't look constantly furious and isn't as luxurious as a Bentley Continental GT? Aston Martin certainly thinks so. Its recently unveiled new Vanquish is V-12 (with five more horses than the Ferrari) in a similarly sized, although notably more classically styled, package. At approximately $460,000, the 12Cilindri's base price is about $30,000 more than the Aston's, although ample options will push either car well past a half-million dollars.
So far, this dad will choose the Ferrari.
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