Is the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta the last of the traditional V-12s?
Is the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta the last of the traditional V-12s?
10:02

Is the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta the last of the traditional V-12s?

Automobiles
[NOISE] [MUSIC] You can all view that pretty much every car from Maranella with that badge on it is special. After all, Ferrari is the mac daddy when it comes to super cars. I once said that a Ferrari is the definition of a super car, and I stand by that. Ferrari's road cars, not old Enzo's initial priority, are world-renowned for being awesome. That's all down to his first car, the 1 2 5 s. And that had a V-12 engine and looks to kill. Now, all flagship Ferraris come with twelve cylinders under the hood. In fact, short of the limited run hyper cars, they're the loveliest bestest Ferraris the company. Produces. It's not hard to see why. The V 12 by it's very nature is just better than everything else when it comes to power, noise, and smoothness. Less so when you look at maintenance, but ho-hum. The V-12 in this is a rather special one. [NOISE] Under the hood, six, 6.3 liters V12 that produces 730 brake horsepower. 500 night [INAUDIBLE] How [UNKNOWN] is not just any V12, though. This one's related to the one you get in the legendary Ferrari Enzo. Because those big numbers, none to 62, happens in 3.1 seconds and its top speed, 280 miles an hour, if you're good at driving and slow and stuff, it'll apparently do 19 miles to the gallon As well. Around Ferrari's legendary test track, Fiorano, this is three seconds quicker than the 599, it's predecessor. And it's one second quicker than the mental 599. GTO. So that's speed and power sorted. What about smoothness? Well, this is a modern Ferrari so it's as comfy as they come. All the controls you could possibly ask for are on the wheel, which can occasionally be confusing if you have no idea what you're doing. Which is something you want to be doing. In the F12. Man, those aforementioned big numbers make this thing incredibly fast in the real world. The last time I drove a road car with this power It was a genuine hyper car. It was the [UNKNOWN]. And that thing was mad even though it has a smaller turbo charged engine. So this naturally aspirated 730 [UNKNOWN] horsepower car. When it's very different. It's so smooth. The V-12 engine in this is, it's so lovely. It makes a beautiful noise. If you stand on the side of the hill and listen to it drive away, it sounds like a Formula One car. Just bouncing it around the hill. The noise just bounces off everything, it echoes everywhere, and it is simply glorious. But hearing it is one thing, experiencing it is another. This thing is unbelievably quick, it pins you back in your seat, it pushes you there. And it just urges to go faster and faster and faster and faster and faster. And when you are say, driving it with some spirit. The rate at which the numbers add up on the speedometer is nothing short of magical. Man that is something else to witness. The handling. It just, it just grits. And on a dry day when we've got everything set to Knows that. And you can swing this thing around corners and it will stay there. It feels good. It feels so good. [MUSIC] The arrow on this thing is also Something else. So it's got the brake cooling ducts at the front. So when it detects and it's amazing carbon ceramic brakes. Yes they are carbon ceramic and they are brilliant. They work incredibly well. Once it detects that they're getting a little bit too hot it'll open some flaps. So let some air over them, cools them down, then closes again. So the car is once again aerodynamic. Then we have my favorite feature on the car. You see, if you look at it from the side you just some streaks. But, if you look over, there's a whole in it. That's actually called the arrow drifter. It's the best name for anything ever, frankly. And that uses the bonnet for down Downforce, so as you drive along it's going there and over and along the car and pushes it down to the ground. And Ferrari's engineers had a hell of a job making something better than the 599. But well judging by everything I've seen, they have managed to do it. This is the kind motor that you think one day maybe, if I win the lottery, this is the car. This is my baby driver because it can do everything. [INAUDIBLE] Find anything wrong with it, other than occasionally, if you, say, drive a little spiritedly It can get away from you a little bit, but if you're sensible, like anything, it's a wonderful thing. But that's the Jekyll and Hyde nature of it. You can have a lot of fun with it if you want to and if you know what you're doing, you can have a lot, a lot of fun with it. Otherwise it can [INAUDIBLE] I think it's a brilliant, brilliant car. And now for some noise. [NOISE] I like the noise. The noise is the best bit. And the acceleration. The noise and the acceleration. Those are the best bits. And the looks. It is beautiful. So, noise, acceleration Looks, power, everything, everything. I love this thing. I want it on the drive every single day. I want to hear that noise every day. And I don't think you can blame me. And if you do Do blame me, then there's something wrong with you. You're broken. You're wrong. Irritatingly, now's the time I have to repeat myself a little. When I drove the 458 Spider, I pondered that it may well be the last naturally aspirated mid-engine V8 Ferrari made Sixish month later the 48AGTB became e a thing. I've heard rumblings that Ferrari's V12 may be changing soon s well. There's reports going around the Ferrari's isn't gonna stay [UNKNOWN] on V12 but instead, makes them all hybrid. It something that works really well for the [UNKNOWN] hybrid car, but that [INAUDIBLE] Well that's a machine bred for all-out balls-to-the-wall performance. So with something like that, sees a flagship car like the F12. I'm aware that at this point in time, you're probably thinking a hybrid Ferrari means nothing akin to a bright red Prius driven by someone with a perma-smug grin on their face and a [UNKNOWN] for the smell of their own farts I somehow doubt that'll be the case. Think more LaFerrarial Porche 918 than Prius. It'll come with usable EV range, mega torque, and the silky smoothness expect from Ferrari V12. It'll be all around better. It'll have more power, not that it needs it, more torque, more MPG, and [NOISE] All that nonsense. But when it has the same smoothness, the same character as the V12s we're used to. And can you imagine Ferrari making a car as legendary as the 250 GTO, but with a Plug socket on the back. Now, Ferrari points to yes, as does faith in Ferrari not to make a duffer. Manufacturers all have to look forward and make cars that are better for the environment, even Ferrari. But the way Ferrari does it will be less concerned with making a cost-effective system for all to afford and more concerned with making the best, fastest thing it can. [MUSIC] And that's why you shouldn't worry about newfangled technology killing off or soiling the purest of Enzo's breed. Because while the F-12 might be the last naturally aspirated V-12 Ferrari flagship, it certainly won't be the last flying dozen z! [MUSIC]

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