Ferrari 812 GTS: That glorious V12 symphony just got even better
Sports Cars
Speaker 1: [00:00:30] My kind of musical instrument,
Speaker 2: The [00:01:00] eight, 12 possesses, a voice with volume, but also variety, depending on how you exercise the throttle and gear shift paddles, you can go from AOUS Basso profondo to a wild whale with myriad tones in between you can summon small explosions and long Croces. You can even go up and down scales.
Speaker 1: One of the great motoring [00:01:30] experiences has to be multiple down shifts in an eight 12 with this engine. So make sure in something like sort of fifth gear with enough head room, and then as you come up to the corner, just The speed of them. Unbelievable.
Speaker 2: [00:02:00] This is by the way, an eight, 12 with gas particular filters, but thankfully it doesn't seem to have harmed it much. The F one 40 GA engine is as gloriously Rous as ever.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure there's any musical instrument that takes quite so much. Well, almost bravery to get the most out of revving it all the way out to nearly nine 30. You set out to steal yourself, [00:02:30] Perhaps the cannons at the end of the 18, 12 overture. They would've taken a bit of bravery.
Speaker 2: In fact, I wonder if you could find a place for an eight 12 of in the 1812, I'm sure Chaikovsky would've approved. Anyway, this would seem like a good time to start talking about open air concerts and how the GTS can make your oral experience of its 6.5 liter V12, even better [00:03:00] at the press of a button,
Speaker 1: Except you don't wanna drive it with the roof down.
Speaker 2: It's nothing to do with the looks because the buttress are very attractive. The actual mechanism for retracting, the hard top is quite entertaining too, and it only takes 14 seconds to do its dance. It can even do this while the car is moving it up to 28 miles an but I thought we'd show it static so that we can more easily point out the aerodynamic differences compared to the super fast namely the little L-shaped lips on the top corners of the windscreen and the larger diffuser at the rear. [00:03:30] Anyway, the reason that you don't want to drive with the roof down is because it doesn't actually sound as good.
Speaker 1: You see, whilst you still can hear the glorious six and a half liter V 12 with the roof down and you obviously get the sunshine. If there is any, you also get an awful lot of wind noise. It's not bucketing, it's perfectly comfortable with the roof down, but it's just sort of, it's like interference, like a bit of white noise over that soundtrack,
Speaker 2: [00:04:00] Much better to leave it up. Really does look good in tur defrost blue. Isn't it. Now I realize that never putting the roof down might seem to render the GTS variants pointless as an appendix, but it isn't because it has another trick up its sleeve. Now you
Speaker 1: See, in fact, all you need is this of a button here on the other side, which pops I bit of glass down behind me with that little window down, you get the wonderful amplification [00:04:30] of all the noise, particularly on down shifts, but without any distraction of the wind noise
Speaker 2: Noises from the gearbox in particular are amplified to spectacular effect with the back window down.
Speaker 1: And the nice thing is it doesn't matter what the weather's like. It's raining. You can still pop it down. Okay. It's a bit like sleeping with the windows open in the summertime. You still look the sensations of being outside, but unlike camping, you get a nice bed.
Speaker 2: [00:05:00] Of course, there are times when it's nice to have the roof all the way down, tight valleys and tunnels for example, but some of you will still be questioning whether such moments are worth the inevitable weight penalty, which comes in at an extra 120 kilos over a 1,525 kilos super fast. Is it horribly detrimental to the driving experience? Not really, no,
Speaker 1: You've still got 789 brake horsepower and 530 pounds for [00:05:30] not 62 miles an hour, 2.9 seconds. And a top speed of over 211 miles an hour for all that the engine and transmission are just stunning and probably the most memorable things about this car. I love the chassis as well. This front engine rear drive, but really mid front engines balance is just [00:06:00] fantastic. The nice thing is that you don't have to be driving this really fast to feel like you're getting something out of it dynamically because the car's so sort of hyperactive alerts almost sort of unstable. It just it's exciting at any speed. Of course, when you're driving it really quickly, it's really, really exciting. Then [00:06:30] I know not everyone's a fan of the really light steering that sort of hyperactive front end, but it reminds me of some of the competition cars I've driven. And of course that front end's always aided by the rear wheel steer as well
Speaker 1: Every day. Yes, it's definitely worth pressing the bumpy robot just to make your journey less ruffled. But although our arguably it deals with the bumps and everything [00:07:00] a bit better in the UK on this sort of B road. I actually like the dumpers in their firmer setting because I just like that sense of connection to the road. The car being as agile as possible, just makes it easier to place. And it still deals with the bumps things. I don't like. I'd like to just have a bit more reach in the steering column. So I put the seat a little further back [00:07:30] and sometimes it does trigger the hazards when you're breaking
Speaker 2: In some respects, the entertainment is also a bit lackluster for a car costing 293,000 pounds, but you can spec apple CarPlay, which makes life easier albeit for 2,400 pounds. And there is no denying that the lack of big touch screens is quite refreshing besides even if you had no stereo at all, it's not as though you'd beret of anything to listen to.
Speaker 1: [00:08:00] One thing that's worth mentioning is that you really do want to be in race or above on the Manino for this. Otherwise it's a bit like playing the piano with a soft pedal on, but perhaps sports more like just having one section of an orchestra playing when you put it into race, all the other instruments weigh as well, Including the percussion. [00:08:30] I really wasn't sure if I'd like the eight, 12 GTS, cause I'm such a fan super fast. And although I like an open top car, I was worried that this might be well obviously lesser in the dynamic states, but it really, isn't Not on the road anyway. And just the ability to put that window down. [00:09:00] That's all you need though. It's super fast with the ability to put the back window down somehow. That's, that's probably the perfect, that's the absolute sweet spot, But whether it's attached to a fixed roof for a folding roof, it's that engine and that gear box by there, [00:09:30] they they're. The reason we have make the case for synthetic fuels. There has to be a way to make them exist in the future. The world will just be a poorer place without them.
Speaker 1: Like somebody say the world could never hear Ratman and offs, counter concerto, number two [00:10:00] ever again, it would be a travesty.
