The Official Ferrari 812 SUPERFAST pictures thread

Interesting...have to say that after 4 Fcars with diamond finish, I was just thinking that I'm done with them and need to go with the grey. Maybe it's after seeing every other family sedan with some imitation version! Having said that, imo diamond finish still nicely complements a subdued GT combo, less so for a serious sports car look. It's the bright silver that makes me flinch; always reminds me of the bright wheels (Cragers and what not) we put on our cars in high school, the 70's in my case. They successfully grabbed your eye, which was a good thing because the car was nothing to look at.

Anyhow, that's for another thread. I guess we all have our issues.

 

The tdf looks great. The corvette looks kind of similar but it has had a resemblance through many generations. It's a bit like a f1 cars, they all look the same but they are vastly different. There is only so much you can do with the same shape and same technological methodologies that the designers have at their disposal in a point in time.

 

Sure that's true, and more downforce and stability is always a good thing. But the F12 could manage big power and high speed with very clean lines, so I don't think Ferrari were "forced" to have all these big aero features on the 812 just to keep the car stable. I think they went a bit crazy with the styling by choice, with increased performance being a key feature of all that as well of course.

I see where you're coming from and I agree with pretty much everything you say, but only if I look at it from a Ferrari/business standpoint. My personal opinion of the styling doesn't consider those part though.
I thought that the 599GTO was a massive success and a big leap forwards styling wise over the 599 which I thought was a little too soft and round. Though in honesty the changes they made weren't that huge they still made a big difference. With the F12 I love both the Berlinetta and the tdf pretty much equally, the B is one of my favourite "standard" Ferrari's of all time while the aggressive lines of the TDF blows my mind every time I see one and it creates so much 'want' it's almost painful at times..

So I'm more than fine with these cars being aggressive but perhaps to my eye that line is very narrow and it's easy to step over in both directions.. not close enough with the 599, spot on with the F12 and just over it with the 812.
So I guess in conclusion I'm just a fussy b*stard when it comes to the styling of these cars.

The configurator pictures that deltona posted yesterday have made me warm up to the 812 quite a bit though! It's so true that wheels can make or break or a car and it looks a hell of a lot better without those twisty rims that were on the Geneva cars.

 

Damn the 812 is butt in the rear.

 

It is not my intention to offend anyone, but I think we are completely out of the way and out of place. I think it's very unlikely to think that there are strong similarities between the evolution of three Ferraris and a Corvette. First of all, the Corvette Stingray came after the F12, but this is another problem. I think that there are different intentions: a new Ferrari is an expression of the level of know how achieved in seventy years of history. So much for the development of engines, the development of technology, the constant pursuit of innovation, the introduction of brand new stylistic and aerodynamic solutions, used by other companies with an unavoidable delay. As for the design - given that I cite for example my mother, who has absolutely no knowledge within the car and immediately identified the Corvette as an intruder - we are talking about a design language of its own Ferrari. Do you recognize Ferrari even if does not have a Cavallino. Do you recognize the purity of the lines, the geometries, the elegance and sophistication of the choices about aerodynamic solutions. Personally it seems to me misleading also talk about similarities between Ferrari and Corvette.

 

https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3722/32527169993_f9968f19e0_k.jpg

This is 812 Superfast.

 

The head of design at Ferrari stated that in future designs a Ferrari should be immediately recognized by anyone even without letterings and badges. On these four pictures the letterings and badges where removed and what I did was to post them without any comments whatsoever. First, a sequence of three pictures which show the evolution of the rear section starting from the F12, plus a fourth picture of a Corvette's rear for comparison purpose.

I showed the pictures to a twelve years old kid who is not familiar with Ferraris and told him; Here you see four pictures of sports cars rears but only one of them is a Ferrari, which one is it? He looked and pointed straight away the F12 TDF, I said you're wrong try again, than he pointed the F12 picture.

Each individual has developed in his imagination a conceptualization of what a Ferrari is and looks like and when a designer breaks with certain of those concepts or "rules", he takes the serious risque that the car he wanted to be universally recognized without letterings and badges, won't be from certain angles even with them.

 

Thanks for these pics, car looks so gorgeous.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/oncle_john/32522953104/sizes/k/

Look at those gentlemen. They're looking the car with admiration and that's the real test of whether the design is successful or not. I think Ferrari should have brought to Geneva the second example with different configuration. I hate matt colors

 

You put in words what I've been trying to express for sometime. Can't agree more with everything you said, even in what refers to the fact that some of Deltona's configurator pictures. They've made me melt the ice but not yet warm to the 812.

 

It is almost shocking that you would count that as 'evidence' to support your point. When I look at the four pictures, one is VERY clearly from a different line. Rather than emphasise your point, the run of photographs you put together actually disproves it.

Other than the basic shape - low, sloping rear screen, engine at front, there are extremely few similarities between the first three and the last picture. The coach lines and language are more straight on the Corvette, curving on all the Ferrari's, the ratio of wheel size to body mass below the window is similar on the Ferraris, different on the Corvette (wheels look smaller), the Corvette rear facia has all sorts of different language going on, from different shaped lights to location and projection of exhaust aperture to the focal point being in the middle whereas it is at the edges for all the Ferraris.

Each eyes sees it differently, but the only similarity is the basic shape, which is laid down by the chosen layout, and applies to other sectors and competitors too.

To suggest the 812 is somehow aping the Corvette is simply inaccurate.

 

Thank you for your sound opinion but if you read my post nr. 1157 you'll see that I haven't made myself any comparison between the 812 rear and the Corvette the post is about the statement of recognizing a Ferrari instantly even without lettering and logos. Because some have done those comparisons, I posted the picture of the Corvette together with the other ones and as you've mentioned there are very few similarities.

 

One thing is sure - the 812 looks like a Ferrari. So many hints and throwbacks to previous cars from Maranello. The 812 will be a great part of our history, and what I see is a future classic with a highly praised NA V12.

 

Ferrari couldn't ask for a better photo of the 812! They need to pay the photographer royalties, and use this (vantage point) in all future imagery of the car!

 

I agree, great photo, maybe because you can't see the rear end !!

 

That's ok with me. I'm a Face Man. That's where I look first for beauty, and make my primary judgment call. Don't get me wrong, though...The Arse is a close second when evaluating looks for me! ;-)

 

I’ve already typed this once and lost it so I have retyped it in haste so excuse the typos.

So as per my post yesterday I was at Geneva to see the 812Superfast. Here are my thoughts in no particular order or importance.

In total I think I spent about 3 hours on the stand throughout the day, visiting other stands in between, going into the atelier, playing with the configurator, chatting to Ferrari staff, drinking too much espresso etc.

It is important to note that I’m not a fan of solid red painted Ferrari V12 GTs so I am definitely biased towards the grey car.

My initial impression when I first saw the two 812s was that the car looks MUCH better in the flesh than in and photos I’ve seen. The car looks less edgy than in the photos, I think because the slashes/grills are softened in 3D as you walk around the car, especially the vent on the top of the rear wheel arch which really bothered me at first.

Interestingly, even though I’m a big grey fan, the red car hid the rear wheel arch slash better than the grey car. I’m not sure but I think it could be because the gloss paint of the red car tended to smooth it out more whereas the matte grey seemed to highlight it. I would be most interested to see what a standard ‘gloss’ grey like Silverstone, Ferro, Titanio etc would do. My hunch is it would smooth it out even more.

The panel below the glass of the rear hatch actually looks nice in the flesh. I certainly have no issue with it and it looked great in Carbon. I wonder if you could even get away with no exterior Carbon (my usual preference) but just that area in Carbon as nice detail. I think it would work.

The rear of the car again looks better in person. I actually don’t have an issue with it now. I was concerned about the rear spoiler lip being too prominent but I think its fine now.

The front on the car is one area that still bothers me a little. I am getting used to the front grille and bumper but I do think it is quite fussy and didn’t need to be so, but no big deal. More bothersome to me are the air intakes that flank the headlights. Again they are less intrusive on the red car so in a gloss grey they may be better still but I still find them a little ugly. As an aside I wonder what happens to all the road dirt and grime that gets sucked into them? Can’t bode well for a clean engine bay.

The wheels on display really don’t work for me. They remind me of a cheap plastic moulding where some of the plastic hasn’t come off cleanly from the mould, leaving an edge around the spokes. The car already has lots of angles in the design and I think that these just make the overall design look confused. As per the configurator pics I posted the other two wheel choices really calm things down for me and make the overall look much more pleasant to the eye. More than one person on the stand commented on the Lambo/Audi similarity of the wheels.

I spent quite a lot of time inside both cars looking at trim, leather, switches etc.

The grey car had Sabbia leather. It already had a lot of dye transfer from jeans, something I am familiar with but actually the quality of the leather looked OK. I think the tight stitched pattern on the seat design adds to the taughtness in the leather which may give it the appearance of being thinner/cheaper or more ‘Germanic’ but I think the leather quality is still there.

The Black interior didn’t appeal as I don’t like the red accents but again the quality was fine. The Carbon in the red car (none in the grey) looked great and was widespread, even around the left hand and right hand controls on the infotainment clusters. I think there are more areas in carbon that in the F12b so it will be interesting to see what the ‘Carbon Dashboard Inserts’ costs or even whether there will be more options added to bump up the options price.

The switches on the door handle for boot etc are the same as the Lusso. They are plastic and OK but much more generic looking than the FF and F12. No big deal, they feel OK and durable, just a grade or two down from previous models.

The central bridge is now the same for LHD and RHD cars. It felt like plastic but I can’t be sure it wasn’t just painted. It may be the style but it looked cheaper than the one in the F12 and FF. A problem solved by spending yet more on carbon.

The steering wheel again is as per the Lusso and nice in Carbon. Someone here made a big deal about the Manettino feeling cheap and flimsy plastic on the Lusso, which bothered me so I checked in great detail on the Lusso and 812 at the show. The shape of the manettino switch is more sculpted but other than that as far as I am concerned it is identical in feel and quality to the one in my FF so no downgrade there. Also the switch action is the same, positive with a nice click. The indicators felt strange to me and the wheel a little complicated but again I’m sure a few hours behind the wheel and it will all be intuitive.

So overall I feel that with the right options the interior will be on par with the F12 other than the cheaper looking door switches. Oh and I liked the perforated finish on the door grab handles, looked cool.

I spent a short time on the configurator (until I was kicked out by a dealer with a Tailor Made client!!) and with the other wheels I think the exterior of the car looked great. There are some nice seat options, a slightly different racing seat central pattern and the new Daytona looked good too. Even the standard seats were actually nice if you choose the right finish and stitching. There are also some nice central tunnel options etc. There is definitely scope for classic GT style or a more modern extreme sports car look too.

That’s about it and this last bit is not to be heeded, just my personal feeling.

I am in an unusual situation. I’ve just last month sold my FF (I loved it) and have a new F12b in build right now. My plan was to take the 812 in 2 years time to replace the F12b.
Right now if someone said, sell your F12b build slot and you can have your 812 now, I wouldn’t bite their hand off. The car is great and if I didn’t have the F12b I’d be chomping at the bit about getting it. Of course I will know more in a year or so when I’ve seen more cars in specs that I prefer and no doubt will want to switch but right now I’m not 100%.

I got chatting with someone quite senior at the Ferrari stand who had seen me coming and going all day eyeing up the 812. I won’t say who he was but he was relatively senior and spoke Italian had worked within the company for many years and was about 45-50 years old. He had no agenda to sell me a car as he didn’t work within the UK or for Ferrari Northern Europe for that matter.
I told him my situation, that is missed my FF and have a new F12b in G.Ferro coming and an order for the 812 in a year or two.

His opinion, was like some have said on fchat, keep the F12b, the last Pininfarina, end of an era of elegance and a guaranteed future classic. Then, when Lusso prices soften after the first year get one of those and have the best of both worlds.
I argued that the 812 would be the last NA V12 hence ultra desirable, possibly more so than the F12b. He replied that the replacement would probably still be NA but with some form of hybrid, so would that really make the 812 that special over time? Food for thought, but a nice problem to have……..

 

Justin thank you very much for that detailed report where attention to detail, objectivity and common sense are the denominators.

 

Thanks Justin. And great to hear that even someone from Ferrari understands the value of the F12 and PF colaboration.

 

Thanks Justin for your interesting report.

I saw it differently when I looked at the car at the Factory with regards to the interior. As a summation what I think Ferrari have done is kept the price highly competitive by compromising on various details effectively passing the buck to the customer to spend their money to put the quality back in. I had exactly the same impression at the launch of the Lusso and posted accordingly. I did not get that impression with the F12b.

I was at my dealers this morning to collect, again and finally, my tdf, and reminded myself again of the F12b interior, there being a couple there, and there is no doubt, in my mind that the quality is superior, again same as FF to Lusso. The design may be cleaner and sharper in the newer cars and thus maybe confuse the eye.

As I said earlier in this thread, add a lighter leather, carbon, Daytonas, Alcantara, some more carbon, maybe even higher quality leather and I think you will have a great cabin again, albeit you will probably have paid a further £30/40k to have got there whereas it might have cost you substantially less on the F12b.

The trick will be to avoid external carbon, frankly I have enough in the tdf, as it wouldn't surprise me if you could spend another £50/60k there, so a potential near enough £100k on carbon might be a genuine possibility!

I'm still struggling with the rear, but agree with Justin that a gloss grey could solve many issues as I have always hoped. That's what I think many of, DC in particular, want to see now.

All up, I think a reasonably specced car will be £300/310k, which will make a UK F12b real value at £230/240k. I wonder how the pricing would have been at €1.40 rather than €1.15. I think, in effect, the F12b could have been something of a currency play!

I look forward to another look on Tuesday.

 

Thanks Justin for some great details!

 

Thanks Justin and excellent write-up.

To me there is a difference between quality of cabin components that simple cant be changed (quality of switches etc) and those that with $s you can change. It seems from your write-up that with money spent you can probably sort out your own personal issues with the car.

The second point is the rims and even though I quite like them again its an easy fix if you want to change them.

So really colour is the one item that has to be selected VERY carefully and this is where I will spend my energy

 

Thank you Justin for such a great write up. I too dislike the front as much as the back. To be fair, I think you are trying too hard to like the 812. I never had this issue with a car. Yes, every Ferrari looks better in person but its the difference between loving it and can't live without it - not disliking it and then having to warm up to it after spending another $100K in options. The play here is to keep your custom made F12b or go find one with a great spec. Great deal and true PF beauty. My opinion of course.

 

Just did a marathon thread catch up. The view of the 812 away from this thread is more positive based on press and talking to those at Geneva today. Big picture, the 812's position is close to F12 (platform) and tdf (performance). So not surprising that some of these existing owners are emotionally invested and find issues with the 812. As a newbie into the F12 platform world, i find the 812 looks stunning. And 800hp for £250k with useable TDF level performance - bring it on....my order is in