Think I'm keeping F12

One of the Ferrarichat members "Deltona" who just received a new F12b, during the last Geneva Motor Show spend many hours at Ferrari stand talking to company staff and if I remember his post he mentioned more or less the following. When talking to one of Ferrari's senior employees that was at the Geneva stand, the advice he gave to Justin was to keep and enjoy the F12b because he said is a great car and the last Ferrari V12 designed by Pininfarina.

 

Full agreement.

 

I'm keeping my 2015 F12. If your worried about it being out of warranty soon, by the extended warranty for piece of mind. No issues with mine.

 

The staff will always tell you everything you wanted to hear.

 

May be, however none of what he said are lies but only facts.

 

Not wanting to interfere but just to clarify what Mario is saying here is what i said back in March after spending hours on the Ferrari stand at Geneva.

"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…….."

 

Some have speculated that the 812 might have a relatively short life before V12 GT line is given the hybrid treatment. Performance is a notch up on the F12 but the looks seem to divide opinion - similar to the 512M that came at the end of the Testarossa production with a short run, somewhat quirky appearance but has a well established following. Admittedly, one would expect the 812 to be around for longer than the 1 year or so the 512M was produced, but it could be headed on a similar path.

 

I think the advice they gave you was good advice. It also runs counter to what I would imagine the prime mission must be: sell cars! I'm sure they know they will sell every one they can. As a matter of fact, I hear that the entire production run is spoken for in some form or another. But to come back to it, I think the advice they gave you is well intended and solid. I think thats actually a commendable thing. Maybe its a little naive but I think of Ferrari as a family. Sometimes it's got its weirdness like you get in a family, but a family none the less and when you asked, you got good advice.

I see this more as 550 -> 575. I'm much more of a 550 guy and also an F12b guy. That doesn't mean the 575, nor the 812 are bad. It just means they are not my favorites.

 

It was a nice moment and made me warm to the brand even more especially as I was about to take delivery of my first new Ferrari and it was already an 'old' model.

As we all know there are no wrong decisions and I like the 812 more now than I did a couple of months ago. So far we have only been able to judge the car in styling terms in only two colours (neither of which I would choose). We will of course see many more variations imminently, but when the press reviews start and we find out how the new electronic steering, 4WS, 800 BHP etc affect the dynamics we may suddenly think that the F12b is old hat......but still a beautiful old hat.

 

Justin, drove today the inevitable future "beautiful old hat" and because my brother was inside for the first time, I had no alternative but to give him a little taste of what the roaring animal is capable of doing. While on the motorway on the first straight I pressed the accelerator to the floor and when 4th gear was close to engaging I had to slow down because of the approaching curve. That situation repeated over and over on every straight during a 30 Km ride and it made me think. Independently of what the 812 will be and it has to be better, the F12b is already so bombastic and howlingly fast that outside a track in the majority of the motorways and in almost every road, only a relatively small part of the car existing potential is used. That's just to say that for a road use IMO the 812 technical improvements will only have a purpose if they really contribute to a better driving sensation.

 

Regarding the F12B ? From my cold dead hands....

 

I agree with you guys. I am very curious to read the 812 drive reviews. It sure does have the hallmarks of being a fantastic driving car. I think even though the F12 is so powerful, and a great drive in its own right, for a while now, I think many reviewers have been saying things like "how can they make a car drive even better?! This would be nearly impossible!" And yet, Ferrari has been up to the challenge. I suspect this trend will continue with the 812.