Get 599 now or wait for F12?

IMO the F12B looks are very different from the ones of any Corvette. When the F12 B was launched in 2012 someone wrote - "the straight-ahead view wasn’t kind to the Ferrari 599 GTB because it lacks the menacing appeal present with the F12 Berlinetta". Like the 550 Maranello the F12 Berlinetta returned to the central hood scoop design yet with far more complex detailing. Stylistically the F12 Berlinetta borrows very little or nothing from the 599 GTB and in aerodynamic terms is a much more efficient GT. The technological evolution from the 599 GTB to the F12 Berlinetta was a giant step forward making the later a better car in every department.
I know better the F12 Berlinetta because I own one but I've also driven the 599 GTB several times. My answer to your question is the following. The 599 GTB prices have more or less reached the bottom of the curve and if you get one now at a very competitive price if you want to sell it in a couple of years the depreciation probably will be relatively small. You could buy the 599 GTB and gain some experience driving a powerful V12 ferrari GT with rear wheels traction and when the right moment arrives sell it and buy a F12 Berlinetta you fancy.

 

Wait and get what you really want. You regret settling for less.

And btw, just as Mona Lisa Vito testified that no one could ever, ever confuse a Buick Skylark with a Corvette, no one could ever, EVER confuse a F12 with a Corvette.

 

The styling on the two cars is from two different schools of thought.
The 599 is more smooth and classical and the F12 more modern and radical.
The engines are basically the same.
The transmissions are fairly different. Some like the 599's "jolt" / push others like the double clutch smoothness of the F12.
One thing about the 599 is that if one ever gets the urge one can convert it to a manual. The last of the manual shift front engined V-12s in the tradition such as the 250 GTO and Daytona.

Interiors are a personal choice.

I love the flying buttress look of the 599 vs the "Nike swoosh" of the F12. Both gimmicks that add character.
Supposedly The Stig said the F12 was the only Ferrari he has lusted over. Possibly before driving the 812 (of course !).

The F12 is double the cost but then again almost half of an 812.

A hundred K is a hundred K.

Decisions decisions.

 

Having Driven both before eventually buying an F12 last year. I do think the 599 is a great bargain right now. The F12 is much more advanced in many ways, comfort, transmission, aerodynamics, etc. It is a tough choice with the price difference, so I get that.

I ended up with the F12, as I honestly think (outside the TDF which I think is just wickedly stunning) it is the most elegant Front Engine V12 since the 1960's. I do not think it is modern or radical looking (that is the 812 - which is also awesome but truly more modern looking), the F12 in my eyes is one of the most beautiful 12's Ferrari has ever created (and I had a few from the 60's).