My 12 Cilindri Coupe - Initial Impressions

I took delivery of my 12 Cilindri coupe 3 weeks ago and figured I'd share some of my initial impressions. I currently have an SF90 Stradale and 296 GTS as comparison points, I've owned several Ferraris beforehand including an 812 Superfast that I sold last year in anticipation of the 12 Cilindri.

Design & Rosso Magma

I felt like the hype leading up to the introduction of the 12 Cilindri contributed to its mixed reception. I interpreted the leaks about the 12 Cilindri as meaning this car was going to be the most universally appreciated amazing looking front engined V12 Ferrari, and what I got was something that was difficult to wrap my head around.

I will say though, in person, in the right color - this thing looks absolutely beautiful. To my eyes it's a significant step up from the 812 in the design department, particularly at the front. The black visor around the front of the car is a complete non-issue in living with it, at least when paired with the right color. I do think if Ferrari's entire lineup had this visor it would get old quickly, but given that it's the only member of my garage with it I think it works. It's different and bold in person.

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I was worried the front would be too long in person but I think from a lot of angles it somehow doesn't seem that long. I even opted for a Monza-like horizontal stripe on my 12 Cilindri Spider to break up the hood but seeing how the coupe turned out I don't think that's necessary at all.

The rear diffuser is very aggressive and stands out, I do think if you can swing it optioning it in CF is wise. The pronounced hips on the rear are awesome as are the tucked in sides (again CF side skirts work well here). They did an incredible job styling this car.

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I've had a long history of Rosso Corsa Ferraris, including my 812 Superfast. From a design perspective I had three regrets with my 812: 1) I didn't option the painted shields, 2) I didn't option any exterior CF, and 3) I didn't option a metallic paint. Without a metallic paint I felt like the 812 lost a lot of its curves in many lighting conditions, so for the 12 Cilindri I wasn't going to make that mistake.

My dealer suggested Rosso Magma for the coupe, I'd always heard good things about this color but I'd never been brave enough to spec it myself. My god is it beautiful. Many of the multi-layer reds like Rosso Magma look more maroon than bright red with no direct light, but as soon as you get any light on the paint it brightens up considerably. It's this deep red vs. bright red tradeoff that always kept me away from the more interesting metallic reds in the past, but I think they work extremely well on the front engined V12s. Whether it's a direct light in a garage or sunlight, Magma is incredible. I'd go as far as to say it's probably one of the best colors you could spec on the 12 Cilindri. And this is a paint color I will definitely reuse on a future Ferrari. Note that I don't believe the paint is properly captured in the images uploaded to Fchat, it looks more muted here than in real life.

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For what it's worth I fell in love with the Verde Toscana launch spec from Ferrari's marketing materials, but seeing that color in person I wasn't a fan. I also didn't love Rosso Imola on the car either - Bianco Artico seemed fine but no where near as impressive as Rosso Magma in my mind. The 12 Cilindri really wants a deep metallic paint. I am somewhat nervous about my 12 Cilindri Spider spec which is Blu Toscan but I have faith in the TM team that we arrived at something good.

Driving

The 12 Cilindri door hinges don't appear to have discrete stops, so they remain open at virtually any angle (the original Porsche Panamera had this same behavior and it's something I wish all cars had).

Sitting inside the car, the side mirrors feel way closer to your face and are lot larger than in the SF90/296, and as a result feel more useful. It's always a little unnerving being in a front engined V12 Ferrari if you're used to the mid-engined cars because cars coming up behind you seem *really* close since the distance between the driver and the rear glass is a lot shorter.

Sitting inside the car, the side mirrors feel way closer to your face and thus seem a lot larger than in the SF90/296, and as a result feel more useful. It's always a little unnerving being in a front engined V12 Ferrari if you're used to the mid-engined cars because cars coming up behind you seem *really* close since the distance between the driver and the rear bumper is a lot shorter.

The 12 Cilindri feels significantly smaller while driving compared to the 812. The 812 felt like I had infinite hood in front of me, 12 Cilindri somehow reduces that feeling. The updated rear wheel steering is absolutely wild, the full lock turn in a parking lot scenario is amazing - the rear end pivots in a way that feels significantly tighter than the 812.

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While the 12 Cilindri definitely doesn't feel as big as it is in the majority of driving situations, if I'm trying to fit in a tight space I'm quickly reminded of its size. I feel like I'm going to curb all of the wheels on this thing, I'm still getting used to it and the surround view helps although there's so much going on in the surround view that it can be difficult to quickly ascertain whether or not you're proceeding safely.

Chris Harris’ review of the 812 complained about the harshness of the suspension, I didn’t believe it at the time, but after a few years of living with the 812 (and eventually having the SF90 as a comparison point) I finally recognized that he was right. The 12 Cilindri is far more comfortable and as a result much more usable.

The 12 Cilindri definitely has a bouncier suspension compared to the SF90/296, I suspect a result of it being setup to be more GT than outright sports car. The result is a car that does feel more dailyable than either of those two cars, even though I'm fine dailying all three. I am curious to see what the 12 Cilindri VS setup is like, if they're able to eliminate some of the bounce without sacrificing too much of the usability.

Straight line performance feels better than the 812 Superfast, and the updated transmission is great.

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The 12 Cilindri is a tremendous complement to the SF90/296, it's a great car to pair with the hybrids, it feels very different. I was afraid I would miss the torque of the hybrids but the NA V12 seems to do a very good job holding its own. I am a big fan of how fun the mid range in the SF90 is and surprisingly the 12 Cilindri can also be fun in the mid range without having to take every gear up to redline. That being said, I feel like quick trips up to redline are still great in the 12 Cilindri and much easier to manage than on the 812 because of the updated TC system.

Traction

Coming from the 488, I remember feeling like the 812 did a better job keeping its rear end in check, but the more I lived with it the more I felt like the 812 was held back by its traction control system. On the newer Ferraris, particularly with the manettino in sport, the traction control intervention is fairly seamless and not abrupt at all. You see a flicker of the TC light on the instrument cluster and the car doesn't accelerate as quickly but you don't get an abrupt power cut. That's not how the 812 worked at all, I'd either get more slip than I'd want or a fairly abrupt power interruption. The 12 Cilindri more or less fixes this in every scenario except completely cold tires (assuming sport on the manettino).

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The updated traction control in the 12 Cilindri has a dramatic impact on both the usability of the car and the ability for me to enjoy the exhaust note more as I'm able to explore more of the rev range with higher throttle percentage than I could safely in the 812. The result is although the pre-GPF 812 definitely has higher highs in terms of exhaust note experience, with the 12 Cilindri I get to experience it more. More area under the exhaust enjoyment curve.

Sound

There's an increasing disconnect between reviews of modern Ferraris and my personal experiences. I find that the disconnect is sometimes between the reviewer not having enough ownership experience with the vehicles to tell me what I need to hear and other times it's because they don't understand the product or the customer.
To date I don't think I still have a sense of what the SF90 XX is like to live with from the perspective of someone who really enjoys the normal version of the car.

The initial 12 Cilindri reviews however were a bit confusing for another reason - the reviewer feedback was frequently contradictory. I saw some reviewers complain about how quiet the 12 Cilindri was, while others talked about how incredible it sounded. Based on videos alone I figured it would be fairly quiet, but I expected a louder interior experience. Reality is a bit more muddled than that.

I arguably had the best stock 812 Superfast exhaust as mine was a pre-GPF. If they made the GTS without GPF that would likely have been the best stock configuration. Over time however I found that the exhaust note was best enjoyed under overpasses or in a tunnel at full throttle. The latter in particular resulted in arguably one of the best stock sounding Ferraris I've ever experienced. Full throttle 1st -> 2nd shift in the pre-GPF 812 with the windows down just sounded incredible.

The rest of the time however, the 812 sounded fine. With the windows up it was still fairly quiet inside a lot of the time. I'm sure this is an easily rectifiable issue on the 812 but I've never been a fan of aftermarket exhausts.

In short when you could enjoy the 812's exhaust note it was incredible, but I found the majority of the time I was chasing a high that was tough to come by (in part because the 812 was twitchy enough that I couldn't drive around at full throttle as much as I'd like).

Having lived with the 12 Cilindri now for a while I think I prefer its exhaust behavior more of the time than the 812, but it's extremely scenario dependent. That full throttle 1st/2nd experience from the 812 still exists in the 12 Cilindri but it's far more muted. Similarly, in a tunnel with the windows open, the pre-GPF 812 takes the cake. The rest of the time, through what I'm assuming is Ferrari piping in more V12 sound into the cabin, I think the 12 Cilindri sounds more engaging. It's still quiet overall, but I think it actually really works with the new more GT oriented 12 Cilindri. It does a good job of being quiet when you want it to be quiet and having an interesting sound when you’re on it. An aftermarket exhaust can obviously change things considerably.

Interior & HMI

I feel like Ferrari is slowly righting all of the wrongs of the HMI introduced over half a decade ago with the SF90 and Roma. The 12 Cilindri has the new simplified digital instrument cluster that was first introduced in the Purosangue. It is much nicer overall than what I have in the SF90/296. All Ferraris beep a lot, but a good part of this updated interface is the beeps are far more pleasant even compared to the SF90/296. I still have some nits to pick with the layout (e.g. navigation directions on the main instrument display are in a tiny font at the bottom of the screen) but overall it's a big improvement over the SF90/296 generation.

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The new center display is a welcome addition, I am curious if it'll show up on the SF90-M. Although I'm glad it's there, the center display is more distracting to use than I expected. It's just below my field of view while driving, so to look at/interact with it I need to look down. It's better than overloading the main instrument cluster but it's still one of those things that you really can/should only interact with while stopped.

The interior isn’t boring by default, especially if you get some Alcantara on the lower part of the dash to break up the texture. It’s a way better canvas than the SF90/296 interior which I always felt needed a lot of customization to truly make interesting.

Ergonomically the thinner steering wheel in the 12 Cilindri is better than the 812's wheel in my opinion, the problem is all of the haptic controls. With the new simplified UI and center screen you don't need to mess with the haptics as much, but really the solution here is to get the updated 296 Speciale wheel which should hopefully make the wheel both ergonomically and functionally better than the prior generation wheel from the 812. I assume if you order a 12 Cilindri today for delivery sometime in the next year or two you'll end up with the updated wheel.

Finding the window controls is a little more challenging/takes more getting used to compared to the SF90/296 since the center tunnel is so much wider in the 12 Cilindri. The split door pockets are also a little strange on the 12 Cilindri, I find that they're too small for a large sunglasses case so I end up using the center console for that.

Thoughts on Options

The 12 Cilindri, well optioned, is significantly more expensive than my 812 Superfast was. I figured I'd highlight a few things I thought were either worth or not worth it.

You can skip CF on the doors I think, particularly with a darker interior. Top down however you might want to consider it. The same for the CF dash, I didn't option it on the coupe and don't miss it at all. I would however add CF on the center tunnel and of course the steering wheel.

On the outside, I do think all of the main CF is nice to have (front, side skirts and diffuser). Even that little CF piece near the shields is a nice addition (CEXG I think? It's actually a bigger CF piece than I realized).

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The massaging seats are good, not as good as I remember them being on the Purosangue, still on the fence for whether or not I’d order them again. They're activated through the center display and you need to turn them on each time you drive vs. being a function that retains state between power cycles. I find that this reduces how frequently I use the option. I need to see how I feel about them on a longer drive, though the massage function is limited to the back of the seat not the base.

I really hate the passenger display. It's almost never used in my cars but I keep hearing that everyone options it and it might look weird without it. If I had to do the coupe again I'd go without it.

Painted shields would be nice but surprisingly enough I don’t believe they’re a must have on the 12 Cilindri. The enamel shields look smaller in photos than in person somehow.

Final Thoughts

My dealer has a fairly vanilla test drive route, it's tough to really experience a car on the route as a result. I found that I was disappointed in two vehicles during this route that I later really came to enjoy after living with them for longer. The first was the Roma, it completely underwhelmed on a couple miles up and down a highway but I was in a situation where I lived with one for a month and came away with a completely different, far more positive, impression. The second was the 12 Cilindri. I drove my dealer's demo and although it felt like an improved 812, I felt a bit disappointed. I don't know what I was expecting, but whatever my expectations were, I felt let down.

Living with it though is a totally different experience. The 12 Cilindri feels like a better 812 in nearly every category. It's a better driving, more comfortable, more usable front engined V12 than its predecessor. Now that improvement comes at a tremendous increase in price compared to what a depreciated 812 looks like today, but evaluating a new car based on value vs. a depreciated predecessor always ends the same way.

What surprised me the most is how complementary the 12 Cilindri is to the modern Ferrari hybrids. I'm a big fan of complementary vehicles as I find that two dissimilar but independently enjoyable cars can increase my appreciation of both. The 12 Cilindri plays that role for me.

If you expect the 12 Cilindri to be something it isn't, a competitor to the SF90 or 296 or to be a completely new type of car, it's not that - and perhaps that was my issue on my test drive. As a successor to the 812, and a complementary experience to the modern Ferrari hybrids however, the 12 Cilindri absolutely succeeds. If you really liked the 812 and just wished it was a little more comfortable and usable, I suspect you'll really like the 12 Cilindri.