Ferrari 12Cilindri 2025 Review

The fleet in question consists of eight 2025 Ferrari 12Cilindri models, including both body styles it’s offered in: Coupe and drop-top Spider.

Prices start from $803,500 for the Coupe and $886,800 for the Spider. However, that figure will stretch significantly by the time you’ve got it on the road and optioned to suit your tastes, so consider that $10 million fleet figure a very rough calculation.

Under the bonnet of the 12Cilindri – or ‘dodici cilindri’ in its native tongue – is a 6.5-litre naturally-aspirated V12 engine, which sends 611kW/678Nm to the rear wheels via an eight-speed dual-clutch auto.

That’s a lot of car to tame, and truthfully, you’d need a race track (or very open road) to explore its full potential and keep your driver’s licence.

So, bringing it to a place like the Southern Hemisphere Proving Ground, where you can’t go all that fast (in a straight line), seems counterintuitive. But somehow it works, and the tour, dubbed Esperienza Ferrari on Ice 2025, is a rather spectacular way to experience what could be Ferrari’s last V12 grand tourer.

Unlike the Ferrari buying experience, where there’s a sort of qualifying process and owners need to buy their way through the ranks (or, as one owner describes it, “do the little dance”), anyone can come along to the biannual tour.

The package isn't cheap, but includes two nights of luxury accommodation, world-class dining experiences and an entire day behind the wheel of a 12Cilindri.

A scenic helicopter flight back to the picture-perfect Millbrook Resort tops off the day.

The only thing you need to fund is your way there and back, and since it’s only a three-day program, many stay on (or arrive earlier) to enjoy the beauty of New Zealand’s South Island.

If you came here looking for a proper car review, this ain’t it (you can read one of those here). We simply can’t provide a full, dynamic assessment of the 12Cilindri beyond telling you it does sick skids.

But if you want to know what it’s like to live as a Ferrari owner for a day, read on.

It sounds cliché, but Ferrari says when you buy one of its cars, you become part of the Ferrari family. It’s an exclusive club few will ever join, and like all great clubs – just look at Fight Club – it comes with rules.

Ok, they’re more like conditions, but it’s not really a secret anymore; Ferrari is selective about who it sells its cars to, and you can’t just walk into a dealership and buy a 12Cilindri without first owning an entry-level Roma, and then maybe a Purosangue or a 296… it goes on.

But as I sit amongst people who own a Ferrari (some of them have multiple Ferraris) with nothing but a Nissan Pulsar to my name, I feel like part of the family, even if I’m more like the black sheep you only see at Christmas time.

I digress.

The group I’m sitting with is as diverse as it is interesting; at one end of the table, you’ve got a business owner, an architect, and an antipasto entrepreneur (that’s not his official title).

At the other, a semi-retired software engineer who’s clocked more kilometres in his 296 GTB than most people ever dream of putting on a supercar.

What unites them all is a shared love for the brand – and an unapologetic willingness to use cars, as… well, cars. But even most of them admit, they’d never drive their own Prancing Horse on ice.

But someone else’s car? Absolutely. And I couldn’t agree more.

With winter tyres fitted at all four corners, each with around 300 razor-sharp studs that are screwed into the tread, ready to cut into ice to offer some semblance of grip, we set off.

I imagine they’re like hundreds of tiny ice skates for a tyre, but instead of speed skating, our plan is to go sideways with a drive program set to consist of drifting, handling activities, and a motorkhana.

With that, we turn the manettino to ESC ‘off’, flick it into first gear, and hit the throttle. Even a thousand tiny razors are no match for glacial ground, and trying to extract more than 800HP from a rear-drive car on ice is an equation with no solution.

Still, we roll into a right-hand turn and boot it, sending the rear tyres into a frenzy that forces the coupe sideways, and all you need to do is catch it, over and over again.

Soon, the stakes get higher and the drifts get longer before turning into donuts. Then the donut radius grows, and just as you’ve mastered a right-hand drift into a left-hand donut, you’re thrown into a slalom course.

It’s Tokyo Drift on ice, but there’s no JDM cars or whining turbochargers; just Ferrari’s latest grand tourer and the roar of a naturally aspirated V12.

Even without the sheer speed this car is capable of, you’re reminded it’s capable of so much more every time you’re thrust into the backrest as it skates across the ice.

If, like me, you weren’t obsessed with the 12Cilindri’s design in photos, seeing it in the metal will all but certainly change your mind. It’s exquisite, dramatic, and everything a Ferrari ought to be.

There were other pleasant surprises: the refreshingly easy ingress and egress for such a low-slung GT. You’re not bending and crouching awkwardly to hop in.

Vision from the driver’s seat is also better than expected, until you turn your head to check your blind spot, which remains mostly blind, but that’s something you simply accept in a car like this.

Our time in the 2025 Ferrari 12 Cilindri was much too short, sideways, and hilarious to find many shortfalls. But even so, it’s grounding to find things that annoy in a near $1m car.

Some have criticized the 12Cilindri’s muted notes, which have been dampened by tightening emissions regulations, compared to the 812 Superfast it replaces.

Truthfully, there were a few moments the V12 produced a truly spine-tingling soundtrack, and they were all up close to its 9500rpm redline.

Sound could also be a problem inside the cabin, for other reasons, with a fiddly volume control slider built into the touch-screen, which is much too small, making it easy to move the slider bar the wrong way on the move, deafening those inside the cabin.

It’s kind of a moot point, given that most owners say they never actually use the audio system anyway. And why would you, when you’ve got a V12 pelting out its own symphony?

Complaints of the fiddly engine stop/start button at the base of the steering wheel also seemed justified when we struggled to switch it on, but that could’ve been more a case of user error.

My only other complaint is that I wish the program went for longer and included a road drive.

If the 2025 Ferrari 12Cilindri really is the last Prancing Horse with a naturally-aspirated V12, the answer is an easy yes.

Even if it’s not, it’s still yes.

And, while you probably won’t ever drive yours on ice, it’s pretty neat to know that inside this stunning GT that’s fast, fun and refined, there is a very capable drift pig.

2025 Ferrari 12Cilindri at a glance:
Price: $803,500 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 6.5-litre V12 petrol
Output: 611kW/678Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 15.5L/100km (WLTP)
CO2: 353g/km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Not tested

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