Ferrari 12Cilindri 2026 Review

It's teeming with rain, properly chucking it down, and yet the Ferrari 12Cilindri is very, very fast. That might sound like stating the obvious given there's a 610kW/678Nm 6.5-litre V12 under the bonnet, but as it's all sent to the rear wheels, even the 315mm-wide rear Michelins are hopelessly outmatched in these conditions.

Full throttle is impossible in the first five gears, any attempt to reach it spinning the rear tyres and putting the traction control on high alert, and I haven't even gotten the tachometer to the point of maximum torque yet (7250rpm), let alone peak power (9250rpm). And yet, the Ferrari 12Cilindri is still very, very fast.

Throughout its nearly 80-year history Ferrari has produced almost every conceivable mechanical layout, from front-engined four-cylinder racing cars to mid-engined turbocharged V6s and V8s and soon the pure-electric Luce will join the mix, but the one constant since 1947 is a rear-wheel drive, front-engined V12.

For many years, they occupied the role of the grand tourer in the Ferrari range, but starting with the 599 GTB they became Maranello's flagship in power and performance, at least in terms of regular production cars. The F12 Berlinetta and the 812 Superfast that followed were closer to front-engined supercars than refined mile-eaters.

This changed with the introduction of the SF90 Stradale. A hybrid powertrain and all-wheel drive sent performance skyrocketing, so Ferrari has used this opportunity to reposition the 12Cilindri back closer to its roots.

The wisdom of this approach is apparent almost immediately after picking up the keys to Ferrari's latest $803,500 (plus on-road costs) coupe. Within minutes we're on the freeway, the manettino – the switch on the steering wheel that controls the drive mode – set to wet and pressed to activate the softer damper setting, the iPhone wirelessly mirrored (Android Auto still needs a cable).

All is calm and this would be a very pleasant way to cover a lot of miles, which is just what is planned for today.

The 12Cilindri is a spectacular looking car, very much a modern interpretation of the iconic 365 GTB/4 'Daytona'. Not universally adored, but love it or hate it, even those with zero interest in cars will know it's expensive, powerful and exotic.

The specification of this car helps, 'Atelier' on the door sills evidence a lucky Ferrari employee went to town on the configurator. The extraordinary Onda Marina paint is the headline act; as you can see in the photos, it's clearly white, yet from behind the wheel or in low light it's closer to sky blue but with streaks of pearlescent blue and green in full sun.

There's more carbon fibre than you can poke an autoclave at and the leather-wrapped luggage area behind the stunningly turquoise seats, though my favourite detail is the matching strip down the outside of each giant shift paddle. It all swells the as-tested price to $1,030,587 (+ORCs), which to be honest I expected to be a lot more.

It's pleasing that thought has been given to making the interior practical as well as flashy. For all its leather and carbon, there's wireless phone charging and places to actually put odds and ends, which is so often an overthought in cars like this.

Following negative feedback Ferrari has reverted many of the haptic controls to buttons, though things like adjusting the mirrors and HVAC are still harder than they need to be. Happily, silencing the active safety systems can be done with one button.

The steering wheel is very busy. I don't mind having all the controls on the wheel but there are now an awful lot of dials and switches and buttons and paddles on the front and back and it's possibly a step too far.

What's also slightly odd is the need to tap the controls on the wheel to wake them up before they can be used. This prevents them being tapped accidentally, which is logical, but the fact they go dark as well means it can be challenging to see what's what.

Having established its grand touring credentials, there are other questions to be answered, which returns us to the opening paragraphs of this piece. The 12Cilindri driving experience is dominated by the 6.5-litre V12 nestled behind the front axle; it's not a coincidence that the F140HD engine code adorns the number plates.

The truly preposterous thing about the 12Cilindri's engine isn't that it produces 94kW/litre without electrification or forced induction, or that it revs to 9500rpm or has a 13.5:1 compression ratio.

What really bends the mind is that it does all this while meeting Euro 6d emissions regulations, having 20,000km service intervals and being designed to last 20 years and 200,000km (or more).

Every conceivable measure was taken to reduce friction and lower mass, which along with being heavily oversquare (a 94mm bore and 78mm stroke) allows for the sky-high rev limit. But how, then, does it produce 80 per cent of its maximum torque (542Nm, or as much as a BMW M2) from just 2500rpm?

It's this low-end flexibility more than the peak figures that's giving the rear tyres such a hard time on the slippery surface, but equally it's why the 12Cilindri is so effortlessly fast.

Even without troubling the upper reaches of the tachometer, it's developing plenty of grunt. Ferrari has applied 'torque shaping' to a naturally aspirated engine for the first time, adjusting the engine mapping to ensure a progressive delivery. Even so… the traction control is working overtime.

The manettino is in Race, which despite the name is a good setting for the road with plenty of electronic assistance if needed, but it's not just under power that it's required. In macro terms there is masses of grip, but occasionally the rear steps out abruptly mid-corner despite the car otherwise feeling well within itself.

The 12Cilindri may have a traditional front-engine, rear-drive layout, but there is a staggering amount of technology contained within its chassis, including the latest iterations of its Side Slip Control (SSC), Virtual Short Wheelbase (PCV) and anti-lock braking (ABS) programs.

SSC is now in its eighth generation and is able to estimate what the car should be doing and 'learn' the surface grip accordingly. Amazingly, you can actually feel it, especially in slippery conditions, the 12Cilindri adjusting its electronic interventions as you drive along.

PCV is a fancy name for all-wheel steering, which is relatively common these days, but Ferrari takes it a step further by allowing each rear wheel to operate independently.

A little more weight feels to have been added to the steering than in recent Ferraris but the limit is still quite opaque – when grip runs out it generally does so very suddenly. While the 12Cilindri has a calmer side to its nature, there's still a razor-sharp edge to its personality, but in an era when many decry performance cars for being too accessible, the fact that an 830hp rear-wheel drive V12 Ferrari can be a sweaty-palmed challenge in the wet is difficult to criticise.

Thankfully, day two dawns dry, which should allow more of the 12Cilindri's ceiling to be explored. This is a somewhat scary financial prospect, as even in the pouring rain the F140HD drained its entire 92-litre fuel supply yesterday – the 6.5-litre V12 is many things, but frugal it is not, as the 15.5L/100km combined claim indicates.

Finally, with a long, empty straight road ahead, the throttle reaches its end stop and the tacho needle begins its long sweep across its digital face. As we've established, at 2500rpm the 12Cilindri is already producing as much torque as a BMW M2 and it weighs roughly the same, too (about 40-50kg less, actually), so instantly the scenery is beginning to move rapidly.

From there things become progressively more unhinged and by 7000rpm your ears and internal g-meter are screaming enough, yet you're only just approaching peak torque.

Even with a dual-clutch gearbox, timing the upshift over that final 2500rpm is a challenge because – partially thanks to shorter gear ratios compared to the 812 Superfast – they're gone in the blink of an eye, leaving you rattling into the rev limiter.

I realise the engine reminds me of the 4.8-litre V10 in the Lexus LFA and praise comes no higher. Despite revving to heights beyond that of almost any other car, the 12Cilindri's V12 remains incredibly smooth, feels completely unstressed and lacks any sense of reciprocating mass or internal friction.

I'll remind you again, this engine meets all current emissions regulations and has long service intervals yet feels like it belongs in a 1970s sports prototype.

On dry roads the chassis has more of a chance of deploying the firepower but only just, partially due to traction but also because you reach ridiculous speeds so quickly. The 0-100km/h sprint is claimed to take 2.9sec, 0-200km/h requires 7.9sec and the top speed is north of 340km/h.

Every part of the 12Cilindri is tremendously polished: the gearbox is incredibly quick, the brakes are outstandingly powerful, the steering is quick and accurate, the electronic systems are the benchmark in their effectiveness and subtlety, but it's the engine that remains its defining attribute.

With a moment's thought this should've been obvious, given the car is literally called the 12 Cylinder.

The main frustrations are road rules and tyre fragility. With space to play and spare sets of boots, it would be fascinating (and a lot of fun) to wind the manettino to ESP Off and probe the car's outer limits, but having had to make an awkward phone call to Ferrari with its 812 Superfast predecessor, some circumspection is required.

If you want a one-sentence verdict on the 12Cilindri then it's an incredible machine, both to look at and experience. But the real answer has quite a lot more nuance.

Ferrari's repositioning of the car makes a lot of sense; its slightly more relaxed demeanour makes it a tremendous cruiser that could easily be used every day and nothing would make me happier than to see this car turn up in 10 years' time with 100,000km on the odometer.

This softer nature is slightly at odds with the psychopath of an engine however, and a chassis that has tremendous talent but feels quite spiky when provoked. It's almost the inverse of the 812 Superfast, which was certainly more highly strung but could be played with at the limit like an 800bhp Toyota 86.

On the other hand, it not only gives other models in Ferrari's range room to breathe, it provides the opportunity for the inevitable Speciale/Competizione/GTO version of the 12Cilindri to have greater differentiation to the standard car.

If this is the final pure-ICE V12 Ferrari ever makes, it's a fitting culmination.

2026 Ferrari 12Cilindri at a glance:
Price: $803,500 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 6.5-litre V12 petrol
Output: 610kW/678Nm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 15.5L/100km
CO2: 356g/km
Safety rating: Unrated

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