Ferrari 12Cilindri review

Seasoned Ferrari watchers will know that the company’s current approach to ergonomics is idiosyncratic. To put it another way, there are fighter aircraft whose cockpits are easier to master. “I know how much you love the capacitive switchgear in our cars,” Raffa de Simeone joked during the tech briefing. “We have made some changes.”

Indeed they have. The 12Cilindri’s name isn’t the only thing that’s been streamlined. The driver’s display is a 15.6in multi-configurable one, accessed by a thumb touchpad on the steering wheel whose behaviour is much less hyperactive than before. It’s possible to max out the rev counter, as is only right and proper in a car whose crankshaft can now spin to 9,500rpm, without accidentally retuning the radio. The graphics are crisp, cool and legible.

Newly arrived is a smaller, 10.2in central touchscreen for climate control and infotainment, which also handles the Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity duty. It works very well. There’s no in-built sat nav, Ferrari having concluded that this is how most people use their cars these days, although it insists that passengers want a display directly ahead of them (well we say insist, because it’s always fitted to test cars. It’s actually a £3,919 option). Not sure why, although the double-cockpit layout first seen in the Roma looks good.

The Berlinetta coupe is fitted with a full-size tinted glass roof, though Ferrari has chosen to launch the open-top Spider at the same time. The seats, meanwhile look great but lack support for the lower back. Note also that in a further concession to comfort you can order ventilated massage seats for this car: they’re an £8,957 option. Other than that, there’s plenty of room in the 12Cilindri, both for occupants and their stuff. Mobile phones can be stored in a little area either side of the centre console.

One last note: there’s a button on the 12Cilindri’s busy steering wheel that turns the ADAS off reasonably smoothly. Or you can store the off setting as a shortcut. Lane assist in a Ferrari seems a particularly daft conceit.