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36 Posts
Well just because I have been dragging my butt and being a cheap skate about my purchase, I decided to rent a 12C for the weekend to see what all the fuss is about !.
First off WOW ! Totally not what I expected. The people I rented from asked me not to post any pictures I took on “public forums” for some reason
, but I can talk about it I guess.
First off it is much better looking when you have got to spend a little time with it, paint quality was as good as I’ve seen on a production car, easily as good as the SLR and certainly better than a lot of Ferrari’s. Fit and finish of the panels left a little to be desired, especially around the bumper edges and head lamps, I’m sure that’s just an adjustment though not a build problem.
I loved the way the doors open, gets them out of the way unlike Lambo doors that I always hit my knee on. I could do without the hand swipe thing, takes a while to get used to and the wife never did.
A simple touch pad like the Ford GT has would make life much easier without adding any weight, and save the wife yelling “let me in the frigging car” LOL. I guess I could get a different wife but that’s another story!
I found getting in and out a little awkward, not so much the high sides, (used to that with the SLR), but rather the seat/dash/steering wheel position made it tough. Moving the seat all the way back and the steering wheel all the way up made it easier, but then it took me a while to get the right position when getting back in! Small niggles I guess.
Once in and comfortable, the cabin was very impressive. Steering wheel adjustment range is huge, and although I would have liked to been able to adjust the angle of the seat base, (not just the height), I was able to get very comfortable.
Very clear precise gauge arrangement and minimal controls on the steering wheel, and all stalks easily to hand. I found the menu stalk took a little getting used to, I kept pushing or pulling the wrong way and having to start again. Time again would probably solve that.
The Tach seemed a little off in its movement sweep, like it was a computer generated signal not a direct engine related one.
Radio as we know………I won’t open that can of monkeys here. All other controls in the right place when I needed them Very impressive, I didn’t feel the need or want of any more gadget’s or controls.
I know there is a display on the dash for the mode settings, but for some reason i just kept looking at the buttons to see the position, It seemed easier, i wonder if any of the owners experiance the same thing, even the wife said why dont you look at the dash
Build quality of the interior and materials used is first class. Very good
On startup I loved the sound of the exhaust note, nice and deep and not intrusive into the cabin ( or so I thought, more of that later).
Transmission/clutch, on pulling away, again very impressed, very smooth with no jerking or dragging. I was a little surprised at how quickly the car rolls when you take your foot off the brake, more like a full automatic car than I’m used to with the Ferrari’s.
Even though I have read it on this forum many times I was still taken aback a little by the amount of feel the different chassis and engine modes provide. Complete luxury to track ready mental case, brilliant fun.
Now for that exhaust noise, in Track mode the noise in the cabin is downright annoying and frankly uncomfortable and irritating, opening the windows took the problem away, but I don’t always drive in conditions that allow the windows to be open. I ended up most of the time in Sport/Sport which seemed about right on both the comfort and performance scale.
I won’t go on about how good it is in traffic/freeway (it is, and we know it), but rather when pushing through back roads and mountain passes.
The engine power delivery and torque is just fantastic, I never felt any “turbo lag” as all my Ferrari people told me I would, just a surge of forward motion when hammering the loud pedal. Shifting was just out of this world, never missed a beat, I defiantly felt the benefit of the pre-cog when I used it.
Maybe I’m used to shifters on the steering wheel from the SLR, but I absolutely loved their position on the 12C. I’m worried about going back to the Ferrari now !
I found the handing to be so precise, I could not get any under steer unless I was being abusive and stupid. Over steer was very controlled and without any snap Like the 360 has done to me a couple of times. I could feel the brake steer when it was working hard, but I found neither it or the traction control getting in my way when pushing the limits, some of the time I didn’t know if it was working or I was just being a smoother driver LOL, I’m sure it was the car !
The brakes on this car are the steel ones, and I never had and issues with fading or any lake of feel, I even got them hot enough that they started to smoke at a stop sign after a particularly spirited mountain pass run, I drove at a more sedate pace for a couple of miles to give them some rest, but again I noticed no fade or difference in the brake feel or stopping power. I know my original 430 that had steel brakes would have gone home crying after that.
Another niggle, I would like the pedal arranged for easier left foot braking, just personal thing from being used to go-karts !
Getting in and out of driveways seemed a little harder than some other cars, but certainly not the worsed i have tried. Care and attention fixes it.
Even though this car has obviously had a hard life being a rental, ( bumpers all smashed up on the bottom, curb rash on the wheels, car smoked in etc etc) it didn’t miss a beat all weekend .
Very impressive first effort from Woking, a few niggles here and there but overall truly very good.
So now the search for ownership will intensify a little, and with it looking like dealers having inventory to choose from, now I've had the experience of living with it for a couple of days, I might be a little more open to spec !
I know I told the people I rented from I would not post pictures but I think this is fine because you cant see the car or where I am…just what I’m doing, Its blurry because its hard to hold an i-phone steady at full throttle in this thing !!
First off WOW ! Totally not what I expected. The people I rented from asked me not to post any pictures I took on “public forums” for some reason
, but I can talk about it I guess.First off it is much better looking when you have got to spend a little time with it, paint quality was as good as I’ve seen on a production car, easily as good as the SLR and certainly better than a lot of Ferrari’s. Fit and finish of the panels left a little to be desired, especially around the bumper edges and head lamps, I’m sure that’s just an adjustment though not a build problem.
I loved the way the doors open, gets them out of the way unlike Lambo doors that I always hit my knee on
. I could do without the hand swipe thing, takes a while to get used to and the wife never did.A simple touch pad like the Ford GT has would make life much easier without adding any weight, and save the wife yelling “let me in the frigging car” LOL. I guess I could get a different wife but that’s another story
!I found getting in and out a little awkward, not so much the high sides, (used to that with the SLR), but rather the seat/dash/steering wheel position made it tough. Moving the seat all the way back and the steering wheel all the way up made it easier, but then it took me a while to get the right position when getting back in! Small niggles I guess.
Once in and comfortable, the cabin was very impressive. Steering wheel adjustment range is huge, and although I would have liked to been able to adjust the angle of the seat base, (not just the height), I was able to get very comfortable.
Very clear precise gauge arrangement and minimal controls on the steering wheel, and all stalks easily to hand. I found the menu stalk took a little getting used to, I kept pushing or pulling the wrong way and having to start again. Time again would probably solve that.
The Tach seemed a little off in its movement sweep, like it was a computer generated signal not a direct engine related one.
Radio as we know………I won’t open that can of monkeys here. All other controls in the right place when I needed them Very impressive, I didn’t feel the need or want of any more gadget’s or controls.
I know there is a display on the dash for the mode settings, but for some reason i just kept looking at the buttons to see the position, It seemed easier, i wonder if any of the owners experiance the same thing, even the wife said why dont you look at the dash
Build quality of the interior and materials used is first class. Very good
On startup I loved the sound of the exhaust note, nice and deep and not intrusive into the cabin ( or so I thought, more of that later).
Transmission/clutch, on pulling away, again very impressed, very smooth with no jerking or dragging. I was a little surprised at how quickly the car rolls when you take your foot off the brake, more like a full automatic car than I’m used to with the Ferrari’s.
Even though I have read it on this forum many times I was still taken aback a little by the amount of feel the different chassis and engine modes provide. Complete luxury to track ready mental case, brilliant fun.
Now for that exhaust noise, in Track mode the noise in the cabin is downright annoying and frankly uncomfortable and irritating, opening the windows took the problem away, but I don’t always drive in conditions that allow the windows to be open. I ended up most of the time in Sport/Sport which seemed about right on both the comfort and performance scale.
I won’t go on about how good it is in traffic/freeway (it is, and we know it), but rather when pushing through back roads and mountain passes.
The engine power delivery and torque is just fantastic, I never felt any “turbo lag” as all my Ferrari people told me I would, just a surge of forward motion when hammering the loud pedal. Shifting was just out of this world, never missed a beat, I defiantly felt the benefit of the pre-cog when I used it.
Maybe I’m used to shifters on the steering wheel from the SLR, but I absolutely loved their position on the 12C. I’m worried about going back to the Ferrari now !
I found the handing to be so precise, I could not get any under steer unless I was being abusive and stupid. Over steer was very controlled and without any snap Like the 360 has done to me a couple of times. I could feel the brake steer when it was working hard, but I found neither it or the traction control getting in my way when pushing the limits, some of the time I didn’t know if it was working or I was just being a smoother driver LOL, I’m sure it was the car !
The brakes on this car are the steel ones, and I never had and issues with fading or any lake of feel, I even got them hot enough that they started to smoke at a stop sign after a particularly spirited mountain pass run, I drove at a more sedate pace for a couple of miles to give them some rest, but again I noticed no fade or difference in the brake feel or stopping power. I know my original 430 that had steel brakes would have gone home crying after that.
Another niggle, I would like the pedal arranged for easier left foot braking, just personal thing from being used to go-karts !
Getting in and out of driveways seemed a little harder than some other cars, but certainly not the worsed i have tried. Care and attention fixes it.
Even though this car has obviously had a hard life being a rental, ( bumpers all smashed up on the bottom, curb rash on the wheels, car smoked in etc etc) it didn’t miss a beat all weekend .
Very impressive first effort from Woking, a few niggles here and there but overall truly very good.
So now the search for ownership will intensify a little, and with it looking like dealers having inventory to choose from, now I've had the experience of living with it for a couple of days, I might be a little more open to spec !
I know I told the people I rented from I would not post pictures but I think this is fine because you cant see the car or where I am…just what I’m doing, Its blurry because its hard to hold an i-phone steady at full throttle in this thing !!
