Ferrari 849 Testarossa: brilliant, yes, but does it need a V12 to really sing?

I’ve yet to find anybody who is overwhelmingly positive about the design. Usually this could be shrugged off. Ferrari is a whole different beast to pretty much any other car manufacturer, and its soaring profits and customers clamouring just to be considered worthy of an allocation defy normal logic.

Photography: John Wycherley

Lately, though, Ferrari’s incredible momentum – or at least the perception of it – has slowed. For the first time in living memory, Ferrari residuals are really struggling and the lack of enthusiasm for its hybrids is undeniable. After drip feeding news about its new EV model to the media, the share price dipped again and is down 30 per cent in the past 12 months. Suddenly, each and every new model launch looks critical, and so the lukewarm sentiments around the 849 Testarossa must make for alarming reading. Especially when you consider the tumbling used prices of the outgoing SF90.

The good news is that from a dynamics standpoint, Ferrari rarely misses. The simply stunning F80 and wildly entertaining 296 Speciale prove beyond doubt that there’s still plenty of magic to go around in Maranello. And you sense a bit of wounded pride regarding the SF90 which, we shouldn’t forget, was its first ever go at a plug-in hybrid with an electrically driven front axle.

It had its moments, especially when specified with the Assetto Fiorano package, but never felt like a fully resolved, perfectly honed product. The 849 Testarossa sticks to essentially the same formula, but the level of attention to detail in every area and the enhanced understanding of all the tools at its disposal has clearly taken a giant leap forwards.

So, in the raw... how does it look? Awkward at times, stunningly aggressive at others. I wouldn’t call it an obvious winner but, as with the 12Cilindri, the styling is more convincing when you spend a bit of time in its company. And once Ferrari reveals that the new car’s look is more a tribute to the 512 S and 512 M prototype racers of 1969 and 1970 than the Testarossa of the 1980s, the twin-tail rear spoiler treatment makes a lot of sense and feels somehow cooler and more authentic.

Time is tight: there’s biblical rain forecast for the Monteblanco circuit and surrounding roads near Seville. The track is damp, but even so, I’m advised to start with the Manettino in Race (as usual it cycles through Wet, Sport, Race, CT Off and ESC Off), and the e-Manettino in Qualifying mode. This essentially gives you full electrical assist and depletes the 7.45kWh battery in five to six laps of Fiorano or one lap of the ’Ring.

Other modes are eDrive (should you want to experience a FWD electric Ferrari for 15–16 miles), Hybrid and Performance, which gives sustained, consistent performance but not quite the wallop of Qualifying.

First impressions are right on the cusp of overwhelming. The 4.0-litre twin turbocharged V8 is thoroughly overhauled and has a new block, new heads and the biggest turbochargers ever fitted to a Ferrari road car, featuring F80-derived low friction bearings. It also has much improved cooling, lighter camshafts and titanium fixings used throughout, as well as a new fully Inconel exhaust system.

It produces 819bhp all on its own and revs to 8,300rpm. Supplemented by an electric motor in the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission and two further motors for the front axle that allow true torque vectoring, the total output is 1,036bhp. Enough to propel 1,570kg (dry, with lightweight options fitted) with outrageous ease. The Testarossa is searingly, relentlessly fast.

The gearbox adds to the frenzied feel. It’s fantastic, with more than a hint of the sheer aggression and racecar punch of the F80’s shift and the tight, instant, almost breathless response brings some real physicality to the experience. Yes, we all love a great manual gearbox, but the Testarossa’s dual clutch system is a reminder that a scintillating paddleshift can bring its own thrills and rewards. Nobody does it better.

Corner by corner the Testarossa’s character emerges and its stature grows. The track cars feature the Assetto Fiorano package, reducing weight by 30kg, ramping up the aero to produce 415kg of downforce at 155mph and including the fitment of fixed rate Multimatic spool valve dampers.

These now feature 35 per cent lighter springs and increase roll stiffness by 10 per cent. It costs £42,115 but, on this evidence, it’s pretty compelling. Interestingly, and for the first time, you can combine the hardcore Fiorano option package with the standard magnetic dampers including noselift. I suspect this will be the de facto choice.

Anyway, right here and now the Testarossa feels devastatingly fast, extremely well balanced, and has phenomenal braking performance. Most of the slightly inconsistent behaviour of the SF90’s front axle is gone and when driven quickly and smoothly the 849 displays a supremely controlled and transparent poise. The steering is fast, as you’d expect of a Ferrari, but as the engine is mounted incredibly low in the chassis, the front and rear ends of the car are perfectly in tune. It’s wickedly precise and with all that power on tap it’s easy to exit each turn with just a hint of oversteer.

Race mode is perhaps a shade too restrictive for track driving, but in CT Off, the Testarossa feels malleable but reassuring. You can play with the balance, tweak the tail, yet still feel subtle interventions to stop the angles from slipping out of control. Go full ESC Off and there are no nasty traits being hidden. Just more excitement. The Testarossa wants to execute neat, fast, precise oversteer, it’s not a tyres-on-fire drift car. Fair enough. It’s still a phenomenal experience on a racetrack. I like this thing. A lot.

The cars assigned to road driving look slightly tamer without the Assetto Fiorano package, but I’m fascinated to see if the tactile, fluid character is preserved at more realistic speeds. And the early signs are good. The Testarossa doesn’t quite glide on MagneRide dampers but it does feel very calm and the aluminium structure is perhaps a shade quieter than rivals with carbon tubs.

It feels like you sit higher in the Testarossa than something like a McLaren 750S or Lamborghini Revuelto, though. Not quite so ensconced in the chassis, and so the low speed theatre is slightly diminished. I do love the simple minimalism of the interior. The ‘gated’ gear selector mimicking the manuals of old is slightly cheesy, but it floats at the perfect height next to you and there’s a kind of restrained yet inventive feel to the whole cockpit. Although luggage space is still pretty terrible.

Once the road starts to climb and navigate the natural shapes of the landscape, the 849 demonstrates the same qualities on display at the Monteblanco circuit.

Now on Pirelli P Zero R tyres (the track cars used extreme Cup 2R rubber), traction is simply superb and the car has a level of tactile feedback that was missing in the SF90 Stradale. Even when the rain comes, the car’s incredible sense of control provides all the confidence you could ever need.

There’s enough progression to every control to meter out the appropriate performance with accuracy and still feel like you’re experiencing the high quality dynamics. Even the crossover point between regen and friction braking is nicely disguised.

Is there anything this car can’t do? On track and road it’s incredibly capable, shockingly fast, and feels so in tune with your inputs. A massive leap on from the SF90 Stradale, in other words. However, it can’t escape the fact that its 4.0-litre twin turbocharged engine never feels truly special. It delivers outstanding performance and sounds angry at full noise, but on the road you notice the tuneless blare at low and medium revs, and it feels pretty harsh at times, too.

It seems slightly wrong to criticise a Ferrari V8 with 819bhp, but when the V6 in the 296 Speciale is so sweetly savage and with a history of amazing V8 and V12 screamers indelibly seared into my mind, pure power can only get you so far. In the context of its little brother, its predecessors or even more pertinently, the V12-powered Lamborghini Revuelto, the 849 Testarossa feels slightly lacking as an object of pure desire. The old cliche about paying for the engine and getting the rest for free is turned on its head here.

In the end, I’m completely torn over Ferrari’s newest mid-engined supercar. Regardless of what you think of the design, it seems a risky time to be deliberately so provocative. Especially when the name Testarossa is so cherished and mythologised by a generation now with the spending power to go supercar shopping. Perhaps the shock will wear off, and make way for warm, fuzzy feelings. Certainly, I now really love the look of the F80 and 12Cilindri after initial misgivings.

Take all that stuff out of the equation and the picture is no clearer. On the one hand I really, really enjoyed driving the 849 Testarossa. It exceeded my expectations in so many ways. But... the engine is effective rather than inspiring, and when the entry price is so high that’s a hard pill to swallow. ‘Fantasy supercar’ is a dangerous game to play as it’s never as simple as mixing and matching components to create something truly cohesive.

Can’t help thinking what a Testarossa with a turned up, maxed out 12Cilindri engine might feel like, though. The very fact that my mind goes there is telling. As it is, the 849 Testarossa is brilliant, but carries a flaw that makes its sister models and rivals shine brighter still.

Ferrari 849 Testarossa

Price: £407,617

Engine: 3990cc twin turbo V8 + 3 e-motors

Power: 1,036bhp

Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch, 4WD

Performance: 0–62mph in 2.3secs, 205mph

Weight: 1,570kg (dry)