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Ferrari 599 Review.

You have to feel sorry for the Ferrari engineers and designers. Every time they succeed in producing an outstanding car, their next job is to improve on it.
This was the case for the 599 GTB Fiorano. The brief was to design a two-door, front mid-engined, rear wheel drive, 2-seater, luxury car with performance that betters that of the iconic F40. Oh, and it has to look stunning.

You have to feel sorry for the Ferrari engineers and designers. Every time they succeed in producing an outstanding car, their next job is to improve on it.

 This was the case for the 599 GTB Fiorano. The brief was to design a two-door, front mid-engined, rear wheel drive, 2-seater, luxury car with performance that betters that of the iconic F40. Oh, and it has to look stunning.

 The scratching of heads and chewing of pencils at Pininfarina has resulted in a clever combination of Italian flair and slippery aerodynamics.

For example, the most notable feature is almost invisible, especially when viewed from the side. The flying buttresses, which flank the rear quarter-light and wrap-around rear screen, are designed to channel the air towards the rear boot-lip spoiler. From certain angles it is easy to see that they stand off from the car but from others they look integral to the body.

 For the 599, Ferrari have done away with the familiar, circular, quad rear lights, which have been replaced by single, round LED lights on either side and, for a change, the number plate position has been raised too.

 Below the hefty rear bumper, there’s a black fairing that surrounds the two twin tailpipes and incorporates the diffuser, which provides downforce. This, together with the flat underbelly, means that the suction under the car is greater than the lift created by the upper body. We are told that the 599 is the most aerodynamic, 12-cyclinder Ferrari ever built.

 At the front, the wide, sleek bonnet has a bulge that subtly declares that underneath is a big engine, that’s raring to go. The front grille and air intakes are not too large as to be ugly but are enough to do the job of cooling the brakes and engine.

 There is no doubt that the 599 GTB attracts a lot of attention. It comes in various forms - not all of them are positive. People admire its good looks and imposing stance and, during the test, were happy to say as much, whenever and wherever it was parked. However, on the road, some of the excited finger-pointing of other road users tended to develop into a desire to race and some were equally happy in their displays of belligerent envy. But then, you do not buy a Ferrari of any sort, if you prefer to travel incognito.

The point is that if you are lucky enough to own a 599 GTB Fiorano, you know that it has a 6.0-litre, V12 engine under the bonnet, that it will ‘do’ 0-62mph in a mere 3.7 seconds and, where legal, can achieve a top speed in excess of 205mph, therefore, there is no need to prove it.

 The 599’s engine is heavily based on the unit used in the Enzo but with some new components to reduce weight and make it more compact. It doesn’t have a turbo and so the grin-inducing noise is one of sheer brute force and specifically engineered to be music to the ears. This engine produces 620PS at 7,600rpm and the torque tops out at 608Nm at 5,600rpm, although 90 per cent of that is available at 3,500rpm, so there’s plenty of pulling power at slower speeds.

The 599 GTB comes with a choice of two drive formats; a 6-speed manual or the F1-SuperFast automatic, complete with steering wheel mounted paddles, which is what was in the test car.

 F1-SuperFast means that the overall time for the system to change gear is just 100ms - a shift-time time that has been gradually reduced in recent years and is now a lot closer to the 50ms of the F1 racing cars. This is achieved through clever electronics engaging and disengaging the gears slightly before the clutch is let in or out, when the rotational speed of the input shaft approaches that of the output shaft. It is said to provide a smoother change but there must be a knack to it, as I still managed a slight lurch through the lower gears in auto, although it was better in manual mode, when the driver controls the change point.

 Like the F430, the 599 was fitted with the so-called ‘Manettino’. On the face of it, the Manettino is simply a dial on the steering wheel, opposite the red ‘start’ button but it controls various driving functions according to the setting selection. In ICE mode, the paddle-change is disengaged, performance is very limited and the CST Stability and Traction Control system is at its highest setting.

NORMAL is self-explanatory and in SPORT, the settings are optimised for dry roads, allowing for sporty performance, stability and the opportunity to ‘press on’. At this point, the F1-SuperFast gear-change comes into play, as does the F1-Trac system, which takes over the handling, dynamics and stability duties from the ASR.

 For track use only, the RACE setting means that the CST influence is at a minimum and the F1-SuperFast speeds up even further. Finally, there is a CST mode, where the driver is on his or her own, save for the ABS with EBD. It is this position that enables the Launch Control function. The ‘LC’ button on the centre console looks innocuous enough but pressing it unleashes some F1 madness. The instructions are simple; Press ‘LC’, depress brake, rev to 5,000rpm and release brake. It sounds easy enough but they forgot to say, ‘hold on tight’. However, Ferrari does warn that ‘LC’ should only be used if the driver has had expert tuition, is confident, the road is dry and in a controlled environment.

The Manettino selection is shown as part of the Multi-display panel next to the dominant yellow or red rev-counter that takes pride of place in the centre of the heavily-cowled, instrument panel. The fascia is an exercise in leather and carbon-fibre, with aluminium highlights. The mini jet-engine, air vents are incredibly tactile as are the climate control knobs.

 Although, there are some elements that can be seen in other cars bearing the ‘prancing horse’ badge, the 599 has its own racing seats for extra support during performance driving and the passenger has been given a central, grip handle, for the same reason.

 The manual 599 GTB Fiorano will set you back £179,902 and the F1 version is a cool £184,902. This is its basic form with a list of standard features that includes bi-xenon headlights with wipers, electric heated, sports wing mirrors, automatic lights and wipers, a tyre-pressure and temperature monitoring system, electric sports seats with electro-pneumatic bolsters and a radio/CD player with MP3 compatibility, a compact flash-drive, a voice control, Bluetooth connectivity.

 The test car arrived with quite a few extras from the extensive ‘Carrozzeria Scaglietti’ options list, which brought the total OTR price to £216,324. These extras included a BOSE Hi-Fi sound system, parking sensors, Recaro seats, extended leather upholstery, which covers the rear bench wall (with luggage straps) and headliner, amongst other things. By far the most expensive extra in the car and the list, was the Carbon-ceramic brake system at £11,495.

 I haven’t mentioned the fuel economy figures and to a point, neither do Ferrari - but I can tell you that the combined works out as 13.2mpg and that those shiny tailpipes emit 490g/km CO2, the insurance group is 20 and there’s 11.3 cu ft of luggage space in the sensible, split-level boot.