New Ferrari 12Cilindri Manuale review: not perfect, but still superb

Verdict

The 12 Cilindri Manuale has a traditional Ferrari open gate shifter and a clutch pedal, but it’s not a true manual as the shift and clutch are connected only by wire to the standard car’s dual-clutch auto. Even so, it feels just like a real manual – you can stall it – and brings a new dimension to the 12 Cilindri experience. It’s not cheap and not totally convincing, but all 1,499 examples have already sold, suggesting that it won’t be the last manual by-wire we see.

It’s been almost 20 years since Ferrari launched a car with a manual gearbox, but that has just changed, sort of. This is the Ferrari 12 Cilindri Manuale, a car with three pedals and a classic-look, open-gate Ferrari shifter… but they operate the car’s eight-speed DCT (dual-clutch transmission) by wire; there’s no physical connection. You do control the clutches, though, so you can lurch away like a novice or even stall the engine. 

It has taken Ferrari’s engineers four years to develop the ‘manual’, two-and-a-half of them refining the software to deliver a convincing impression of a genuine manual, and it doesn’t come cheap. Just 1499 Manuales will be built, and even though they will cost £508,000, a premium of more than £150k over the standard model, all have been pre-sold. 

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The 12 Cilindri was chosen as the purest and therefore most appropriate of all current Ferraris for a manual: non-hybrid, rear drive and with a naturally aspirated V12. It will only be built in coupé form. Externally, the main identifier is its new five-spoke alloys, but there are Manuale badges on the front wings and a pinstripe finish on the front splitter and active rear wings, an homage to the Daytona.

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Inside, the shifter looks like a classic Ferrari design, with an open gate and a ball-topped lever. At the concept stage, it was decided that for ease of use it would be a six-speed manual using the first six ratios of the DCT, which limits the top speed to around 340kph (just over 211mph). It might not be physically connected to the rear-mounted transaxle but the lever moves around the gate in classic Ferrari fashion, with a lovely, tactile feel, and underneath it’s beautifully and cleverly engineered to deliver the feel of a real manual with cross-gate springing and the sensation of the gears going home.    

Similarly, the new pedal box and clutch are engineered to give the over-centre and bite-point sensations of the real thing, and what happens at the pedal is proportional to what happens at the clutches of the DCT gearbox, so you are managing the actual slip and engagement. That’s why you can stall the car and pull away jerkily, although there are safety systems to ensure you can’t overheat the clutches. Also, it’s impossible to select a gear that would over-rev the engine; there’s a solenoid on the end of the shifter pivot that locks out the lever. 

To engage manual mode from the start, depress the clutch before pressing the start button. An orange icon of a shifter gate appears in the instrument pack and the gate pattern on the top of the ball shifter also glows orange. Select first gear – sherr-clack! – find the clutch bite point, raise the revs a fraction and we’re away. I’d prefer slightly more weight to the clutch but right now, trundling around the feeder roads at the Balocco test track in Italy, it feels like I’m driving a real manual.  

Things soon get more demanding. Next I’m chasing another 12 Cilindri driven by a Ferrari test driver, trying to learn a track that is in places both very slow and very fast, and get my heel and toe downshifts nailed too. I don’t manage the latter too well at times, which reveals that there’s quite a lot of leeway built into the system, smoothing shifts and ensuring the rear wheels don’t lock up with engine braking on the overrun. It’s very tolerant of ham-fisted shifts. 

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In the standard car with its wheel-mounted paddles, I’d be effortlessly in the right gear everywhere, but a manual requires more planning, getting the shifts in before turning. Occasionally, I’m in a higher gear than ideal but our drive reveals what a wonderfully flexible and refined engine the 819bhp, 6.5-litre V12 is, as well as being searingly potent at 9000rpm. It pulls strong and clean from hardly any revs, which is a joy. Fast laps done, mooching around, lazily snicking the lever around the gate, I find myself using the V12 in ways you might never find in the regular car, which feels like the major plus of the Manuale. 

Is it wholly convincing despite the connection being electrical rather than physical? No, for two reasons. It’s much more forgiving than a real manual, particularly in high stakes manoeuvres, flattering you and at the same time saving the mechanicals from harm. Also, a couple of times the lever popped out of fifth when my hand was resting on it, readying to pull back for sixth, prompting a flare of revs before it went into sixth. In a real manual, on throttle the gears would be meshed strongly together by torque and the lever wouldn’t move. But with by-wire the shift load is always the same. 

It’s not a deal breaker. I’d very much enjoy cruising around, snicking between gears and hearing the V12 dig deep, and many drivers with appreciate how it smooths out imperfect shifts in high stakes manoeuvres. The hardcore enthusiast would find it too forgiving, but there’s no question that the ‘manual’ brings a new and appealing dimension to the 12 Cilindri experience, and you get the best of both worlds because there’s always the option to select auto and let the gearbox do all the work. It’s surely not the only shift-by-wire DCT we’ll see from Ferrari, or others.