Ferrari F512 M - Driving Impression - European Car - Features

The steering, too, asks of a firm hand, being a little heavy when traveling slowly and a little too low geared when you're tackling tight turns at speed. But the payoff for the lack of power assistance is feedback in minute detail. Every little pitter-patter of the Ferrari's front feet makes itself known to you, the wheel wriggling gently in your hands in response to each bump and camber change and twitching strongly as the suspension crashes unhappily over suburban potholes.

As before, the 512 rides on unequal length trapezoidal wishbones, with coil springs and telescopic dampers, including twin parallel dampers for each rear corner. Unlike the 456 and 355, there's no electronic adjustment to the damping, but any harshness over surface irregularities smoothes out pleasingly at speed.

A fair bit of road noise is drummed into the cabin by the tires, but again there's a payoff: The grip levels of the giant Michelin P Zeros (235/40 up front, 295/35 at the rear) are prodigious. On the track and in the command of Ferrari's own experts, delicate use of the throttle pedal and steering wheel can be combined to s-q-u-e-e-z-e on power oversteer exiting a turn, but it doesn't go unnoticed that even the aces treat this lady with respect. Because the big, heavy engine mounted above the gearbox has a relatively high center of gravity, any tail-induced pendulum effect is liable to be memorably exciting.

On a public road, of course, this is of no consequence; the biggest drama you're likely to experience here is half-a-lock of deliberately dialed-in understeer. What ultimately inhibits this car's pace is not the grip, which is as good as Super Glue, or the brakes, which bite with reassuring progression and force, or the engine, whose reserves seem inexhaustible, but the generosity of its proportions. Despite the diet (which trimmed 15 pounds out of the tubular alloy chassis and almost another 30 pounds from the engine, wheels, brake assemblies, steering knuckles, and hub carriers), this car doesn't feel especially light on its feet. And those imposing looks are definitely at the expense of wieldiness: From behind a 6.5-foot-wide hood, ordinary mountain twisties seem disarmingly narrow.

So we have to be honest: If you crave a Ferrari for the hurried pursuit of demented scribbles on the road map, the F355's your car. If, however, you like to make your way speedily to faraway destinations without necessarily needing a long weekend by the time you get there, a choice exists: the 456 GT if you require four seats, the F512 M if you don't; the F512 M if you think a mid-engine is an essential ingredient of automotive exotica, the 456 GT if you don't. Both will transport you speedily, regally, and with great style. In the end, which you prefer is entirely a matter of personal taste.