Ferrari 612 Scaglietti 2005 Review

That's because it's bucketing down and the roads have taken on an oily sheen that reflects the erratic antics of motorists clambering to get to work on time.

Into this I drive, with sweating teeth and bloodless knuckles. Don't look for the whites of my eyes, the pupils have dilated to unblinking pools of doom,urgently envisaging potential accident scenarios.

Yet barely moments later there is clarity in my vision, perspiration no longer pours from my pores, and the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti takes on a serene ambience.

Though it has the price of a very comfortable family house, the biggest surprise is that it also is just as domesticated.

It wears its oxymoron — a user-friendly Italian sports car — very well, especially considering it comes from Ferrari, which used to be the master of making cars solely for fanatical performance seekers.

Coachwork played second fiddle. Ergonomics might as well be the science of arranging three dots on paper in the shape of a pyramid.

So there it is. A beautifully crafted cabin, stitched with leather, with an indicator on the left, lights on the right. Press-button radio/CD. Electric window switches on the door panel. Simplistic rotary ventilation switches with easy-to-read directions.

And just as you become familiar, the Scaglietti bites.

The accelerator pedal is firm and the timing to make smooth changes by clicking alloy plates mounted behind the steering wheel rim is initially awkward.

The brake pedal — a huge drilled aluminium plate once used to flop pancakes in a San Francisco harbourside grill — becomes the brake pedal. OK, so maybe it wasn't San Francisco.

The steering is firm, yet communicative. At low speeds you feel every undulation in the bitumen. Raise the speed and the steering retains its dialogue, telling the driver via barely perceptible movements exactly what the front wheels are doing.

At this point the Ferrari starts to make sense.

This is a passion play, a car with heart and soul. The exhaust warms the blood and chills the spine.

In comparison with some older Ferraris, there's not much engine noise — no clatter of the valve train, no brutal sucking of air through the Webers and no distinct perfume of super-grade petrol on start-up.

But this is a car that breathes life. Lexus has a TV advertisement exclaiming how its GS430 model is "alive".

No, Lexus. Compared with the 612, the GS430 is barely gasping. Welcome to the essence of motoring.

It starts with the engine — an aluminium V12 of 5.75 litres — that sits behind the front axles for near-perfect weight distribution.

At idle it rumbles like a small earthquake.

Press hard on the alloy accelerator pedal and it rises to encompass some hurried mechanical noise, then, near full belt up close to 7500rpm, it's screaming like a low-altitude jet fighter.

The clicks of the paddle shifters on the steering wheel have their own tactile experience, slamming in the next gear on the way up and then coaxing the next cog — with an automatic engine blip at mid-change — on the way down.

Then there's the huge Brembo brakes with alloy calipers and four fat pistons that grasp ventilated discs as wide as a mobile phone.

Technically, this is Ferrari's biggest all-aluminium bodied car. In fact, there's very little steel in this vehicle.

The V12 is near the middle of the car, just alongside the driver's left foot, while the six-speed mechanical gearbox — with its electro-hydraulic clutch that is controlled by the paddles — and limited-slip differential live at the back.

The 612 Scaglietti — pronounced "scally-etty" and named after Italian coachbuilder to Ferrari Sergio Scaglietti — will run to 320km/h. I'll take that as read because I didn't get there.

It did, however, show a hint of its blistering acceleration.

Despite anti-dive and anti-squat suspension, the nose will lift on hard acceleration and stay poised as the scream becomes deafening and you pull hard on the right-hand paddle to pick up second cog.

The whole process to 100km/h is fearfully quick, primarily because you have to ready yourself for the next upchange while scrutinising the tacho needle's wild rotation.

Ferrari quotes the 0-100km/h sprint in 4.2sec. I won't disagree, but note that during the process the engine seems to take on second wind at what I guess is about 5500rpm — I apologise, my eyes were blurring — and races even faster towards its 7600rpm cutout.

The boot isn't especially huge, though it should carry luggage for two — for a weekender somewhere nice.

It doesn't have to be close because the Ferrari will get you there with plenty of time to spare and the 108-litre fuel tank has some promise of a decent range.

Keep the revs down to a decent level and you should be capable of 540km before refuelling. Yeah, right!