Ferrari 12Cilindri vs Mercedes-Benz AMG GT

What's the difference?

The Ferrari 12Cilindri should not exist. Everything about it shouts of excess to the point of illegality. Surely, one would assume, emissions regulations have made a vehicle with a naturally aspirated V12 engine as socially, and indeed legally acceptable as asbestos sandwich wrapping. 

The work it must have taken to somehow squeeze this thing through the regulatory net is clearly more than any other company could be bothered with - the 12Cilindri is the only new atmo V12 a lot of money can buy. 

Ferrari made the effort because this car, with this layout, is an integral part of the brand’s heritage, dating back to 1947, the rock on which it is built. Old Enzo Ferrari himself said the V12 is the Ferrari engine “everything else is a derivation of the original”.

And, of course, they made it because there are plenty of purists out there who will pay big, big dollars to have one. We flew to an unfortunately soggy launch for the car in Luxembourg to see what a V12 that can now rev to 9500rpm would feel, and sound like.

Once upon a time, people would dream about owning a Mercedes-Benz 450SLC – the C107 sports/luxury coupe flagship of the 1970s.

Sexy, stylish, secure and incredibly solid, it embodied the brand’s ‘Engineered Like No Other Car' mantra of the era.

Today’s all-new, second-generation, C192 AMG GT Coupe is something of an indirect descendant of this sort of thinking, changing tack from its supercar-esque 2014 C190 predecessor, with more space, more seats, more sensibility and, conversely, even more steak and sizzle from its glorious V8.

A modern-day SLC? The Porsche 911, Aston Martin DB12, Maserati GranTurismo and Bentley Continental GT’s worst nightmare? Or something else entirely?

These questions and more are answered below.