Toyota Camry vs Ferrari 812

What's the difference?

Ah, gotta love a sedan that knows its audience and the ninth-gen Toyota Camry Ascent proves once again why it’s a popular choice.

On top of the space and practicality, you get a shiny new design and technology. Overall the Camry Ascent is a well-rounded base-model - what’s not to love?

Clearly, this is not a car for everyone, and you’d have to question whether it’s a car for anyone, really, but people who like spending $610,000 on Ferraris, and waiting in a queue to do so, will be delighted, because it delivers the kind of exclusivity, and bragging rights, that you’d have to hope a car called Superfast would.

Personally, it’s a little too much, a little too over the top and definitely too mad, but if rockets are your thing, you won’t be disappointed.

There is a strong 'taxi'-association with the Camry because of how popular it is as a commercial fleet car and while the design has been updated and modernised, that vibe still remains. It's a Camry, after all.

But the new tapered nose with its slim LED headlights look sharper than the previous model and the rear slopes into a neat spoiler that accentuates a sharper rear end.

The new design looks far more modern and dare I say it: sporty.

A lot of the changes are in the cabin where the Camry benefits from a completely restyled dashboard that looks sleek and stylish, with the tech screens integrated into the panelling.

The cockpit still feels very driver-oriented, which is always appreciated, but now not at the expense of the front passenger.

The cloth seats look much nicer than the standard basic stuff you usually get and there are enough tactile dash and door panels to make it feel cosy, despite it's soft-touch points still looking too plasticky.

The overall feel for the cabin is one that is pleasant and well-built, although cloth seats always give me anxiety when kids are around.

It’s very… big, isn’t it? And it looks even bigger in the flesh with a bonnet you could use to put a roof over your tennis court. In all, the Superfast is 4.6m long, almost 2.0m wide and weighs 1.5 tonnes, so it certainly has presence.

Making something this big look good is a challenge even for those as talented as Ferrari’s design team, but they have nailed it. The front has what appears to be a mouth, poised to swallow lesser cars whole like some whale shark Terminator. 

The bonnet appears to be flaring its nostrils, and looks fabulous from the driver’s seat, and the swooping side and taut rear complete things nicely.

Personally, it still just looks too big to be a Ferrari, but then this is not a mid-engined super car, it’s a grand touring rocket ship, and the ultimate expression of unnecessary excess, and it pulls off that aura perfectly.

Sedans tend to fly under the radar when people think of cabin space but that's a mistake. Head- and legroom in both rows will make taller occupants very happy and the transmission tunnel isn't massive, so middle seaters will still be able to get comfortable.

Despite being a low-profile car, access is easy enough and it's only the sloping roofline at the rear that might make you bump your head as you get in.

Seat comfort is excellent with thick padding and cushioning to be enjoyed. The front seats are manually adjustable but lack lumbar support, which you'll notice on a longer trip.

The window sills don't sit too high, so my seven-year old had a good view this week but the cloth seats have upped the anxiety as he tends to be messy. He also loves having directional air vents and that keeps him happy on hotter days.

Storage is great for the class with a 7.0L middle console, large glovebox that can hold a manual and other bits, two map pockets, four cupholders, four drink bottle holders, a sunglasses holder, and a functional centre console tray that has multiple cubbies to delight those that travel with lots of stuff.

The boot capacity hasn’t changed and sits at a large 524L capacity, which is decent for a sedan. The boot aperture isn’t too narrow either, so it's easy to access items that roll to the back. The rear seat has a 60/40 split, to open up storage as well.

The boot has a powered boot release that can be accessed via the key fob and while you have to manually close it, it's a super light lid to operate.

Technology feels well-rounded now with the upgrades and the touchscreen multimedia system sports the same system you'll find in Lexus models, which is far superior to the older Toyota software. Basically, it's simple to use and looks good, which is a great combo.

The phone mirroring apps are now wireless and that means one less cable to worry about and charging options are good with five USB-C ports (3/2), and a 12-volt socket but you do miss out on a wireless charging pad at this grade level.

Basically, the Camry now offers better technology and style but the practicality of the cabin remains at an all time high.

Practicality isn’t really your concern when you buy a two-seat mega car like this, so let’s just say it’s about as practical as you would expect it to be. Not very, then.

Is it possible that any car - save one made from gold, dusted with diamonds and stuffed with truffles - would represent good value at a price of $610,000? It seems unlikely, but then people who can spend that much assay value differently, and would probably say that something as profound as the 812 Superfast is worth buying at any price.

Another way to look at it is price-per-litre, which is less than $100,000, considering you do get 6.5 litres of V12 Ferrari donk. Or you could go by kilowatt, which works out at nearly $1000 each for your 588kW.

Other than that you do get a lot of leather, a high-quality interior, superior exterior styling, badge-snob value that’s hard to put a price on and vast swathes of F1-derived technology. And a free car cover.

The 2025 Camry has the new and improved hybrid system that Toyota is rolling out and a redesigned electronic continuously variable transmission (CVT) – both changes are welcome to the 2.5L four-cylinder engine.

This combo produces up to 170kW of power, which is up from the previous model but the torque remains the same at 221Nm. 

I did want to give the epic, enormous 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 engine a perfect 10 here, but when I paused to think about it I had to admit that it is, quite possibly, a little too powerful.

Yes, it is amazing to think Ferrari can build a car that has 588kW (800 horsepower - hence the 812 nomenclature; 800 horses and 12 cylinders) and doesn’t just dig itself a hole in the road as soon as you put your foot down.

And yes, it does provide the kind of performance that makes all other cars seems a bit piss poor and pathetic, even the really good ones. 

But honestly, who could ever use it all, or need it all? They might seem like irrelevant questions, I guess, because it’s all about conspicuous over-excess, a car like this, so really the question is, would anyone want to live with 588kW and 718Nm of torque, or is it just too scary in reality?

Well, a little bit, yes, but Ferrari’s engineers have been wise enough not to actually give you all of that power, all the time. Torque is limited in the first three gears, and maximum mental power is actually only available, in theory, at 8500rpm in seventh gear, at which point you’d be approaching its top speed of 340km/h.

The fact that you can rev an engine this big, and this lusciously loud, all the way to 8500rpm is, however, a joy that would never tire.

In more practical terms, you can run 0-100km/h in 2.9 seconds (although cheaper, less crazy cars can do that, too) or 200km/h in 7.9 (which is a tiny bit slower than the far lighter McLaren 720S).

What you can’t do, of course, is achieve any of those numbers on winter tyres, or roads with snow on them.

The outgoing model had an excellent combined fuel cycle figure already but the new hybrid system improves it again to just 4.0L/100km. With the 50L fuel tank, that gives you a theoretical driving range of up to 1250km. Outstanding for a family car!

After doing 803km this week and those kilometres being mostly open-road driving, which is where hybrids are at their least efficient, my real-world figure was 4.4L, which is still great. Expect it to be even better in the city.

Much as you can’t have a good volcano without some serious lava, you can’t have 800 horsepower without burning a lot of dead dinosaur goo. The Superfast has a claimed fuel-economy figure of 14.9L/100km, but on our drive the screen just said "Ha!" and we burned through a whole tank of fuel in less than 300km. 
Theoretical emissions are 340g/km of CO2.

Toyota really does the hybrid thing well – the engine and electric motor handle duties effortlessly between them, with minimal fuss like noise or gear changes.

The well of power feels deep enough to really let it loose on the highway, if need be, but that also makes it zippy in the city.

This is sure-footed in most scenarios and I like the comfort that brings to the driving.

The steering is direct enough to feel responsive but not sporty. It handles corners well and suspension is well-tuned, so you don’t wince when you hit bumps.

Being set low and having average-sized windows means visibility can be a little hampered when heading down a hill as you bob and weave to see around the rear-view mirror and thick pillars.

The Camry is 4920mm long (33mm longer than previous gen) and it fills out a space. With it's low profile, you have to be careful not to scrape the bottom on anything but it’s still relatively nimble in a car park because of its tight steering and clear 360-degree camera system. 

Insane. It’s a word that people often lift from their lexicon when describing a supercar experience, because clearly, as forms of transport, things like Ferraris and Lamborghinis are not sane options.

But the Superfast really deserves the word, because it feels not only the opposite of sane, but truly bonkers. As if someone built it for a dare, realised it was a bad and possibly dangerous idea, and then put it on sale anyway.

Picture some tiny-handed child with his greasy, post-cheeseburger fingers poised over a big red button on his desk that could wipe out humanity, and that’s basically the situation your right leg finds itself in when driving the Superfast.

There is so much power on tap here - even the limited amount of it that the engineers allow you to access in lower gears - that it truly seems possible you’ll have a Road Runner moment, and simply dig a hole in the ground, if you push the throttle too hard.

Yes, on the one hand, the noises this extreme V12 makes above 5000rpm are memorable and moving, like Satan himself singing Nessun Dorma in a shower of sparks. At one stage we found a long tunnel, perhaps the only dry road within 500km that day, and my colleague forgot all about his licence and let rip.

The numbers on my 'Passenger Screen' spun like poker-machine wheels, then turned red and then implausible. I was shoved back into my seat as if by Thor himself, and I squealed like a small pig, but my co-driver heard nothing over the Monaco tunnel during F1 sound.

Even on dry road, of course, the winter tyres we were forced (by law) to run in the foul snowy conditions could not maintain grip, and we constantly felt the rear skipping sideways. Fortunately we were in Italy, so people simply cheered us on.

The likelihood that you will lose traction in this car is so high that the boffins have included a special feature in its new 'Electronic Power Steering' system called 'Ferrari Power Oversteer'. When you inevitably start going sideways, the steering wheel will apply subtle torque to your hands, 'suggesting' the best way to get the car back in a straight line.

A proud engineer told me that this is basically like having a Ferrari test driver in the car with you, telling you what to do, and that they used their skills to calibrate the system. You can override it, of course, but it sounds scarily like an autonomous-driving precursor to me.

What’s disappointing about this car having EPS at all, rather than a traditional hydraulic system, is that it just doesn’t feel muscular enough for a hairy-handed monster of a car like this.

It is accurate and precise and pointy, of course, and makes driving the Superfast, even in stupidly slippery conditions, almost easy. Almost.

It’s actually surprising how hard you can push a car like this along a windy and wet mountain road without careering off into a muddy field.

More time, and more traction, would have been appreciated, but you can tell it’s the sort of car you’d grow into, and perhaps even feel in control of, after a decade or so together.

So it’s good, yes, and very fast, obviously, but I can’t get past the idea that it’s all a bit unnecessary, and that a 488 GTB is simply, in every single way, a better car.

But as a statement, or a collector’s item, the Ferrari 812 Superfast certainly is one for the history books.

It might not surprise you to hear that, unlike every other company’s press kits, the Ferrari ones don’t generally include a section on 'safety'. Perhaps because driving something this powerful is inherently unsafe, or possibly because they believe their 'E-Diff 3', 'SCM -E' (magnetorheological suspension control with dual-coil system), 'F1-Traction Control', ESC and so forth will keep you on the road no matter what. 

If you do fly off, you’ll have four airbags, and a nose as big as a house forming a crumple zone, to protect you.

The Camry comes with a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty but that can be upped to seven years if you exclusively service with Toyota and on schedule, which is good for the class.

You get five-years capped-priced servicing at just $255 per service, which is extremely reasonable and intervals are good at every 12-months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.

The Camry likes the good stuff though and only drinks a minimum of 95 RON unleaded petrol.

Once you’ve paid the vast cost of entry, it’s nice to know you will get some stuff for free, like your first seven years of servicing, including all parts and labour, carried out by trained Ferrari technicians, who even dress like pit crew. It’s called 'Genuine Maintenance', and is genuinely Kia-challenging in its scope.