There’s nothing quite like the growl of a V-12 car engine at idle. Well, almost nothing. The sound of a V-12 screaming up to redline as it rips away from the line is just as sexy. And, it’s not something you see every day.
V-12 car engines have been reserved for the elite of the automotive world since their inception. Names like Daimler, Cadillac, Packard, and Lincoln were some of the only early vehicles to be blessed with a roaring, ultra-powerful V-12.
Now, V-12 engines are even more elite. They are highly tuned masterpieces of engineering used for the top level of performance and luxury. Capable of achieving never-before-seen horsepower and speed ratings, you’ll find these marvelous engines in poster cars.
Here are the top seven V-12 car models.
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Arguably the pinnacle in automotive technology and performance, the LaFerrari is based on the structure of a Formula One racecar. Its carbon fiber construction and driver-centric cockpit reinforce the concept although it’s much roomier and feature-heavy than an F1 car.
At its core, the LaFerrari has a V-12 engine with 6.3 liters of displacement that produces a whopping 789 horsepower. While power production doesn’t get much better than that from a V-12, Ferrari decided to throw an electric motor into the mix to hop the total production up to 949 ponies.
What does that 949 horsepower get you? A sub-three second zero to sixty acceleration and a top speed of 217 miles per hour.
This year, 2016, would have been the 100th birthday of Ferruccio Lamborghini, the founder of one of the highest profile car companies in the world. A fitting tribute is to manufacture perhaps the ultimate Lamborghini ever.
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The Centenario shares the same 6.5-liter V-12 engine as the Aventador with 760 horsepower. Nearly keeping pace with the LaFerrari, the Centenario is a 3-second running in the zero to sixty mph category and shares the same top speed – 217 miles per hour.
A cool $1.9 million is all it takes to own one of the 40 ever built.
From 1992 to 1999, McLaren built the F1 with much accolade. Quite obviously, the McLaren F1 was built based on the Formula One race designs, right down to the cockpit’s styling. The driver sits dead center in the car with a passenger seat on either side. It makes entry and exit a little inconvenient but the driving experience more than makes up for it.
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The McLaren F1 set the record for fastest production car in the world at the time, recording a blistering top speed of 231 miles per hour with the rev limiter engaged and 242.8 mph unrestricted. The record held up until the Bugatti 16.4 took the title in 2005, but the F1 is still among the top cars in the world ever.
Buying one is no easy feat, nor is it for the faint of heart. Actor Rowan Atkinson’s McLaren (twice wrecked) recently sold for $12 million.
While it seems no one is really sure how to pronounce Huayra, it really matters very little once you experience the car. The Huayra sets itself apart from other hypercars in that it has cleaner lines than most and the engine is supplied by Mercedes-AMG. Production is limited to just 100 units through the partnership with Mercedes-AMG.
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The Huayra’s powerplant is the M158 engine, a 6.0-liter V-12 producing 760 horsepower. It’s capable of a mind-numbing 238 miles per hour and sprints to 60 miles per hour from a standstill in just 2.8 seconds.
It’s a cool $1.3 million to own the Pagani Huayra new, but since you can’t anymore, expect some significant markup.
If you’re looking a little more luxury but don’t want to give up the sports car look or feel, turn your eyes to the Aston Martin Vanquish. This little diddy is the feature car In the James Bond flick Die Another Day, because you just can’t have Bond without Aston Martin, can you?
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Loaded to the gills with luxury features, the Vanquish Volante doesn’t neglect the under-hood in its design. 5.9 liters of displacement pumps out 568 horsepower from the V-12 engine, good enough for 3.8 seconds from 0-60 miles per hour. True, it’s not the same acceleration as the upper part of the list, but you’re getting much more luxury and a much heavier car in the Vanquish Volante.
It’s also much less money than the Lambo and Ferrari and such, weighing in at only $300,000.
The upper echelon of car owners views the Rolls-Royce as the complete package in elegance and luxury. It would be a shame to own a Rolls such as the Wraith and not drive it yourself, which is why you see so many owners behind the wheel (It’s not because they can’t hire their own driving staff, that’s for sure.)
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The Wraith is a beast of its own kind. It’s a coupe that has all sorts of sedan space. It may be unnecessary because there aren’t many people who will let passengers put dirty shoes on the lambs-wool floor mats. Under the hood, you’ll stare down at an engine bay packed with a 6.6-liter V-12 making 624 horsepower. It’s a super heavy car, so while the acceleration is still fantastic, it’s nowhere near the 3-second range.
The “poor man’s” V-12 model is the SL65 AMG although it’s still pretty rich. It’s essentially the same car as the SL63 but with a different powertrain. All the extra fixin’s are included here such as Night View Assist, exterior carbon fiber trim, and the gamut of audio and HVAC controls.
Its V-12 is properly blown by twin-turbos that up the horsepower to 621 ponies. Paired with the seven-speed gearbox, it’ll fly to 60 miles per hour in 3.7 seconds. That’s all for the modest price tag of $220,000.
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