The V12 engine is sadly dying. It was once the pinnacle of performance and a must-have if you wanted power and speed. It was an engine everyone desired as it was used in all sorts of motorsport whether it was Formula 1 or GT car racing.
The V12 is engine artwork - it's powerful, smooth, aggressive, and even the presence of a V12 is insane. As soon as you mention a sports car has a V12, people are intrigued, they want to know more. It brings a certain weight to it no other engine has in terms of presence and excitement. Here are the best v12 cars ever.
10 Ferrari Enzo
The Ferrari Enzo was made to celebrate Ferrari's Formula 1 success. It was a car they were so proud of that they named it after the founder of the Company, Enzo Ferrari. The Ferrari Enzo was powered by a 6-liter naturally aspirated V12 that produced 651hp and 485 lb-ft of torque. The engine was mounted to a 6-speed F1 automated manual transmission, making the Enzo capable of shooting to 60 in 3.1 seconds with a top speed of 221 mph.
It is by far one of the best Ferrari's ever made. It's the pinnacle of Ferrari, combining beauty, technology, and heritage all together in one elegant package. Only 399 were sold to customers, and you had to be specially invited to buy one of these. The 400th car was sold at auction for charity for over $1 million.
9 Lamborghini Aventador
The Aventador is the latest car in Lamborghini's V12 lineup, and it's a monster. It's the only car in Lamborghini's flagship series to feature an engine different from the rest. Under the hood is a 6.5 liter V12 which in the "base model" pushes out 690hp and 509 lb-ft of torque. The fastest model being the SV-J, producing 759hp and 532 lb-ft of torque.
It is a fast car with 0-60 times being below 3 seconds and top speeds over 217 mph. It's the last of its kind, a V12 single-clutch automated manual V12 supercar. It's wide, aggressive, and it sounds amazing. By far one of the best supercars of the last decade.
8 Jaguar XJR-15
The Jaguar XJR-15 was essentially the predecessor to the rather disappointing XJ220 that overpromised but under-delivered. The XJR-15 was limited to just 53 units and was the world's first-ever road-car made fully of carbon fiber. It felt like a Le-Mans car for the road with its very spartan interior which had exposed carbon everywhere and the shifter to the right of the driver in a right-hand drive vehicle. It was a race-car for the road.
Under the hood is a 6-liter naturally aspirated V12 pushing out 450hp and 420 lb-ft of torque. It weighs just over a ton so that is almost 450hp per ton, good enough for a 0-60 time of 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 191 mph. It's fast and extremely difficult to drive.
7 McLaren F1
By far one of the best drivers cars of the 1990s, the F1 is a beautiful car that has 100hp per liter. It is insanely fast as it's powered by a 6.1 liter naturally aspirated V12 that pushes out 618hp and 479 lb-ft of torque. 0 to 60 mph only takes 3.2 seconds and the top speed is 248 mph.
This mid-seater road car was designed to be the best car ever. It had to be better than anything else out there and that meant it had to be different. It had to feel like an F1 car, hence the name.
6 Lamborghini Diablo
The Diablo is a thunderous supercar that replaced the glorious Countach. It was an icon of the 1990s as it looked so cool. It was produced from 1991 to 2001, and under the hood of the early models, there was a 5.7 liter V12 with 485hp and 428 lb-ft of torque. The final models received a 6 liter V12 producing 550hp and 457 lb-ft of torque.
This car was fast and it sounded amazing. It looked awesome, and unlike the Countach, it was driveable.
5 Ferrari LaFerrari
In 2013 Ferrari wanted to create the ultimate Ferrari hence why it's full of technology and style. It is full of passion and drama being powered by a 6.3-liter naturally aspirated V12 with an HY-KERS system. This car is a hybrid, but unlike its P1 or 918 rivals, it cannot be powered by electricity alone. The batteries are simply there to capture wasted power when braking for example. That wasted power is then stored and delivered when you need it, i.e. when accelerating.
It can accelerate to 60 in under 3 seconds with a top speed of 220 mph thanks to its 950hp and 664 lb-ft of torque.
4 Mercedes 600SEL/S600 W140
Not every great V12 car is a thumping supercar that costs an arm and a leg. The W140 S600 was the last of its kind. The W140 was the last over-engineered Mercedes car generation ever. In fact, Mercedes spent $1 billion in the early 1990s developing this car.
The V12 in this was in response to the BMW 750iL. It was one of the most luxurious cars of the 1990s, built for world leaders and CEOs as it carried such a presence with its 6.0 V12 that pushed around 390 to 400hp.
3 TVR Cerbera Speed 12
The TVR Cerbera Speed 12 was so extreme that the owner of TVR at the time, Paul Wheeler, forbade the car from being made. It was simply too powerful in his opinion and he was a racing driver in the TVR Tuscan challenge series. Three cars were made and under the hood was an 800hp 7.73 liter V12. However, the Speed 12 was tested on a 1000hp dyno which broke. The engineers tested each cylinder bank individually and found that both pushed out 480hp each hence a maximum horsepower of 960hp.
It is a shame that this car was never made. It was said to be faster than the McLaren F1 back in 1998. Luckily there is one proper finished prototype in red that was taken and used in car shows. It now however resides in the Lakeland Motor Museum in Ulverstone, England.
2 Pagani Zonda
The Zonda was an absolute beauty when launched in 1999. It was completely different from anything else on sale as it looked like a fighter jet or a UFO. Under the hood was originally a 6-liter Mercedes-Benz V12 that pushed either 395hp or 444hp. This was then upgraded to a 7.0L V12 tuned by AMG that pushed out 542 hp. Then it was upgraded to a 7.3 liter V12 which eventually pushed out 669hp and 575 lb-ft of torque in the Cinque model.
The Zonda is a beauty that was once a manual-only car. It was extreme in every single way and that is no surprise since the owner of Pagani, Horacio Pagani, designed the 25th Anniversary Countach.
1 Maserati MC12
When Maserati was headed by Ferrari in 2004, they decided that Maserati needed a race car, so the GT12 was made to partake in the FIA GT championship. It was a real fast car based on the legendary Enzo, yet only 62 MC12 models were made, making it even rarer. It was a brutal car with its crazy body kit. The Maserati had a 6-liter naturally aspirated V12 producing 621hp and 481 lb-ft of torque. At 3.8 seconds, it was slower to 60 than the Enzo and had a lower top speed of 205 mph.
Though this V12 monster was by far one of the best Italian sports cars that aren't a Lamborghini or a Ferrari.