Ferrari GTC4 Lusso V12

The GTC4 Lusso replaced the FF in 2016 and kept its predecessor's unusual brief: a Ferrari with four seats, a hatchback tail and drive to all four wheels. The engine is the 6.3-litre naturally aspirated F140 V12, quoted at 680 hp at 8,000 rpm and driving through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Even the name is assembled from Ferrari history, GTC from the 330 GTC, Lusso from the 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso, the 4 for the seat count.

The engineering that matters is at the axles. Ferrari's four-wheel-drive system is not a conventional centre-differential layout; a compact two-speed unit on the front of the engine feeds the front wheels only in the lower gears, which saves weight and leaves the car rear-driven where it counts. The Lusso added rear-wheel steering to that package, the combination Ferrari called 4RM-S, alongside the electronic differential and magnetorheological dampers used across the range. The shooting brake body is stiff enough to carry all that rear glass and still leave a usable luggage area behind the seats.

Why the GTC4 Lusso V12 Is the Usable Ferrari

Production ended in 2020, and Ferrari's four-seat thinking moved to the four-door Purosangue, which makes the Lusso the end of the shooting brake experiment rather than the start of a line. The naturally aspirated V12 itself continued in two-seat cars: the 812 GTS and the 12Cilindri use the same basic architecture, and the 12Cilindri Manuale shows how far Maranello will go to keep the engine relevant. Against those, the Lusso's argument is simply that it does the same job with two more seats and no compromise on cylinder count.

In the Batman Garage collection it is the Ferrari you could actually use through a winter, photographed alongside the 512 M Testarossa that represents the older, flatter idea of a twelve-cylinder Ferrari. For the turbocharged counter-argument from the same factory, see our Legends entry on the Ferrari F40.