Was it a mistake to include a Land Rover in a test amongst flagship supercars?
The lineup for this year's biggest performance car test was varied to say the least, and one contender stood out from the get-go
Day two of evo Car of the Year 2025, 12 Cilindri, and the first drive of the day. The Ferrari’s V12 feels omnipotent, its eight-speed auto seamless. Steering perhaps a little quick for nondescript French roundabouts, ride height not challenged by the speed humps in and out of villages, ride quality just so.
Gentle throttle openings make passing the Berlingos and Twingos utterly effortless. The 12 Cilindri’s GT roots and DNA are still present and correct. You’re out and in before the driver has registered near half-a-million euros of yellow Ferrari go from an object in their mirrors to one gently pulling away towards the horizon. If I could be bothered to pair my phone to yet another in-car system, I’d find a suitable Matt Monro track to play.
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And then the Octa hoves into view and I pick up James’s tail and we continue our gentle morning jog through towns, villages and along the valley floor, both, I suspect, mesmerised by the view ahead. Until we turn off onto the road that starts to climb and fall to our destination.
I’ve sensed James hasn’t had a lot of time for the Defender. It’s everything he doesn’t like in a car: big, heavy, not a race car. I think I can hear him swearing above the Octa’s V8 and the Ferrari’s V12 as we brake deep into hairpins, catapult out of them and flow through the sweeps and the not-quite-straight kinks.
The 12 Cilindri is sharp, responsive, a 3D espresso-fuelled drive. There’s no need for a bumpy-road setting, the body absorbing the surface, the steering pin, the throttle calm but oh-so responsive, although the build-up of revs can take a fraction longer than you’re expecting; certainly it’s not as responsive as the Porsche’s six, the only other pure naturally aspirated engine in the test. Not that it has any issue keeping 2.5 tons of Land Rover in its sights.
Then there’s clearly a moment when James finds his preferred drive mode and the Octa is quickly building a pace that requires a few more revs from the Ferrari. More commitment on the brakes, more confidence on turn-in. All made that little bit harder because the view ahead is of a car cutting shapes last seen in Manchester’s Hacienda in the 1990s.
On the way down the far side of one of today’s smaller mountain passes, the descent generates a strong whiff of brakes to add to the autumn smells. The Octa lifts an inside wheel, the Ferrari works its rear-steer hardware, occasionally deciding an angle or two of slip is the best option. Still James treats the Defender with disdain, throwing it at apexes, torturing whichever Goodyear has the audacity to ask for a rest.
When we catch up with the team in the supermarket car park to secure today’s lunch ingredients (ham, cheese and baguettes; we had cheese, baguettes and ham the previous day and have baguettes, cheese and ham planned for tomorrow) I’m fearing the worst and spend a few moments making some notes in an attempt to avoid eye contact with James. He’s already heading for the Ferrari’s door as I try to look busy. He waits politely. I can’t hide in the 12 Cilindri any longer, swing its door open and wait for the ‘Stu, I don’t think we should include the Defender’ argument. It doesn’t come.
‘Hah! That was brilliant. What a ridiculous car. But in a good way. I certainly didn’t expect it to be like that.’ And that’s an eCoty drive. The unexpected, the surreal, and the rewarding. Obviously it can go the other way, but when it’s a positive experience like this, it drives home how the thrill of driving is delivered in so many different ways by so many different cars. And that sometimes the best seat in the house isn’t within the car itself, but from the one behind. Following the show, absorbed by the performance playing out ahead. For me, a front-row seat witnessing the skill required to understand an unfamiliar car on an unfamiliar road was worth the months of planning, the logistics calls, the early starts, late finishes and multiple daily stand-offs with automated self-service petrol pumps.
As you’ll have read, this was one of the tightest midfield results for years, with the Vanquish in ninth less than a point behind the BMW in fifth. Any of them could have moved up or down a couple of places and the result would have still felt fair. Five very different cars that were proving near-impossible to split; JB and Henry simply couldn’t, with both awarding the same score to the Corvette and Aston. Yousuf was tied in even greater knots, scoring M2 CS, Supersport and Vanquish identically.
And the Revuelto’s unanimous victory? It only happens to truly special cars, which is exactly what the Lamborghini is.
This story was first featured in evo issue 341.
