Loch and load

These epic new Aston and Ferrari V12s have brought a famous old rivalry back to the boil. RICHARD LANE goes all guns blazing north of the border

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The 12Cilindri didn’t have the easiest start in the court of public opinion, and not just because of its cumbersome name. “The V12 isn’t bombastic enough!” brayed forum posters. “The Pontiac Aztek wants its rear styling back,” X-ers snarked. And on it went.

Maybe they had a point. With its breadvan-ish tail and hyper-chiselled prow, the very latest Ferrari GT (styled in-house, Pininfarina’s 66-year influence having ended with the F12 Berlinetta) is provocative. Particulate filters also mean this most recent iteration of the 65deg Tipo 140 engine is indeed tamer on the ears than before.

But temper your prejudices. Remember that many considered the 550 Maranello ugly when it hit the scene in 1996. Remember also that, especially in these darkened times of the fun-car witch-hunt, it is better to have a stirring timbre than raw amplitude. In any case, what really matters today is how the £339,000 doe-dee-chee-chi-lin-dree feels to drive, and the early signs after its endless banana of a clamshell bonnet peels west off the A74(M) and we wail off into the Lanarkshire wilds are spectacularly promising.

Lurking a few miles up the road is a new Aston Martin. Unlike the Ferrari, we've already tasted the Vanquish on home soil, so we know it borders on the spectacular. Ingredients: a lavish cabin, a stunning silhouette and, in its handling, a heavy-set poise that melts so sweetly into slithers of oversteer it makes you laugh out loud. It’s a very modern Aston (with Apple CarPlay and all).