The sweet life with Ferrari's 12Cilindri Spider

It is all about wind in the hair and taking in the song from a sonorous V12 engine

- Lee Nian Tjoe

LISBON - On one sunny but cool day in February, I get to drive around one of the oldest cities in Europe in a 12Cilindri Spider, becoming among the first people in the world to put the latest Ferrari through its paces.

If this is not the sweet life, or "la dolce vita" as the Italians call it, I do not know what is.

The Ferrari staff seem quite calm about handing me a $2 million car, unaccompanied, for a couple of hours.

After the first few kilometres in the supercar, threading a couple of roundabouts leading to the coastal road overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, I am feeling similarly relaxed — and not just because the people in red polo T-shirts are out of earshot.

Here is a car that is wider than a BMW 7-series limousine, has more power than six typical family cars combined and uses the kind of braking technology found in Formula One (F1) race cars.

Yet, it seems nearly as easy to drive as a Mercedes-Benz C-class.

The suspension shrugs off the potholes and road humps effortlessly, keeping the carbon-fibre diffuser and other intricate fins on the underside of the car from harm.

The brake pedal feels meaty and as easy to modulate as conventional steel brakes.

The Spider is the convertible version of the 12Cilindri, which is a front-engine coupe.

The name references the 12-cylinder engine format, historically one of the most evocative type of engines. F1 race cars used to be powered by V12s and this is still the preferred format for top-level exotic road cars.

The way the car looks, according to Mr Flavio Manzoni, Ferrari's chief design officer, is intended to draw inspiration from science fiction and the 1970s, which he calls "the most wonderful era in car design".

Fans of classic sports cars may identify hints of the 1968 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 in the front end of the 12Cilindri.